#obstetrics

Twin birth, head and breech presenting. The science and art of midwifery. 1885.

There's a move towards self advocacy and ensuring patients can ask midwives, nurses and doctors why they are being offered interventions. This is not inherently a bad thing. There are times when things are rushed or staff behave sub optimally.

The world is big, and midwives, nurses and doctors could sometimes communicate better and do do better. Because mistakes happen, each patient and relative should be prepared to advocate when they are worried about something. They should want to understand their care. Sometimes treatment *is* bad; we know in the UK that maternity care has gotten worse (and in terms of mortality we are still significantly better than the US despite the concerns here). Birth trauma is real and outcomes for WOC especially black women are worse. Discrimination in healthcare is real. We do know birthing people have experienced pressure or even assault (as treatment without consent ) when it comes to interventions during birth. Working in healthcare, we all know that sometimes things get messed up so I'm not goung to downplay that.

Many of the issues relate to underfunding, lack of resources and poor staffing as well as time pressure, like in the rest of the healthcare service. Like Biokitty says, treating staff badly is also likely to affect care as it's harder for people to support you as best as they can if you are hostile to working with them. It strongly helps if you are open to listening to them and making a plan together.

There's also a trend by influencers to push beyond self advocacy into this idea that you automatically know best. That your "body knows how to do this" so you shouldn't need medical help. Which is actually harmful when our bodies *do* need help and can make people who needed help to labor or feed feel broken and inferior. Especially given parenthood can end up feeling like competing rival cults when it comes to birthing or feeding choices.

There are people out there profiting by spreading a belief that you know the right course of action intuitively, and things will almost never go wrong (it'll never happen to you, obviously!) and that healthcare professionals are generally dumb, overly intervening and lazy or even cruel. That we are maliciously and selfishly pushing interventions to make their lives easier, or to profit, and that what you *really* need is to ignore medical advice and trust your body. And often, to pay an influencer to give you their unqualified recommendations instead. And then you can be a good mom who fits in their birth goddess club because she birthed the right way. And in their club, everything is organic and "natural" because all modern interventions are bad and full of chemicals.

They'll say that babies survived before modern medicine so you can totally choose to ignore all your midwife and obstetrician 's advice and it will be fine. Trust your body. My mate Sandra did it and it went great!

Except as we've seen after investigation into the Freebirth movement, these sentiments have cost birthing parents and babies their lives.

Declining vitamin K has no real benefits but has cost babies their lives.

Intern 2: How did it go?

I am choosing to interpret this as an excuse to talk about Barbie as an obstetrician or paediatrician - Wikipedia (which isn't always exhaustive) suggests that there are 14 different variations on this specific theme.

When I think of this, I think specifically of Baby Doctor Barbie from the Happy Family line.

The Happy Family line, of course, being the much discussed and highly controversial "pregnant Barbie" release (where the pregnant character was in fact Barbie's friend Midge; Barbie was the "baby doctor" in attendance.)

As someone who was right in the age bracket to have opinions about the Happy Family controversy when it was released, I remember a big talking point of the time being, "We don't care that there's a pregnant Barbie. But why is Barbie being called a 'baby doctor'? Children should learn the word 'obstetrician'."

I still hold this is true: more so now that there are in fact some Barbies who are being advertised as "Pediatrician" and not simply "Children's Doctor".

Mind you, there are still a number of releases named variations on "Baby Doctor", even after the Midge crisis.

And, for that matter, before the Midge crisis. A special shout-out to Children's Doctor Barbie and Kelly, because this one has some particular prop details that delight me.

Kelly has a knee that kicks when tapped with the little reflex-testing hammer! There is an adjustable scale! And, there's a Band-Aid! A "Band-Aid brand Barbie adhesive bandage for you!", in fact!