Yesterday I was Queen. After wasting away the morning reading a book, I sat on the living room sofa nursing my 2 month old contemplating all that needed to be done before my parents came to stay with us for the weekend. I was feeling sorry for myself, frustrated that Entropy seemed to be ruling my household with my children its subjects. How was I to convince my children that they really should stop destroying things? I pondered for a time and concluded that I needed to come down from my throne and mingle with my subjects. So, I donned my tiara (literally-yes, I own a tiara and wear it on occasion) and got to work.
First, I grabbed some wood glue, and under the careful supervision of my 4 year old princess, I glued the piano bench back together in what may turn out to be a vain attempt to prolong its life. Next, I gathered the children downstairs in the family room where my two brothers will be sleeping, sat myself down with a trash bag and a toy box and proceeded to direct my children in the art of counting trash. Meanwhile, I sorted through the toy box, removing trash and other treasures. As the day progressed, a couple loads of laundry were done, supervision of the removal of debris and the like from my prince's bedchamber occurred, ice cream was made and a sewing project and a half were completed.
At some point during the afternoon a friend came by to drop something off. After she left, I realized I still had my tiara on. I laughed to myself and continued to create order where entropy once reigned.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Hospitals, birth & Tech Support Syndrome
Yesterday was the 6th anniversary of the day I decided to never give birth in a hospital again. My son, now six, was born that day. Four weeks prior to his birth I had gone to my prenatal appointment and had been tested for Group B Strep (GBS). At the next appointment, I was told the test had come back positive.
This was extremely frustrating for me for several reasons. The "treatment" for preventing GBS transmission to a baby during birth is to put the mother on IV antibiotics during labor. Why would this bother me? First, I had previously had various breastfeeding problems with my first two babies including candidiasis and thrush, a yeast infection causing a great deal of pain while nursing. Antibiotics have a tendency to cause yeast infections and I didn't want one. Second, I wanted to give birth without pain meds and other unnecessary interventions. Being hooked up to an IV throughout labor was counter productive to that goal. Third, the protocol at that time was to always treat a woman as if she is positive for all future births, even though GBS is transitory. Since I planned on having more children, the idea of being treated for something for every subsequent birth regardless of whether or not it was necessary seemed incredibly short sighted.
This led me to do a great deal of research on the subject. I looked at the studies used by the CDC and ACOG to develop the protocol. I also looked to other sources for more natural means to reduce GBS colonization without drugs. I discovered that the IV antibiotic prophylaxis regimen was ineffective unless at least four hours passed from the time of the first dose until the baby's birth. Since my first two labors were 4 and 5 1/2 hours respectively, it made sense for me to look into taking care of the GBS in some other way.
At this point, if you haven't lost interest yet, I will just say that I had myself tested again the week before baby was due and the test came back negative. Sadly, the lab didn't bother to pass along the results to the hospital, like they had the positive results, so when I went into the hospital a few days after the due date with contractions, the hospital staff and my CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) did not have the newest lab results showing me to be GBS negative. They told me I would be put on antibiotics, I told them no, the CNM on call lectured me and my husband, trying to convince us that not receiving antibiotics was the worst possible choice. I told her about my research, she told me the internet has all sorts of misinformation. I told her I got my info from the CDC and ACOG. She told me I was wrong about the negative GBS test. I told her I called her office and they told me it was negative. I left in tears and stressed up to my eyeballs. My labor stopped some hours later and I didn't return until exactly a week after the due date.
After the birth the pediatrician on call told me that we couldn't leave the hospital until 48 hours after the birth because of the positive GBS test. I told him yes we could and, by the way, I tested negative most recently. Pediatrician was puzzled since the hospital didn't have the lab results. When I left the hospital, I vowed never to return for future births, if I could help it. You see, I'm not completely insane. If my baby or I had some complication that needed medical attention, I would go back, just not until then.
Between the hostile CNM and the befuddled Pediatrician, I didn't have a lot of allies at the hospital. They treated me like I was an idiot and couldn't possibly have two brain cells to rub together. My husband, who is an IT professional, excused them as having what he calls "Tech Support Syndrome" (shortened hereafter as "TSS"). TSS is what happens to computer tech support people who deal with computer illiterate people most of the time. Basically, the people we interacted with at the hospital are used to dealing with patients who don't know an auditory ossicle from an orbicularis oris.
Here I am, six years and three babies later and I haven't needed the hospital's services for any of them. My stress level during my children's births has decreased, my babies and I have had fewer birth related problems, and I am happy with my choice.
This was extremely frustrating for me for several reasons. The "treatment" for preventing GBS transmission to a baby during birth is to put the mother on IV antibiotics during labor. Why would this bother me? First, I had previously had various breastfeeding problems with my first two babies including candidiasis and thrush, a yeast infection causing a great deal of pain while nursing. Antibiotics have a tendency to cause yeast infections and I didn't want one. Second, I wanted to give birth without pain meds and other unnecessary interventions. Being hooked up to an IV throughout labor was counter productive to that goal. Third, the protocol at that time was to always treat a woman as if she is positive for all future births, even though GBS is transitory. Since I planned on having more children, the idea of being treated for something for every subsequent birth regardless of whether or not it was necessary seemed incredibly short sighted.
This led me to do a great deal of research on the subject. I looked at the studies used by the CDC and ACOG to develop the protocol. I also looked to other sources for more natural means to reduce GBS colonization without drugs. I discovered that the IV antibiotic prophylaxis regimen was ineffective unless at least four hours passed from the time of the first dose until the baby's birth. Since my first two labors were 4 and 5 1/2 hours respectively, it made sense for me to look into taking care of the GBS in some other way.
At this point, if you haven't lost interest yet, I will just say that I had myself tested again the week before baby was due and the test came back negative. Sadly, the lab didn't bother to pass along the results to the hospital, like they had the positive results, so when I went into the hospital a few days after the due date with contractions, the hospital staff and my CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) did not have the newest lab results showing me to be GBS negative. They told me I would be put on antibiotics, I told them no, the CNM on call lectured me and my husband, trying to convince us that not receiving antibiotics was the worst possible choice. I told her about my research, she told me the internet has all sorts of misinformation. I told her I got my info from the CDC and ACOG. She told me I was wrong about the negative GBS test. I told her I called her office and they told me it was negative. I left in tears and stressed up to my eyeballs. My labor stopped some hours later and I didn't return until exactly a week after the due date.
After the birth the pediatrician on call told me that we couldn't leave the hospital until 48 hours after the birth because of the positive GBS test. I told him yes we could and, by the way, I tested negative most recently. Pediatrician was puzzled since the hospital didn't have the lab results. When I left the hospital, I vowed never to return for future births, if I could help it. You see, I'm not completely insane. If my baby or I had some complication that needed medical attention, I would go back, just not until then.
Between the hostile CNM and the befuddled Pediatrician, I didn't have a lot of allies at the hospital. They treated me like I was an idiot and couldn't possibly have two brain cells to rub together. My husband, who is an IT professional, excused them as having what he calls "Tech Support Syndrome" (shortened hereafter as "TSS"). TSS is what happens to computer tech support people who deal with computer illiterate people most of the time. Basically, the people we interacted with at the hospital are used to dealing with patients who don't know an auditory ossicle from an orbicularis oris.
Here I am, six years and three babies later and I haven't needed the hospital's services for any of them. My stress level during my children's births has decreased, my babies and I have had fewer birth related problems, and I am happy with my choice.
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