Rantings of a Pregnant Heretic

Just one quick rant. I just finished up two large CPR classes, AND my kids started school today. I didn't even get to see them off this morning, my husband had the pleasure. I should have planned better. Anyway, I went to my La Leche League meeting yesterday with my daughter-in-law and I swear I've never seen so many pregnant ladies at an LLL meeting. More than half of the membership is expecting! Well, we are going around introducing ourselves and one very pregnant lady gives her name, and states her due date as though it was a certainty. (I never give a specific due date, I always say, "I'm due mid-October" because who the hell knows when the baby will decide to come. I think due dates set women up and only make them impatient and docs nervous when it comes and goes and still no baby. They should be used only as a guide, an estimate, an educated guess, but no one treats them that way anymore.) As she continues speaking it becomes clear that she is either scheduled for an induction or a cesarean that day. She then comments about the baby being big. All my alarms start to go off. Her baby is not "too big." This is one of those common lines that docs feed women to convince them to induce. What the hell is too big? Is the baby 12 pounds? Because thats the largest I've seen deliver at home and it obviously wasn't too big because it came on out. Inwardly, I shook my head, outwardly I remained composed. What is this crap about docs telling women their babies are too big? And then no one seems to notice that all these too big, had to be induced babies hover around 7 pounds or less. News flash; babies should be big and fat. The uterus and vagina are designed to accommodate that. They do stretch ya know. Meanwhile, moms are being induced (which for me is just code for "Pre-Cesarean") for what chalks up to be premature babies, who end up NICU bound. I saw 37 week deliveries become so common I began to wonder if it really took 40 weeks to grow a baby. (Well it does to grow a healthy one) Deep breath, breathe, breathe. Anyway, that's my rant on epidemic unnecessary inductions. Tune in next time for my rant on epidemic unnecessary cesareans.