Why is it that some obstetricians are so arrogant and ignorant?

As my client moaned through each contraction, I held her and rocked with her. This fool (her ob) walks up and knowing her birth plan asks, “Do you want any pain meds”? She shook her head no as she moaned. He then replied, “You don’t have to suffer like this. You don’t have to be a martyr”. She went on to have a totally unmedicated vbac (vaginal birth after cesarean)

A few days before another one of my client’s went into labor, her doctor gave her a message for me. “Tell your doula, I have the right to throw her out of the birthing room”. He then arrongantly stated that he’d be sending her home when we arrived at the hospital because she was “too calm” to really be in labor. He was shocked when she was 7-8 cm dilated, 100% effaced. She went on from there to have a totally unmedicated first birth after which the ob came up to me and shook my hand saying, “It was so nice to work you!”

When another client mentioned to his wife’s doctor that they were hiring a doula, the doctor replied, “Oh no, we don’t allow doulas in the birthing room. You don’t need a doula. You just need to trust us.” That ob, might as well have written her own pink slip as she was promptly fired and replaced. The hospital where she was to deliver loves doulas and even states it on their website. This client also went on to have a totally unmedicated first birth.

Why do women who want an unmedicated birth have to fight so hard for a chance at it? I am so annoyed with all the idiotic remarks made by so many concerning natural (unmedicated) birth. The one about not having to be a martyr is ridiculous. Who’s dying!!?? Who’s suffering!?!? It’s all about perceptions really. Women are being taught that their bodies somehow are deficient when it comes to birth and death is always peeping around the corner, ready to snatch her and/or her baby. It’s as absurd as having a 1st rate surgeon on standby for every bowel movement, just in case something goes wrong.