When you’re in labor (or in the hospital after having your first baby), the last thing you want is to be told something absolutely crazy by those who are in charge of taking care of you.
Outrageous labor stories
These moms share the nuttiest things medical staff said to them when they had their babies.
Most moms have wonderful caretakers during the labor and births of their children. But sometimes, medical staff can say the most off-the-wall things to a woman who is having a baby (or within her earshot). Have you had that experience? These moms have.
Truly out-of-nowhere comments
Some of these moms have had to wonder how their doctors thought that these statements were OK to make. Katie, mom of two, only saw a particular doctor twice — during the births of her sons. "When my first was born, the doctor was breaking my water and said, 'Wow, you're a puffy marshmallow face. You are gonna lose 30 pounds when you leave here,'" she shares. And when she was in recovery after her second delivery (a C-section), he said even more outrageous nonsense. "Every time I fell asleep, I would stop breathing, and he came in and said, 'Well you do have a short stubby neck, so maybe that's why you are having trouble breathing,'" she remembers. Thanks doc!
Ashley from Wisconsin also got to experience some off-topic chatter, but hers was to her husband. "I'm in active labor and the doctor was checking my cervix," she says. "He starts asking my husband about his vasectomy! Making sure he was still getting one. I wanted to kick the doctor."
The non-believers
For some reason, seasoned staff who were on the job for these moms didn't believe them when they said their babies were on the way. "When I told the ER staff that I was in active labor and was about to push this baby out of my vagina they asked me if the baby was my first. When I said yes, one said to the other, 'It's her first, she's probably not even dilated yet,'" shares Taryn, mom of two. "FYI, her head was coming out."
Rachel from Illinois had a similar experience. "I told the doctor I felt like the baby was coming out and she assured me based on my cervical exam that it'd be at least two more hours before I even started pushing," she remembers. "She walked out and within minutes I sent my doula back to get her because my baby was crowning. The doctor walked in, took one look, was horrified and said, 'Oh crap!'"
Horrible bedside manners
Other staff were simply horrible to their patients. Traci didn't have an easy birth for her second set of twins. The first baby was delivered vaginally, but the second went into distress and had to be surgically delivered. "When I had to go in for my emergency C-section I was really upset," she explains. "Crying and just feeling completely defeated. A nurse leaned down and whispered in my ear, 'You need to get yourself together and calm down now.' She was so ignorant about it. I wanted to punch her in the face. Then I was sitting in the recovery room — totally traumatized — and a nurse asked me what their names were. I said this is Scarlett and this is Veronica. She laughed and said, 'Yeah that makes sense to call her Scarlett since she gave you a scar. I wonder how she'll feel about it when she gets older. You can always use it against her.' Needless to say, I immediately switched their names. I would never want my daughter to feel that way."
While assisting laboring moms can feel like a job, it really is more than that. Moms-to-be are overrun by hormones and may be feeling vulnerable, especially if things don't go the way they envision. Laughing about birth plans, being immune to a mom's emotional needs and being strangely blunt are probably not the best paths to take when caring for a new mom.
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