Monday, June 28, 2010

Defective Cervixes in "Overweight" Women

From the blog, My OB Said What???

"Women With A BMI Higher Than 26 Tend To Have Cervixes That Won’t Dilate…."

"Well, in my experience, women with a BMI higher than 26 tend to have cervixes that won’t dilate without chemical induction.”

– CNM to overweight woman

Oh puleeeeze.  I know doctors and even some midwives say a lot of stupid things to women, but OMG, what an idiotic thing to say.

Well, apparently my cervix didn't get the memo, despite me having a BMI in the 40s.  It dilated just fine in all four pregnancies, induced or not induced.  I know an awful lot of other fat women whose cervixes didn't get the memo either.

Alas, we can roll our eyes at it all we want, but there are an awful lot of medical professionals that actually believe this crap. It's not the first time I've heard it or something like it, but it's especially appalling to hear it from a midwife, for heaven's sake.

Yet another reason for the epidemic of inductions in women of size........and since inductions raise the risk for cesareans strongly, for the epidemic of cesareans in women of size.

But rest assured, fat women's cervixes dilate just fine too.....and especially when our pregnancies are dated correctly (adjusted for cycle length), and when our own bodies' timelines are respected.  [Oh wait, that's a whole 'nuther pet peeve post!]

6 comments:

familyfeedingdynamics said...

I used to deliver babies and never noticed that trend. Argh. More hysteria and fat bias...

My OB Said WHAT?!? said...

Thanks for the "ping!"

Your comments on the blog are very much appreciated, as you have great info backed up by lots of research.

MOSW

mamaraby said...

This must be another refrain of the "fat women have difficulties going into labor at all" chorus. I remember when I first heard a midwife say some version of this theme. I was a bit shocked actually.

Tami said...

The problem, of course, is that these OB's (and CNM's) don't even let a woman with a BMI over 26 even TRY to dilate without chemical assistance. Frankly, how many of their patients labor without chemicals in the first place, even the ones who weigh 100 lbs going into the hospital? It's easy to say "I've never seen a fat woman dilate without chemicals" when the truth is, they've never seen ANY woman dilate without chemicals. When I delivered my second child, the nurse was so freaked about because she had never seen a woman labor without any chemicals in her system. She, of course, was just terrified that something would go wrong. Because she's just never seen it happen.

MommiesCoffee3 said...

Thank you! I have been plus-sized for 20 years and have given birth twice. My first daughter was born 3.5 hours after my first contractions. My second daughter, who is quite bull-headed, decided to take her time, and Pitocin was used to speed things along, but I was dilating. It's SO annoying to be made to feel like some kind of monster (because of my weight) for giving birth...

Anonymous said...

My oh my, that's a new one for me. Thank you for bringing these issues out in the open and showing how women of size are being subverted by the system.