Today we had another visit to the hospital…what would it be like THIS time? And what does that have to do with KFC?
For those who don’t know our history with pregnancies & childbirth – let’s just say it has been a battle! The first few paragraphs give a quick overview if you want to skip to todays visit!
As a husband over the years I have had to go to the hospital many, many times with my wife to literally shield and protect her from the negativity and pressure placed on her by doctors. The way she was treated at times was terrible – the last thing a pregnant lady needs is for fear, intimidation and sorrow to be part of the pregnancy – I mean this is an EXCITING time of new life!
Although the other pregnancies have been relatively trouble free after the 16-18 week period, the labor processes have not. Though there have been many gory details, we have witnessed specific miracles in these times and experienced God’s presence and faithfulness. Doctors have agreed with the ‘miracle’ interpretation of certain events. One doctor was so negative initially, that during labor he entered the room and said angrily to me (while pointing at my Jesus t-shirt) “you will need more than Jesus to get that baby out of there alive”. Such was the animosity towards doing what we felt God wanted us to – to have a natural childbirth.
At times we have been refused entry to our chosen hospital due to high risk and records have been changed (we think to protect the hospital against possible litigation). Now we are told we have to go to the hospital we have always avoided. When you are high risk, you want to know you have the best care available when things go wrong. I can tell you first hand, when your wife & child are the ones that the doctors are running around madly for after that red button on the wall has been pressed, you really get to see where your trust is!
So this was the second visist with the doctor at this ‘new’ hospital today. Last visit the doctor was respectful of our choices, though frank and very graphic of the risks and procedures if things went wrong. It is sickening to have to hear certain things in detail when it is something in the future you may have to face – with your own child. But at least she was respecting our choices…so far. Would today be the same?
So, as usual we’re in the waiting room talking and trying to be quiet / still (country people!) when one of the children spots a KFC receipt. A conversation develops about what KFC stands for that ends about Kentucky as we are called in. The kids all love the hospital – so much to learn and see!
In we go to the room – a new doctor. Now what? As she talks her accent is over-powering. We’re asking about where she is from to which she replies “the ‘south”.
“Does that mean near Kentucky?”
“Yes that’s where I grew up!”
We expain the KFC conversation and she is now telling us about the original restaurant and what it is like etc etc.
The conversation goes on as we get to business. She is a top consultant over in Perth for only two weeks due to injury of another consultant. She’s trained and practised in USA and New Zealand for 30 years. She’s now explaining the medical system from her point of view and experience: from the litigatious US system and precautions to the NZ system of nearly no responsibility where the patient calls the shots…and how Perth sits somewhere in the middle. We, as you can imagine, smell blood! The questions were coming nearly as thick & fast as the accent that answered them….
How good is this hospital?
What about King Edward?
How well can the doctors handle x,y,z?
Is there an anethetist on hand all the time?
What about the training of the midwives, are they able to cope with x,y,z and w?
How big should this be?
How can we minimize this?
What if this happens?
The information was like liquid gold. Here was someone trained in the (fear based and over cautious in our opinion!) litigatious US, then practicied around the world with HUGE amounts of experience. She was placed in front of us for, well we really don’t know how long as it was a blur, but we got the most out of it we could. Some of the information we gleaned that can be repeated is below:
Gestational diabetes:
We have opted for no test as believe that the test itself can be a cause of problems for the baby.
She had no problems with this, adding the below:
In the US when she started any baby over 7lbs was classed as ‘gestational diabetes’ unless proved otherwise. Now days the figure is much higher as babies are larger and larger based on 2 things – ‘selection’ because of the birth choices and medical profession (more of this later) and because of the diet of the population. On this she quoted Hillary Clinton “we have a generation of parents who may out live their children due to the choices of eating”. She refers to the fact that some of the older generation are getting wise to good nutrition, while the younger generation eat whatever the marketing crowd feed them, high sugars and cheap carbs.
Her explanation of Gestational diabetes was to the point: “the pancreas in the mother when pregnant doesn’t produce enough insulin, too much sugar goes to the baby, the babies pancreas produces a lot of insulin (because it is a new model pancras and very efficient) and it cause the baby to store fat everywhere even in the skull!”
Her solution was self management:
1 hour of walking / excercise (not training!) a day and no cheap sugars -. She even talked how RIPE bananas are bad for the mother (let alone, canned bottled sauces, take out and lollies!) that once the banana is yellow, the complex sugars have broken down causing them to taste nicer, but are bad for pregnant mothers.
Take away point: Sugar and lack of excercise are the enemy. (No suprises here!)
Shoulder Distosia:
Leaving out the too graphic / gruesome, there were very detailed descriptions of the different manouvers, places to press and the strict command to ‘ignore the doctors and midwives if they say stop pushing when the head comes out’. It seems that, as always, the medical community is playing catch up with the fact that God actually created the body to….wait for it….give birth!
While there were still the warnings and the graphic bits here – it was given in the light of ‘even in worst case scenario things can be work out ok’. This is a vast cry from the normal ‘well 1 in 15,000,000 had this happen so now everyone must have this scan or drug to try to prevent it maybe happening to you. One is dealing with reality, the other (IMO) is profiting from fear.
Take away point: It can be ok – don’t worry about it!
Babies heart rate:
Faster hearts rates often thought to be girls by doctors. No clues with ours sorry!
The doplar is the only ‘scan’ we agree to normally. We believe that the fear basis of (ultra-sound / xrays etc) scans is damaging, as are the actual x-rays themselves both to baby and mum. Scans to check for possible abnormalities we avoid as we would never change our decision or kill a child based on it’s physical make up. Our main underlying principle for these decisions is God’s Word that states “I formed you in utter seclusion in the womb”. This clearly states that He is the one in conrtol of the process and that although some children in the womb may not make it naturally, it was part of His plan.
This said, we have had scans when there have been complications that may require intervention when there was medical risk or possible procedures needed. Again we believe that the medical system / doctors are part of God’s plan to help heal the body / fix / correct damage – but we do not agree with preventative ‘medicine’. Prenvention we believe comes from a healthy diet, good hygiene and active lifestyle – the rest is up to God.
Selection:
Many here will know that we have enough scientific knowledge to refute the belief that humans evolved over billions of years, but that doesn’t mean we don’t see or agree with the adaptive changes that God allowed to happen in a species which can be evidenced in the scientific record. ie we can clearly see that different types of dogs have adapted from a common ancestor…but there is no evidence that a dog has come from or will ever change into another kind or form. This is the same of every species and hole can be picked far and wide in the theory of macro evolution commonly taught in schools with false and misleading ‘research’ quoted as fact.
This doctor was talking about selection in the following terms: “we think there will be serious problems in what could be as little as 50 years.” The reasoning goes like this:
As people operate in fear (and some wanting to avoid pain), they opt more and more for c-sections. As hospitals become more and more ‘streamlined’ wanting patients in and out in record time, c-sections become the method of choice as they can be planned on a specific date, booked around others and performed en-masse keeping the medical economy stable.
Due to diet, increased sugar and carb input and less active lifestyles, the babies also continue to get larger. As more and more mothers opt for c-sections, the average size and selection of babies gets bigger and bigger. The ‘more at risk babies’ become more and more common.
Eventually it reaches a point where humans in this system may actually not be able to give birth at all naturally as the ones that ‘were not meant to survive’ were not ‘selected out’ and the mean size gets bigger.
It is rare to hear a doctor talk of the possibility of death – but that death is ok. We have had this conversation many times – we have had to sign papers to say that we and we alone take full responsibility in the case of death or injury based on our choices. We have had to come to peace that maybe this may be an outcome, and as heart breaking and sad this would be – we would accept it as part of God’s plan and move on. I mean let’s face it – the statistics are that we are more likely to die on the way to a hospital than for something to happen in the birth process (maybe not in our speific case but you get the idea!) – but that doesn’t stop us driving to work or the hospital. Life has risks, people get injured, people die. The circle of life continues – we beliebe you just need to make sure you are right with your Creator and live the life He wants you to.
I don’t think that this doctor had this belief of God being in control – I think there was an athiestic / naturalistic element to what she was saying. To this end I tried to strike a conversation about God a couple of times, but there was no response. I didn’t push it (and now regret it).
We have talked about this since and both feel convicted that we allowed fear to stop us being more vocal about the message of Christ with this lady. We recognise that there could be consequences of coming across too ‘religious’ and refusing the doctors demands, but we also know that to this end Christians are called. Is this worse than what the disciples suffered? The apostle Paul? The missionaries we ‘support’ in other countries? Are we His or are we living for ourselves?
In this instance we shied away from confrontation and we have repented. We are not saying we need to be rude or forceful, but to actually refuse to speak the Gospel, the love of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, personal sin and the responsibility of all to have faith & repent – this is what we should be aiming to do at all times!
Prayer: “Lord, thank you for putting this lady in our path to encourage us and give us some facts to help us. We are truly sorry that we denied the true object of this meeting – to bring Glory to you and give this lady the words and the only name by which she can be saved. Please Lord give us strength to spread your Word no matter what – just like you call us to. To show your love at all times just like you did and empower us too. To live for you not ourselves and realise that the events that happen around us can never be fully controlled by us – the more we try the more we hinder your perfect plan. And thank you for your eternal grace and forgiveness. You truly are amazing!”