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Preferred Birthday

Cool analysis of birthday data that shows 13th is not a date women want to give birth. They prefer to schedule around it. Comments from those in the field were pretty informative too:

The choice of when to induce is not based on staffing, but on convenience. For example, my hospital schedules a full day of c sections on Wednesday’s because the mothers will stay 3 days after the procedure and go home on Saturday morning, when the traffic is light and the family can enjoy the weekend together.

These decisions are absolutely a huge part of how deliveries are determined, and have been since about the 1950s, when women were routinely given scopolamine to remove their senses and memories of labor and then strapped down to prevent them from hurting themselves while waiting. Doctors back then made all of the decisions on timing themselves, based on their expertise but also their golf schedule and weekend plans. That idea of women being a passive part of their own labor decisions has continued through our current labor and delivery practices, with doctors deciding when it would be convenient to deliver

This reminded me of my own experience when J was born. I loved my doctor - she knew that my marriage was in a very bad place and I needed all the support I could get. On my last scheduled visit, Dr. B told me that she was going to be out at a conference on the day J was supposed to arrive. She asked if I would like to be induced so she could be there for the delivery. 

Her words filled me with an overwhelming panic. I was not ready for more variability and change in my life but did not want to play games with destiny either. It felt right that J should come into the world when she was good and ready and I should deal with whatever that meant for me. And so we did and it turned out she was ready a bit sooner than predicted so Dr. B was there with me as I had hoped and prayed for. 

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