Unfiltered Story #231086

My midwife, ‘Anne’, has come to do a 3 week baby weigh in. Despite not losing much weight at all in the first week, my son has barely gained anything back. Concerned, my midwife calls the local hospital and is connected with a new paeds registrar she has not encountered before. I can tell from the outset that the call is…strange. Anne is usually bright and bubbly and although she starts off this way, she quickly becomes defensive and clearly unhappy with whats she hearing. The reg has been grilling her on the pregnancy and circumstances of the birth, when she mentions home birth, the conversation goes from rolling down the hill to dropping off a cliff.)

Anne: I… What?… Um, yes?… She would, I assure you.

She jumps a little and gets a look across her face like someone has slapped her with a wet fish. I shoot her a questioning look and she looks at me in disbelief. Clearly frustrated, she ends the call.

Anne: Just to be clear, you do not think it is necessary for us to bring [Son] in?……Alright, thank you. Goodbye.

(She stares at me for a second, mouth agape.)

Anne: I can’t… Wow. Just wow.

Me: What was that about?

Anne: She completely fixated on your home birth; as soon as she heard that she didn’t want to hear anything else. She said that I had checked him over and therefore he was fine and she didn’t want to waste her time.

(I raise an eyebrow at this because its rude but not exactly shocking.)

Anne: After all she said, you wouldn’t even listen anything she had to say anyway. You’re obviously not mainstream since you had a home birth. ‘I would just tell her to feed him more and she wouldn’t listen! None of these home birthing mothers listen to us!’

(And that is exactly why I didn’t want a hospital birth.)