"Pregnant, obese...and in danger"

[laundry_queen]

16. The article is full of fat phobia

if you can't see it you must not have ever been obese and had a baby. I know a lot about both, and I know a ton about birth, and I know that doctors, ESPECIALLY fat phobic doctors, cause a lot of the problems they see.

YES, there are certain risks to being obese and pregnant. It's harder on your heart, labor may not be as efficient due to fatty tissue, babies may be bigger. However, fat women can and do have normal, healthy pregnancies, births and babies all the time. *IF* doctors believe that a fat woman needs to be treated 'differently' from the start they are more likely to intervene when they don't have to (like my doctor who was petrified about gestational diabetes). In the article it mentions shoulder dystocia. This is a problem that can be tied to larger women because they naturally have larger babies, but it's also a big problem due to how women are 'managed' in labor - tied up to fetal heart rate leads, ivs, BP monitors, etc. One of the best ways to resolve shoulder dystocia is to get the mother to turn onto her hands and knees. A larger women hooked up to 10 different wires and tubes is going to be less likely to be able to move. However, she's also more likely to be hooked up to those things because a doctor is worried about her fatness and feels the need to 'manage' her labor more closely. See where I'm going with this? You may think the article is full of science, and I'm telling you there are phrases in there that are indicative of the doctor's POV on fat women (as an obese woman, I've heard these words before) and that have nothing to do with science.

Some things in the article I agree with - yes, labor suites should be equipped with equipment needed for larger women. Even though I'm not as large as the women in the article, my last c-section (scheduled for reasons having nothing to do with my weight) I was uncomfortable beyond belief as the operating table was quite narrow and I felt like I was constantly about to fall off. A wider table would've been better.

I think some people, including this doctor, have so many prejudices against fat women that they think they are being sensitive and non-judgmental but they really aren't. They just can't see their own biases.