I Almost Did Something I Didn't Want To

Take control of your health choices

When you’re scared, lack knowledge, and unsure how to proceed, it’s easy to fall in line with whatever your doctor tells you to do. I almost found myself in that position last week. Let me give you the details.

There is no greater blessing than childbirth. But let me tell you, it’s stressful. I don’t care if you’re the person in the bed, supporting your wife, the doctor catching the baby, or the child nurse waiting to complete your exam on the other end.

When something goes wrong, it is terrifying.

We were blessed to have a largely uneventful labor and delivery process. While my wife certainly wouldn’t call it a walk in the part, everyone came out the other side happy and healthy.

But it could have gone worse. We were fortunate. But our fortune was no coincidence. It was the result of a carefully crafted worldview and plan for how we wanted this pregnancy to proceed.

There are a few examples that stand out over the course of this pregnancy that stand out. They are all examples of doctors or healthcare providers attempting to push their agenda on my wife and drive her healthcare decisions, rather than being a helpful navigator.

As we go through these examples, consider how they may apply to your health situation. Nobody is exempt. If you don’t stand up for yourself, you’ll get railroaded by the system. I’ll tell you exactly what our thought process was, what we said, and how it was received.

Antibiotics

This was the first obstacle along the road. It came around week 20 and was an ongoing issue for the duration of the pregnancy. My wife developed a kidney stone, which, as you can imagine, is an extremely unpleasant thing to experience while pregnant.

She passed it after a few days of misery and never had another issue. Her physician recommended she start low-dose antibiotics for the duration of her pregnancy as a preventative. While I’m not entirely sure what the goal was, I can only imagine they thought in case there was another stone it would serve as a source of infection.

My wife refused. She felt fine; her urine tests weren’t showing any signs of infection, and she didn’t have any other stones. Sure, the prophylactic antibiotic might help if she developed a UTI or kidney infection. But what was the risk? They would also wipe out her normal flora and risk other infections.

At the next visit, there was no mention of the antibiotics. Obstetricians are notorious for rotating patients through different providers in their practice in order to make women feel more comfortable with whoever may deliver their baby. My wife simply saw a different provider who had a different opinion, and it was never brought up again.

The point of this story is that different healthcare providers don’t even agree to the same treatments. There isn’t a right answer in most cases. It’s about what’s right for you.

The Compromise

My wife would have her urine cultured at every visit. This satiated the doctor and cost us maybe an extra $45 total. Far less expensive and less intrusive than daily antibiotics.

Vaccines

This one should come as no surprise to anyone. The vaccine pushers go into overdrive when it comes to pregnant women and children. My wife heard it from both ends over the last 9 months.

It started with the pediatrician. We are using a very delayed schedule and avoiding certain vaccines entirely (that’s a story for a different day). Nevertheless, the pediatrician attempted to push vaccines on my son at every single appointment. She even tried to get him to take the varicella vaccine (which is a live vaccine), despite my wife being pregnant.

My wife was firm in her stance and politely told the pediatrician to pound sand. Eventually, we fired them and found a better one who we liked much more. This leads me to this small aside…

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Do you have a physician you love? Someone who truly cares about your health, rather than selling pills for Big Pharma? We want to know about it.

I get asked all the time if I have certain doctors I recommend in the XYZ area. I’m sick of saying, “Sorry, no.” I want the answer to be, “Yes, absolutely! Here’s their contact info”

That is one of the features we are building at Renegade Health. I’ll be asking for submissions soon. There will be a vetting process. Only the best of the best will be added to the list.

If you want to help, have a great doctor (or personal trainer, nutritionist, massage therapist, whatever!) to recommend, or are yourself a great practitioner, please get on the Renegade Health email list. Further details will follow:

Renegade Health Magazine

← click here

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The Compromise

There is no compromise. It’s none of the pediatrician’s business what vaccines we give our child. If they have a problem with it, they don’t need my business.

C-Section

Every woman has to grapple with this decision. Do you want a planned C-Section or a natural birth? 99% of the time, I lean towards natural birth because it’s safer, healthier for the baby and mother, and overall a superior method of childbirth.

There are legitimate reasons to get a C-Section. But in America, we stretch those reasons to the very last thread. OB’s love scheduled C-Sections. They are a good time of day, not rushed, the environment is controlled, and they pay well. Hospitals love them for the same reason.

Around 35 weeks, the OB got an ultrasound to check the baby’s position. At the time, he was transversely positioned, meaning the head was to the side, rather than down. They immediately recommended scheduling a C-Section.

My wife refused and asked about an External Cephalic Version (ECV). She was told, “We don’t really do that and the only person who does is very selective and difficult to get into.”

We didn’t accept that answer. The baby was still moving like a maniac in there. By the next day it felt like his head was down. We tried some simple maneuvers (you can see Webster Technique on YouTube) just in case. On a repeat ultrasound the next week he was head down and ready to go.

Why would we have assumed C-section was the appropriate next step? There was still plenty of time, he was still moving, and we didn’t want one. In the worst-case scenario, we scheduled an elective one at 39 weeks. If the ECV didn’t work, we could still get a section. There was no benefit and plenty of risk.

The Compromise

This should be fairly obvious, but if anything went wrong and actually warranted a C-section, we would have done it.