#deliveryroom selfies ?!@!&

A disturbing item came up in my googlenews feed this morning. A Venezuela-based medical student had posted a selfie with a woman giving birth in the background. Along with some crude remarks about female anatomy, there was a brash and disgusting disregard for perhaps the most vulnerable moment in a woman's life. The article detailed that this is actually not a rarity and that many health care professionals use the delivery room hashtag to post similarly offensive Instagrams. As an obstetrician who routinely leaves my husband and two small children in order to spend sometimes over 24 hours supporting women during their labor, I found myself more than a little miffed. I make that difficult choice to not be with my family, to ensure safe passage of a new life into this world and to care for women during a moment that is literally life-threatening. How dare someone make light of that? How dare a medical professional disgrace what I consider to be my life's work? 

I usually use this blog to talk about parenting moments and avoid the shop-talk of my career. I never want to be preachy about the birth experience because it is such a personal choice, so many polarizing opinions about epidurals, elective cesareans, skin-to-skin, boppies, birthing balls, breastfeeding and feminism. A universal truth, though....It is NOT a public social media moment.

I battle daily against public misperceptions about what happens on the labor floor. Patients fear that we make rash decisions about their deliveries based on office hours, money, imaginary cocktail parties. That fear has lead many to become distrustful of obstetricians, vilifying us as crude manipulators of a natural process.

My husband, who is perhaps my greatest  cheerleader, knows what I go through in order to help women have a safe and nurturing birth experience. It is not easy to be married to me. I make these sacrifices in my personal life because I know what can go wrong during childbirth, and I am fortunate enough to have the skills and experience to make a difference in those moments. 

How far we have come as a civilized society, gay marriage and transgender equality shout out in the headlines, but how Neanderthal our views on childbirth and maternity leave. I am so lucky to have women who trust me to care for them during what can be a scary and foreign moment. I am so sorry that there are members of the medical community with such poor judgement.