Every time I hear that one of my clients has been religiously watched "A Baby Story" during her pregnancy, I almost cringe. I, personally, can not stand to watch "A Baby Story". The program is so scripted: family gathering, ask about how mom's doing, go to the hospital, get checked, order the epidural, push a few times, happy music plays as soon as baby's born. Mom is visited and almost always we hear that "[baby's name] is such a good baby. He sleeps through the night (at 2 weeks old) and never cries unless he's hungry or wants to be changed."
This program irritates me because it sends the message that all births follow a script and are very predictable. I've actually had a client (a very young one) who didn't believe me when I told her that her labor could go on for 18 hours. She refused to order an epidural because she could tolerate pain for half an hour. I was wondering what she meant by that when she told me after 6 hours of labor - "This doesn't happen on TV. The baby is always out before a half hour is up."
We even had a new doula state that she thought she knew it all when it came to childbirth, and that she was very surprised when her baby wasn't out after 2 pushes. She said she attributed it to programs like "A Baby Story" when everything is condensed, especially when it comes time to push.
Has reality TV affected your work? Do you have patients who come in and are surprised when labor is very different from what's shown on TV?
