Welcome to this Dr. Nicole says episode. Nothing it should happen to you during your birth without your consent.

Welcome to the All About Pregnancy and Birth Podcast. I'm Dr. Nicole Calloway Rankins, a board certified

OBGYN who's been in practice for nearly 15 years. I'm Dr. Nicole Calloway Rankins, a board certified OBGYN, who's been in practice for

nearly 15 years. I've had the privilege of helping over 1,000 babies into this world, and I'm here

to help you be calm, confident, and empowered to have a beautiful pregnancy in birth. Quick note,

this podcast is for educational purposes only only and is not a substitute for medical

advice.

Check out the full disclaimer at Dr. Nicole Rankins.com forward slash disclaimer.

Now let's get to it.

Hello there. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. This is a Dr. Nicole Sess episode,

which is just a little short episode, 10, 15 minutes or so where I talk about a particular topic.

This one is nothing should happen to you during your birth without your consent. And as always, whether you're a new listener or

returning listener, I'm so glad you're spending some of your time with me today. So what do I mean

when I say that nothing should happen to you during your birth without your consent? That means before anything is done, whether that is a vaginal exam,

whether that is breaking your water, whether that is doing something like an episiotomy.

There is a discussion about the benefits, the risk, alternatives, and your doctor needs to receive your explicit consent

before proceeding. And this sounds fancy, you know, benefits, risk alternatives, but it actually

doesn't have to be super complicated and it doesn't have to necessarily be a long conversation.

But when we do this, this places you

at the center of your birth experience, which is exactly how it should be. Too often in our U.S.

maternity system, we do things without asking for this explicit consent. And I'll say it's not

that we are doing so with any malice or any bad intent. It's just

...