One of the things I learned as a medical student and resident is that in obstetrics you can have a lot to say about your outcome. In other words, you can pick your outcome much of the time-not all of the time-but certainly about 90 percent of the time. Pregnant women so often feel they shouldn't question the expert, the obstetrician. My goal is to provide pregnant women a safe arena where they can freely ask questions about their choices in their pregnancy and delivery. I can't offer you medical advice, but I can share with you my experiences with the 6000 babies I delivered.In today's medical environment, it is avery difficult to raise questions about your choices in your health care. I want to encourage women to have the confidence to trust in themselves and the decisions they make about their care.My patients helped me gain valuable insight into what turns a high-risk pregnancy into a low-risk one, and how to keep a low-risk pregnancy low risk. You won't find this information in medical texts. I have learned a lot over my years of delivering babies and I want to share this information with you. Your safety as a patient may well depend upon your knowing the things I talk about in this book. My goal is for every pregnant woman to have access to the kinds of information needed to guide her pregnancy and delivery towards the best possible outcome for herself and her family.
