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Childbirth

BBC website article on child birth

57 replies

belgo · 27/09/2007 08:08

here
I wonder why she was denied an epidural? It's vital to have effective pain relief available to woman during labour.

It's also interesting that she felt more in control having an induction.

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fishie · 27/09/2007 08:13

i was induced and refused an epidural, even when on the syntocin drip for 7 hours. unsurprisingly i had a cs.

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kittywits · 27/09/2007 08:14

Grr what's bloody needed is an enormous amount of money injected into maternity services so that women are supported throughout pregnancy by the SAME FAMILIAR midwife who can then attend the birth.
THAT way the need for pain relief will automatically be less.
Of course you want an epidural if you're scared and left to the mercy of a labour ward with almost no midwives!!!!

The way maternity services are financed and run now is a disaster as far as giving women a decent birth experience is concerned.

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belgo · 27/09/2007 08:17

fishie - did you finally have an epidural for the CS? Or a general aneasthetic?

Kittywits - I agree that knowing your midwife during labour makes a huge difference to the way a woman copes.

It certainly helped me.

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kittywits · 27/09/2007 08:23

God, doesn't it just Belgo, the whole penny pinching business makes me seeth.
When I had my last 5 months ago I know of 2 really excellent community midwives who were quitting because they couldn't provide the support to women that they wanted to .And they absolutely hated having to work in the hospita, it was souless and demoralising.

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lilibet · 27/09/2007 08:27

Kittywits, I see your point about the same midwife, but unless that midwife is on call for 24 hours a day for the last 4 weeks of your pregnancy and none of her other patients go into labour at the same time, how can her attendance at your birth be guaranteed?

It really isn't feasible.

I know that it's nicer having a midwife who you know, (I've had three children, one with a midwife who I had never met before and two with midwives who I had, all of them were lovely) but the practicalities rule it out.

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fishie · 27/09/2007 08:30

yes epidural for cs. [hollow laughter] i was midwife's first birth in charge, she'd just qualified. sort of an experiment for her i like to think.

i wish i'd got her sacked actually, she mislabelled the drip, kept taking her own blood pressure and didn't offer me the opportunity of a wee from 10pm till 6am when she went off shift.

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harpsichordcarrier · 27/09/2007 08:33

it is possible that she was advised not to have an epidural because the midwife was concerned that being immobile would mean that labour would slow down, and that she would need more interventions e.g. syntocinon drip, ventouse, forceps, CS.
or that she wouldn't be able to feel to push.

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belgo · 27/09/2007 08:36

It's possible that there wasn't an anaesthetist available to give the epidural, and the midwife knew this, but didn't want to say that.

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harpsichordcarrier · 27/09/2007 08:37

yes, that's possible.

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Lorayn · 27/09/2007 08:37

Ugh, I did not need to read about how much bloody pain she was in

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belgo · 27/09/2007 08:38

It really makes me so relieved that I've had my babies in Belgium and not on the NHS.

The image I have of an NHS birth is horrendous.

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belgo · 27/09/2007 08:39

sorry Lorayn.

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bubbalootie · 27/09/2007 08:46

I sympathise with the induction/control idea. I was 10 days overdue and desperate for dd to come out. They even brought me in to hospital with all my stuff and then told me to go home for a few days. I was devastated.
I did get an induction a few days later but they left me on a postnatal ward overnight while the prostin took effect and gave me paracetemol for the pain.{shock} They even pulled the curtain round because I was making too much noise (not sure how that helped) the antenatal ward was closed due to staff shortages. DH had been sent home for the night and I didn't get any gas and air until I got in to the labour ward at 8.30 am the following morning. Dd arrived at 9am and everyone seemed so surprised (except me as I had been in labour on my own all night!)
Quite honestly it was the worst experience of my life and althoough I'm not saying never again, the memory of it still terrifies me.

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Lorayn · 27/09/2007 08:46

LOL thanks belgo

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harpsichordcarrier · 27/09/2007 08:48

Lorayn, one woman's experience is just that - one woman's experience. it doesn't mean you will have anything like it. every woman's birth is her own.
I hear many positive experiences of birth all the time.

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lilibet · 27/09/2007 08:49

Lorayan, as I said earlier, I've had three NHS births and really have no complaints.

Good Luck

When are you due?

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bubbalootie · 27/09/2007 08:53

very sorry if I offended anyone. I know lots of people who have had positive experiences too.

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Lorayn · 27/09/2007 08:55

Ha, its fine bubbalootie, I dont think you offended anyone.
I'm bound to be slightly scared no matter what, I've seen two friends give birth and am trying to focus on when the baby came out.
I'm not due til April.

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fishie · 27/09/2007 09:00

yes of course lots of people have good experiences of induction and childbirth. lots of people don't though. i think mine was mainly down to my own ignorance and that mw. i was perfectly happy in the end, just think it should have been different.

(there was an anasth. there, i had to have blood retested whcih was why i didn't have epi at the start of drip when nice sane mw was there, tests came back fine but loony wanted to see what happened. i was clinging to an uptilted bed the whole time. gosh dp and i right pair of twits to let this happen)

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Anna8888 · 27/09/2007 09:03

I didn't know the midwife who attended me during the actual pushing and birth, though I did know the midwife who was with me before that, and I knew the midwife who greeted me and my baby onto the ward after giving birth.

What made the difference to me was that I knew that all midwives I saw, at antenatal appointments, at antenatal classes and at the hospital, all knew one another and had been working together for years. I met them in various guises over 3 months and I got consistent messages from all of them. That's what convinced me to go for natural childbirth, even though I'd been living in France for years and had been brainwashed into thinking that epidurals were de rigueur.

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Anna8888 · 27/09/2007 09:07

Belgo - I had a fantastic NHS birth and I'm so glad I chose to go back to the UK to give birth and not stay in France .

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NoNameToday · 27/09/2007 10:44

Where I worked there was one obstetric anaesthetist on duty at anytime on the labour ward.

If two or three women were to need or request an epidural at the same time, it was impossible to meet eveyone's need to their satifaction.

Some epidurals are more difficult to site, also depending upon the woman's 'co-operation some take longer. Yes I really do appreciate that being in severe pain is not conducive to keeping still!

Should an emergency arise with another patien necessitating immediate delivery in theatre, then the anaesthetist had to attend.

Some women didn't get their epidural when they wanted it and I understand how they must feel.

Lack of a full explanation will compound their dissatisfaction with the service. I know from experience that when in extreme pain it is not always possible to think logically. Just one of the reasons for having a supportive birthing partner.

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belgo · 27/09/2007 10:47

childbirth is the one area in medicine though where it is considered acceptable to leave a woman for hours and hours in horrendous pain without effective pain relief, even when she is asking for it.

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blueshoes · 27/09/2007 11:06

fishie, my experience with induction was the same as yours! I also stubbornly refused pain relief even though (inexperienced) midwife kept cranking up the drip and I was in hard contractions every 2 minutes for hours but only 5 cm.

In the end, my baby gave up and went into distress, hence my em cs. It was under GA because notwithstanding I was constantly monitored, midwife had her nose in her book and did not notice the decels for 15 minutes. I remember the moment of horror on her face when the doctor asked why she took so long to notice.

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NoNameToday · 27/09/2007 11:10

belgo, it may happen that women are 'left' in some situations, but I hope it is never thought to be acceptable.

Although the pain relief of choice may be unavailable for some reason, there are alternatives which though not as effective whic can be offered.

I don't approve of the system which we have but sadly despite all our desires for a 'perfect' one, it will be impossible to acheive.

The financial constraints within the maternity services will never allow for the situation to change.

It is similar to the problems with tiny premature babies who require special care and there are not enough cots.

Someone somwhere will be the person who loses out.