Female MNer who has given birth to at least one child? Complete a survey for MNHQ - chance to win £100 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

In the run up to Bumpfest, MNHQ are looking to find out more about Mumsnetters' experiences of pregnancy and birth.

Please complete this survey - it's open to all (female) MNers who have given birth to at least one child.

Please add your details at the end and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get a £100 John Lewis voucher.

Here's the link again: www.surveymonkey.com/r/bumpfest15

Thank you and good luck!

MNHQ

[Teladi]

Filled it in but didn't feel my truthful answers to the pain relief question actually reflected what happened during my birth

I did find that TENS, hypnobirthing and Entonox were effective in helping me cope during labour. I did have an epidural which was not effective as it didn't work, but I also ended up with other pain relief (remifentanil) and a spinal block. There wasn't a tickbox for those so it kind of made it sound like I cruised through with the first three!

[Varya]

Gave birth to twins: one was breech and one was forceps. Gas and Air,
plus pethadine. Episiotomy sewn up without anasthetic. Long labour but recovered rapidly. Husband there, throughout.

[TheVeryHungryPreggo]

Completed, although I did find it a bit odd that "in your first pregnancy, what were you most worried about?" had "childcare for older children" as an option! In my first pregnancy I didn't have any older children!

Maybe that should have been split into two questions, as it was very definitely a concern for my second pregnancy. In the end I went 9 days over and my scheduled babysitters had just declared their unavailability past 41weeks. Luckily DD was born at midday and DS was safely in nursery, and we got home in time to collect him. It couldn't have gone much better.

[chairmeoh]

Done. But one of the crucial factors around my childbirth was the (lack of) availability of pain relief. I would have liked to have been given the option of recording that, because I believe choice is critical. And I didn't have choice.

[BarbaraManatee]

I'd hoped there would be a "comments" box at the end. I didn't find childbirth to be painful in the way a broken bone would be. I would like the homebirth midwives to be better trained though. I felt distinctly unsupported both times I tried for a homebirth - the first time they sent someone with a bad back who was demanding I change position mid-contraction so she could monitor me better & then put the pressure on me to transfer in because she was struggling to do her job. She also basically ignored me when she wasn't trying to monitor me & then had a go at me because she'd not seen me drinking & I was dehydrated when I arrived at the hospital. Perhaps if she'd mentioned that she was concerned I'd not drunk anything I wouldn't have been so dehydrated...

The second time they coerced me into agreeing to an internal exam & then decided that at 7cm I had plenty of time to get to the hospital. I gave birth in the back of an ambulance just a few minutes later, mostly because the inept midwife was looking for the heartbeat in the wrong place. Both babies were fine, albeit a bit cold thanks to the transfer in both times.

I've told DH that next time we're not calling the midwives until I'm ready to push. He's reluctant to agree to that so I'll hide my labour from him for as long as possible. It's my body & I won't let myself be bullied into doing things I'm not comfortable with again. Yes, I'm still angry about it!

[AGnu]

Do you need to specify "female MNer who has given birth"?

[prettybird]

Hospital in Scotland I gave birth in didn't offer pethidine as a pain relief option - only diamorphine.

[DoTheDuckFace]

Done

[Georgethesecond]

You might have had step children when you first gave birth.

But I'm pretty sure everyone who has given birth is female

[NotCitrus]

If you have stepchildren, it's a concern even if you haven't been pregnant before.

The massage and aromatherapy didn't do anything for pain relief but passed the time beautifully - when else can you make your partner rub you neck and shoulders and head for 6 hours without them stopping? Then it got more painful. That scale always makes me laugh because it really doesn't work for people who live at 7-8 on it every day and who then get pregnant.

Most of my worries were about postnatal stuff (and rightly so, given my first postnatal experience), and I think some nurse assumed I was a junkie complaining that my codiene had not been provided within 12 hours of birth and by 24 hours I was making a big deal out of it. It was only when I wondered aloud why everyone kept asking about my vagina, as that was just fine and it was my hips that were the problem, that they realised that just maybe, having given birth wasn't my only medical issue. You'd have thought the wheelchair in my room would have clued them in...

[colouringinagain]

All done!

[SnozzberryPie]

Done.
It didn't have spinal block as a pain relief option.

Also it was really glitchy on my tablet and took me back to the top of the survey every time I checked a box. I eventually gave up checking more than one box per question as it was taking too long to keep finding where I'd got to.

[AbbeyRoadCrossing]

Mumsnet - one of the questions has the option "I had a c section and didn't find it painful" but no alternative. I found mine painful (afterwards) and know women that felt pain during the surgery. It's not pain free

[ThatEffingCreakyFloor]

Echo AbbeyRoads comment - this assumption was enough to make me ditch the survey. Poor design & testing prior to asking participants to complete IMO

[missorinoco]

I also think it needs a comments section. My first birth was a c section, but I didn't have it until i was fully dilated. The experience was more painful than subsequent labours .

[LooksLikeImStuckHere]

I tried to fill this in but gave up. I can't rate how painful actual childbirth was because I was under spinal and epidural at the time. Had you asked about labour as well, that I can talk about!

Also, I don't feel as if I even 'gave birth' because DS was pulled out using forceps. I just couldn't relate my experience to the survey.

[yellowcurtains]

Quite a few of the questions didn't really give enough options. Eg no my FIL didn't touch my bump... because he died in 1976, and I never met him!

or even maybe an open box to ask what is the most pain you've ever been in?
Dry socket infection after wisdom teeth extraction- I wanted to take a hammer to my face, was standing rocking in a corner.
Not that 24 hr labour was a breeze...

[Fishandjam]

Done. I'm one of those who found childbirth horrendously painful, but the survey didn't (and probably couldn't) reflect the fact that other chronic conditions (such as a slipped disc, which was one of the options) can be much worse as they have no definite end point. Whereas childbirth will be over within 72 hours or thereabouts. I was in severe, incapacitating pain with a herniated disc for months - childbirth, though excruciating, definitely came second to that.

[DeepestDarkestRiver]

Done. Both my births were awful and I felt tremendously let down by the maternity service, severely overstretched as it was.

[Reignbeau]

Diamorphine was missing from the pain relief options.

[prettybird]

Puddendal block is also missing.

I was warned that is was "hit or miss" as they did it in preparation for the episiotomy and mid-cavity forceps - fortunately it hit

[toofytrub]

Q3 - there wasn't an option to say that you hadn't bought anything that was 'worst'. I hadn't bothered to buy most of the things on the list that you had on the survey so whilst there were a couple of things that I bought that weren't particularly great (ds didn't have hair for a year so didn't need the hairbrush really) whereas I knew the nappy wrapper thing and heated wipe warmer would be a real waste of money so hadn't wasted my money on them to start with. However if other people answer like me, you might end up saying that a brush is a waste of time when it wouldn't be for those babies have hair - whereas the truly dreadful stuff like the wipe warmer and nappy bin with special wrappers doesn't get a mention so people might think they are ok iyswim?

[eurochick]

Wtf is question 12 about? I had a c section and the spinal didn't take well and started to wear off before the surgeon had finished seeing me up. When I first stood up afterwards, I almost passed out from the pain. I can assure you a c section is not pain free!

[AnnMumsnet]

hi - I have added a comments box on the survey as all comments, stories etc are welcome.

On the list of pain relief options I think we were aiming to cover the most commonly used ones mainly.

And on Q12 - those with a c-section who had pain during it are welcome to tick one of the other options on the list (and folks have done this, I can see from the data)