I'm a midwife, ask me anything

[MidwifeAMA]

Midwife of 20 years, currently specialising in home birth.
Ask me anything :)

Thank you for your reply and the reassurance! I appreciate it 😊

I'm considering another child, however in my last birth I experienced uterine antony which the hospital suggested was caused by the speed of my birth and I believe my heavy baby (10lb) may have also factored in. I'm now 35 and weighing up the likelihood and dangers of it happening again as part of my decision.
Would you advise that it's likely to happen again? Is it possible to factor planning the likelihood of it repeating into a birth plan?

Atony! Autocorrect issues there 😄

I think it will probably just undo the cosmetic benefits of it, but I know people who have. I don't know if any terrible issue with going so, but your clinic where you had it done should be able to give you more info.

Thanks, I haven't had it done yet but as they were so insistent it made me think if I should put it off until I've been through menopause, as I probably wouldn't have a termination in most circumstances. It's vanishingly unlikely that I would become pregnant, though.

Thank you so much for your answer, I wanted clarification as they were very much focused on the cosmetic aspect when I wanted to know about the functional aspect, and you would know best anyway I think. I asked a few times and they wouldn't be drawn on it, perhaps for liability reasons? 🤔

Thankyou for your reply.

I find it really sad tbh, I just want to be supported to have my baby at home. I shouldn’t even be in the position of potentially having to choose between free birth and hospital birth, both of which come with their own different kinds risks.

I live in a city (not London) the area that my home birth team covers isn’t actually that big geographically and especially at night traffic isn’t a problem. It’s such a shame they cant guarantee the staffing.

With the understanding that I'm not a midwife - I had uterine atony for my second child. Gave birth to my third and everything went perfectly, it didn't reoccur.

Thanks for this. The info is ringing a bell for me which I think is why I decided on balance to wait until 42 weeks (longer than is standard where I live, they like to do it at 41 weeks) but no longer.

On a related note, what's the longest gestation of a baby you've delivered?

I was made to write two yes ordered to write the sodding things either birth went to ‘plan’ leaving me distressed that I had some how failed in my delivery expectation no wonder post natal depression is on the rise

Hiya, I had a traumatic labour, so traumatic I only had the one child!- back to back, excruciating pain and due to meconium they had to get him out pretty quick. I went into cardiac arrest during, he was eventually delivered by forceps after failed attempts at ventouse which caused me a lot of damage.
When I saw my midwife (who wasn’t there for the labour) she said they should have performed a c section. Is this right?

I gave birth at 42 weeks via emcs after a failed induction 2 days before. I was told that my placenta by then had begun to loss function and my little boy was having to work hard.

What would do with undiagnosed accreta?

"No birth unit, home birth is a maybe option as it's hospital midwives so if they're busy they suspend the service as none available (happens often, even closing the ward and sending people in labour to next hospital thats an hour away without traffic). After a recent bad report they're trying to get a dedicated home birth service but no guarantee if they will be in place by the time I give birth. Next hospital in the trust is an hour away and also no birth unit.

There is another hospital also about an hour away but a different trust with a small birth centre in the hospital but access is 'first come first served'."

If it's your first baby an hour away would be totally manageable, I'd think about whether it's worth travelling. For me, it would be.

Usually babies turn as labour progresses so it makes sense to give it time to do so if everything is otherwise well. Epidural wise, they make it harder to push effectively do a double dose will probably add to that. Plus if you're very numb you're probably laying on your back which is the worst position for birth, it means your baby is less likely to turn into the right position and less likely to be able to push a baby out, as it's uphill.

How dangerous is shoulder dystocia? My first was elective for breech, and my second was natural, precipitous, and stuck. I felt they didn't really explain what was happening until after, and just did as I was told. I was alone, no advocate. The pain of the inserted hand maneuver was intense. Baby girl is 17 months and healthy as a horse, so I assume she's all fine? They didn't spend long resuscitating her? And how likely is it to recur if I have a third baby?

And would we have died if I'd been at home? My pain was only in my pelvic bone (is this common with vbac mums with nerve damage from cesarean?) so I was insisting that I wasn't in labour to my dp, but he sent me to hospital with our neighbour as my pains were only a few minutes apart.

@MidwifeAMA sorry I forgot to say that I was assessed as 1-2cm at 7am so within 2.5 hours I was fully dilated and ready to push. Baby's head was coned too and the midwife said she was probably waiting for a little while before anyone realised so it was very quick.

I don't think 4 is unreasonable, particularly if you're otherwise fit and well and they've been spaced out. Try to leave at least 18 months between babies.

I had 3 natural births with no issues. 2 of them water births, just gas and air, no complications. When my youngest was 7, I fell pregnant. Between falling pregnant and getting to 22 weeks, both my parents died. 11 weeks apart. I was overdue with my baby, and had 4 sweeps, but my cervix was tightly closed. I ended up being induced. Midwife mentioned because I was so stressed my cervix wasn't softening leading up to the birth hence why it was closed. Is this right and does it happen?

(Should preface by saying nothing in this post is aimed at you OP in any way, I'm sure you're a great midwife as are many others!)

I had a c section under general anaesthetic as the spinal injection I was given didn't work. The medical staff didn't believe me, despite me yelling in pain during their "tests". They said it was all in my head and were quite happy to operate on me with no anaesthesia. They tried to guilt trip me by saying "well most women want to be present when the baby is born." It was only because my husband was present and stood up for me that this thankfully didn't happen.

So afterwards I spent 2 weeks on the ward as my daughter was in the neo natal unit and my blood pressure was very high and it took that long to get it down to an acceptable level.

I was from then on patronised and labelled as having "mental health issues" and put on some sort of enhanced plan. They said I had a "history of mental health issues". In fact I went to the GP once with anxiety after my friends died some years back. I had cbt which helped. I did make the error of telling them on a form at some point that my mother had mental health issues. From then on, my fate was sealed so it seemed.

I didn't have mental health problems, I just didn't want to be operated on without anaesthesia! My reaction was normal given the circumstances. Luckily I had a great health visitor who was supportive and agreed I was fine.

This is a rather extreme example of women's experiences being minimised and labelled "crazy". My question is, why is this still happening?

Meant to add, birth reflections gets mentioned a lot. Not sure that would have been helpful in my case. My only reflection is I probably should have sued them!

@MidwifeAMA hello and thank for doing this ama. I'm 23 weeks today and have pins and needles in both hands throughout the night which constantly wakes me - it started about 4 weeks ago. I'm now having tingling and numb fingers in one hand throughout the whole day. What could be causing this?
Also, I'm still sleeping on my front - is this ok? I have a small bump.
Thanks 😊

Is it too late to have an epidural at 6 cm dilated ?

It's really unusual to
Progress super quick with a first baby so often you are left to potter about for a bit and establish in labour without being disturbed.
With second babies things often ramp up really fast and do we are quicker to encourage you to come in. If you've had a fast first birth you'll be advised to come in early on to allow safe travel.
Although, why not cut out the travel and stay home?

I don't think there's any real evidence to suggest how you birth in terms of late early whatever had any hereditary link. First babies tend to cook for a bit longer. Try and think of it as a birth month, your baby will come when it's ready.

No one knows, but it sounds unlikely to me.

No, you're relaxed into your instincts, that's great, enjoy it all :)

Eek, that sounds frightening for you.
I've never known them
Not to be able to unstick a baby stuck in that way.
Worse case scenario? Like, one I'm a million worse case scenario? They can cut through near your pubic bone. Never seen it happen though, it's something that lives in the textbooks.