In labour - need urgent advice!

[Ineedadvicee]

Well.. kinda in labour, kinda not!

Waters broke 27 hours ago, arrived at the hospital shortly after they broke but contractions failed to start. The hospital said that if nothing happens in 24 hours (24 hours after works breaking), they will start the oxytocin drip to get things moving. Apparently they can only allow 24 hours as you are more prone to infection once waters have gone.

Problem is… the 24 hours are up but there are no beds on labour ward so they want to take me in for a c section. I’m gutted because I haven’t even been given the chance to try for a vaginal birth… of course I need to follow their advice but it seems so unfair that the reason for the c section is purely down to lack of beds, not because of anything medical?

I don’t know what to do…

This is difficult , but they aren’t advising this medically , it’s purely because of space?
what’s your gut feeling telling you? I would potentially ask for antibiotics and try to go home, relax and start pumping- this can help bring on contractions. Have a foot massage and press all the acupuncture parts that can bring on labour.
i personally would want to avoid the drip as it can be incredibly painful.
really feel for you as this must feel very stressful and that won’t help bring on labour either x

My oldest daughter is a midwife. She left NHS. She saw it too often.

Also c-section without labour here. Easiest recovery. Would take that option every time.

this has made me so annoyed.. surely they can’t push you for c-sec just because they’re full? The main thing is your baby is delivered healthy, best of luck OP. Xx

Ask if they can ring around local units to see if they can take you before you make your decision - there may be beds on their labour wards that can take you.

no they're not - it's is no more no less convenient for any of the staff - it seems like they're going to be busy all night whatever the OP decides. They're suggesting it because the usual standard is to augment after 24 hours because of the risk of infection. If they cannot facilitate delivery by augmenting labour, but do have the capacity to do a section and go straight to posties then that is one option and that option has to be made available to the woman. Only the individual woman can weigh up the balance of risk and benefit based on their own beliefs, how much the experience of a vaginal birth is worth the risk of infection caused by further delay.

But they haven't done a lot to offer her another option than CS have they?

This post makes me really angry and sad.

A c section is major abdominal surgery and a lack of a bed / birthing room is an appalling and unacceptable reason to force you into having one.

speak to most senior midwife and threaten to complain afterwards.

stay safe and don’t leave it too long arguing about it, your little ones safe arrival is the most important thing right now. A c section is better than taking any risks.

Remember things are constantly on the move on the labour ward and a bed could come up quickly for you. I hope for this!

If not remember to view the section as a birth and not just surgery and enjoy meeting your baby.

Good luck x

Just to add to this, I was delayed on the labour ward, stayed on a midwife led unit for 44 hours after my waters broke. I developed sepsis, it was a very bad situation and both me and my baby were very poorly. Whilst you might be fine, I would urge you to listen to what they are saying and consider the section, a semi-planned one will be a lot more pleasant than an emergency

This is crazy. No hospital should be offering major surgery cos of beds!! 24 hours and more u can still keep going, get the stynto started, don’t get an epidural if u can help it, (need a bed too for that tho) and they will keep a check on ur obs, get antibiotics and hope u don’t get sepsis, but honestly there’s still time without a section. They cannot force u to have surgery and I wouldnt be doing this unless ur baby has some Brady’s and there is a proper emergency clinical need for surgery. Im gobsmacked at this honestly.

@Ineedadvicee are they giving you antibiotics? Not to frighten you, but my eldest developed Group B Strep sepsis after I had a long period between waters breaking and delivery without any antibiotics due to a busy ward. Please make sure they are doing this for you at the very least, whilst you agree a plan.

No thr NHS policy you can ask to see it says 72 hours is fine to wait at home! You just need to wear a maternnity pad and monitor. In the UK the policy is 72 hours and then the risk of infection goes up. Don't believe them pushing you.
Induction is great when medically warrented but as induction it carried massive risks.

Personally I would wait another 2 days and relax at home. No baths, showers, qalking and aide stepping on the curb and steps and. Do lots of oxytocin incouraging activities. No SEX though. But cuddles, and keeping cosy and comfortable, waat hing a feel good film, etc. Anything that raises the love hormone oxytocin.

C sections are great!

i was booked for a section and then induced on the drip etc and ended up with an EMCS. If they are offering a planned and calm CS take it with both hands - there are no prizes other than a healthy baby and calm and healthy you.

If you're not contracting then I'd just pack up and find a birth centre with a bed. There must be one not too far away

I had a similar situation. Afterwards when I researched the guidelines, the cut off for risk re infection was a range not a fixed point. I don’t want to give incorrect advice but I think it was around 48 hours. Get a friend or family member to look into this for you. Good luck!

You need to take their advice have the section. I was in the same position, had the section after waters had broke and induction had failed. Baby was poorly and on antibiotics for a week. Not worth the risk.

Just to add while my section was technically an emergency one, it was still a pretty calm experience.

my waters broke and 12 hours later when nothing had happened I was asked whether I’d prefer induction or c section. I chose the section and it was fab!

They keep resources (rooms / midwives) free for spontaneous labour. Or at least they do in our hospital. They explained the whole rota situation whilst I was waiting for a bed to have my waters broken, it’s a lot of juggling!

This. Honestly a planned c section is fine and some of the advice on here is mad. Just go with the medical advice and you will have hopefully have a healthy baby in your arms in no time and that's what it's all about. Good luck.

I was left for 7 days after my waters broke (not in the UK) and had an easy vaginal delivery of a prefect baby. The hospital sent me home after confirming my waters had indeed broken and asked me to go in each morning for testing. I didn't really realise the risks at the time, but I feel the situation was well managed and it was certainly worth not having to be induced or have a c-section. Hold on!

First baby, augmented labour = higher risk of intervention (as well as higher risk of infection due to waters going over 24h ago) it is a multi faceted clinical decision to offer c section.

I did manage a natural delivery after 55h (didn't progress beyond 7cm so was augmented via drip) but it was touch and go and I was very close to forcep / episiotomy delivery and had baby in surgical room full of people prepped to do this procedure.

Was told my outcome was pretty rare. You dont usually deliver baby without help at that point.

I believe this is a clinical decision based on outcome as well as the increase in risk of infection. You wouldn't be offered a csection if there was a viable alternative the hospital could facilitate.

Best of luck with it all OP. Once baby is here the rest becomes secondary in most instances.

I also had my labour room taken off of me with DC3. I was being induced and after 20h (I'd had one pessary at this point) they decided to move me as I wasn't in active labour and they were very busy. I held out as long as possible as I really didn’t want to move. 2 hours later they moved me to a smaller room where my waters promptly broke and I want into immediate active labour but I couldn't deliver there so they then had to move me to another delivery room (my 2nd room withinan hour and 3rd room overall) where I had the baby. Felt very inefficient to me and I also had to be wheeled naked from room 2 to room 3. Wasn't my finest time.

I’d have to check the exact stats again but when this happened to me, I asked and the risk of infection went from something like 1 in 100 to 2 in 100. I didn’t feel that was “risky” enough, so I waited longer. I did have antibiotics in the end.

This is utterly unacceptable. C-sections are major abdominal surgery and pressurising you into unnecessary surgery is disgraceful.

@Ineedadvicee decline all internal examinations, they are an infection risk. As long as everything keeps out of your vagina, it's fine to carry on beyond their 24hour time limit, which you'll find is non-evidence based. Women have gone for days after their waters have broken.

I'd not be giving into them, I'd certainly not agree to an unnecessary c-section. Tell them you'll have a homebirth instead and they'll soon find you a bed. I'm not sure what your views are on birth, but you can still await spontaneous labour even though you're waters have gone. As I said, keep everything out of your vagina and decline internal examinations. Keep your hydration up, keep moving, deep hip rotations on a birth ball (ensuring hips are higher than knees).

Read some Sara Wickham:

Dr Sara Wickham - ... information, inspiration and illumination for midwives, birth folk, women and families ...