to just be appalled and feel utterly powerless

[Misstomrs]

The BBC news today has an article that 1 in 5 births have an incident or near miss that could result in harm (including terminal harm) for a mother or her baby at birth.

My own birth was appalling mis-managed and since then (18 months ago) I have met with the hospital and the University that provided the trainee who was involved in our care and who almost killed our DS. It’s been genuinely draining and traumatic for me to keep going over what happened, but I have because I don’t want anyone else to go through what we did as a family. It was all completely avoidable.

I’m left feeling that maybe it wasn’t worth it. The system just seems so broken. What’s the point?

The lottery of care is one of the main things that puts me off having any more DCs. Both the hospital consultant and Univeristy team were appalled when I explained that to them, but it’s true.

AIBU? And more importantly, what can WE do about it?

We know that certain countries have different demographics. For example in Holland it's more normal to give birth in your twenties whereas we tend to be later. We are also more obese which loads risk and makes a difficult birth more likely. We also tend to be smaller than the Dutch - again impacting on birth.

Reborn- yes I’m aware I was fortunate to get my elective section but it wasn’t without stress and anxiety getting it in the end. They did have to tell me about the risks and in the same breath said I wasn’t high enough risk for a section. The likelihood was that I’d end up having an emergency one anyway so I saved myself the trauma and potential impact on my baby and myself by pushing for an elective one.

I am also aware having GD meant my baby was bigger, the thing is they didn’t catch the GD officially till the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy so there wasn’t much they could do to ensure my baby wasn’t going to be huge.

I’m grateful for the NHS, don’t get me wrong my post wasn’t intending to say it’s rubbish. It was pointing out the mixed messages professionals give you and the way they scare you into choosing their preferred options of birth when in my opinion it’s to save money because of all the cuts that are going on. After my surgery I ended up being told I needed a transfusion as I was heavily aneamia and also in the same breathe a friend of mine had a smaller baby than me only a week later in the same hospital (but still over 9 pound) had a 5 day labour and was told to go home for those first 4 days. Ended up trying to give birth and then rushed into theatre to have a c section because her own organs were shutting down. Both baby and mum were in intensive care for a week after. Luckily both well now.

I feel like I dodged a bullet and have no regrets opting for an elective section at all. Sometimes medical professionals are not right. The care I received after on the ward was great in fact and helped me recover quickly.

Also reborn you are mistaken I’m definetly not over weight. My BMI was spot on perfect, so don’t assume people who get GD are overweight! My brother has type 1 and dad type 2, it was likely a heredrity thing.

Lipstick I totally disagree about Cs having higher risks than normal labour, the results are not comparable because botched births are not recorded red properly but we do know largest pay out from maternity is from labour that goes wrong for

OP is talking about lapses in maternity care causing or risking harm to mother and baby. Apparently in 1 in 5 cases. Not the natural risk of a woman giving birth. They are completely different things.

I have to say I hate the attitude that woman give birth in mud huts so here in the UK we should be grateful.

It is partly about money. There aren't enough midwives or obstetricians.

But it's not just about money. It would help, for a start, to make sure that health professionals treat women with a degree of respect, and communicate information to them properly. It would help if hospitals were completely open about their mistakes and learnt from them instead of covering them up. It would help if better handover systems were in place. It would help if the NHS gathered data about maternity interventions and outcomes that would enable people to make better decisions. It would be better if IT was used to improve efficiency so that resources could be allocated more appropriately.

I'm having similar issues. Appaulingly handled birth with DS. We've also gone through the channels to try and get awareness raised with the hospital to save others' the same trauma as has OP. The hospital maternity services have since been branded inadequate, and all multiple births and high risks are being transferred out of area to actually birth, and for some antenatal appointments (so effectively the antenatal care is shared between hospitals). I spoke at length with my GP when we were considering trying for DC2; I was assured I could choose one of three other hospitals to manage my care, and still book a home birth. He was happy to write a referral letter explaing what happened last time, and support me through the pregnancy if I felt I was struggling but unable to voice my concerns to the midwifery team etc. I'm now pregnant with DC2, and have been told it's my local hospital or nowhere. I'm genuinely researching into unassisted births (not doing anything knee-jerky before I get jumped on).

And I have to say that I hate the attitude that women in the UK are so very, very hard done by when they're not. I'm not saying the system is perfect, it certainly is not. However, threads like this envokes something in women whereby they wade in with their 'horror' stories, which upon true examination are oftentimes a reflection on the reality of childbirth. It ain't all sunshine and roses. For some reason, it's expected that it should be and if it isn't, we need someone to blame. Usually the midwives from the reading I've done. Yes there are problems, yes things could be better, but I reckon that 1 in 5 figure of near misses is a load of shite and includes everything from an unrecorded set of observations to a woman stubbing her toe off the end of the bed. Not life or death situations as we've been made believe. All in my opinion obviously. And as @Chocolate will tell you, I know fuck all!

Agree completely with hackmum. Well said!

But then lapses in care leading to a section (and increasing the risk to the mothering the meantime) are just as bad.

Fir example, I was told I wasn't progressing and wouldn't give birth vaginally. In the process if this conversation I did - and only my DH noticed. The Drs didn't. Now I could have been whisked off to endure surgery which would have been the wrong call! Unfortunately these near misses aren't recorded.

Totally Reborn, Only helping you out feels like I have done a public service giving your head a wobble that's if you are a midwife...

@Headofthehives, seriously? If they had let you go and something happened to the baby that could have been avoided by a section, you'd be here complaining about that too! At that precise minute, it was decided you were not progressing. But guess what? Sometimes, nature just does its thing and since midwives and obs don't have crystal balls or the ability to tell the future, they can only do the best they can with what's in front of them at the time.

The NHS is a money pit that will gobble up all you throw at it. Throwing just money at it isn't the answer. Good staff, of which there is a shortage would help, but brexit has sorted that out. Which red tie wearer wanted that, I wonder?

She problem is interventions this birth cause problems next birth, which cannot be avoided.
And very difficult to attribute problems to the last birth in the stats.

Good staff requires money

@Chocolate, I've been pretty good natured with you up until now I reckon considering you talked absolute bullshit in your post about how the NHS was to blame for your birth obstruction. Best let it lie now, eh?

My DS stopped moving at 31 weeks. I went in to get checked out. Luckily I was seen straight away, the midwife recognised he was in distress and I was rushed into theatre for an EMCS. He needed to be resuscitated and was on a ventilator for a couple of days. Although he was a tiny 3lbs, he did well and came home a month later. He's a happy healthy 7 month old now. I'm doing less well and am constantly plagued by 'what Ifs' and anxiety. I have a GP appointment booked to discuss PTSD, watching the news report this morning definitely triggered some anxiety. We were extremely lucky

Ether decision that I was not progressing was made without recourse to looking!! As soon as the team had left the room my DH lifted the sheet and started looking between my legs to find DS...

Here’s the article.

Agree that NHS needs an overhaul as well as better targeted funding. But only a fool would think that the current looneys we got in the government would be able to sort anything out. Look at the mess they've made so far. Brexit etc. They have no idea what they are doing. Kick the current govenment out and let others sort out their mess including NHS amongst so many other things.

DH thought I looked a bit distracted when I was talking to the Drs.

Reborn just because you make up things doesnt mean everyone else does..
And if thats you good natured god knows what you are like when you are horrible.
Slightly scared for your 'patients' I actually hope they are imaginary for their sake!

Sorry @Headofthehives, I don't understand your first sentence. Are you saying they didn't VE before deciding you weren't progressing? If so, how did they know? Anyway, I've seen women go from 5cm to 10cm in 10 minutes. You can just never tell.

I don't have 'patients' @Chocolate. I have women. Patients are sick people. Pregnant women are not. Toodle pips now, don't let me and my horrible personality keep you.