To ask for opinions on ‘medicalised’vs ‘natural’ birth?

[birdonawire1]

Read so many stories of mismanaged births, CTG not read correctly, babies not monitored and damaged and then read romanticised stories all about the perfect ‘natural’ birth.

It seems very polarised so what do people think really?

The actual statistics for the UK around birth make for interesting reading. I did a lot of research, realised that "optimal" vertex deliveries happen in less than 40% of births and decided I wasn't going to fuck around with the possibility of life altering damage to my pelvic floor, vagina or any other part of my lower anatomy. Statistically speaking, elective caesarian works out as having less long term impact and better outcomes, and I had a horrible pregnancy and wanted it over asap. There are more recent studies that looked at women months after "natural" birth, MRI scanning their pelvises etc, and an alarming proportion had undiagnosed/unnoticed pelvic fractures and other serious internal damage (this was a US study, but as women tend to be taller here (assuming you are UK based, sorry!) I can imagine there may be a less alarming proportion of serious birth-injuries, but judging by the number of threads on the subject on mumsnet, that may not be the case...)

My ELC was awesome, and I would recommend it every time. I have a friend who went for the all singing all dancing water birth experience, and found it "empowering and amazing" and not-so-secretly thinks mine wasn't a real one. We both got our babies into the world safely, we are both here and well, with no lasting negative effects. I think we both win really.

No-one wins when you have a traumatic birth experience, and as posters up-thread have said, there really needs to be better education and information around pregnancy and birth in general so that women can make informed choices. Having said that, the information is out there, you just need to have the impetus to look, and perhaps it is this that is lacking?

I won't have another baby, but if I did I would choose an ELC again due to my personal experience. I'd check that it was still the safest option though, as it seems only sensible to keep on top of the research when you're undertaking such a potentially dangerous endeavour.

If you get a live baby and a live mother out of the process, the rest of it doesn't matter at all.

My elective c section for my second was an amazing experience. I chose to do this after having a horrible induction then emergency c section with my first. We also knew that our 2nd child was ill before she was born.

They still made me fight for it though. I was pushed to have a VBAC the whole way, even though I knew an elective c section was for the best. Turned out she was breech and they hadn't realised, so she would have been a c section anyway. Go figure.

The best birth is one where the mother is safe and the baby born safely and healthy.

My body decided that natural/unmedicalised was the way to do it.

As is so often the case, I didn’t get to choose. I did enjoy it, however.

Every birth is medicalised unless you do the whole thing start to finish without any medically qualified person present. I don't think this labelling of medicalised versus natural is at all helpful.

But then I had a planned C-section for medical reasons, loved it and would not change a moment of it, and am tired of people with extreme views acting as if the birth of my baby was in some way deficient.

The best birth is one where the mother is safe and the baby born safely and healthy.

X 1 million

Obviously whilst my c-section was right for me I understand why other people would prefer to give birth vaginally rather than have surgery. I don't want to sound as if I am saying that the only way to give birth is via section.

Giving birth is such a very tiny moment in your life. All that matters as people have said is that you and the baby come out of it safely. Really I think people who are lucky enough to live in a country with excellent free health care should stop obsessing over the details of it and focus on the rest of their lives.

I never had a birth plan...all I cared about was that I had a healthy baby and obviously that I’d be ok too.

I was induced, epidural, vaginal birth with only 1 stitch for a tiny graze. I felt zero pain, it was calm and relaxed, I actually wouldn’t change a thing - it was totally perfect for me.
If I’m lucky enough to have another child I’d hope to do it exactly the same way, I’ve no desire to be in pain.

With DS1, i was very realistic about how things can change, never forgot the midwife who told me that low risk mums would have a happy water birth and be home 2 hours later. Well that didn’t happen for me. Because of my “low risk” status I was left with a student midwife who said I needed to stop pushing but wouldn’t examine me because I wasn’t “due” for one. I pushed for 5 hours in the end, no pain relief apart from gas and air. Episiotomy required due to a stuck baby and then my stitches broke down and got infected and left me waddling around in pain for months. It still makes me cross and that was 4 years ago.

I was induced with DS2 due to cholestasis. My waters broke and he was born less than an hour later. It was painful but a fantastic experience.

If I ever had another, I’d ask to be induced. I agree with the pp who said you wouldn’t opt for natural dentistry.

I’m so sorry OP.

You wouldn't opt for "natural" dentistry

You cannot really compare this though. The reason I didn't have analgesia for my labours was that I didn't want drugs being transferred to my baby. I also wanted us both to be alert to commence BF. I wanted to reduce the risk of an emcs as it is known that baby missing out on passing through the birth canal increases the risk of many diseases for baby in the future.

However when it was suggested that I required an emcs for one of mine, I of course agreed immediately and was prepped and ready for it, I was devastated but obviously was happy to do whatever was best for baby. However baby had other ideas and was born vaginally before they could get the spinal in (breech baby).

I accept analgesia at the dentists because it does not have any impact whatsoever on my children (I would have declined dental treatment in pregnancy).

I've had a full spectrum.
#1 ended with forceps and an episiotomy under a spinal block
#2 was a precipitous labour and he appeared en route to hospital with not even a paracetamol
#3 was far and away the best, and was fairly medicalised. After the shock and damage of #2 I was very specific that I didn't want to go past term if he was looking big, and I wanted, ideally, to have a midwife working with me to minimise risk of tearing. Despite being very short staffed that happened, so #3 appeared to a pair of midwives with an Anglepoise pointing up my nether regions. 😂 No drugs, minimal damage, felt great after. However bthe lying down being watched would not suit many, but that reassurance was good for me.

I had an awful pregnancy, painful induction and scary birth with what seemed like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

I am so glad that every stage was "medicalised" to a greater or lesser degree - I doubt either of us would have survived without it.

If you get a live baby and a live mother out of the process, the rest of it doesn't matter at all

This is incredibly insensitive given that the op has said her baby is brain damaged. Also what about all of the traumatised women who have PTSD because they weren't listened to in labour or were treated terribly or were denied a much wanted elective section? We should have much higher standards than just aiming for mother and baby to survive!

My overall opinion is that birth is a natural process but that doesn't automatically mean it is safe. I don't think it needs to be treated as a medical problem to be solved in a normal healthy pregnancy (which you would hope would be a majority of pregnancies), and I support the general idea of women being made to feel safe and empowered to choose a birth which they prefer. However it is sensible to be alive to the possibility of complications, some of which can arise very suddenly, which may require medical intervention. Without a "medicalised" birth my son would not be here, there was consensus amongst doctors that he would never have survived labour.

If you get a live baby and a live mother out of the process, the rest of it doesn't matter at all

How on earth can you say this given the OP's posts?

Very sorry to hear about your baby, OP

I gave birth at a time of less pressure on the NHS and I really believe that is why checks were made and problems were picked up.

I had vaginal births, no pain relief with either. They worked for me. If I had felt I needed pain relief, or if I’d have needed a c section, I would have taken one.

My birth plan said I’d like this this and this if possible, but the overriding priority is healthy baby, healthy me so I’ll do whatever needs done to achieve that. I stand by that.

I was lucky enough to have two straightforward vaginal deliveries but I would have done anything asked of me to get the dcs here safely,

The reason I didn't have analgesia for my labours was that I didn't want drugs being transferred to my baby. I also wanted us both to be alert to commence BF.

It’s a terrible indictment of maternal care in the UK that you were made to avoid an epidural on those grounds. It is well established that epidurals have no impact on AGPAR scores. They certainly don’t make mothers less ‘alert’ either. 🤨 Why on earth were you not informed of that?

I really think midwives and their lobby have managed to convince large segments of the female population that medical intervention is evil. The end result, of course, is the worryingly high stillbirth rate, as well as the many cases of damage to the baby or mother’s health resulting from inadequate or tardy intervention. There is a real problem with maternal care in this country.

OP and Underhisi, 💐 I’m so sorry

Op I had an EMCS and loved it. It felt calm and peaceful and safe and was painfree.

Oh, I didn’t RTFT, OP I’m so sorry about your baby.

Comey, I am well aware of that thanks, however as I said, I also wanted to reduce my risk of an emcs. I am a mw, so pretty well clued up on the pros and cons of analgesia

@PlainSpeakingStraightTalking

Childbirth is still the biggest killer of women world wide. 'Medicalised' every time.

Can you cite a source for that, please?

I'm sure the world health organisation would love to hear of your opinion, as their evidence seems to suggest that is not the case.

Thinking that individual women have made a genuine choice between medicalised and natural, and attaching value judgements to this is magical thinking. If you're opting for a natural delivery and things go awry, unless something very unusual is going on, in the UK this would lead to intervention for the safety of the mum and baby. At this point, you or your birth partner wouldn't say, "nah, let's get back in the birthing pool and see what happens", or if you did, it would be highly unusual.

You can't control what kind of birth you have any more than you can control what kind of sleeper your baby turns out to be, there are aspects you can influence, but you simply cannot decide that you will have the ideal birth, and then if it happens, pat yourself on the back for sticking to your plan and wonder where on earth the other women are going wrong. Whether you breathe it out, have any kind of intervention, whatever type of CS, it's all out of your hands, to varying degrees.

@AnonymousAgain, were there stats for adult females?