AIBU to think this may be a good idea? Childbirth related

[Justanideamaybe]

Not a health care professional.
I am a mother who’s had a very near miss with a poorly managed birth , very close thing. My sister has had to deliver in a very dangerous way , my friend has serious injuries from a huge , poorly positioned baby. I’m just thinking , shouldn’t it be procedure to do an ultrasound on arrival at hospital in labour? Would it not be wise to have a quick look at where baby is, the position, the size , the blood flow through the cord? Give the mother a choice? My son was almost born bollocks first , huge, cord around his neck , he would almost certainly have suffered some oxygen deprivation and I some serious damage to get him out quickly. Luckily we were saved by a consultant who responded to the red button and c-sectioned him out within 8 minutes. It was a busy and chaotic night in that hospital and the dr that answered the red button complained that the ultrasound machine was ‘ the wrong type, a gynae machine, set to the wrong settings or something … but within 20 seconds she saw that my son was breech, strangled and fat… no way he was being dragged out by forceps. The right call was made and we all made it . If they’d done that scan on arrival at hospital, he’d never had been in danger in the first place. I’d have been wheeled up to wait for the inevitable section. Some babies are in the wrong position , tangled in cords , too fat and all kinds of problems that can make birth so risky. Why don’t they do a quick scan in labour? Just before birth? It could save so many horrible labours or poorly or dead babies . Why doesn’t it happen?

And yes, yes, yes to the private scan before due date. I don't mean to scare you - she will probably be fine - but to reduce the risks, it's a total no-brainer so if you can possibly afford it then do it. Wishing you all the best for the new baby in your family!

Agree. I was induced in jan at a UK hospital and was scanned first to check babies position before they started. Not sure if this is standard

I agree, and also the thing about staying at home until you’re late in labour and then setting off for hospital. I think that’s a bit mad. It was the scariest part of my labour as I had to walk out in the street while having contractions every 2-3 minutes and nearly delivered in the car park. There should be a early labour area where you can go when you’re 40 weeks plus and having contractions. Post natal care should also be home visits daily for 10 days, I’m sure many cases of tongue tie, PND and post birth complications would be picked up earlier. My mid wife told me that the total post natal care budget is about £200 for both mother and baby for all the post natal checks.

How would we make this into a Mumsnet campaign?

I've had one NHS birth and one private birth abroad with scans every week and CTGs from 36 weeks. 2nd baby was born with the cord wrapped around him 8 times...so much so that the experienced obgyn asked the nurse to take a picture of him just out. My routine CTGs were always just not quite right and so I had them every day from 36 weeks along with 3x weekly scans. My obgyn suspected that the cord was wrapped so she sent me for a more detailed us at the main hospital and the doctor there told me that they could not confirm it by us and we would just take it day by day. He is here safely and has no deficits but I had a very difficult birth. No intervention happened apart from a sweep.

I was the most anxious I have ever been while getting all those scans and I did have a fleeting moment where I thought..if this was the NHS I wouldn't even have known and although the outcome was good it would have saved me all that anxiety. I guess I say that as someone who had a good outcome though, perhaps I would feel entirely different if that wasn't the case.

Completely agree with you about women should have the choice. There are a lot of mums who have had great experiences from minimal intervention, midwife supported births and im glad we live in a country where that can happen in a safe environment with quick access to a higher level of care if required. Unlike the experience in US where some mums are choosing to go for freebirths so they can avoid the more medical model of perinatal care which is something that worries me a lot. I just worry if we move towards a more medical based birth (routine scans throughout 3rd trimester/ctgs/scans in labour) some women may feel they have to choose more intervention out of fear when really its not always required in every situation. It would be so interesting to see more evidence on it but in my limited experience (sample size 2 births ) more scans and routine tracing and dr led care wasn't a better experience of birth for me.

A scan before labour would have saved me a very traumatic birth and ongoing complications (prolapses).

My baby was back-to-back but this was not identified before I was induced and forceps were used in the delivery room. The maximum pulls were performed with some force before I was taken to surgery and opened up further. By that time the baby had been dragged half way down the birth canal so it was too late for an EMCS and the consultant had to use Kielland rotational forceps to deliver her.

The result of this was permanent facial scarring and lip palsy to my baby and posterior prolapse for me. It's taken me a very long time and a lot of hard work to be able to walk any sort of distance without discomfort.

I am so very grateful that my baby survived and things could have been so, so much worse. But that is such a low bar as an expectation of birth in a Western country. It all makes me so cross.

Medical intervention doesn't always equal 'harm'
Just saying something 'increases chance of intervention' doesn't mean that's intrinsically harmful