To ask for your ideas about what research needs doing in midwifery?

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Sorry, posting for traffic!

I am a third year student midwife about to embark on a research project but I am struggling to decide on a topic.

As many of you are parents, is there anything in your experiences of maternity care that you think could have been done better or that you wondered why something was done or suggested? Anything you would have wanted more research on?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

@Weefreetiffany congratulations on your baby. Please, please do not feel you have failed your baby because you had a forceps delivery! Forceps exist for a reason. They save babies’ and mothers’ lives, and prevent caesareans. I had a kiellands forceps delivery (rotational forceps - only used in one or two Trusts by very experienced practitioners, because of the damage they can cause). I had a mediolateral episiotomy, a midline third degree tear and two deep internal lacerations. I lost 2.9L of blood from the injuries. My baby was born making no respiratory effort and had to be resuscitated for 3 minutes and 47 seconds. He was then absolutely fine; he’s now 3 and incredibly intelligent, sensitive, thoughtful and energetic (how everyone describes their kids, basically). My pelvic floor was a mess. I was doubly incontinent for a while. I had extensive pelvic floor physio and things are now much, much better.

Would I choose the rotational forceps again? Absolutely, because they saved me from having an EMCS at full dilatation (which I ironically had to have for my second child - and the recovery was WAY worse than the forceps delivery). They also meant that I was able to push my baby out myself (rotational forceps aren’t really designed to provide traction, rather they are for turning babies who are malpositoned), and that’s something I’ve held on to as a comfort.

A long post but just to say that no, you made the right choice for your and baby’s health. He was out quickly; you’re healing; hopefully feeding is going well and your little boy will thrive. Well done for making it through!!

How stress can affect pregnancy. I have had 4 babies, 3 normal, natural births, and one induction due to my cervix being clamped shut apparently due to major stress - my parents both died whilst i was pregnant.

Tongue tie- not one HCP picked it up, I had to pay private as he was feeding well with bottle (breastfeeding was hard) the consultant said I had no chance of breastfeeding due to my babies TT.

Post natal wards- men were allowed to stay overnight if we wanted, but god it was loud, I hardly slept. Doctors coming in talking loudly at 2am.

Inductions - why is gas and air not allowed on the induction ward if you are having contractions and waters have broke ( and your just waiting on a space on delivery ) but is allowed just over the corridor on the delivery ward

If GPs can offer timed appointments, why can't midwifery?

They used to. Perhaps a few of us had the same appointment time, which I can understand, but not a large cohort sitting there for hours on end.

I think it would be a good idea to see which of the improvements to maternity care that had occurred by the 1990s have actually gone back the other way. My birthing experiences in that decade, and both antenatal and postnatal care, in lots of different places, were much better than I am seeing mostly described now and I have heard the same from friends of the same vintage. Yes, the staffing crisis in midwifery, but what else and why?

I'd also be interested in information about back injuries during birth occurring due to (mis)use of different types of midwifery trolleys/beds, with or without stirrups, or prevalence of back problems in people who have had (vaginal) ultrasound with and without proper couch and stirrups being used versus the way they seem to do it now in some places with a chair to put your feet on which results in a very odd position that is not back-friendly. Anecdotally, sore backs from pregnancy and childbirth can often seem to be all right a while after birth, and then flare up as the woman ages.

I have since read that intense exercise can cause it.

Perhaps it can so this would be interesting to look at, prevalence against exercise, but it can occur anyway. It can be due to Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD). Mine always started quite late on and went away after birth, but I knew a woman through NCT who still had problems with it through the first year. We lost touch so I don't know if she had developed a permanent problem or not.

No, I didn't do any exercises. I wasn't even aware that there were such exercises!
Good luck with the baby.

Oh that's a really good one!
Specific, measured, focused, interesting!

I can't really take much credit, but I listened to Elaine Miller talking about it and thought that somebody really needs to look at this. The number of posters on here posting in women's health about the birth injuries, prolapse, continence issues is very upsetting. Women shouldn't be left in this state. Postnatal care seems to be getting so poor it seems to be non-existent in some places. My nieces had far worse care ,or lack of it, in the last 10 years than I did in the 1980s.