To think that this could be possible - covid birth

[DaisyEM]

I had my first baby during the pandemic, and I’ve never fully understood why much of it happened the way it did.

As a bit of background, my waters went at 31 weeks but I didn’t go into labour, so I was induced bang on 37 weeks (with checks in hospital every 3 days to monitor for infection).

I was called in at 9pm for my induction, and by 11am the next day I was having contractions. After several hours I was recording that I was getting three contractions lasting around 60 seconds every 10 mins. I told a midwife to be told just to sit tight. During a 2hr period I pressed my bell three times as I was so sure I was in active labour and every time I was dismissed. By the time they finally said they would check me I was 9cm and rushed round to delivery suite. This was really stressful and at this point I already felt like I wasn’t listened to/ignored and it didn’t fill me with confidence.

As soon as I got in delivery suite I was 10cm and needing to push. I pushed for 1.5hrs before they did a forceps delivery, then and there in the room without an epidural or gas and air.

I still to this day have no idea why I had a forceps delivery. NHS website says to allow up to 3hrs for pushing for first babies.

I’ve since had my second baby and my experience was completely different. It was so much more positive and I felt like I was in control and could have a say in what was happening.

My hunch is that when I had my first baby, they didn’t have any space for me on the delivery ward and so they kept stalling me when I was saying that my contractions were coming close together. And then the only reason I can think of for the forceps delivery is because they needed the room back. Baby had constant monitoring during my labour so I know there weren’t any concerns with him.

What does everyone think? I suffered PTSD following my first birth and had counselling. My pregnancy was complicated and my baby was unwell after he was born so that has a lot to do with it, but the thing that bothered me the most has always been the forceps. I had a birth debrief and when I did my birth plan for baby 2 neither the consultant nor the midwife could give me a reason for the forceps delivery.

I also recently spoke to a friend who’s a nurse and mentioned that I wasn’t allowed gas and air first time, and she said that there was an oxygen shortage during the pandemic, so I guess that could be why they didn’t let me have gas and air 🤔

it’s always bothered me and I feel like I can’t get any straight answers, so would be good to hear what others think.

I'm not a midwife but 2 hours of active pushing is a long time. As the PP who is a midwife had said, they may have assessed that you weren't making progress. There may also have been a practical issue such as shift changeover that would have been encountered if they allowed you to push for longer.

Communication was obviously lacking, whatever the reason.

Honestly? I think some Trusts are just very forceps-happy, particularly with first time mums. It lets them feel in control and they have such a downer on first time mums. We have a consultant in our Trust that says 'I'll be seeing you with my forceps' to FTMs at about 36 weeks. I wish I was joking. It happened to me and 2 others in my NCT group in the same week.

My birth plan consisted of one statement with both births - 'I do not consent to forceps'. No one even attempted to suggest forceps to me.

I found the forceps birth really traumatic, it kept me up at night for months afterwards, going over it in my head. I don’t know if because I had no epidural; no gas and air etc, I just felt absolutely everything and it was horrendous. Since having a more positive birth experience with my second, it’s just brought up more feelings about my first birth and wondering if it could have been different. Sorry you also had forceps, they really are horrible 😔

I was given paracetamol on labour ward, which as far as I’m concerned is pointless with something like giving birth! Tbf, I never asked for an epidural, but I actually didn’t know they did forceps without one!

It is, but it’s a case of weighing up whether it’s better to keep baby in and monitor mum/baby closely, or delivery a baby prematurely. In my case this happened with each pregnancy. I travelled down to our local hospital (45 mins away) every three days for tests and monitoring, took antibiotics and took my temp at home every 3hrs. I also initially stayed in hospital 2-3 nights after my waters went, and when labour didn’t start, I was sent home. As others have pointed out to you, it’s a very different scenario when your waters go preterm.

This near enough happened to me too 2nd time around. I had clots forming inside which they didn’t know about until 30 mins after birth; emergency cord was pulled and I had my uterus manually cleared out by hand, with no epidural and only gas and air, which was also horrific, but the gas and air took the edge off I’m sure x

The second birth doesn't sound as if it was objectively a great experience (well done though) just compared to your expectations (which were low after the first one). A lot of women have high expectations the first time which means birth comes as a shock. This is okay, birth is horrible and shocking, but nothing youve said indicates the lack of care or compassion you are assuming. It does sound as if the medical team had you and your babies health at the front of their minds. Its possible he PPE made them seem more distant or affected communication, but I really doubt they didn't care. I'm not saying this to defend them or take a side, but to try and reassure you that they cared.

The judgement on pushing versus intervening with forceps would have nothing to do with needing your bed, they weren't putting covid patients in maternity wards. It was most likely that they didn't know how long you'd been fully dilated (you presented that way) so they were erring on the side of caution. If the rate of progress was slow, it was unlikely you'd have had an intervention free birth within 30mins, so intervening a bit early was actually to save you from more exhaustion, more risk and a potentially emergency situation. Maybe everyone erred too much on the side of caution, but there's no way to know. Nobody can tell you for sure what would have happened with 30mins more pushing, it could have been better or worse.

@LadyQuackBeth thanks for replying. That’s an interesting way to look at things, as I actually feel really positive about my 2bd birth, despite having to have the blood clots removed by hand and the emergency bell pulled, which I found terrifying and absolutely screamed through as it was agony 😖 but like you say, the bar was set low with my first birth and I was just happy to have not needed an assisted birth and to have done it myself. I felt much more in control.

Oh I wasn’t suggesting that covid patients needed beds on the labour ward. At the time I had my first there was a bit of a baby boom and you could really feel how manic the maternity wards were and how stressed the staff were, so I wondered if they possibly needed me out of the room asap to make space for another labouring woman. Which if that was the case I totally get it, as if I was coming in in labour I’d expect to have a room to give birth in. They have to manage the situation as best they can. I just always wondered if I’d sort of had my time in the room and so they decided to call it and do forceps to get baby out and free up the room x

Yes which is why we monitor and why prophylactic antibiotics are given. But there are also risks of having a baby prematurely. It's about weighing up those risks. Obviously if we pick up that there is an infection starting we would deliver baby.