Consultant thinks I imagined forceps pain

[moonstone1201]

Hello

I'm currently 35 weeks and thinking about my birth plan. I had a pretty traumatic time with my first and ended up with a forceps delivery. I had an appointment with my consultant at 22 weeks and ended up bursting into tears and begging for a C-section

I'm past that now - had very supportive midwives, read a lot about my options and the physiology of labour and actually feel fine about the whole thing now.

The one thing I can't get past is that the consultant said that I must have imagined the forceps being painful as I had an epidural. The most I should have felt was a bit of tugging. I can remember the birth in great detail and it felt like being stabbed. My notes say I had 'vaginal lacerations' as a result of the forceps which would not stop bleeding, resulting in an extra night in hospital. The consultant thinks (4 years on, with no first hand knowledge of my first birth) that I had PND which made me imagine the pain. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Anyway, having discussed this more recently with a lovely midwife, she has suggested that I opt for a different kind of anaesthetic if I need forceps next time - a something block, can't remember the name of it although will find out at my next appointment.

Just wondered if anyone else had experienced a painful forceps delivery with an epidural, or had experienced the other thing I can't remember the name of and could tell me about it!

Thanks

The other type of pain relief is called a pudendal block!

You poor thing!

My sister had an epidural that didn't work and they wouldn't believe her either!

You seem to be doing fantasically well in 'getting over it' andwell done for talking it through with the midwife.

Maybe for a bit of closure, you could write a letter to this consultant stating the pain you felt was not imagined and you ahve taken steps in this pregnancy to try and ensure a bteer experience from last time, and ask them to add it to your birth notes.

Might make you feel a bit better if nothing else.
x

*better

also tell him in your letter how strong you're being by going ahead with a natural delivery, many people have a c section after a traumatic birth, and you decided against this which is very brave of you. i would do the same thing,but i know its a rare choice. and making this choice surely shows youre you have a strong psychological mindset which would not 'imagine'such pain.

i haven't heard ofa pudendal block- i had a spinal block during my forceps delivery, is that the same thing?

had i not had that,i definitely would have felt enormous amounts of pain as my epidural didn't work and,well,thatconsultant needs to actually look at the size of those forceps again!! with inadequate pain relief, who wouldn't feel pain with those things goinginside you!!

A pudenal block is a local anaesthetic injected into the perineum. I had one for my episiotomy and ventouse delivery and only felt pressure, no pain.

Thank you all for your replies. :)

moonstone1201,

Your poor thing. I think its incredibly disrespectful to suggest that you imagined the pain. It is not unusual for an epidural to partially work. (Or not work at all)

I think you would be within your rights to make a complaint and ask for a different consultant.

Hi there, that's awful, I can't believe he's basically telling you you imagined it.

This happened to me too, two years ago. It was bloody awful, very painful and also a horrible sensation of being completely invaded/assaulted.

I wasn't given the block thing so can't comment on that but was finally given voltarol when they started stitching me and I was screaming and they finally accepted that I could feel everything.

I had a planned c-section with my second and it was fabulous. I think you're very brave going for another VB and really hope it goes well for you xx

muslimah I think I have a psychological mindset too! It's no walk in the park doing the ELCS route either.

a strong psychological mindset

withorwithoutyou i wasn't suggesting those who have ELCSs for good reason as you did do not have a strong psychological mindset, sorry if it came across that way. i was trying to say as you did, that the OP is very brave to go for another VB.

moonstone, not sure if this is relevant or helpful but posting just in case...

I had a ventouse delivery with a tear (but nothing like the lacerations you describe). It was too late for me to have an epidural and I had the gas and air taken away at the end because I was very tired and unable to focus on pushing when using the G&A.

I know that I felt pain at the time but I don't remember it and for me it was, and still is, the SENSATION of DS being pulled 'around the corner' that I found has stayed with me and been the part of the experience I remember as being traumatic.

I guess what I am saying is that, even with an epidural in, it is possible that you felt the tugging and pulling - which is very unpleasant.

On the other hand it is also possible that the block was not as effective as it should have been.

Whichever it was it is only right that your experience and fears are taken into account. Can your MW help make sure your notes clearly state the request for the pudendal block?

I've just this week discussed my fears with my MW and she reassured me that the chances of me having another ventouse delivery are quite small.

This is an American article but might be useful.

I can really relate to what you are saying. I had forceps under epidural in my 2nd delivery but still felt it. I just don't think epidurals work completely for some people (neither or mine did...). I was certainly aware of the sensation of the forceps being inserted - i guess te edge was taken off the pain by the epidural but I still felt a lot of pain and discomfort. Plus even 5 years after the birth I still had twinges in that area and still felt bruised inside.

No-one can underestimate the physical and psychological impact of forceps - it's a horrendous procedure which belongs in the history books IMHO. I was so traumatised I couldn't contemplate another pregnancy even though beforehand I wanted 3 DC.

So your consultant has been horribly insensitive - he should try having a medieval metal contraption shoved up where the sun don't shine and see how much he likes it!!

Good luck with your birth; I hope it is the birth you want this time!

It's a fact that epidurals don't always work, unfortunately. It seems ignorant and illogical as well as insensitive that this consultant should refuse to believe you.

My mother had four epidurals, one with each of her children. None of them worked. (This was in the late 70s and 80s and no one questioned it or looked into it further.)

I chose homebirth myself but did do some reading about epidurals when I was pregnant because of my mother's experience, and in case of transfer.

As I remember the figures are that ~3-5% fail completely and another ~12-15% provide only partial relief. Sometimes they're badly administered but sometimes people just have anomalies or defects in their back that don't make epidural a good choice of pain relief.

Also worth bearing in mind that if you've had one epidural failure you're apparently more likely to have another in future. Your midwife's advice to try a different method of anaesthesia sounds very sensible to me.

Good luck!

one in eight women who have epidurals still request further pain relief. this consultant needs to read a bit more!