Forcep delivery

[loutynan]

I'm after a straight answer.............should a forcep delivery be performed within a hospital with no pain relief? all help greatly received

Hi, I don't know for sure but all the info I've gleaned about medical intervention in prep for my first says you should get pain relief with forceps or ventouse.

Oh I do hope you are not asking because this happened to you...?

Usually no - even an episiotomy should have adequate pain relief given first (even if that's just gas and air)

In an absolute dire emergency there may not be time though, although that would be rare I'd imagine...

I had forceps with local anaesthetic for the episiotomy and diamorphine which I had already had for the contractions. I think NICE guidelines state that appropriate pain relief should be given, although it doesn't specify what that would be.

i would think that they would give pain relief, although presumably if it's a matter of life and death there would not necessarily be time?

things like an epidural take a while to administer and to kick in... although iw ould presume that gas and air would be freely available.

I'm within a military base and had my little girl in dec by forcep delivery. It took 13 mins to actually get her out after the forceps were placed in. I had no pain relief after many requests for an epidural and all were turned down. It was absolute torture and the doctor stitched me after and it was left gaping and I developed an infection. I am still not heeled and I lost 4 pints of blood and had to have a transfusion. I am having a meeting on monday and no matter how I word things in google I cant find a straight answer to this question. I have tried to ask doctors and midwives here and because of an investigation that was started as a result of my complaint no one can answer me.

Thanks for all your quick replies though.

I think something should definitely be given. I had forcepes an I assume I had a localanesthetic though it was so hectic I dont actually remember.

That sounds awful for you, what a horrid thing to go through. Good luck getting some answers about why it happened and I hope you are fully healed soon.

And congratulations on your little one!

From NICE

'Instrumental birth is an operative procedure that should be undertaken with tested effective anaesthesia.'

That must have been agony. I had a spinal anaesthetic, so was totally numb.

I think adequate pain relief would be given, especially if requested, unless they could prove that there was no time - but 13 minutes would certainly be time for at least a local. I hate forceps - my mother suffered high rotational ones with no pain relief either when my brother got stuck and it nearly finished her off. I'm so sorry that happened to you, it sounds like hell. Congratulations too.

Thank you for all your replies, it really has helped and yes it was horrid, it has stopped my husband wanting anymore children now, and this one was my first. I'll work on him!! I'm going to get onto "nice' and have a look. Thanks again, and my little one is totally worth all the pain.

I had a forceps delivery with no pain relief, but things were very panicked at the time, I was lucky that it didnt take long and they did give a local for the stitches. It was, obviously, very painful at the time, but I did recover quite quickly . I hope you get the answers you need.

Yes, my forceps was my first aswell, ds2 was born normally with no intervention required, a lovely experience!!

I had a local anaesthetic (pudendal block) for my DD's forcep delivery. I honestly don't think I could have done it without pain relief. It was brutal as it was.

I'm so sorry that happened to you and I think you're incredibly brave to lodge a formal complaint. They rarely get lodged as women are not physically/ emotionally/ mentally able for such a long time after childbirth and can feel too much time has passed when they do feel ready. So nothing changes.
Good luck OP.

I had a meeting with my.consultant last week regarding my previous birth 2.5 years ago.

I too had forceps delivery (Neville Barnes) with no pain relief. It was very traumatic and also traumatised my husband!

My.consultant was shocked to read my notes from last birth and said that even though it was an emergency and dd had to.come out straightaway, it must have been horrendous. He wasn't wrong.

However, I'm currently 34 weeks pregnant and so am doing it again.

I would advise you to talk to your midwife for a debrief about what happened and ask for explanations. I didn't ask anything about what happened with my birth until last week when I suddenly realised I'd have to do it again!

It was very cathartic to talk about it with a professional and to.understand that it is very unusual to have this type of delivery with no pain relief. I so wish I'd talked about it at the time as I went over and over the birth in my head for probably a year afterwards.

I'm feeling more confident.now about this birth (I think!) as they've plastered it all over my notes and so its very unlikely to happen again.

It's horrible to have a traumatic birth, I.hope you feel better soon.