ELCS - Kingston Hospital (maternal request)

[studentvera]

Hi there,

Has anyone managed to persuade Kingston Hospital to let them have an ELCS due to maternal request (phobia if natural child birth)

If yes would love to know the consultant that agreed it and how you went about it.

Thank you in advance

you mean Kingston-upon-Thames?

talk to your midwife first or your GP - if you have a medical history that would interfere with normal vaginal birth they will discuss this with you.

would you share what the phobia is?

I can ask a midwife friend if she thinks that your condition would "grant" you an ELCS.

Yes Kingston upon Thames. I have totally phobia of natural child birth. Hoping someone may come on who has been granted an ELCS because of this!

I don't have a natural phobia but I did have a traumatic first birth and was granted an elcs for ds on this basis - but not at this hospital.

You need to approach your gp and midwives and get them to write to the head consultant at the hospital. Get them to get you an appointment. Make sure you state that you know all the risks of a section as they will try and talk you out of it.

With me they also tried to say I could meet with an anaesthetist to discuss an epidural but I said there was no way they could absolutely guarantee an epidural on the day so this would be pointless, hence I wanted the section.

Basically you need an answer for everything they might throw at you.

I had two appointments with the consultant as they kept hoping I'd change my mind and I wrote to him again saying I hadn't and quoted the nice guidelines at him.. I didn't get my section booked until I was 34 weeks pregnant. I was booked in for 39 weeks.

For me it was the right decision.

OP - I can easily see that their reaction will be "so what, all women most if not all women are afraid of given birth!"

And I say this from the most supportive point of view, I'm worried they might not take you seriously (or perhaps even laugh at you)

I think you should do a bit of research about this first, you don't want to be told to "man up" or worse

I had my kids at Kingston and had a very positive experience generally, but once there was a very odd consultant who sounded very judgmental about my previous ELSC where baby was footling breech -as if that was my fault!

but there is always one dumbass who just has to be ignored, the rest are lovely and supportive and will do their best to provide you with the care you need!

bit of a typo, I meant ...most women, if not all..." sorry

My sister was refused for that same reason by not one, two but three Kingston consultants!

aaagggh not given birth, giving birth!!!

Thank you for replies! Lots of food for thought. If anyone else has any experiences of Kingston - please let me know.
Thank you

Have you thought about trying hypnobirthing classes?

You may not be able to persuade Kingston to let you have an ELCS but if you try hypnobirthing you may find you can overcome your phobia of natural birth?
Not sure when you're due. I am 33 weeks and am joining a group that starts tonight with a lady called Marta (picked up her leaflet from the hospital) - she is based between Putney and Wimbledon. The class runs for the next 4 Monday evenings. Have a look at her website www.hypnobirthinglondon.co and if you're interested why not give her a call and see if you can join. Her number is 07876251582
Best of luck!

I'm probably having one - not booked yet, but agreed verbally with the consultant. My last birth (same hospital) was VERY traumatic - my baby died (not through any fault of theirs though......). Even before I'd got pregnant again i was told that I could have a CS if I wanted one.

I don't think you can expect that they will just grant you one. They will want to probe the reasons for your fear and then make a judgement. If it's just (and I don't want to diminish your feelings) "I don't fancy it much" then I think they will just expect you to suck it up. If there are more deep-rooted fears - especially if they have identifiable causes like childhood sexual abuse or previous traumatic deliveries - then they might consider it.

I think you need to consider the reasons for your request very carefully before asking about it. I haven't found anyone to be unreasonable when speaking directly to them, but it IS a bureaucracy - as with any hospital, I expect - and there are procedures for a reason. It's asking a lot to ask one person to stick their neck out for you unless you really think you have a good reason.

Treats "I don't think you can expect that they will just grant you one. They will want to probe the reasons for your fear and then make a judgement."

That's it, isn't it? They might condescend to grant you one. Forget that its the woman's body, if the birth goes wrong she lives with the consequences. Where is the right of women to have a choice over what happens to their bodies? Elective caesarean can have its downside but the real horror stories on MN are from those who opt for a vaginal delivery which goes wrong.

It is grotesque mysogyny and it has nothing to do with money as NICE worked out that the overall cost (long plus short term costs) was only about £84 difference.

I think most women in the OPs position would gladly shell out the £84.00

I just think some people get a kick out of controlling how other women give birth. It has nothing to do with care and it is about time childbirth moved out of the dark ages

Thank you everyone for your replies

I've had 3 C sections at Kingston and can't fault the hospital. But, mostly you don't get to the consultant and just see the registrars or SHOs. Be prepared with all your answers as they will follow protocol and NICE carefully. Good luck

Ushy - I don't disagree with your POV - just being realistic about the situation.

I've spent the evening getting terribly upset at the prospect of an appointment I've been told I must attend on Friday with someone I don't know to 'discuss my birth options" - I don't want to 'discuss my birth options' with anyone other than my consultant who knows exactly what happened last time. I strongly suspect that the Friday appointment is part of the 'gatekeeping' process to stop women having C-sections if the hospital doesn't want them to have them.

I've remembered that I do have a backbone after all and will be calling them back tomorrow to cancel the appointment.......

To be fair to Kingston, they are only following NICE guidelines. Personally I think that NICE have found that there's no greater risk to an ELCS than to a natural birth and that - once all postnatal costs are considered - they're no more expensive. They've only stopped short of recommending that women can have them on request because it's not politically acceptable. Just my hunch, of course........

Treats 100% agree with you.

Shocking, isn't it?