Has anyone refused a forceps delivery when baby got stuck, and had a CS instead?

[bronya]

I managed to stave one off (just) with my firstborn, but sometimes have nightmares about what could have happened. He'd only just descended into the birth canal and his heartbeat became erratic with the first few pushes. Luckily, as they were contemplating this, his heartbeat steadied and all was ok in the end. However, they kept saying to me that as I'd started pushing he was too low for a CS and they would have to use the long forceps to pull him out fast. Is this really true? It would have been pretty horrific given how far up he was, and the stats for injuries/brain damage/scarring kept going through my head. If I'd refused point blank, would they have doing a CS? About to try for DC2 and just can't stop thinking about it.

You think that when a baby is stuck in the birth canal there is really time to " choose " a section? Sorry, to put it bluntly, you are dicing with a dead/damaged baby here because of your fears. if you are in a " stuck baby " situation that baby needs to be born now, which forceps/ventouse would achieve ( Ok yes still not risk free but birth is not), not in 5-10 mins when they've got you to theatre and under a GA .

Rarely this sort of thing happens with twins when one delivers and the other gets into an odd position. THis would be planned for with a team on standby and already in theatre, even then it's risky.

TAlk to your team, maybe opt for eective section if you can't sort your fears? Best wishes for both you and your baby.

I refused a forceps the first time and had an ELSCS. I knew they would fail because I could tell that the baby was in deep transverse arrest due to her head being wedged partially transverse. I was right.

The cord prolapsed as I was being prepped and I had a GA. The second time I had documented no forceps but had uterine/urinary bladder rupture and had another ELSCS.

I would never have forceps.

"They know what to do for the best [...] They will advise you what is the best thing to do and my advice would be to trust them."

With all due respect for the medical profession, I think I've read too many threads with women with horrible prolapses and savaged bodies to be that trusting.

I agree they're the qualified professionals, but I also believe in taking some responsibility for my treatment/ care plan.

I think you should talk to your HCPs about this OP.

Of course it's different when it's an emergency situation, but the OP is thinking ahead and has concerns about her future childbirth arrangements, so this is the right time to be proactive and speak to the HCPs.

I still maintain that the best way to manage your own care is to be as informed as possible and keep an open dialogue with the professionals.

Besides, to have blind faith in someone just because they're wearing a white coat, is naive at best. The sheer number of childbirth/antenatal/postnatal related horror stories on this forum are a life testimony to that.

They are banned in the USA, aren't they? What do they do then? It's not the use of forceps when baby is almost out that I'm worried about, but their use much higher up the birth canal.

I had a forceps birth with DC1 - not even time for pain relief. She came out not breathing and had to be resuscitated. There was absolutely no time for a c section - she would have died had I refused the forceps.

I was speaking to an doctor about this the other day, and she was telling me about a case when a mum had very high forceps (and a fair bit of damage to her and child). She said no other consultant would have used them, everyone else would have gone CS.

So it's a judgement call, and you are to some extent at the mercy of how your consultant makes that decision and their preferred mode of delivery in taht circumstance. I can't see anything wrong with making it known that you would by preference go for CS rather than forceps if it comes down to that kind of decision, but it may well be the decision is made by events anyhow.

High forceps are a scary thought, but I would never say never, because giving birth is so unpredictable.

I did. From what I'd read and friends' experiences I wasn't prepared to risk the damage to me and the baby. They were a bit frowny and said I'd have to wait, but then DD's heart rate started dropping and I was rushed to theatre. Something to bear in mind is that C-sections show up as more expensive and post-birth repair work due to instrumental damage comes out of another budget. C-sections require more staff and a longer hospital stay.

So there is more to the decision from the HCP point of view than what's best for the baby and mother - and I'm not sure what's best for the mother is uppermost in minds a lot of the time. It definitely pays to think about this beforehand and to talk it over with your partner.

As others have said it's not as simple as choosing a c-section over foreceps because the baby is usually too far down and would need to be pushed back up for a c-section which is pretty dangerous.

I really didn't want foreceps but was advised during a difficult birth that it was the quickest way to get a distressed DS out and I didn't hesitate.

I asked my midwife about this as I was very scared about this possibility (I was born with the use of high forceps, my mum suffered a lot of damage as a result, also I had to be resuscitated.) I was told that high forceps are very unusual now, usually a c section is offered if the baby is still high in the birth canal when a potential problem is spotted. I was told not to worry about it as the chances of needing to have high forceps is so small now. I'm not sure that this is all that accurate but it did help to calm my fears a bit!

Just to add to my post - I'm specifically talking about high forceps here, not normal forceps (sorry don't know the proper name for them) which are obviously still used fairly commonly, but are much safer.

My baby was tugged our with ventouse they also said she was too far down for c section....I.fully admit to being completely clueless on this subject but could you request ventouse over forceps? I didn't escape without injury mind you, but dd was safe so that's all I cared about but forceps look so barbaric in compassion. How do they choose which to use?

I pushed for six hours before they took me to theatre. Had a spinal and then they pulled at DD for 45 minutes with the ventouse before finally yanking her out with a pair of forceps. She was definitely too far down for a C section. I had a brilliant recovery, DD had meconium aspiration, and was a bit blue, but basically fine. I had said to DH (in all my naivety) that I didn't want a forceps delivery and he had to stop them and make them do a c section if they got out the forceps. So he leapt over the table practically when they pulled them out to try and stop them until I told him it was ok. And it was. I don't know about anyone else here, but when a hospital registrar tells me that forceps are the best way to deliver my baby with a minimum of danger, I'm going to trust him.

Frankly, the most likely outcome with your second child is that the delivery will be much easier. My DC2 slid out like a greased piglet 18 months after DC1 was yanked out.

I had Kielland forceps which I think are the same as high forceps- DS was back to back and I had only just dilated to 10cm so he had to be turned and pulled out. He was fine as was I but at the time I was just desperate to get him out so would have agreed to anything.

I don't think there s any harm in considering your options in advance but bear in mind that things don't always go as planned.

Forceps make me shudder.

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1253013/Forceps-killed-baby-doctors-using-them.html

fuckwittery, I had that too, all rather unpleasant, but what needs to be done, needs to be done!

I wish I'd had a C-section - DS was hoisted out with Keillands forceps and I ended up with a big hole between my vagina and my anus. If I were in your position, I'd ask for an ELCS.

Miaow that's truly horrible; no one should h

Should have to go through something like that.