C section Question-Are Your Arms Strapped Down During A C Section In The UK?

[Buffyjo]

I am from the USA but am at the moment in the UK. One of my friends who is also from the US but recently moved to the UK is due to have a C Section In London. And she is very worried that her arms will be restrained or strapped down to the operating table during her surgery.

Over in the USA it is standard or routine practise in a lot of American Hospitals to strap down the mothers arms to the operating table during caesarean Sections, (C Sections) that are done while the patient is awake under a Spinal or Epidural.The mums arms are actual strapped down to the arm boards on the OR table.

And my friend who has Claustrophobia is very worried about this as she does not want to her arms strapped down.

As I am not familiar with UK hospitals having only been over here for a short time I really don't know what to tell my friend. So I just want to ask is it standard practise or do they strap your arms to the OR table during C Sections in the UK hospital. And if so what can my friend do to avoid it? Can she refuse this?

Oh and just to clarify that Co. Antrim is part of Northern Ireland which is in the UK.

Hah.

The Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK. That's quite an important fact, historically and politically speaking.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. County Antrim is part of Northern Ireland.

However can I just chuck into the hat that I wouldn't be surprised if practices in NI around this were different to the rest of the UK. Not saying they are, just that I wouldn't be surprised. They have some quite different laws and some of their quite different laws are around women and reproduction so if someone said well the strap in NI but not in rest of UK I wouldn't be terribly taken aback IYSWIM.

Quite true sardinequeen - UK maternal care generally seems streets ahead of Irish maternity care in terms of being midwife-led and patient-orientated.

It's not long since we didn't perform C Sections routinely but rather subjected women to symphysiotomy.

I had no idea about symphysiotomy until I read a piece on it recently via MN and it had interviews with women who'd had it done to them and I'm not generally a tearful person but it made me cry.

Just barbaric and total treatment of women as nothing more than baby making machines it was just so inrcredibly disgustingly awful.

See I do wonder if the different treatment of women in different countires around this stuff can be linked to their treatment of women in other areas esp reproductive rights, and to religon (of various flavours).

I thought of it when someone mentioned upthread that Latin America have form for this and of course that's RC.

When I say my arm was strapped down, I really do mean more in the sense of being gently held in place, not strapped down in the way that you see people in tv dramas being restrained. I assume it was because of the needle in the crook of my arm. I know I definitely wasn't able to hold my baby after the birth. But it's not because they were being cruel to me, or treating me with a lack of dignity. It's because both dd and I were in bad shape.

And as my second cs was a much calmer affair there wasn't even a hint of strapping my arm down.

I don't want to give the impression that I was mistreated during my cs, I really wasn't. I was treated with compassion and kindness throughout, both times.

I think maternity care in NI does seem different to other parts of the UK, but its not necessarily worse, just different. Eg I had scans at all my antenatal appointments, not just 12 and 20 weeks. There seems to be more of a focus on consultant led care and less on midwives too.

I definitely think the treatment of women in childbirth/maternity terms is linked to social factors and to religion.

Certainly the continuing use of symphysiotomy in Ireland was linked to Catholic ideals. You could only have so many C Sections but symphysiotomy meant that you could go on and have lots and lots of babies

We still have no birth centres, very few midwife-led programmes and a generally patriarchal approach to maternity care.

Things are improving but slowly.

My friend had an appointment with the consultant at the hospital and well it's good news!
The consultant told us that they don't strap the arms down for C Sections as they are not allowed to do that here in Britain. And that "there is NO Way that would happen here in this hospital or any hospital over here(in the UK)." And he was quite surprised when my friend told him that they still do this in the USA.

He was quite laid back and said my friend could have a trial of labor then if there is no problem during the labor, a vaginal birth if she wanted (her babies Breech which is why she wants the C Section for fear of a difficult birth.)We did not expect him to say that as in the US they always automatically do C Sections for Breech or most US OBs do.

The consultant also said if she was very nervous about having the C Section awake because of her Claustrophobia she could have a General Anesthesia.

We also spoke to my friends midwife who said the same thing that it's not done in their hospital or any other NHS hospital that the midwife has worked in. So my friend is pleased as least she knows now that if she has the C Section she won't be strapped /her arms won't be strapped down.

Also both the consultant and midwife told her that they could not make her do anything she did not want. She also asked about homebirth for beech, they said she could but if she's gonna go for a VB hospital would be safer.

She also asked if she did choose to have the C Section, would a VBAC be possible they said yes.

Many USA hospitals ban VBAC but we were told it not the case over here in the UK. So the system her is different to back home in the US. It's only a pity that the USA has not gone forward in their maternity care as it's way to clinical over here. S

Good news for your friend.

I am Greek, gave birth in Greece but also live in France.

UK hospitals are very keen on VBAC (indeed, some argue that they push them too much). I've had two VBACs and you'd think I'd personally saved the consultant's mother from drowning, they were that happy about it .

They strapped my SIL's arms down in Germany. I can't see how it makes much difference if you need to access the arm in a hurry, and I thought it sounded pretty awful. She thought it must be necessary and was surprised when I said I hadn't had the same in my emcs.

@NotSpartacus
That does surprise me. I thought Germany would be similar to the UK. As I read somewhere that they go more for natural childbirth.

When my friend asked about the armboard her consultant said they don't use them very often in C Sections in UK hospitals. And then only if the mum needs a lot of IV's but the arm would just be rested on the board they won't strap them or anything like that.
So it's good to know it's different here in the Uk from some other places.

Unbelievable! How is a woman suppossed to hold her baby if she's being restrained? And restrained from what? In the obstetric theatre where I work we strap down the mother's legs, but that's obviously for safety. Legs are extremely heavy and when a person has anaesthetic and loses control of them, if a leg slips off the table it can dislocate, and/or permanently damage the spine. But we use a nice soft jelly strap and it's always explained to women so they can consent before we apply it.