Emergency forceps

[Katie2489]

I am feeling a little traumatised at the moment after giving birth last week. It wasn't my first forceps delivery but with my first i had a spinal block. She had to be born very very rapidly, as far as i can understand they had to cut the cord with her inside as it was wound very tightly round her neck and then deliver her immediately (no waiting for contraction). She had no heart beat at this point and i thought she had died. I dont know anyone in rl who i feel really 'gets' how i feel as they have not had this happen. Also, i was wondering how common forceps without any pain relief is. I was hoping there would be someone who has had a similar experience who wouldnt mind sharing as i am feeling a little shakey and lonely at the moment over it (though the 3 day baby blues are not helping).

You poor, poor thing! My similarities to you stop with the cord being tightly wound round the neck - I has an epidural. I have heard of women asking for, and getting, a proper defriefing about their whole birth experience and I imagine it would be hugely helpful. Childbirth remains a horrifying experience for so many, talking it through can be very cathartic. I hope someone more useful than me comes along soon. I just couldn't leave this without posting.

Hi Katie, so sorry that you are feeling low about this....understandably.
First, I would call labour ward or your local midwife and ask if you can talk to someone about your labour. They should go over your notes with you, as well as listening to you about your how you are feeling.

How are you feeling? Angry, sad, let down, rushed etc?
How was your birth partner? Did they also feel it was traumatic?
It must have been awful for you, thinking your baby girl had died .
Sometimes they do have to do procedures without pain relief although someone should have explained that to you. They obviously had to work very quickly if they cut the cord before birth and I'm guessing that's why they didn't have time to inject you to stop the pain.

Please talk to your midwife or labour ward....they are duty bound to support you following birth....especially a traumatic one.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby.

Firstly, I just wanted to say I'm so so sorry you had to go through that. It must have been terrifying for you. I hope your wee one is ok now.

My experience is nowhere near as scary as yours but I did have emergency forceps. I had a local anaesthetic but I honestly don't know if it was before the episiotomy/forceps or after for the stitches. I certainly didn't have time for an epidural or anything stronger. It was horrible and so scary because even through the fog of pain I knew it must be a serious situation. I did feel really shaken up after the birth. I think it wasn't just the pain and the exhaustion but the actual feeling of shock (I remember feeling similar to when Id been in a car crash)

For me the best thing was to keep talking about it. - to the midwife, to my family, to my friends. I think I wanted to be told that what happened wasn't my fault (which of course looking back without exhaustion, baby blues and a million hormones I now know it wasn't!) I totally agree with previous posters about having a debrief. I can imagine it could be really helpful to have all the decisions explained.

Please know you are not alone, you did everything you could and you are not the only one who is feeling/felt this way. Look after yourself and congratulations on your little girl.

I had an emergency foreceps. Although my situation doesn't sound as upsetting as yours, my labour was induced and long- after 26hours and being on the hormone drip, I had an epidural, so I didn't feel much. Baby had been tugging on cord for a while and they realised it was wrapped around her neck so had to use foreceps to get her out. I didn't feel much because of epidural. I also had to have an episiotomy. I then lost a litre of blood and was being sick so had all sorts jabbed in me to stop bleeding, anti-sickness and oxygen mask. It must have been horrific for my partner to see, but I was out of it with all the drugs.
It's helped me to talk about it to everyone I know (whether they want to hear it or not) because you realise no birth is perfect. We all dream of it being this wonderful euphoric moment but it's not. It can be long, painful, messy and it's always a serious procedure, your body is pushing another human being out of you! That's an incredible thing, not matter how your daughter came into the world, she is here, you made her, and that's so amazing, you should feel super-human!!

my first and 4th were both forceps, the 1st I had an epidural as he was manually rotated and I had stitches, no 4, I only had gas and air, I was 10cm dilated and he hadn't come down and wasn't engaged, I had keilands forceps for this delivery, but had so much gas and air I didnt feel it. did they not inject your down below to numb the area, my daughter also had forceps and she only had a local injection, so it was very painful, I would ask for them to go over your notes, hope you feel better soon

I really feel for you. I had emergency forceps delivery as DD had cord wrapped around her neck too. I was induced so had epidural but had reduced the dose so I could push better. I told the anaesthetist about 20 times to make sure he did the spinal properly. I didn't feel anything other than the surgeon literally yanking me down the table he was pulling so hard. Cannot even begin to contemplate what that would be like without pain relief. My baby had breathing difficulties too so I understand that period of complete terror. Nct harped on about the rush of love you get for your baby, nope just blind panic for me, then they wicked her off to scbu and stuck me in recovery for 2 hours shaking like a leaf with all the drugs and shock. I honestly didn't feel like her mum for at least 3 days when I got her back with me.

Time and talking about it helps Also go easy on yourself if someone said they had run a marathon whilst being tortured, had surgery then taken on a new full time job on 3 hours sleep the next day, whilst burning the equivalent calories to running 5 miles you would think they were in the SAS, nope that's just having a baby and breastfeeding it!!

I'm so sorry, OP.

We were lucky not to have any issues such as you with the cord, but I did have a anaesthetic free forceps delivery and it was horribly traumatic.

I had a failed epidural, they didn't give me the anaesthetic injection because of that and I can remember with vivid detail how it felt to feel absolutely every part of the forceps delivery. Not just the pain, but the actual physical experience of them using the forceps :(

All I can say is, you are not alone. I know it's hard because everyone focuses on the baby and feeling 'lucky' etc etc. But it's a very hard thing to go through.

I am here if you need to talk.