Is this fairly standard or pretty bad as far as birth experiences go?

[sagasleathertrousers]

So probably a bit odd but I'm pregnant with my second and after discussing my first birth with a midwife I've realised there was a lot going on. It was horrendous but at the time I was so out of it I think I thought it was a pretty 'normal' experience but the midwife's referred me to a consultant to discuss it so now I'm thinking maybe it was pretty bad?

Went as follows:

High blood pressure so induced
Five day induction process ending in forceps
strep B so IV antibiotics throughout
Vasovagel reaction to epidural
Third degree tear
Manual extraction of placenta
Blood transfusion 800ml after PPH.

I didn't ask for a c section this time but now I'm wondering whether maybe it would be wise to do so - or was I just super unlucky the first time?

It's subjective.

I thought my first birth was traumatic (it was just long).

My second birth was similar to yours

• induced due to pre eclampsia
• very fast labour (recorded 1hr 15m)
• PPH due to a piece of placenta being retained (midwife hadn't noticed) - est 1500ml blood.
• MROP

However I didn't have a transfusion.

I feel like I'm quite traumatised after my second birth, and it's left me with considerable health anxiety. But everyone deals with things in different ways.

And if I was to get pregnant again I would request a c section. But again that's personal preference.

My first birth was very similar to yours except my DC was 10lb+ so I opted for an elective c section with DC2 and have no regrets. Recovery was quicker with section.

Hi OP,

Yes, it would be considered traumatic. Mine went pretty much the same as yours except that labour started spontaneously but progressed so slowly I was given pitocin in an attempt to speed it up. My placenta came out on it's own but I had uterine atony requiring manuel 'massage'/fucking agonising procedure to put right. Also ended in instrument delivery, 3rd degree tear & blood transfusion. Baby went to NICU with intracranial bleeding. Got PND subsequently.

I was immediately offered the option of a c-section for any subsequent pregnancies (I'm in Switzerland). I took them up on it and DS2 is now 5 months old. Soooo much better this time around. Push for it!

Thanks for replying. I would prefer a section I think, but I can't face going into battle for one. Ironically I had an epidural throughout so wasn't in much pain during the birth, I felt for a long time like I'd got away with something and hadn't given birth properly because of that. So I was a bit surprised when the midwife seemed to think it was quite bad.

I'm also 38 so that might be a factor in the referral I guess.

Unfortunately it sounds like Switzerland might be a bit different from here, seems like getting a c section is close to impossible but I think I will ask the consultant. I guess I'm not confident of being able to push the baby out after the disaster last time so want to do what's safest.

This is going to turn into a ‘big dick’ competition of who had the most difficult labour.

It’s subjective.

But yours does sound on the more difficult end of things

I've had 4 inductions, your experience does sound horrific to me

I was just looking for a bit of perspective I think as I've got nothing to compare it to!

Although I wouldn't say it's "standard", most of it is what's known as the "cascade of intervention".
Baby was not ready to come out but your body was partially tricked into it. So it took a long time but for one reason or another (baby was distressed, issues with pushing-time etc) it still wasn't happening hence the forceps hence the 3rd degree tear. Placenta stayed attached (along with 3rd degree tear) hence the pph. Transfusion as a result.
The vasovagal reaction was unfortunate. The gbs was a separate issue that coincided with the rest.

I'll not share mine (2 out of 4) because I agree with what cheerio said. Someone's always going to have had worse. But if it was bad for you, or traumatic, well, then that's what matters. It's how you coped and how prepared/equipped you feel for the next.

TBH I think whether you have a "good" experience or not seems to be mostly related to how in control and informed you feel about the process as it goes along, not how many interventions you have per se.

Of course in an emergency situation you're not likely to feel very in control and people probably won't be worried about explaining things to you if they are busy trying to save your/baby's life - so if you've had a lot of emergency things happen then disproportionately it's more likely to have been traumatic.

It does sound like you had a lot of difficult things happen in that first birth. Have you had a birth debrief? It might help you to make sense of it and be able to decide whether it would be worth going for vaginal again or going straight for ELCS. Ultimately it's your choice and it's about what makes you feel happier. It sounds like the consultant will probably be able to answer your questions about whether it was luck or whether there's something which indicates that any of the same is likely to happen again.

You could also ask whether the induction might have been the issue and if so whether it might be worth having a kind of birth plan along the lines of - if labour starts naturally then go ahead with things however it turns out. But if it gets to a point that it's recommended you're induced, whether due to blood pressure or being overdue or whatever reason, then you'd prefer to skip the induction and go for an ELCS. Or you'd want to know your bishop's score (a kind of gauge of how likely you are to respond to induction) then make the decision re induction vs CS at that point.

It's my understanding that being induced when your body isn't actually ready to go into labour is far more likely to result in adverse or traumatic outcomes, instrumental delivery and so on. I don't know about the PPH or vasovagal response - that might have been unrelated? But I would have thought that a 5 day induction must have been exhausting which wouldn't have helped your body to do what it needed to do.

Yes I think you're right another day (sorry not sure how to tag.) if I went into labour naturally next time it might all be fine and dandy.

It doesn’t matter how bad your birth was (or not) it’s about what you feel would be best for you and your family.

Having been through one birth they would be on the look out for similar issues second time around so you should avoid some of these / get more support if you did want to attempt a Vaginal delivery.

Personally, I would say your birth wasn’t ideal but could have been worse. The same is true of mine because my baby and I are still alive, although they’ve turned it into a compulsory lecture for all midwives because it was so poor. My consultant (still seeing her after 2 years because of on-going issues) would def advocate a c section.

Ah right sorry missed part about being in Switzerland - I thought for some reason they were offering you CS and being surprised that you didn't want it.

Talk through birth with consultant. Ask about options, recommendations and so on.

Agree it's subjective.

With first I had pre-eclampsia and was induced. BP went too high and meds not really lowering it so had an EMCS.

With second started contractions 9pm Monday and then went into hospital 4cm dilated at 2am Wednesday. Had an epidural at 8/9ish and gave birth 12.20 and then had a PPH as babies elbow or nails or something sliced me inside and then tore me in labia on outside. Had to go under do stitch up and control blood loss/low BP. Had transfusion next day of 2.

I felt at the time it was not nice but no trauma related to either and if finances are ok I'd have a third (other than the pre-eclampsia they don't suspect the haemorrhage would happen again as those were very specific circumstances).

Those I have told say that they both sounded traumatic though as with both if I'd not been in hospital or not had a good team of MW/doctors, I'd be dead.

Thanks so much Bertie, I'm going to screen shot your reply and discuss these points with the consultant. My definite concern is around what was chance and what (if anything) could indicate this labour could also be a problem. And yes in an induction scenario would definitely request a c sectikn(I did last time at day three and was told 'this hospital don't do them in this situation' - thanks Kings college....)

I didn't sleep for the four nights before as I was on a labour ward for the induction and surrounded by women in pain. I was hallucinating my cat by the time I got taken down to actually have the baby!

My blood loss was between 1800-2000ml.

I'm not in Switzerland, I was replying to a poster who is and said she'd been offered a c section for second birth. I haven't been.

The lack of sleep alone sounds horrendous. I didn't sleep for two nights before giving birth and I found that bad enough, and yet didn't experience the labour as traumatic (My mum, who was there, claims it was traumatic for her though!)

Yes lack of sleep is a nightmare.
With second didn't sleep from the Monday until I had the epidural and even then it was about 20 minutes. Then when I went under.
Apparently I asked to carry on sleeping to the nurse who was looking after me in the recovery room.

Oh right, sorry! I got a bit confused there.

If you're in the UK you have the right to request a CS for any reason, however sometimes women have to push, quote the NICE guidelines etc as are told that it's not hospital policy or so on, which isn't the case - if it's an NHS hospital, policy doesn't trump NICE guidelines.

However of course you don't want to be arguing your case in labour or during an induction, so if you decide that CS over induction is the way you want to go, I'd try to get it in writing before you're actually in that situation. Then you'll have something to point at to say "But the consultant agreed..."

Yep - right, thanks to you all I have a list of questions and concerns to raise with the consultant so thank you! I feel a bit more focussed now.

I won't compare births as they are all so individual, however an elcs is not necessarily the perfect difficulty free birth that is put forward on here.

Mine wasn’t great. 3 day induction, group b strep, shoulder dystocia, transfusion 2 days later. I was told immediately that I’d be encouraged to have an ELCS next time. It might not be the battle you think.