Did you have a forceps birth?

[RhymingRabbit3]

I'm just looking for more info from mums who had a birth assisted by forceps. I was under the impression it wasn't that common and forceps were only used when it was really necessary. However, I know a surprising number of people who had forceps used. Of these many seem to have had later pelvic floor and continence issues, had to have c sections for subsequent births and/or had very difficult recoveries. I have also heard of a few babies with damage from the forceps (beyond mild scratches etc that you might expect). For this reason I am seriously considering having on my birth plan that I do not consent to the use of forceps.
Did anyone have forceps and then a simple recovery? Any stories good or bad which could inform my decision? Many thanks

Me! I had forceps after being on the syntocin drip for 13 hours. I had to be induced at 37 weeks due to obstetric cholestasis. I was so exhausted and in so much pain that I begged for a section but they suggested forceps instead and I said yes, I just wanted it to be over. I’d been in hospital having the induction pessaries for 3 days by then.

I didn’t even know what forceps looked like because the idiot midwife at ante natal class wouldn’t show us them because they looked ‘scary’ and ‘you want to avoid intervention anyway.’

I needed an episiotomy and feel very lucky that, now DS is 2, I don’t think there have been any significant aftereffects except that i can drip a bit if I’m really desperate for a pee. I pooed myself twice in the week after delivery and thought my body was ruined forever but I was very lucky.

Forceps, ventouse and a tear. No significant long term effects on me. Dd has a dent in her head (not noticeable under her hair) - I often wonder if it's related

Forceps and episiotomy. I was gutted. The reason I turned down an epidural was because they told me it would increase the chances of needing instrumental assistance and I didn't want that. So I struggled with gas & air, only for DD to get stuck and I needed forceps anyway. But by that point obviously I was not inclined to say "no thanks". I'd have let them shove the breakdown jack from my car in there if it would have got her out quicker.

DD ended up with a bruise on her head and a faint red mark on her face but both disappeared over a week or so.

I couldn't sit down for a week and had to get in the shower to pee. Also needed antibiotics when the stitches got infected. After that, all was fine. No significant continence issues - but I don't recommend sneezing and walking at the same time. If I feel a sneeze coming I have to do the Stop - Clench - Sneeze thing. (And as a PP mentioned, my trampolining days are over.)

Needed forceps otherwise she would have died the cord was wrapped around her neck three times. Stitches healed nicely, I had some pudendal nerve neuralgia due to the pudendal block needed for the episiotomy. She didn't have a mark on her and is the most chilled most beautiful baby I've ever met (obviously I'm biased). Please don't go putting things like that on your birth plan.

@RhymingRabbit3 You'd prefer c section over forceps? Really?

Forceps is completely pain free as you still have the full spinal block so you're paralysed from waist down (same as c section). The difference being however, it's not major surgery like c section is. Except with Caesarian you can't drive or do much of anything for 6 weeks, often you can't even hold the baby (I think that's rare but possible) and by the sounds of it, wouldn't even be able to Bath your baby etc. Forceps these days are unlikely to harm the baby and the stitches heal pretty quick.

Lasting effects from Forceps do occur but are generally rare. Yes there's a few women on this thread with lasting effects but there's likely tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of women who've had no issues at all 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Ultimately, c section carries so much more risk. It's major surgery. I do believe also that it is the Doctor who decides whether to do forceps or c section.
In my case, I'd been pushing for quite a while so she'd 'set off on her journey' then suddenly turned. At this point it was apparently not desirable to do a Caesarian due to her position - she was nearly out. Forceps were the best and safest option.

Honestly, all the people talking here about 'refusing' certain type of forceps and mocking doctor's decisions when you're not Obstetricians! 🤷🏼‍♀️🙄🤦🏼‍♀️🤣

@RhymingRabbit3 Induction is also something I will not be automatically consenting to....

What Medical degree do you have?

If you were a qualified Obstetrician, you would know that that is a dangerous, ludicrous statement. If you are past term by more than a few days then being induced is not only the safest option for baby but for you as well. I won't elaborate on the possible outcome of not doing so at term+14

@charlesthekudu * After two hours pushing (completely numb from
Epidural) they say forceps. I say no I don't want them. They say ok EMCS. I will never trust how 'easy' it was to persuade them that could section was better than forceps. Surely my baby was never engaged enough to be birthed vaginally if they 'gave up' so easily!*

🤦🏼‍♀️ Again, are you qualified to make that last statement?
If you REFUSE Forceps then they cannot proceed. They have no choice but to revert to the next option. Any risk involved is your choice. You totally ignored the qualified Obstetrician's advice, thinking you knew better 🤷🏼‍♀️
How could you possibly have known that the baby was "never engaged enough" () from your position? Impossible.

God forbid something had then gone wrong. I'm pretty sure it would've been straight to the GMC to complain about said Obstetrician. Despite refusing to accept his choice of action

I had a forceps birth along with an episiotomy and epidural. I had a catheter for two weeks afterwards but this was partially due to mismanagement by a nurse. I had to see a physio for months afterwards for continence issues but am fine now.

I needed the forceps because I was accidentally pushing the baby back in

with Caesarian you can't drive or do much of anything for 6 weeks, often you can't even hold the baby

Sorry but this is completely false. Most people are fine within days. Often you can't even hold the baby? Come on. It's fine to not want a cs but that is just ridiculous.

Broken if you are so in awe of obstetricians, have you wondered why many obstetricians elect a cs for themselves?

C sections are said to be major surgery until the baby is six hours old- then suddenly it's just a little graze and you're expected to start looking after them by yourself.

I was 90% recovered from mine a week after DD's birth. I was ok to drive by two weeks but chose to utilise the services of my chauffeur DH instead. It was absolutely fine and I'm a wimp. Everyone's labour and recovery is different but it's just not right to make statements like "often" you can't hold your own baby.

OP I really didn't want forceps either. I explained my fears to the midwife antenatally and about putting it in my birth plan and she tilted her head to the side and said they didn't really pay plans much attention in the end I didn't progress at all in the last four hours of my hormone-induced labour with a patchy epidural. DD was brow presentation and wasn't budging. The doctor came in and offered me a section. He also explained that I could keep going but even if I got to the pushing stage due to her position they'd likely need to prep me for theatre and use forceps to turn her. He definitely didn't present this as a more favourable or less risky option than a section.

If my experience tells you anything, it's that sometimes you do have a choice. I will be having another section with any future babies, but if I did have to do no. 1 again I would try to discuss it with the midwife at an early stage in proceedings, and make sure DH understood that I may need him to advocate for me before it gets to an emergency scenario.

@Broken2020 Forceps is completely pain free What a load of rubbish! Have you not read other women’s experiences? They are not always performed under a full spinal block. I’m glad to hear your experience was pain free but mine was done during a failed last minute epidural, so no pain relief, and the pain was out of this world.

@Broken2020 like the above poster, I had no spinal block as there wasn’t time. I cannot begin to describe the pain. And nor could I drive for at least 6 weeks as it was too painful for me to sit in that position.

Long term complications are not rare. See for for example:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4418025/

I’m not downplaying caesareans and some women have terrible experiences. But while it is major surgery, it is routine surgery from which the majority of women make a full recovery, even if it takes longer.

There is also evidence that a planned caesarean has a lesser rate of maternal death than a vaginal delivery, and a lower rate of neonatal death.

Like 1300cakes says, if they’re so much more risky, why do so many obstetricians choose them? The risks are different, and each individual woman must decide what risks she is more willing to take.

I did with my first. DD wasn't distressed but I had been pushing for 3 hrs and was physically exhausted. I had stitches afterwards which seemed to take forever and everything felt OK but sometimes a hit uncomfortable when I sat down which I thought was normal. When I had my 2nd DS the doctor who stitched me told that the previous doctor had done a terrible job and she fixed it. Worth noting that the first doctor was a man and the second was a woman 🤔.

I also had no pain relief other than gas and air either...

Forceps is completely pain free as you still have the full spinal block
None of the women I know had a spinal block for their forceps delivery, and there are women here who have had them without it (I'm sure someone up thread had them without any anaesthesia!).
And even if pain free at the time, painful recovery and complications - again many referred to here on this thread - seem to be much more prevalent and long lasting with a forceps delivery than a c section.
If obstetricians are always right I dont know how that accounts for the significant differences in interventions between trusts, countries and even OBs within the same hospital. Surely the number of women requiring a particular intervention would be averagely the same if that intervention was the only option in certain scenarios?
Also what is your opinion on the women who were told "dont be silly, forceps are fine?". Highly professional behaviour from obstetricians who can do no wrong?

I had forceps with my first. It did lead to extensive stitching being required and I got an infection a week or so later. I did have a natural birth with my second so it didn't affect that.

For a first birth about 65% of deliveries are instrumental and 25% c sections. Nobody told me this, they tell you the outcomes based on all births. If I'd know there was less than 50% chance of spontaneous vaginal delivery I wouldn't have consented to induction. I wrote in my plan I wouldn't consent to instrumental delivery but would want c section instead. So they did ventouse without asking me or informing me first (not emergency, was for slow progression). It gave me severe ptsd which took over a year and 20 psychotherapy appointments to heal from. I am pregnanct again and having a c section this time.

My friend who gave birth the same week as me had a forceps delivery. I had an EMCS. I had a much easier ride of it and she said if she has another she will demand a section from the start. She's had awful problems with infections, continence and pain, even now at 11mo PP. And her little girl has a scar from it.

Just wanted to come in and say; for those who declined transfusions, my 2 blood transfusions after I had my son were absolutely incredible. I went from babbling, not really knowing who or where I was to lucid and showering within 3 hours. Amazing.

I didn't have a spinal block, I had rotational forceps. Didn't have any pain relief but to be honest I didn't feel them, I was in so much pain already and so hyped up about not wanting another emcs I didn't notice what they were doing, just pushed like hell and he was out.

I needed forceps when my DD was being born because she turned whilst in the birth canal (I should have known then that she’d be an awkward so and so as a toddler!). I’d already had an epidural so they just topped that up and whisked me into theatre. I didn’t really know what was going on, but it was all worth it and I don’t think my recovery was any worse than any other birth. I couldn’t sit comfortably for a couple of weeks but no long lasting affects.

Forceps delivery here, full spinal block as prepped for section but baby was too far down. Babys heart rate kept dropping and hurry to get baby out, came out with cord around his neck. I really wish I'd had a section due to recovery after BUT I wouldn't change it. I was in absolute agony during labour, 36 hours, back to back, waters came out In sac filled with muconium. None of what was happening to me in those moments matters, all I wanted was my baby out safely and asap. Ultimately you have to trust the professionals and as far as I'm aware your birth plans a nice to have but realistically it means nothing

Well I can safely say that forceps are definitely not pain free!! After 24 hours in labour with DD and two hours of pushing my baby was not coming out of her own accord. Granted they did what they needed to do to get her hear safe and sound but it wasn't pain free and the most traumatic experience of my life!
I'm due in 9 weeks with my 2nd and I'm petrified of having forceps again but I will do what's best for baby and take the advice of those who are qualified and deliver babies every day! Although part of me wishes I'd opted for a section! It's giving me serious anxiety!