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Childbirth

Forceps delivery - who has had experience of?

31 replies

Halster · 22/11/2004 20:45

Hi there, I am new to Mumsnet tonight. I have been going over and over my birth for well over a year now and would really like to hear what you all think.

I had a forceps delivery with my dd 16 months ago and I am still traumatised by the whole experience. I would be interested to here what other women's experience of forceps deliveries have been (I'm sure non of them good!). After 36 hours of regular contractions I had an epidural - oh what joy! Total pain relief. But when it came to the pushing stage (11 hours later!) the pain flooded back - (is this normal with an epidural?!) - this was a major shock to the system - understatement - no-one at the time had warned me that this would happen. I was on the ceiling with the shock and pain of it. After about 2 hours they decided to get my daughter out by forceps - Is it normal to not have any additional pain relief for a forceps delivery? I went through the roof with pain and was in absolute agony and totally lost control - I must have woken the whole hospital up with my screaming. I felt the episiotomy too. (Re: episiotomy - I remember clearly the doctor saying in reponse to my wailing, 'its just a little cut' in a very annoyed 'pull yourself together' tone). After dd was pulled out I sobbed my eyes out for about an hour (not joy I'm afraid). They found it very difficult to stitch me up as my body was just shaking so much (had to talk them into giving me some pain relief for the stitches). At the time I just felt like a huge wimp that should have been able to handle it. Afterwards, no medical staff offered to talk the birth through with me (I was too traumatised to ask) - so to this day I have no idea what really happened.

Sorry, was supposed to be a quick little post - I guess I needed to offload!

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Halster · 23/11/2004 20:32

Thanks again for sharing your experiences everyone and for your great advice - I phoned my maternity unit this morning to ask for a copy of my notes and they were absolutely fantastic. Without having to ask they offered to actually visit me at home and talk me through everything. They completely understood my need to talk about what happened. So I shall meet with a Senior Midwife soon. I already feel much better.

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pupuce · 23/11/2004 20:43

fantastic results......

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slug · 24/11/2004 10:11

Oh Halster you have my sympathy. I had forceps without benefit of ANY painkillers. I never got the epidural I requested, the gas and air made me vomit and the single half dose of pethidine I was given 6 hours earlier had worn off.

I too felt every bit of the episiotomy and had to throw a complete tantrum in order to get any lidocaine for the stiching (just use the gas said the doctor..Ha! I threw up all over her and THEN she got the point)

Like you I was made to feel like a complete wimp for screaming the place down. The midwife I had was particularly awful, telling me the pain was god's punishment to women for original sin. But quite frankly after two and a half hours of pushing with no pain killers if I felt like screaming I was bl**dy well going to!

I was left, confined to a bed with packing in to try and stop the bleeding, drips and catheters, no access to food or drink, for 18 hours after the birth while my daughter was in intensive care.

In all honesty, 3 years later it still gives me nightmares and has been a major factor in my decision to have no more children.

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pupuce · 24/11/2004 11:25

Slug - have you thought of contacting Birth Crisis or your hospital to discuss it ?
Are you familiar with post traumatic stress disorder ? You don't need to suffer in silence

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monalisa · 25/11/2004 22:16

Halster,
So pleased you have someone to talk to about this. I hope you find all the answers you need and it eases your pain.

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linnylambe · 25/11/2004 22:33

Hi Halster,
My heart goes out to you pet,
also had forceps with dd, doc at time reckoned she was too big and i needed help.. only pain relief was gas and air, had to have ventousse also and episiotomy..spent 2 wks unable to sit without the aid of swimming ring thingy!! so i know what you went through.. so bad was my experience that it took me over 5 yrs to find the courage to have another baby.. Had ds 9 mths ago and no problem, all went according to plan!!