Birth Afterthoughts Meeting

[DaisyChain16]

If you've had one of these after giving birth, what did you ask? Did you find it helpful ahead of going through the experience again?

I had one when pregnant with my 2nd, I wish I'd done it sooner.
I had a traumatic first birth and we went through all the notes, babies heart rate trace etc and the chief midwife who did the debrief explained why things happened etc she actually explained that in the cold light of day reading the notes they acted incorrectly in places but the Dr's did what they felt was best at the time. I felt much less of a 'failure' having had the brief, and went into my 2nd labour trusting my body much more x

Anyone else?

I had my boy 3 months ago. Was under general anesthetic after pushing for hours and having emergency c section. The staff were truly awful and I was never offered an explanation to it all. Now I regret that.

I had one about a year after having my first. I found it helpful although also a bit frustrating that I'd blamed myself for things that couldn't be changed - I wish they'd given me better advice straight after I'd given birth. I had a PPH and a significant tear that required surgery and then had to wait several hours for the surgery because emergency c sections kept coming in. I was told that in hindsight they should have operated sooner to limit blood loss and I should have had more units transfused afterwards. The amount of blood I lost made it very difficult to breastfeed because my body wouldn't produce enough milk - I beat myself up a lot in the early days about not being able to ☹️ it was reassuring to know that there was nothing I could have done differently to change the outcome.
I'm now pregnant with my second and will have an ELCS this time around. The midwife offered me a second session with birth afterthoughts but I don't think it would add anything else for me now.
Overall I recommend going for the session.