Women Unprepared for Childbirth

[AtheneNoctua]

Interesting article on our perceptions of childbirth and how they affect how we feel about the experience when our (false) expectations are not met.

Women Unprepared for Childbirth

"But those involved in providing ante-natal sessions, while listening to these, need to make sure that women are aware of how things may go and help them construct realistic expectations," says Joanne Lally, who led the research.

I completely agree with this. My antenatal class, while it did cover pain relief, did not really communicate a true picture on what kind of pain to expect. Never mind intervention like forceps or worse yet a caesarean. Why not? Don't women have a right to go into labour fully informed of all the likely outcomes.

I wonder if not talking about caesareans and promoting natural childbirth contributes to a woman's sense of failure when she ends up in an unplanned caesarean or otherwise medicalised delivery. And furthermore does this contribute to the onset of PND?

lulumama, let me know if you still haven't got it - am making tea at the mo so can try re-writing later. Would welcome any comments/feedback on my experience thanks in advance

ok, or you could forward it /resned to

lulumama 21 @ hotmail. com

will let you know if it comes thorugh though

Okay , how bout you take your stistics and rejig the numbers so the a vaginal birth that goes wrong and ends in emergency section goes into the vaginal statistics.

They like to put those stats in the section group. But really the vaginal birth was the problem and the section was the solution.

I don't really want to go into huge amounts of detail because this thread is about women who want any kind of birth getting the relevant information.

But, Harpsi, you comments are biased. It is a list of exaggerated cons about sections. And they will of course draw comments from the other side of the coin.

well I haven't quoted any statistics. but I don't really see why you say my comments are biassed. I haven't quoted the risks of a vaginal birth, no.
I wasn't seeking to list all the risks involved in giving birth. I was just making a particular point - those are increased risks from a section rather than a vaginal birth.
if you mean I was quoting one persepctive, then yes that's true.

oh and I should add - one needs to take into account the given reasons for a section. but I am really very that 28% of all births should be sections, given all the risks.

well I'm sure the CS rate would drop if they ditched inductions before 42 weeks.

1st time inductions - 45% end up as CSs.

"1st time inductions - 45% end up as CSs."

See, now I would have liked to know that when I was still pregnant.

a lot of women push for earlier induction , and obs have to tread a fine line between not scaring women with the thought of a c,section and not giving htem enough info

and also, more support to encourage women to labour actively, rather than on a bed, on a monitor, on a drip, with an epidural and a catheter, not moving for hours would redcuce c.s rate

still nothing chibi.. ca n you resend to the other address ?

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i thought the WHO said 15 % ?? certainly not 25 % or more

will have to check on that...

but yes , those are the ones we are arguing about . well, i am anyway. and you. dunno about everyone else

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i think you and i agree

i get too many emails from women re emergency c.s and the all tell very similar stories , and these are from women all over the uk. something is endemically wrong in the maternity system it would seem

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eye thang yew , pruners!

I agree that induction rates are a huge contributory factor, and I also think that the "due date" really contributes to this and sets up false expectations and psychological pressure on women who think they are "late"
I hear so so so many times from women "it is a good job I was in hospital because XYZ went wrong and I needed a section"
and I think a lot of the time the reason those things went wrong was strongly connected with interventions especially after induction.
I feel terrible for those women, whose birth experience should have been so much better.
we are letting them down, day in day out

lulumama have resent to both emails now, hope you get it

harpsi for prime minister!

i was one of those let down women, but i turned it into something positive, but it should nvever have happened.

but then, without it, i might not have found this path

will check now, chibi

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Definitely very difficult to find the delicate balance between scaring women shitless, and letting them think it's a breeze. I went to NCT classes for my first two, and I generally found them pretty good. They didnt gloss over the fact that it bloody hurts, and a range of pain relief options were discussed in detail, along with what I felt were honest explanations of the side effects and the fact that one intervention can lead to another.
I did find though, that there seemed to be a really big fear of not being able to cope, and out of the class there were only two of us who booked into the midwife unit for our babies. The rest booked into a large hospital, purely because they thought they would need an epidural. Which then becomes a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy - if you know it's available, and you havent got confidence that you can cope without it, then the chances are you'll have it.
The stats are interesting though - if 25% of women have epidurals, then actually 75% don't (though not clear whether this includes c sections; also I suspect the rate for first labours is higher than 25%) but clearly the message is that most women don't have one. Which is pretty encouraging really. Regarding the 'competetive birthing' thing in the article, again, it's a fine balance isnt it? I think it's natural that a woman who has given birth naturally feels empowered and great about herself at what she has managed. It doesnt mean that if you dont manage if you've 'failed'. It's about allowing women to celebrate.
Incidentally the old chestnut about 'you wouldnt have a tooth out without an injection' is irrelevant IMO. The whole fundamental point is that childbirth is different. If women saw it as purely a medical procedure, then yes, we would all be numbed up and delivered by doctors, but the fact is, many women, don't want this.