Birth plan for second labour

[MandMand]

Do the medical staff who attend you during a second or subsequent labour pay any attention to the complications you may have experienced first time around? Do they even have anything in your notes to let them know of any previous problems, or do you need to tell them yourself? For example, would they already know from my notes that I experienced a traumatic induction ending in an epiostomy and forceps delivery last time, and wanted to avoid this happening again, or would I need to explain it all in the birth plan?

personally, I would go with the 'never assume' thing and detail everything that's important to you. Otherwise they might not know why xyz is so important to you.

Hmmm. My own experience of traumatic inducation ending in episiotomy, ventouse, shoulder dystocia, post-partum haemorrhage etc is that my version of what is traumatic and 'their' version are two very different things. When I went to discuss dd's birth with a mw she didn't seem to think it was traumatic at all, and 'alls well that ended well' with a happy healthy baby... The fact that I still have flashbacks now 2 years on seems irrelevant! When I had my 20 week scan recently (now pg with #2) the sonographer had my notes from the first birth and looked through and the only thing she said was 'took a while to descend'. Even if they have all the information in your notes to hand, they may therefore still think there was nothing out of the ordinary, and I certainly don't think you can assume that they'd understand you want to avoid something happening again. I'd try to see the supervisor of mw's at your local hospital to discuss your previous birth and current birth plan if you're worried, and certainly outline your concerns in your birthplan being as specific as you can with your birth partner about what you want to try and avoid (although I know you have to, to an extent, be guided by the medical professionals...). Its really difficult isn't it? Good luck with your birth plan

Thanks, thats food for thought. I suppose maternity staff must see so many assisted deliverys and distressed mothers that they don't really consider it anything out of the ordinary, even though its a big deal for the person having to go through it all. I will try to talk it through with my midwife and see what see suggests.