unnecessary episiotomy???

[kerry86]

hi all! i recently gave birth to a baby girl at 5:14am, 21st may 2009, the pregnancy was fine and everything regarding labour was fine right up until 25 mins before when babys head had crowned at 4:50am, my midwife decided she was gonna cut me as she said i had a rigid perinieum! if this is the case why then didnt she notice this previously when i was examined to see how far dilated i was, which she did more than once. Does anyone know if it is true that your midwife should ask you if u want to be cut before hand unless obvioulsy it is an emergency? i had only been pushing for an hour, the baby wasnt in any danger, i was fine also, surely there must of been something else we could of tried before i had to be cut? maybe massaging the area to help it stretch more, i have also been told it is better to tear naturally as the healing process is quicker, do u agree? also after all this she managed to cut 2 blood vessels which caused me to lose 2 litres of blood, resulting in a blood transfusion a day or 2 later. i think the worst of it is my stiches have broken down leaving me with a very nasty (infetced) wound, which nothing can be done about it, apart from taking antibiotics, has anyone else had a similar experience? would like to hear your stories and compare. many thanks kerry-louise.

No experience of childbirth (yet) but I'm pretty certain that your permission should have been sought before she cut, especially as it doesn't seem to have been an emergency.

Have you asked her about it since the birth?

Oh, and congratulations on the borth of your little girl

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a terrible time Kerry-Louise. You poor thing. I'm really no expert but cutting you without permission in a non-emergency situation sounds wrong to me. Have you considered making a complaint about your treatment?

it might well not have been obvious before baby was crowning that your perineum was not going to stretch well. when you are assessed for dilation, it is your cervix that is assessed and that is the first stage of labour and crowning is part of the next stage.

you should have been asked for your consent , especially if not an emergency

were you given aneasthetic?

have you had your 6 week chekc yet?

kerry86 - a midwife must ask your permission before making an episiotomy and that is best discussed before it is needed. The midwife would not be able to tell if your perineum was rigid when she did the vagional examination - it is only when the head is pressing on it that you can tell whether it is going to stretch or not. I would advise that you write to the hospital and ask about the treatment you received.

Why do you think that 2 blood vessels were cut? Did she say that? 2 litres is an awful lot of bleeding from an episiotomy alone. Did you have problems delivering your afterbirth? Was a doctor called to see you? Was the episiotomy done 25 mins before the baby crowned? Sorry for questions but I am just trying to understand what happened.

am wondering if 24 minutes between crowning and delivery is a long time?

nope, it isn't!

it is the time between the episiotomy and the crownng that it the too long tiem!

x psot with mears. must stop talking to myself on threads

If head crowned at 04.50hrs then 26mins is a long time till delivery. Could be that your epsiotomy was needed TBH.

The OP said ...everything regarding labour was fine right up until 25 mins before when babys head had crowned at 4:50am... which I took to mean 25 minutes before crowing, on re-reading I'm not so sure that's what she meant either.

25 mins from crowing to birth does sound like a very long time.

i was not sure either, but i wondered if OP meant 25 minutes of head being visible, but not crowned... IFYSWIM, maybe describing that as crowning,but head did not crown at that moment

so yes 24 minutes from crowning until birth a long time, but not along time from head being visible but not crowned.

Hopefully Kerry will come back to explain

hi all is 25 mins a long time? im not sure as my first child was delivered by c-sec so this is pretty new to me, (mears) i do not know why 2 blood vessels were cut this is what the midwife told me after, nothing was properly explained to me during or after the birth, its only looking back through my notes i have a better understanding of it all as well as having my fiance tell me the bits i have no memory of. there were no problems with the afterbirth and a doctor was only called after the midwife clamped the blood vessels. the episiotomy was done approx 5 mins before my daughter was born.

if it was taking 25 minutes for your daughter to crown and your perineum was rigid, then it perhaps sounds like it was necessary? especially if the MW thought you might tear very badly instead. i would perhaps make an appointment to go in and talk through your birth notes with someone to clarify exactly what happened and why, especially if you are unclear on why it was done

I agree that you should ask for it to be explained to you. You just need to write to the head of Midwifery.
There might be a confusion of terms here. The head being visible and crowning are 2 different things. Crowning is when the bulk of the head is stretching the perineum and 25 minutes is a long time.
The fact that you were a previous CS is a contributing factor because if progress has stopped in second stage after pushing for an hour, the midwife might have been worried that there was a risk that your CS scar could rupture (rare but possible).
Only way for it to be clear is for someone to go over your notes with you.

thank u for your replies, i do think i need to speak to someone at the hospital regarding the delivery of my daughter, to get some sort of understanding of what happened and why, thanks again, kerry-louise.

do let us know how you get on i am sure it will be really helpful to clarify things for you