Concerned about not being able to get the birth you want?

[mears]

then look here

I keep reading about women 'not being allowed' a certain birth choice.

You cannot be told you are 'not allowed' in the UK. You should be advised about choices then you make an informed choice.

Thanks Mears I doubt it.

In one sense it makes things easier for me not having a choice. It means I can plan for a home birth with no guilt as this is my only choice and hope the community midwifes attend me when I go into labour.

Thanks for the link

Yes, I am read up on how labouring in water can reduce risk of ruptures etc. Even if I agreed to go to consultant led or midwife led unit, hospital policy is a blanket no on water vbacs.

Another reason my home birth with my own water pool is more appealing.

They have statutory obligation to attend you in labour and the SOM will need to ensure that they are aware of their professional obligation and support them in order to support you.

I am afraid I would be writing to the chief executive of the hospital to highlight this absolutely deficient approach to care.

You would not be in this position where I work.

Last question - has the LSAMO been involved in this birth? If not, she should be.

Just reread thread. Get LSAMO involved now. She will support SOM.

I had to send a written complaint to the chief executive (and aims and 4 other people) to get the limited runaround support I did last time.

The community midwife (who told me my baby was going to die) told me she "would be transferring me to hospital and didn't care if I hated her for doing so" and said this 2 MONTHS before I went into labour !!!

Is the LSAMO and the LSA different things ?

Another thread here

I have talked to an LSA Midwife and she works with/alongside/for the LSA Midwifery Officer according to the leaflet I got her details from.

LSA Midwife thinks that it is far too soon to be stressing me out with utimations on what I need to do in labour. I should see how things go and make decisions a lot further down the line.

The LSA is the health authority. The LSAMO is the Local Supervising Authority Midwifery Officer. The link below gives you information. The LSAMO is an independant person if you like. She ensures that SOMs are undertaking their statutory function and is also there to support women.

Just reading your other thread - what do you mean by the baby turned sideways in your second labour. Do you just mean the head or whole body? I didn't realise that you got to fully dilated last time.

I can't remember. I had fully dilated, water still intact, I just thought he was stuck.

Transfered to hospital, they brought a portable scanner to the consultant led room and scanned and was told that 'baby has turned and would not come out'

I was offered the choice of controlled waters breaking, hand up my bits to twist baby. Worried about possible cord prolaspe and possible crash section if anything went wrong

Or an emergency (non crash section)

After 24 hours in labour already, I cried and choose the Csection.

But I decided to transfer in to hospital the midwifes were happy for me to stay home. I just 'knew' something was up, I just 'knew' that he was stuck. After weeks of being head down and ready to go.

They did say when they scanned him that he was big, but it was his position not his size which was causing the problem. I couldn't have birthed a 6 pounder in that position (apparantly)

There is a point to waiting until nearer the time because if your pregnancy progresses beautifully and all looks well with position and size etc, there may be far less arguments to deal with. At the moment everyone is considering 'what ifs'. Next baby is not guaranteed to be bigger.

Informed decisions cannot be made on what might be scenarios. They need to be made with known clinical picture.

Ofcourse the fact you were a CS at full dilatation will not change but additional risks to worry about may not be there.

I would much rather accomodate you in hospital that have you feel 'forced' into a homebirth. However, as you say, that might be the better option for you with clear understanding of when transfer in would be appropriate. I wish you well.

Were you not given the option of leave things alone and see what happened when waters broke spontaneously? Baby might have changed position on his own.

Have you gone through your previous notes with someone to undertand exactly what happened?

Thanks Mears. I appreciate you taking the time to give me advice

Lets see what happens in July/August

Unfortunately I need to go out now but am really interested in your story. Shall we continue on your other thread? Have a feeling I might want to ask you more questions if that is OK?

"Were you not given the option of leave things alone and see what happened when waters broke spontaneously? Baby might have changed position on his own."

No, I was pushed into the c-section. It was well you can try us breaking the waters etc but it is likely to led to cord prolaspe and crash section, better go for a straight forward emergency (non crash) c-section.

Doula asked if we could just see how things went, apparantly it wasn't an option.

Mears, I would be delighted to carry on later. I'll be back online this evening.

I really need to get my head straight and balance by mental health/fear of hospitals with my new babys right to be born healthy.

Would you prefer to CAT me?

I would CAT you but my subscription ran out three days ago

Any chance of you emailing me on jenny at babieseverywhere dot com and I'll renew with Mumsnet on payday.

Done

Hi there. I have been very concerned about this as well but when I attended my hospital's VBAC clinic last week, I was presently surprised.

When I suggested to the midwife that ideally I would like a water birth in the MLU if no comps arise, she said the unit would only accept low risk pregnancies (and I am high) but went to say that if I really wanted a low intervention birth, then I could ask for a homebirth and she was sure the MLU manager would prefer me to be in there than at home so something could be discussed!! They are positively encouraging VBACs as well which was heartening.

I was pretty gobsmacked about that and very relieved especially as MY midwife had already told me that I 'would not be allowed a waterbirth as I was high risk'. I will decide at my 36 week appointment with them. Even if I don't get the water birth being in the MLU will be a big improvement.

Knowing this has taken a lot of the worry off me because 2 previous VB's were nightmarish. My ELCS(due to breech 1st twin) was positively paradise in comparison but I really do not want the recovery afterwards and think if I did not know what I know now, I would bottle out when it comes to it and ask for another c-section!!

BigMomma3 - it is the same argument for you. Midwives often assume that hospital protocols are written in stone. Women have CHOICE and the role of the supervisor of midwives (SOM) is to support women and midives in 'challenging' cases. Please look at the links I have put in this thread.

mears - any chance you could update the links please? TIA