Forceps seem to be used a LOT in One Born Every Minute

[lucysullivan]

I can't get over how often forceps are used on mothers in Channel 4's One Born Every Minute, every week some poor soul seems to be subjected to them and on tonight's programme forceps were used for 2 births. I've read on here the horrendous damage that forceps can do and know that in some hospitals they are not used at all for precisely this reason.

I've specifically requested in my birth plan for this baby that I will not consent to forceps. Worried though at the extensive use of forceps in British hospitals today, the women I've watched in the documentary don't seem to be told about the risks associated with them, to their health or their babys. Whereas I will be screaming for a c section if forceps are mentioned.

Does anyone else worry about the use of forceps? I'm starting to get very worried that despite me saying I will not consent to forceps I will be told it's either that or I'll be putting my baby at risk, so made guilty if I kick up a fuss about not consenting.

I've posted before on these threads about OBEM. I have had both my kids at the Princess Anne and whilst things aren't great there in some respects I feel the documentary didn't show how the hospital really works.

The midwifes are lovely at least all the ones I came into contact were and that was probably 20+. On OBEM they tended to feature births on the labour ward which is where more difficult or risky births take place. IME they will not do anything like monitoring unless they have to, and even then if they do it tends to be for 20 mins at a time. I didn't have continuous monitioring until I'd had an epidural.

As for them seeming to offer epidurals all the time, they didn't suggest I had one until I had been in established labour for 20 hours and then I had to wait another 4 hours before the aneastists was available to give it.

With ds1 I had a birth plan and they tried to do everything I had asked for on it.

I had ds2 on the birthing unit which is much less medicalised. I was encouraged to walk around to improve labour. In fact it all happened so quick I gave birth on the toilet the girl was sat on at the start of this weeks OBEM! The midwives encourage skin to skin contact immediatly and breastfeeding asap.

I really feel that the births represented on OBEM were chosen for their drama. Absolutely fascinating to watch but not completely representative of all the births that happen there.

I am optimistic enough to think that the vast majority of cases where forceps are used it is appropriate, and to avoid a CS, and from what I understand, the risks involved with a CS are in general higher for mother and baby - and the recovery time longer.

Sometimes things just happen. I remained as upright as possible throughout my labour (despite the need for continual monitoring after an induction; my DH bossed the midwife into allow me as much movement as possible and I avoided being on my back.) I also refused an epidural.....but I still ended up needing forceps, and having repeatedly said no to an epidural I had to have them with no pain relief.

In the end DD and I were fine, although I took a while to recover!

Doombar 8 hours[shock}, my god why did they leave you so long??? I was pushing for 3 and yes, I would have consented to anything by then.

In fact, I was much more interested in the promise of an imminent spinal block than how they were actually going to get DD out by that point.

And while of course being upright and mobile does help with everything, there came a point with me, just after I had to leave the pool because my contractions had slowed, when I was absolutely knackered and I couldn't keep upright anymore (wasn't in labour that long either but it was very intense from the beginning).

Why don't they have birthing chairs in hospitals??? I think I could have managed that. I do wonder what would have happened if Ina May Gaskin had been my midwife...

Like others I had forceps delivery after two attempts at ventouse was in theatre I had an epidural that didn't work so was given a spinal - I wasn't told the risks of ventouse or forceps and I don't feel that the NCT clases we attended covered those risks they tell uounabout fhe various instruments but not the risks !!
Therefore i was unprepared after being cut etc.... My recovery aS T least a good 6 months I was offered an elcs at my 16 week consultants appointment I have my 36 week appointmen with consultant on Friday and will be optic for elcs! Atbmy 16 wek apppoinfment I was determine to do hypno birth etc.... But as rime has gone on I am so scared of the same thing happening dd was back to back as well!! I find out what type of forceps were used Friday ekkkk.
I wasn't told dd was back to back till I was being prepared for theatre ! If I had been fold I think I wouldn't have felt such a failure and scared! My Childminder is a ex midwife and I have spoken to her in great depth about by previous birth she believes I'd it had been managed better e.g. Then it might not have been so tramautic! I agree with her ifs about the support you get and they don't have enough staff so in think it's hard to strike a balance.
Agree OBEM just shows the drama as normal straight forward deliveries won't make entertaining tv!

I had both dds at PAH and had forceps with both BUT dd1 was back to back and I would have agreed to anything after the 45.5 hour labour. Dd2 had shoulder dystocia and we ended up with a McRoberts maneuvre (plus forceps) to get her out. Both were very bruised (dd2 looked like she'd been dropped down a flight of stairs and had a broken clavicle) but no long term damage.

I can't fault the team who took over in the operating theatre each time, but the midwives who "looked" after me prior to the consent form being whipped out really didn't make me feel reassured - not that I was expecting comforting, but with dd2 was given the pessary (induction too - aren't I lucky) and then left for six hours. Dp had to go and find someone as my waters had broken and he needed help clearing up the tidal wave. Also, I drew their attention to my notes where the consultant had confirmed I shoudl have a scan when in labour to ascetain dd2's positioning. I was ignored (a number of times!) and during the post birth chat with the surgeon(?) he confirmed that he positioning caused the shoulder dystocia and I should have had the scan .

Am now pg with number 3 (9 weeks yay!) and am trying not to think of the previous experiences - as I'll be delivering at PAH again!!

Doombar - by the time they decided they were needed there was no time for one! All my heroics previously in refusing an epidural were with the aim of reducing the likelihood of an instrumental delivery - oh the irony..

C'est la vie.

Your experience sounds much more traumatic in the long run. I hope that you are getting some suitable treatment.

No experience of forceps - DD was a failed ventouse delivery after 4 hours of second stage of labour and then a CS. I just want to say I am pleased to see there are other people out there who were active, refused epidurals and did everything physically possible, and yet still had stuck babies.

I often get the feeling I didn't do enough (was in labour 42 hrs in total,) and a lot of the comments here about women being up off their backs and not having an epi in order to make things easier don't really help. I had a long chat about my previous labour and delivery with my private midwife recently, and she reckons I couldn't have done much more than I did.

Some women can be active, minimal pain relief, and still end up with medical intervention. And then there are others who lie down on the bed, have an epi, and the baby just plops out. But that's just life!

Couldn't agree more pandora. It does sometimes feel very unfair when you've done everything humanly possible and still end up with an instrumental delivery, but as you say, that's life. I just wish it was sometimes acknowledged that it's really not all down to how active etc. you are during labour, sometimes you're just unlucky!

Forceps get a bad press. I had my DS with the small forceps (Wrigleys?) and it was over very quickly and has left no damage. Baby had turned back-to-back and after 36 hours in labour I was just exhausted and he was starting to get distressed. Luckily he was well down so only needed a little tug. They couldn't use the ventouse because of his position, every time they turned him, he flipped back again. I had a spinal block so was blissfully comfortable (for the first time in a day and a half!) and the benefit of being in theatre meant I got beautifully stitched up by a surgeon rather than a midwife. And my baby certainly wasn't bruised. He didn't have a mark on him.

I know others on here had terrible experiences with forceps - I just wanted to reassure you that it's not always a bad thing.

Also - I'd put good money on you having a fine delivery and all this being academic - good luck!

I'm due next week and am terrified by the thought of forceps, especially as I've been told that I'm carrying a huge baby! I have done a bit of research on what could go wrong and have fully briefed my husband, I've also written it in my birth plan that I do not consent to the use of forceps.

From reading this thread - and others on the use of forceps - it seems that some women are not made aware of the risks before they sign on the dotted line, surely consent is only valid if it is informed consent. I do sometimes wonder whether forceps are given a whirl to try and keep down a hospital's CS rate.

I agree pandora that there are no guarantees and things can go wrong and you can end up with interventions after doing everything within your power to avoid them. BUT the evidence shows that staying active, and avoiding an epidural makes intervention less likely.

I have only seen bits of One Born Every Minute, but I was shocked by how 'medicalised' so much of it seemes. Maybe that's a bit naive of me, as it's obviously filmed in a large hospital, but it does seem as though many of the mothers are having an epidural and then ending up with inteventions such as forceps. The women who have a straightforward birth seem to be in a minority - though that maybe due to editing!

The majority of pregnancies are uneventful, they don't involve complications, and the potential is there for the mother to have a straightforward non-medicalised delivery, but looking at this programme, you'd assume it was the other way round, and that most labours are problematic.

DD2 turned back to back during labour. No amount of pushing would get her out. Fortunately (in my view) we had opted for a homebirth so forceps were not an option. The MW got me to go up the stairs to the loo and 10 mins later DD2 was born.

The MW told us that if we had been in hospital they would have wanted to use forceps. In a HB they have to be more creative.

I think it's not just about being upright (though it helps) it's also about moving around and opening your pelvis (ie going up and down stairs).

OBEM is obviously edited but I was surprised by how many mothers were lying on their backs with little encouragement to get up and move about.

Mc buckers - best of luck with your birth and I hope that it will be straightforward without the need for interventions. I would be very interested what comments, if any, are made when the HCP read your birth plan stating no forceps. I would agree with your comment that forceps may be being used to keep cs rates down.
I also agree with you on "surely consent is only valid if it is informed consent" - is a woman who is in pain and may well have been so for a long period and probably totally exhausted as well, in any state to make an "informed consent". Personally, I would rather a csection than risk forceps, not only to avoid damage to myself (yes I would rather a surgical incision in my abdomen than being cut and torn and being left incontinent and with a possibly problematic sex life)but the possible damage to my baby. Injuries to babies using forceps do happen but seemed to be played down. For example I was browsing thr a pregnancy book in a shop and it did cover the use of forceps and said that there were risks but did not state whether they were to Mother and/or baby or what they were.
Anyway, MsBuckers, hope that this is all totally irrelevent for your birth and let us knwow how you get on.

I agree with that nigglewiggle.

I had my first baby in a MLU, which is probably as near to a home birth as you can get, and a number of my pregnant friends were quite sceptical, and said things like 'What if things go wrong? or What if you need forceps or other help?' Through talking things through in detail with the midwives beforehand, I came to realise that actually a lot of complications are less likely to happen in a home or MLU environment, because the midwives have to be more creative, as you say. The midwives I came across were utterly amazing, and very proud of their expertise. There was no pressure of time - no sense of not letting a mother labour at her own pace. No worries about getting a woman out of the delivery room and back on the ward. No worrying about whether to call an anaesthetist. Just sensitive professionals who were the experts in supporting a woman to give birth with the mimimum of intervention. A GP was always on call from the local surgery, in the event of needing forceps, but the midwives told me they rarely needed to call in the doctor, because the vast majority of women could be supported to give birth without intervention, through helping keep them mobile, and calm, and less fearful. And interestingly, most of the midwives there had 'served their time' in large regional hospitals, and had found it fairly dismal, as they frequently felt that their expertise was overuled by doctors who were too quick to intervene. They all said that the MLU was a totally different work experience, and enabled them to carry out the job they were actually trained to do. That spoke volumes to me.

ah isn't it lovely to see mears

Ah yes - 'MLUs lead to less intervention.' I forgot to add that one. I was active, no epi, no pethidine, upright or on all fours throughout AND I was in a MLU (to start with. After the 24hrs at home, obviously.)

Sometimes you are just unlucky, and if you can accept that you CAN and SHOULD try and do your best and yet still be unlucky, you will recover a lot quicker mentally if things do go wrong. But it does get annoying when people keep going on about active, pain relief-free births in MLUs being a panacea - as if I was being let in on a secret I didn't already know!

There is no 'panacea' in childbirth - just a range of options which will reduce the likelihood of intervention, not eliminate the risk of intervention entirely.

A GP was on call to do forceps? Really?

They would get a GP to do an obstetrician's job?

The panacea is a healthy mother and baby end of story.
But that doesn't mean those responsible for our care during childbirth shouldn't be striving for the best possible outcomes. However when I read sites like Bounty and Netmums and how they all seem to accept inductions at 40 weeks and artificially ruptured membranes at 2cm's because they are fed up, you can see why the HCP's think fuck it that's what she wants, makes my life easier, instead of offering support.

A GP wouldn't have used forceps, they would have called an ambulance.

That's why I'm asking violethill what she means by this:

"A GP was always on call from the local surgery, in the event of needing forceps, but the midwives told me they rarely needed to call in the doctor"

From what I have been told by midwives it never gets to that stage at home, they know how a birth is progressing and if they feel it's stalled or likely to end with intervention they get you to the hospital sooner rather than later.
Unless the poster meant back in 1950's before hospital births were popular ?