'Birth Reflections' or similar service

[jaggythistle]

I have couple of questions...

Firstly, did you have one of these sessions and did you find it useful?

Secondly, does anyone know if it is commonly available in Scottish hospitals?

I had my DS lots of months ago and although I am not rerunning it in my head quite so much now, I'd really like to know what happened as it is all a bit of a blur. (Failed to progress, ended up with emcs after almost 24 hours in hospital)

I think it's £50 to get a copy of my notes, I am wondering if this is a good idea or if it'd be better talking it through with someone instead?

Thanks.

Perhaps you could try the hospital service and see how you feel once you have gone through your notes amd what happened with a midwife?

If you then still feel like you need to discuss/process, you could try counselling?

I requested my notes after traumatic first birth but did not have a meeting with the hospital as communication had completely broken down between us by that stage (I felt they were negligent and was not interested in hearing their excuses).

Thanks, luckily it was not awfully traumatic for me. Mostly I just felt I lost control after a bit, when I was put on the drip/given an epidural to speed things up and it is somehow important to me to remember what happened when!

I was really troubled by it for a long while, even thinking about the birth, or hearing about other people having their babies. made me burst into tears. It has been getting better, but still plays on my mind.

I was a bit ill after the CS and had to take antibiotics for a mild infection, so I am a bit sad that I feel I almost 'missed' the first 6 weeks or so of DS's life by being out of it.

Thanks for your reply.

No probs, jaggywhistle. I think you should go for it, then. Request your notes and a meeting to go through with the midwife present.

And at the risk of sounding patronising - birth can be a frightening experience and one when (for the first time ever, for many women) you feel totally out of control. I can understand why you feel sad and a bit shell-shocked. Talk it through with the hospital and see if you can get some clarification and closure.

All the best x

Hi

I had 3rd degree tear after first baby and was automatically referred to the Birth reflections service. They were fantastic and talked me through the labour and encouraged me to write a letter of complaint which was taken very seriously. It was a very cathartic process.

When I got pregnant again they contacted me and helped me write a birth plan helping me to feel I could give birth naturally again. I ended up hvaing to have ELCS at last minute but am so grateful for support they gave me. The midwife arranged appts with the Consultant for me and even came up to the ward after I had given birth.

I really really rate their service and would recommend them to anyone that needs to talk things through.

Good luck x

Hi there
I had a traumatic back-to-back delivery with my first (was denied all pain relief by a negligent midwife and she did loads of other things wrong too). The hospital had given me the details of the Birth Reflections service when discharging me and eventually, 6 months on, still having flash-backs and nightmares I rang the number. Had a (1hr?) meeting with Birth Reflections counsellor/midwife who went through my notes and explained everything that had happened. It was really illuminating and helped me to come to understand what had happened.
I found Birth Reflections was very useful and having a midwife explain my notes to me was of much more use than me trying to decipher them alone.
Sorry, no idea about the Scottish system as I'm in South East.
That was in 2006 and I've put it totally behind me now and talking about it with a midwife (and time) really did help me. I'm due to have my 3rd baby in June
Good luck