MNHQ here: do you have experience of birth injuries that led to longer-term health problems?

[ClaireTMumsnet]

Hello,

We at MNHQ are getting ready to launch the next phase of our ongoing Better Postnatal Care campaign www.mumsnet.com/campaigns/better-postnatal-care. The first part of the campaign was focused on women’s experiences on postnatal wards. This second phase will focus on women’s experiences of birth injuries and related health conditions, especially those which can affect women for months or years after birth.

As part of our campaign, we’re looking for Mumsnet users who are or have been affected by health conditions that arose as a result of birth injuries or difficult births, who would be willing to be media case studies to help publicise the campaign. [MESSAGE EDITED to remove reference to women having given birth in the past three years - MNHQ]

We're talking about things such as painful scarring from birth injuries or stitches, pelvic organ prolapses, pain or discomfort that affects sex, or problems with urinary or faecal incontinence.

We’re looking for as broad a range of experiences as possible - we'd love to hear from both women who sought and received good medical care, and those who have not sought medical care (and those who sought it but did not receive what they needed).

If this sounds like you and you’d be comfortable talking to the media about your experience – anonymously or not – please email [email protected] for more information.

Getting in touch with us does not commit you to acting as a case study. We always run any media opportunities past our volunteers, and you will always have the final say about whether to go ahead with a media opportunity or not.

Finally, ideally you'd be reasonably available and in the country/near a reliable phone during the first couple of weeks of April.

Thanks very much,

MNHQ

Don't know if this counts as a birth injury but I suffered a DVT when my youngest was 3 months it was passed over as a tore muscle and a week later caused clots to travel to both lungs. I thought I was having a heart attack NHS24 sent me and 999 ambulance and was told if I had went to sleep I might not have woken up. This was apparently cause by the contraceptive pill. I now question every new mum who has a limp (with one being an amputee which left me very red faced). I have since had recurrent clots and I am now on blood thinners for life.

Should have read that better not gave birth in the last 3 years oops

I've spoken about it here...
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3125584-Impact-of-birth-injuries-prolapse-etc

I have no issue talking to the media, but it will have to be email (or similar) as I can't talk on the phone

Yes me! But youngest is now nearly 6. Third degree tear and had horrid problems for years afterwards. But I’m out of scope sadly. Good luck with it, a great thing to raise the profile of.

Actually still suffering, but no where near as bad as it was.

Sorry I missed the "and" - my youngest is five

I was going to say no, but the millimetre or so of cannula left behind in my wrist may cause problems at some point ('but that can't happen!' 'Yes it can, X-ray it').

Lesson learned: be wary of letting a student doctor cannulate you. I'm not really squeamish but the first few attempts on the right were so painful that my toes twitched uncontrollably. Then she went into the left (my writing hand). I had to hold the left wrist throughout labour and the day after the IV line out. Except part of it was left in my wrist, sheared off by the needle.

Actually that was 5 years ago!

It's a shame that it's birth in the last 3 years because I think the real story is that birth injuries can lead to a lifetime of problems.

I'm still suffering from injuries related to a forceps delivery more than 15 years ago. I've had one unsuccessful surgery partly I think due to the fact the surgeon didn't fully recognise the extent of my issues and only fixed one of two problems. I declined further surgery but still have symptoms I have learned to live with but are slowly worsening.

Yy do you. I'm now old enough to have my own birth injuries, yet my mum is still suffering from my birth

Way more than three years here too so sorry, can't help.

Yes. From having 2 babies in 14 months. They are 1 and 2.
Scar tissue that didn't stay closed and wetting myself.
After initially being fobbed off by the midwife I am now receiving excellent on going care with the continence nurse and bizarrely the GUM clinic as they were the people to take me seriously.
Happy to discuss it further.

I had an epidural 13 years ago that has left me with pain in my back !

Yes. I read an excellent article in the guardian recent about rectoceles. As I was reading that article I thought "I have that. And that. And that." And I managed from the info given to piece together exactly the kind of birth injury I'd had. But no one had ever said, obviously. Too minor to count for them. Daily inconvenience and embarrassment for me.

Why are you limiting it to the last three years? The damage caused to my body by my labours 17 and 15 years ago has affected me ever since, and will, no doubt, affect me for the rest of my life. And I'm not alone in this, as demonstrated by nearly all of the responses so far.

@Rachyhayes

Should have read that better not gave birth in the last 3 years oops

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. That sounds terrifying - we hope things are okay now

Morning all

Thanks for your comments and much sympathy/solidarity for those of you with personal experience of this.

We initially asked for the three-year period because our survey about postnatal care (which kicked off this campaign) used that three-year period so that we could capture a relatively recent picture of care.

Thinking about it though you're completely right - the nature of this issue means a longer time horizon is entirely appropriate. So please feel free to disregard the three-year thing if you'd like to be involved - we'll edit the OP now to reflect that

Thanks and

Ah fabulous Rowan. In that case, I will wang an email over to you today :)

Yes I have had problems after I had 2 c-sections, my 2nd was in 2016 and 3 days after my left leg went completely numb and I fell over, now over 2 years since I have problems with my back and leg, my doctor said the pain I'm having sounds like trapped nerves in my back and leg but I suspect it's nerve damage from the spinals as I remember them taking a long time placing the needle in my second section. It was agony.

I'll email, I remember creating this thread over a year ago, I was so cross at the state of post natal care.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2785946-No-one-cares-about-my-vagina?pg=1

Is this only concerning vaginal births or long term difficulties as a result of C-sections too?

I don't know if it counts as a birth injury as such but my stomach muscles separated in pregnancy resulting in chronic back pain.

Also got jabbed in the wrong place when they put an epidural in and have a bit of nerve pain that goes down my legs from epidural site every now and then. That can be very very intense and has had me laid up unable to move at times. Dp has had to take time off work because of it.

Also tore in a couple of places, one second degree anterior tear (so towards the front rather than the back, closer to urethra than perineum) and that's still quite sore and achey and can hurt quite a lot during sex.

My bladder I think will never be the same again.

Ds is four, five this year, so without surgery/physio I think this is pretty much as healed as I'm going to get

Yes. Had my son nearly a year ago. Had a fourth degree a tear, forceps delivery with no pain relief. Horrendous pain - it was like I was being tortured and I thought I was going to die. First 3 months the pain and flashbacks were awful - this is whilst dealing with a newborn (my first and last). Still have problems now but much much better than the first 6/8 months.

I had my daughter in 2016, and pain was so unbearable I opted for an epidural. I'm glad I decided this because it turned out that I became tachycardic with a suspected enlargement of the heart in the upper two chambers. I was of healthy weight and age (21) when giving birth and I was terrified, because the doctor kept asking me questions I didn't know answers to.
After birth I had to stay in, and cardiology came and asked if I had any heart problems that I knew of. I had none. They said I was lucky to have epidural because that allowed me to be calm during the natural birth. They said I would have most likely had a heart attack if I didn't have one and then would have had to have an emergence c-section.
3 months post-partum I was called to have an echocardigram and the tests came back as all good. I explained to them I kept getting shooting pains, dagger like in the centre of my chest. They told me that my heart grew a bit during birth but has returned to normal. They said occasionally I may feel twinges and I may feel them for the rest of my life. I only seem to get them if I am really stressed or my body is, and the way to fix them is to take very deep breaths.

I'm personally fine (had a private ELCS, which was brilliant). But I'm so glad you're doing this, for the many, many women for whom it was not fine, and who have subsequently been let down again in the ensuing years.