Consultants at the Royal Berkshire Hospital - ELCS

[Herrena]

Hello all

A friend is considering having an ELCS after previous EMCS and will be going to see a consultant at the RBH soon. I was just wondering if anyone has experience of successfully requesting an ELCS at the RBH - are there any consultants who are more reluctant to grant permisson than others?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)

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Hello, i have had 1 elcs at rbh in 2008 and will be having another in July ( under 6 weeks to go!) My consultant first time was Pat street, she is very experienced, but slightly hard faced so i never really could tell what her reaction would be to requests or questions etc.

She is also my consultant this time round, and arranged my section at 20ish weeks, i didn't have any pressure to go to vbac classes or talk about other options as i had told her my opinion on the research i had done myself, she understood and just sent me off to the MW who booked me in.

First time round i had shared care with Miss Allot, another consultant, she is a specialist in any MH aspects surrounding childbirth, she is a lot more personal than Miss street, also has tons of experience and tbh i secretly liked seeing her more than Miss Street, but both were very good and professional.

I have a few friends that have requested elcs on nothing but maternal request there, and none have had problems with getting this, and in the ANC i have met a few woman who are having their 2nd, 3rd, sections who were happy with the care they recieved.

The only negative aspect i have experienced at RBH is the aftercare, although ds was born in a baby boom.
I was constantly moved about more than twice in one day (3 day stay) waiting too long for pain meds and 1 very rude MW who patronised me and made some awful remarks about MH.

But i am looking forward to having my 2nd baby there again, i am prepared for the aftercare aspect, not afraid of hunting the pain med trolley down this time and have also packed my own meds!

Sorry that was long

Long messages are good - thanks!

I saw someone called Sameena Kausar instead of Miss Jill Ablett at my 20 week scan; i.e. Jill Ablett's name was on the the summary letter they sent me but I didn't actually see her. Miss Kausar was quite definite that I didn't need an ELCS despite my previous 3rd degree tear and I didn't know enough at the time to realise that I could request referral to another consultant. However it sounds like if my friend goes in post-EMCS and requests an ELCS then she won't have too much trouble getting one.

Very reassuring - wish I'd been more forceful now...

You can defintely get a second opinion, and at RBH i would ask to see Miss Helen Allott, she is specialised in counselling and Post traumatic stress disorder.
I found her to be very sympathetic and took into account other aspects aside from just physical reasons why women would want a elcs.

Good luck to your friend!

I would recommend Helen Allott too. She was my consultant and I had an ELCS because my dd was breach. She is very experienced in mental health issues too. I found her very professional and receptive to my needs.

my first choice would be Helen Allott (she's delivered two of my four dc both ELCS), second would be Sam Lowe (she delivered my fourth) - both lovely & very flexible :)

Thanks all, that is some great advice! Word has been passed along :)

Tomb and Ott

I have an appt with Helen next week, I am asking for mat request elc, although had a txt book birth.

I hope you are still there to read this!

I a going to have to take my 4.5 year old with me and I really dont want to scare her going into details, I have written down all aspects physially and emotionally of the 1st birth, can you tell me the procedure?

Will she talk to me about something or ask me lots of questions?

Will she refer me to any one else or does the buck stop with her?

I was very scared about meeting consulant after stories on here but when I did as much research as I could on Helen, I think I am hopefully going to be in good hands, reinforcd by what you say on here.

Should I hand her my notes to read> or will it be a sort of initial discussion going into detail at a later time, also do they book you in there nad there if neccasry , or do you need more chats?

will post a thread too in casee this is missed.

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Eliza I posted on your other thread?

hi wasabi,

I didnt mention on my other thread i want an elc, and am seeing helen allott as above, so dont want a VB, thanks though x

Ah right no worries Eliza. Have read your other post. Good luck, I hope you get what you want. Will be interested to hear how you get on.

I am curious - you mentioned a textbook birth in your other thread but also birth trauma. What happened? Please don't think I'm judging - I'm really not. I'm just curious really. Just because I want to try for a vbac doesn't mean I'm not nervous about it - despite managing it before!

Hi, yes - I had no exceptional circs, I was very lucky, 2 days light contractions then 6 hours of pain and 20 mins i think of pushing but my body did that.

The whole thing was too much though, when i thought pain couldnt get any worse it got a whole lot worse, not knowing how it will all end up - would somethng suddenly go wrong as it did with 6 very close friends who all would have died had it not been for modern medicine etc with a lost baby....

not knowing how LONG it would go on for!!! I carefully chose an epidural, but at birth classess and comm MW never ever mentioned that actually they are hard to come by, all the birth books only say they slow things down, not that one person actually does them and they are hard to get, so that threw me, but i had pethadine, trusted my MW etc.

The MW were AMAZING, I had also just buried my beloved brother on the wed, organised the whole funeral myself for a very dysfunctional family, one brother stromed out during etc...and gave birth on sunday and i was ladling verbal dioreha on the poor MW about my brother etc - he had DS too....and how i missed my mother who died suddenly a few years before!!!!

So I think compared to a regular lady they really did get alot of pressure from me, they were great though and I dont blame them for the epidural at all. I do relaise that not having it prob meant as a first timer i had such a quick labour.
And I thank God I had such amazing MW's...again that was sheer luck though!If I had had my last comm MW - who is a matron THAT would have been a disater of epic proportions....

HOwever, I do not want to risk it again, I do simply count myself lukcy, I dont want to risk any problems down below, or that pain.....mentally i cannot do it....I have minor probs down below but nothing compared to some ladies on here but enough to know i dont want them any worse!

many many people on here say an ELC is a " calm and lovely " experience, I really want that this time round, I may not get it ( it may have its own complications but I want to take that risk )- but even with a normal straight forward birth its not going to be " calm and lovley"!!!!

I just saw it as torture! I said to my DH its like that danil craig james bond scene where that man is whipping his googlies! I said its like that, and you dont know when its going to end, and when you think whipping your privates is as bad as its going to get - actially its going to get a whole lot worse as then - you will pass a melon out of your penis! oh and you may not do it and get sliced open and yo umay not live! And this can go on for hours...

also I read that alot of consultants are dismissive of women like me who had no nasty physical problems even though enough seem to be horrid to women with awful problems!

HOwever doing my research on Helen it seems she is rare - and is part of the birth trauma associastion and their ethos does seem to be, birth trauma is birth trauma, no matter how the birth ended up.

I find that really enlightening and uplifting that somewhere its recongised that what to one person is a walk in the park can be totally debiliating to another, and its up to no one to judge how another person copes with a set of circs....its down to that indiviual etc. so hopefully I will see her and it will go well!

Goodness me that sounds awful - you poor thing. I do agree with you re the whole pain is relative thing. I am frightened of the pain coming up for me even though I know it will be temporary and worth it. Part of me wonders if I've been lucky to have a natural birth that didn't damage me and this time I'm pushing my luck IYSWIM!

Part of the problem is that pain relief options in labour are just rubbish. The only thing that really works IME is epidurals and they obviously have consequences re mobility, slowing things down, more risk of instrumental delivery etc. More should be invested in mobile epidurals but hey, we're just women and it's all natural right?

Best of luck for your meeting, I hope you get your planned cs.