Would you consider an assisted birth

[New2020]

Or would you opt for a c section instead?

I don't know enough about assisted births but they don't sound very pleasant!

I would choose C-section, but I wasn't given a choice so it's a moot point.

Normal forceps failed (max 3 pulls) so was taken to theatre and delivered with 2 pulls of rotational (kielland's) forceps - the whole thing was brutal and I have birth injuries as a result. At no point was a section presented as an option. My back to back baby had already been yanked half way down the birth canal by that point.

No one 'chooses' a forceps delivery but C-section is not always an option.

I had an extremely traumatic birth with my first with forceps and episiotomy. I bled heavily from the episiotomy, then my placenta wouldn't come out so I bled more with that and ended up in theatre needing a GA to have it removed. I lost a considerable amount of blood, nearly dying and required multiple units of blood. I was really angry they left me so long as I'd got to 9cm then everything stopped, turned out baby was at a funny angle which led to the slow progress. I wish they'd offered me a section when everything stopped instead of leaving me to have the syntocin drip to get to 10cm then when it came to pushing baby got distressed, hence the forceps. He was thankfully fine.

I'm due no2 this coming week and suffice to say I am booked in for a section.

Forceps are hardly used in other countries. I feel sometimes here they want a vaginal birth no matter the cost.

And I still suffer with pain from the episiotomy 4 years later. The recovery took weeks and weeks.

An assisted delivery was my worst fear & worst nightmare. I ended up with a ventouse & an episiotomy. I didn’t have an epidural either. It wasn’t the horror show I’d imagine. I was unlucky, I’ve issues with healing & stitches breaking down. That’s been the worst part for me. The actual delivery hasn’t scared me at all.

In the moment of needing it it's often too late for a csection. I had a forceps delivery with episiotomy and it wasn't too bad, the recovery was okay too. Easier than a csection recovery no doubt. Pregnant with DC2 now though and hoping next time will be easier

i had forceps - my babys heart rate was falling and needed out then and there.

didnt plan for it, but i planned for a live baby, so out it was.

i can honestly say it isnt up for consideration, you just want that baby out alive and deal with the pain, stitches and surgery after.

Forceps are hardly used in other countries

Exactly! The whole too late for a EMCS is so confusing because that’s not a thing elsewhere.

When entire hospital systems in the US ban forceps due to liability reasons, too late for EMCS can’t be happening. The management or method must be different.

All this said, forceps have their use in developing countries where access to surgical theatres are uncertain or nonexistent. But in developed countries, I’m really unsure about that.

I’m confused about the forceps and other countries thing also.

I’ve heard the argument about c-sections being riskier later in labour or baby being too low down for a section to be possible, yet also heard that they forceps are pretty much ‘banned’ in some developed countries and deemed dangerous, whilst they’re used frequently over here.

I had forceps and an episiotomy with my first and I was in so much pain afterwards. I had a third degree tear with both of my children but the recovery after forceps was much slower.

And to be clear, this is not me saying that the US system is better than the NHS, just pointing out some differences, liability is the reason why certain ‘risky’ procedures like VBACs and forceps get a wholesale ban in some hospital systems.

Management of labour or methodology must be different to account for that.

I refused consent for forceps and had a straightforward c section. Forceps are a hard no from me

Had two (1 ventouse, 1 high forceps) .

By the last stage of labour the contractions and urge to push are so compelling all I wanted was to get the baby out. Cranes, tow-trucks, anything.

"4 of us - 50% - had some degree of pelvic organ prolapse, i.e. a permanent injury to the pelvic floor, including one of the 'non-medicated unassisted' mums."

This is anecdata. Your sample size of 8 is not representative of the population.

I had forceps and it was fine, it's different for everyone though so I was probably fortunate in my experience. I was up and walking pretty soon after, I had a load of stitches and they healed nicely, I just felt a bit 'heavy' down there for a few days, and felt 'back to normal' soon enough. DS had small marks on his head but they had gone within 24 hours. Everyone's experience will be different though, for me a C section was a very last resort, just personal preference.

@Dinosauratemydaffodils o am aware that recovery is a spectrum, the next line after the one you chose to quote said
I am aware that not everyone is the same

I was sharing my experience of my assisted birth and the comparison given in my first post, as I said, was on comparison to people I know who have had c sections.

There has got to be a reason why so many female obstetricians choose elcs for themselves.

I suspect female obstetricians choose ELCS as they see pretty well everything that goes wrong, and therefore subconsciously expect it to go wrong with them.

DH was shocked how hard humans make childbirth compared with his experience with animals and was quietly expecting everything to go wrong while encouraging me...

I suspect female obstetricians choose ELCS as they see pretty well everything that goes wrong, and therefore subconsciously expect it to go wrong with them.

There could be something in that. I was in the second stage for 4 hours, my body was exhausted before any intervention. I was given hormones to try and strengthen the contractions, as that failed I then had forceps. If the forceps had also been unsuccessful, it would have been a C section anyway, so I suppose that's a bigger ordeal for your body to go through rather than straight to the C section as you miss out the middle bit. If the interventions work though they obviously negate the need for one, they probably see enough births to know the likelihood etc.

DH was shocked how hard humans make childbirth compared with his experience with animals and was quietly expecting everything to go wrong while encouraging me...

Well, human childbirth is hard. We are bipedal and have relatively very large heads compared to any other mammal. We have relatively narrow pelvises so that we can walk upright and our babies are born at the latest possible point that their heads can still fit through. If he was expecting it to be anything like lambing or calving then he must have had a shock.

@EmilySpinach

I think he knew the difference 'academically' but he's seen/assisted hundreds of not easy animal births, often involving negative outcomes, and the two mildly assisted human births (plus sounds from surrounding rooms) made him realise quite how much of a compromise the bipedal skeleton is...

I think medic experience of birth is like when you read the reviews, you see all the really difficult bits with just a few unexpectedly good experiences, while midwives see all the births so have a more balanced experience of the odds!

I had a natural birth first time and my son was born hypoxic with moderate brain inflammation, had to have hypothermia treatment to prevent further damage.
I was extremely lucky he wasn't disabled etc.
I elected to have a section on my 2nd and was such a lovely experience.
I would pick a section any day.

Yes, I think doctors are just very aware of what can go wrong, but it suggests they think that more things can go wrong in a natural delivery than a planned section. It might be some things that aren't necessarily likely to happen, but they have seen how bad it can be if they do. To be fair, I don't know what the stats are now, maybe fewer doctors choose elcs than in the past.

I think midwives tend not to be so keen on ELCS as doctors - because doctors only get involved in the more complex births while midwives are involved in the vast majority of births so their sub conscious impression isn't that "birth" = problem.

DH is a vet so apart from doing lambing (for a farm) in pre clinical years only sees the births that the usually experienced owners can't deal with themselves - so the likely c-sections (unless dealing with a very inexperienced smallholder). The very rare occasions he is involved with an "easy" birth (simple breech, slightly tangled twins) is actually a pleasant surprise.

In horses, unless the vet is living on site, you are unlikely to get there for a routine foaling - second stage labour is very very quick, generally you arrive to check the mare and foal if it's gone well, assuming an average length of journey/practice area...

Dogs and cats, generally sort themselves out, too small for much manual assistance...

I wouldn’t normally share, but so many scary stories of first time birth for the OP on this thread, so to balance somewhat.

My first baby was born without a c-section, without instruments, without induction, without stitches, without the need for an internal examination and without needles, drips or medication with no damage to mother or baby. It can and does happen like that, but I rarely share as I get leapt on.

@ChanklyBore

I wouldn’t normally share, but so many scary stories of first time birth for the OP on this thread, so to balance somewhat.

My first baby was born without a c-section, without instruments, without induction, without stitches, without the need for an internal examination and without needles, drips or medication with no damage to mother or baby. It can and does happen like that, but I rarely share as I get leapt on.

Absolutely, Several of my friends have had similar births. It's what I wanted. It's not a given that any woman ends up with a lot of intervention but, I do think it's important to be clued up on choices if it does happen to get a bit lairy.