So so glad this has all come to light. So sad for all those affected by it and heartbreaking that it has actually take THIS for hospitals to sit up and take notice. I’ve been banging on on here for the last year about c-sections and women’s rights to choose how they want to give birth. I did hours upon hours of research into a c-section for about 10 years before even considering getting pregnant. Giving birth naturally vaginally has been my biggest fear on earth since I was a child bizarrely and for no real reason other than an accumulation of all the awful stories I’ve heard throughout my life. I almost didn’t get pregnant in case I couldn’t get a c-section approved but after doing a lot of reason, especially on birth rights I went for it. Physically I had the easiest 39 weeks and 4 days ever. Mentally, it was torture. I spent the entire time in a heightened state of anxiety, the only way I can describe it is feeling the way I imagine it feels to walk along one of those tiny narrow ridges high up a mountain. At any second I felt like I was going to go plunging off the side into labour and to my death (dramatic I know but entirely true for many of these women it seems). I had to really fight with the midwives/gatekeepers to even be allowed to speak to the consultant but it had gone on for 20 something weeks and by this point I’d worked myself up into a frenzy and was physically shaking asking/telling the midwife to get me a phone call with someone ASAP. This was the first time anyone took me seriously but I’m so sad it actually did have to come to that. The consultant wasn’t quite so against a c-section but she did want to tell me completely skewed risks about them. She even told me I might die since that was the main fear I had (thanks for that)! Luckily I’d done enough research by this point I could probably have performed the c-section on myself so I just agreed with whatever ridiculous risks she read out in order to speed the appointment up and get my section booked. She didn’t tell me one single risk of a vaginal birth and just said I could have a nice easy time OR I could have all these horrendous things happen to me as I bleed to death on the table while having a c-section.
Funnily enough I didn’t bleed to death. Bizarrely I didn’t experience one single negative effect from having the section. It was the best day of my life! So lovely, so controlled, so calm, everything I had hoped for. Everything I’d worried about all of my life didn’t happen 😊 I don’t wet myself on a daily basis or need to go for surgery to repair ‘down there’ like someone at my work. I didn’t bleed so much I had to be rushed to theatre and almost have my womb removed, like my friend who gave birth vaginally and has been promised a section next time. I didn’t spend the next day traumatized and shaking in bed, unable to bond with my baby like another friend who gave birth vaginally. A friend of a friend was sent home in labour and now spends her days looking after her child with brain damage, who might only live a few years 😔 These stories aren’t random one offs, I think I know about one person who has actually had a decent experience giving birth vaginally. Every single one of my friends has had one of these horrifying stories to tell, yet when I tried to get that message across to healthcare professionals while I was pregnant I was patronised, almost laughed at and made to feel so silly for feeling that way. I am so glad change will now hopefully be brought about in so many hospitals where c-sections are avoided at all costs!