I don't like my consultant

[EBenes]

With my last pregnancy I had a c-section because of a lot of metal in my pelvis, my GP at the time and consultant thought it was too risky to me and the baby to have a vaginal delivery.

Sorry, this exchange is a bit subtle and complicated, I hope I get it right.

I met with my new consultant in a different hospital, and he said he'd like to contact my previous consultant and the surgeon who operated on my pelvis to see if this was true. Then he said, but if you're not set on a vaginal delivery, I don't have to do that because it would be a waste of my time. And I said I wasn't set on vaginal delivery. But then he changed tack and started saying, 'If you really want to have a c-section, I will do one, but you have to understand the risks, are you sure you want one?' and 'I can't make you have a natural birth' And it sort of ended up with me saying three times that I wanted a c-section, when it started out with me telling him that I had to have one, and that I wasn't so set on a vaginal birth that he'd have to research the reasons I couldn't have one.

Basically, he seemed to be making me say, 'I choose this, I am aware of the risks' three times. Then he tried to write in my notes a name for my surgery which was completely unrepresentive of the surgery I had - something totally different and minor, even though I'd explained it in some detail.

When I had the c-section first time around the consultant said the pelvis had made it a tricky delivery. I'm worried now that I'm marked down as a too-posh-to-push and he will not be expecting the complication and something will go wrong.

What happens when you don't like your consultant? Am I over-worrying, and should I just have told him to go ahead and contact everyone? The reason I responded the way I did initially was that he'd said it would be a waste of his time if I wanted a c-s anyway.

Well, if he doesn't believe you re the details of your previous op he should certainly get the notes from it.

I'd write a letter (calm, measured, polite) along the lines of 'further to my appointment with you on the Xth of July I would like to clarify my wishes with regard to the possibility of caeserean section' and put down all the things that seemed to have got twisted while you were actually speaking to him.

Good advice MrsB.

These situations are always tricky.

There are several things you can do, just depends how far you want to go. You can ask for a different consultant. If your unit has a consultant MW i would contact her or if they don't then contact the head of midwifery at your unit and discuss what you have said here with them. On a lower level what about seeing the senior mw at the antenatal clinic, s/he may be aproachable.

BTW i would strongly suggest they get the notes from your previous surgery.

Good Luck

Oh that is good advice! It could just be a misunderstanding, obviously, but I really thought - my husband more than me! - that he was just trying to get me to admit it was a vanity thing after I'd started off just saying 'you don't have to get the notes' because he'd said that would waste his time... it seemed like a kind of power game. And then when he tried to write it up as an 'arthroscopy' - which is non-invasive wrist/knee surgery - I started thinking oh crap maybe he won't know what he's doing, which is obviously just pregnancy-panic. Writing to him is a very good idea, and I'll also write to my old GP (who I had through all the surgery) for help explaining.

Thanks very much, I just spent the night panicking.

Also be mindful that it may not be the consultant who does the C-Section, it will probably be the senior registrar. So....i hate to throw a spanner in the works but was your pervious section straight forward or was it the consultant who performed the surgery. If you think that surgery will be complicated you will have to stress this to get the consultant to either perform the surgery or at least oversee it.

Sorry to give you more to think about...

That's a problem for later though, Teadrinker.

Once the consultant has all the information (notes from previous op and previous birth, clear statement of EB's wishes, results from tests / observations of this pg) then decisions can be made about this birth, but not until then.