'Desperate Midwives' tonight BBC3 9pm

[rodeo1]

This is my hospital! Derby City General - where I've had my babies and will be having another in November!

rochwen, it was maternal request.

I think it's important to remember that what you are seeing has been edited, perhaps sometimes to make a point and that what you are seeing may not truly reflect what happened, and that some people invovled, both midwives and mums, might be sitting at home now thinking, 'But that's not how it happened' or 'They didn't show her screaming for hours and begging for an epidural'. Or whatever.

Equally SueW I have personally witnessed MWs offering epidurals and other pain relief when not even asked by the mother.
Gas and air is always offered to my clients, few actually use it and almost everytime the MWs can't quite believe it has been turned down ! A lot of MWs (IMO) are very unconfortable dealing with women without any pain relief.

My sister had her baby in Derby City General this weekend and had a fantastic midwife who supported her well throughout labour, encouraged her to move around, and she was nowhere near a bed but in one of their birthing rooms which has a 'weird shape' mattress, birth ball, bean bag, etc.

There are, I believe, nine more programmes and I look forward to seeing how the series develops.

to those annoyed to have missed it..so did i , but its on again tonight and again tomorrow i think, must be a repeat of sundays.

mmm don't have you're dinner in front of it.

ha ha...i'm doing all i can to get my dh to watch it..don't think he'll be persuaded though, but it will be good for him to get some idea!

I don't think men would be into watching that. I find it a bit car crash telly myself and I'm into babies

Dear all, just wanted to respond to some of the queries raised in your discussion thread about the series at Derby.

Rochwen said: The midwifes were totally rushed off their feet and (I'm not sure whether that was the editing) the births seemed like a factory line.

• At Derby, we care for 6,500 women a year, and deliver 4,500 of them at Derby City Hospital - thats about 12 babies a day. We also have a high home birth rate. The programme is purposely edited to give it a 'fast' feel. Watching reams of footage of a 14 hour labour is not exactly exciting TV!

Rochwen said: There was no personal touch, I hardly heard the midwifes say anything kind (in fact they were so patronising to the girl with the c/s e.g. 'now you're not going to look good on telly') or very compassionate. They just didn't have the time. I don't think any of the women had a 'birth experience', it was just 'get them in - get them out'. The woman at home seemed to have the best care, and I was impressed how cool the midwife was who 'woke up' the wee boy was - well done her.

• 1 to 1 care is the gold standard for any midwife, but this is not always feasible - Yes, there are busy periods and quieter periods, but babies don't come to order based on shift patterns!

Rochwen said: All the births (except the home birth) happened with the women lying on their backs. I thought that's considered bad practice by now and that you could choose which position you want to deliver in, no? Even the women who was having her 5th child had a monitor strapped to her belly and was 'tied' to the bed on her back. I'm expecting my first baby at the beginning of August and I would hate to have to lie on my back, apparently it's so much more painful.

• It is up to the women what position they wish to be in during labour, and they are encouraged to keep moving about. It is merely a coincidence that so many were pictured on their backs on film.

Rochwen said: Lastly, why would anyone want to be filmed whilst giving birth? I felt for those women and I wonder if they'll feel exploited when they see the footage.

• The women in the documentary have already seen the series. They were given a private viewing by the BBC at Derby before any of it went to air. They were also in contact with the crews who filmed them during the editing process, and discussed in detail what footage was going to be used. It was entirely up to the women how much was filmed and how explicitly. The viewings were actually very emotional, seeing all the mums there with their babies, who are all now 3-6 months old - there wasn't a dry eye in the house!

I actually appear in this documentary and i can honestly say it was the most magical experience that myself and my husband will ever encounter in our lives. We were given the gift by having the safe arrival of our new born son and now thanks to the BBC we have captured that precious moment for us too look back on for the rest of our lives.
The care we received from the midwives and all the staff was outstanding. Thankyou BBC.

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Rochwen, I screamed during both my labours but it felt like roaring, a useful noise, it was fantastic and exhilarating!

Honestly, I'm sure it sounded scary but it felt good!

My gripe of this weeks program was the voice over while the lady was in to be scanned for her possible breach. "If the baby is breach, will have to have a ceasarian section."

Rubbish! Several friends have successfully birthed breach babies vaginally, as I would have had I (or to be accurate, my baby!) been in that position!

The program gave the clear impression during two seperate clips that this isn't a feasible option

Erm, freedom of choice and accurate information.....anyone?!

BB, I was told that the midwives at my hospital didn't see many breech babies born naturally, therefore that's why they advised c-sections for them. Scared me, I can tell you! Fortunately DS went head down very early on, so was never an issue! But most of the babies born at that hospital in the December before DS was born (in April) were breech, and born by c-section.

kama - as a midwife I am appalled when colleagues take gas and air off women during second stage as it is the most intense part of labour. It is important that women do not over breathe it at this stage as it can make you become very unco-operative and not push properly. I personaly needed to have the mouthpiece between my lips so that I could take tiny sucks to keep me focussed.

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mears, when i was in second stage i didn't feel as though i had any "control" over pushing - my body just did it and i had to "ride the wave" so to speak - is that normal?

i had gas and air during second stage, btw.

absolutely. Pushing should be as your body tells you to do it. It is now not recommended for midwives to direct pushing - results in abnormalities of baby's heart rates and tears. The exception is epidurals where pushing sensation may be absent.

Mears, when you say not recommended for midwives to direct pushing, do you mean telling you how many times to push per contraction and counting for the pushes, etc?

Wow - this is like Ask Mears!

Yes - it is absolutely not good practice to say - 'I want you to take a deep breath and give me 3 pushes with each contraction'

thanks, mears

i distinctly remember the mws telling me at one point to hold back on the pushing. i told them i would but inwardly was thinking, yeah, right, like i have any ability to control this whatsoever...!

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