women 'unprepared for childbirth'

[Suzie and Faith]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7292565.stm

I was going to quote the news report but it is SO long!
I don't think we are unprepared... just hopeful!
I want as natural a birth as possible but i'm not naive, i know it will hurt and i know it'll be hard and i know it could end up with me in hospital begging for an epidural!

But I also know that people have been doing it for years with little pain relief.

First of all i was annoyed at the title of the article, after reading it i guess what they are saying is be prepared for anything. But the title still bugs me!

 

[charlie84]

I agree with you there babybee about being hopeful, and like you i am not unprepared for how painful it may be and that i may resort to pain relief.

I agree with the report that sometimes you are made to feel like a failure if you do choose to have all the drugs going, but only if you let yourself feel that way. Some women are very uninformed about all there choices and are influenced by what they hear from tv/friends/etc and dont want to feel a failure

Personally i couldnt give a care in the world what people think if i choose to have all the drugs that are going. This will be about me giving birth to my baby, and if i find i cant cope with the pain i will then accept more pain relief.

 

[muppetmummy]

I find that article a bit annoying. I bet it was written by a bloke!

I really don't think women can be expected to know what to expect, when it comes to it your body just knows what to do and instinct kicks in. You can get clued up on the pain relief thats out there, but I don't think you can ever really know what to expect until it happens.

Its a fact that once you have medical intervention such as an epidural you're more likely to need further intervention such as a forcep or ventouse delivery which often require an episiotomy.

Birth is a natural process at the end of the day, having your tooth pulled out is not so I don't see how they can compare the two?

I'm hoping to get by with tens machine, water and gas and air for pain relief, but if I'm struggling I'll be getting out the pool and having a shot of morphine.
I'd rather avoid the morphine because of the side effects to the baby, and avoid an epidural because I don't want to be stuck in bed for hours.
I'm not avoiding them because I think it makes me a better woman or anything, there's no prize for being a martyr!

 

[Geordie&Bairn]

Im going to be sucking on gas and air like you would not belive.
and i will not give 2 hoots what anyone else thinks
and if im in great pain then ill have pethadine
but i do not want the epidural how ever small the risk of being paralised im not taking any chances.

id like home birth but this is not possible

i know its going to bloody hurt like hell and ive rented a tens machine hoping this will help.

i;ll do whats best for me and my child not to please others thier not the ones giving birth.

sarah

 

[Squiglet]

I wasn't overly optimistic either time... I demanded an epidural both times... but with lil miss the anaesthetist never made it in time so I did it "eau natural" (no gas and air in Spain and I didn't have time for pethidine) But I'd rather have had the drugs...

 

[paradysso]

well after this last experience.. i thought i cudnt handle the pain and asked for an epi as the pain was bad, but after an hour of trying to get the epi in and having no luck. i made it to 10cm without it. im sooo glad it didnt work. i didnt have faith in myself. it does hurt, but the pain doesnt last forever. and to be able to feel when you need to push is amazing.

 

[sarahpurple]

I honestly couldn't take this biased article seriously. It was conducted in a teaching hospital which most of us know are consultant led and it is therefore in their interests to justify their existence and protocols. If the study was conducted out in the community and in a local maternity hospital then this article would surfice some justification.

Having visited a consultant last week because the baby was a possible breech and being told I am too fat to give birth at home or in hospital without medical intervention, being told 'we' can always speed up the labor if I was not progressing fast enough (obviously on their time not mine) my confidence in the maternity services is beginning to wear very thin.


BTW if you were wondering how heavy I am only just over 18 stone and very pregnant!

 

[Suzie and Faith]

sounds like ur doctors are mean and silly to me!

definately a biased article!

 

[sarahpurple]

Yup pretty much and I got the impression they are not used to dealing with an intelligent person who wants to ask questions and not just sit there saying yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir!!!

 

[muppetmummy]

I'm sure they like to speed up the labour for their benefit not ours. I think sometimes they like to do c-sections for the same reason, less hassle for them.
Sure, sometimes there is no choice but to intervene and get the forceps out, but if everythings going ok and there are no complications it is possible to do it at home on your living room floor!
The article makes it sound like women are being foolish for attempting a home birth and should go straight into hospital for an edipural and deliver on their back in stirrups.

 

[clarey]

I thought the same as you guys, bit of a strange article really, you would think the NHS would be all for us doing it as naturally as possible and not draining their resources for drugs and theatre!!

I dont want to have any more drugs than I really have to, not because I will feel a failure for having them but because i just dont like the idea of it! I have to be in a lot of pain before I will even take paracetamol for a headache, so why would I suddenly choose to fill my body with class A drugs! Having said that, if i am not coping I will obviously do whatever the midwife recommends, but I certainly wont feel like a failure for doing so!!

I reckon we all stay optimistic! The power of positive thinking and all that!

 

[muppetmummy]

At my antenatal class there was a swedish lady who gave birth to her first in sweden with just a shower for pain relief.
She said in sweden the norm is to do it natural and you only have drugs if there are complications.
She was shocked that drugs are used so widely here in labour and found it a bit frightening.
In sweden they send a nurse around to your house for the first 10 days after the birth for 4 hours a day to do cooking and cleaning for you, probably paid for with all the money they save by not dishing out drugs!

I was talking to an old friend from my hometown the other day and she was saying her friend had just given birth to a baby in the hospital where I had James (where I was less than impressed with the service I received). She said their was one midwife looking after 24 mothers and babys, and the girls OH could only visit between 10am and 12 noon each day. The kids were not allowed to visit at all despite her staying in for several days.
No wonder woman want to give birth at home!

 

[Suzie and Faith]

that's awful!
I'm homebirthing for a variety of reasons, one of them is that the care is a lot better and another is that there's no naff visiting hours.

I'm all for a natural birth because i believe it is possible and is good if you and baby are healthy. If any complications arise then i'll be happy to let the doctors do whatever to make baby ok.

But to say women aren't prepare is silly. Who is?

 

[helsekia]

i think all women are very goodat judging what is best for them and their child.We are all superstars and cope a lot better without stuffy medical people telling us whats best.girl power and all that