Pain and Babies (Birthing Methods in general)

Member Name: MaryanneH

Product:	Birthing Methods in general
Date:	09/08/04 (221 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Babies

Disadvantages: No one will try and kid you that it doesn't hurt

The headline of the Daily Mail when I first wrote this review was about the governments plan to charge women who elect to have their baby delivered by a caesarian section for social reasons rather than medical. This charge could potentially be up to £5000.

Having experience both a section and a natural delivery, what I intend to do with this review is give details of both births and explain to you why I would chose a natural (drug aided) birth over a section any day of the week and why I agree that the NHS should encourage people to take the cheaper and it has to be said healthier and safer option and if charging them is the way to do it then do it, and lets face it for some of the people who choose this option - the Victoria Beckhams of this world, this is loose change, and why should we subsidise this through our taxes.

At this point I must add that in cases of medical need Caesarian sections are necessary and should be and are available for free and the government has no plan to change this.

Prior to giving birth, under the NHS all new mothers to be are invited along to antenatal classes, telling you about the birth, what to expect and what to do with the baby afterwards. During these sessions, or with private sessions with your midwife you are encouraged to write a birth plan. I did this for my first pregnancy and it did absolutely no good whatsoever. The birth plan should include details about whether you want to use pain relief, whether your partner wants to cut the umbillical cord and various other things related to the baby. Emily was born by an emergency section 2 months prematurely, so this carefully devised plan went completely out of the window.

Caesarian section can be carried out either under full anaesthetic, which I believe they prefer to do in emergency cases but I had been eating littlewoods pick '
;n' mix all day so they couldn't, or a local anaesthetic in the form of an epidural. This is what I had and you are hooked up to all the usual machines, blood pressure and the oxygen is handy just in case. A whole team of staff is required, a surgeon, an assistant a midwife and an anaethatist. So you can immediately tell why these things cost so much more than your 1 midwife and the doctor 2 floors away just in case.

The procedure itself was incredibly quick when they are taking the baby out it actually feels like someone is trying to do the washing up in your stomach. There is a curtain up shielding you from the fact that they have cut a hole in you. My memories of this are somewhat hazy from the epidural and I was still in shock, as I had 2 months to wait for this baby didn't I, but I do have one very clear memory that scared me at the time, as my bed was wheeled away, after Emily had been shown to me and whisked away to her incubator, there was a rail with all the cloths of my blood hanging there, and there were loads of them.

The caesarian itself was ok, it didn't hurt and from that point of view I can understand why women would want to avoid labour, but then there comes the afterwards. The following morning, after the pain relief had worn off I felt awful, I was not allowed to walk, I was in severe pain and I had a drain in. The nurses duly arranged for some more pain relief, and this feeling went on for 3 days. The drain was removed on day 3 and I was discharged on day 4 'against the doctors better judgement' but mainly because I complained so much. Then the disadvantages of the section really start to kick in. It is major surgery, you therefore can not drive for 6 weeks. Which when you have a baby in the special care unit is not at all convenient. If you ignore this and decide to drive you are not insured.
>
By contrast when Ellen was born she was induced 2 weeks early as they were being safe after emily. We went in to be induced on New years eve and I was scared, it may have been my second child but I had never been through labour, mentioning to the midwife, almost joking about another section she was delighted and said I could have one, no problem. I declined and went ahead with the induction. Nothing happened for the first half a day, we weren't allowed to go out so my husband and I sat on the bed playing chess (strangely he won!) about lunch time they came and had another go with the inducing gel and this time it completely knocked me out there was only one position I could lie in to keep comfortable.

Now for all you well meaning men out there and my husband is one, just let the woman tell you what she wants and when she wants it. Andy had been very supportive throughout both pregnancies, getting involved wherever he could and kept asking if I wanted this or that. Both he and the midwife kept suggesting a warm bath would help - I didn't feel like one, but after they had been going on about it for a good couple of hours I succombed and had one just to make them happy, and was sick as soon as I got in. I know Andy felt completely useless that day, but honestly just being there is enough, don't try too hard.

The other thing I remember about that day was the new midwife that looked after me when they changed shifts. When you are in labour your senses are very acute and she had worn a perfume that wouldn't normally have bothered me but I felt sick everytime she came close.

I am not good with pain, and I have full admiration and respect for those ladies who labour with no pain relief, I had a shot of pethadine while I was on the ward and as this started to wear off I said to the midwife 'ok its hurting aga
in now I want an epidural' She checked me out and I was still only about 2.5" dilated (10 is baby imminent) but sent me down to the delivery suite anyway. In the delivery suite we sat for about half an hour, eventually Andy asked the midwife when I could have my epidural and they told him that I might not be allowed to which in true cowards style he responded - you can bl***y well tell her then! So she came in and fixed up a moniter to check the contractions and had the audacity to tell me that they weren't very painful. I found out later that she had no children and the hospital received regular comments about her bedside manner. My response to her is unprintable! She then checked me over and found that I was fully dilated (2" to 10" in 45 minutes - not bad as this can take days!) so no epidural for me.

The rest of the birth went as you would expect, push a bit then out pops baby. (I did manage to kick the midwife in question on one of the pushes and she must have had a huge bruise as she went flying, 5 years of Karate training and I finally got to use it)

Anyway, that is the story of my two births, the after effects of the section go on for weeks, when the stitches came out, it hurt again, I could not drive, I could not leave hospital for 4 days and then was still very limited in my movements, getting in and out of chairs and beds hurt. Following the natural birth, I was home by lunchtime, walking normally just slightly sore. I went sales shopping 2 days later and drove to the supermarket that week. Life back to normal.

My advise in this section, is plan how you would like your birth to go, but don't stick to this rigidly, things can go wrong. Don't be scared by labour, the pain, is more like a continual discomfort that won't go away and the second baby is born it is gone, whereas with the section, the after effe
cts are there and visible for a while. Stick to what you want and don't be pressurised into things by other people. Remember it is the beginning not the end, when you are pregnant it is difficult to see beyond the birth, but that is why we all do it.

Thank you for reading.

Summary: