Making decisions about birth after caesarean

I think that women do need to be informed as much as possible and that you know, I think, I think' one thing I think is that'. I suppose and this goes against what I, what I really believe in, because I do think if you can have natural childbirth it's, that's what I would want, is that because it was a planned section, if there is, if the chances are that it isn't going to happen naturally, like it was with me, that women should be given' that it should be a section because everything was so calm and, and fantastic, but I mean' and if I'd gone ahead and been induced and then had, had a section it would all been a bit more sort of frantic and a bit more' not as safe. And I think that if there is no chance really' and I think you're really talking about the medical profession, particularly the midwives who, I just, they're fantastic, but they were really trying to push for me to go and try and have natural labour. And that wasn't going to happen. So it's this whole thing again with like' like breastfeeding, you know, I mean, I've, the pressure there with the breastfeeding, it's like almost the pressure with natural childbirth. It's a similar thing that' and then some women can't breastfeed and some women can't give birth naturally and so they live with guilt. And I just think that's wrong.

Probably, actually, probably about eighty-five percent of the decision was based on actually having a chance to think about the information out of the' a hospital setting, a home setting.

So is that another important factor about it, the fact that it was here and not in somewhere in hospital?

Well, I think that when you're somewhere clinical' you know, sometimes, I, I felt confident to say I couldn't, I hadn't made a decision. I didn't feel under any sort of pressure that I had to have made a decision there and then but it gave me a chance to go away and sort of think about it again with information at my fingertips. Whereas if I'd just gone away, I would have just gone away with the sort of verbal conversation that we had, kind of thing, which was, you know, as weeks go by, you don't retain the information or you're not really sure exactly what's been, been said to you, so I thought that was quite useful.

Who is the most important health professional do you think to provide the pregnancy and delivery, delivery especially, information?

Well for me, it was the midwife really, definitely, because that, that' but I think that's because they're the people that I had the most contact with, so they're the people that I got to know and the midwife was obviously, my midwife, one of the midwives that I'd met quite, on quite a few appointments was there for the delivery. And that, that meant an awful lot to me, the fact that she was there, because she was somebody that, she was a face that I knew in a room of, although they were fantastic people, I didn't know any one of them, you know. Oh, apart from the doctor, sorry, who I'd seen the day before.

And what message would you sent to health professionals who advise women about second deliveries?  What would you say to the midwives and consultants, what would you tell them?

'Not, not to rush your patients when they are feeling anxious. Because my sister, I took her for a scan last week and some, some seemed quite keen about the pregnancy and seemed excited whereas some professionals didn't seem interested; they just want to get you in, get you out, and I think it's just spending that bit more, and I know you've got so many people that, you know, the waiting lists and you know, appointments, you can just go on and on really, can't you, and you have got to give yourself limits to spend so much time with patients. I don't know. Maybe if they're unsure on something, like I said with the birth weights, if they're unsure, don't give false information, you know, not to sound nasty but to be cruel to be kind, you know, tell people you have got to be open-minded. It's like with the birth, you know, there's me thinking, 'Oh, it's an eight pound baby', and it wasn't. And like I said, if you tell somebody, 'Oh, no, you've only got a seven pound baby, you know looking at the scans and the size', and then they end up giving birth to a ten pound baby that gets stuck because the pelvis is too narrow, it's, it's things like that, isn't it, really, that you're sort of, if things are done a little bit sort of more, like measurements and appointments, taking more time over certain details, that perhaps there wouldn't be difficulty in childbirth, that, you know, perhaps sometimes, if they know it's going to be a big baby and this person could struggle, because obviously they say to them, you know, give them the opportunity to try a natural delivery, but when literally push does come to shove, they can't push a big baby out and then it ends up being a manic situation, where a C-section's got to be done, like now, isn't it. It's, it's just, I don't know, it's a whole circle of scenarios really, isn't it.

And if you were to send a message to health professionals who inform women at this stage, when they're making the second decision, what would you think health professionals ought to think about?

'I think they need to take into account the emotional state of the woman as well. I mean, if you've had a really tough time the first time then it might change how you, you know, you wouldn't, this is going to sound terrible, but sometimes some of them can be a little bit pushy in putting forward their own personal belief in what's best for you. Some are very good and they just, they just give you the information and they, they try to answer your questions and don't sway you either way. It's a bit like with the breastfeeding but then you do get some who, they may not come right out and say it directly but you can tell that they have a personal preference to what you should be doing, and I think it's very important that they don't try and persuade you either way.