Mixed results from 1st hospital appointment

I had my pregnancy booking appointment last Friday at 16 weeks, should have been at 12, but the hospital is flat out.

I went there with mixed feeling, I had a rather traumatic birth with Maggie, the ob I had was just plain awful, wont go into details but I will not let her near me again. Also last birth ended in an emergency c-section, so I was really hoping to allowed to attempt a VBAC and was expecting to have a fight on my hands, especially since the head ob had recommend a c-section for any future births.

Well as I was waiting at reception I head the first name of the nasty on being called, I hoped it was a coincidence and they were calling for someone else of the same name, I started to feel all panicky. I doubted I would come across her again, though she might have moved on. I looked the whiteboard behind the desk and there was her name on the list of ob for the booking clinic. Suddenly I was in tears, the thought that I might have to deal with her was just awful. I spoke to the receptionist and was advised that I would need to talk to the midwife, who I would be seeing first.

I was suddenly fearful that I would be classified as high risk due to my anxiety about my last birth and also due to my weight. Thankfully the midwife was understanding. I could request to not have that ob have anything to do with me whilst I am at the hospital and she was fine with my weight. She was a lovely woman and we had a good chat about birthing practices and our sadness as the closing of the Family Birth Centre. Spoke to her about having a Doula, she was very happy about that and stated that she had "seen Doula's perform magic with mums in labour", so I started to feel more positive.

Finally got to see the ob, a nice guy actually and he had no problem with me wanting to attempt a VBAC, in fact he was going to recommend it. It does come with conditions though, which I will get clarified in another post. Ended up having a good chat to him about hospital funding and how overbooked the hospital is.

So very mixed feelings, happy to be not forced into a c-section, but realising in myself that I really need to debrief more about my last birth.

I'm glad everything when well for you Astrid. It makes a big difference having someone who is understanding and caring.

Glad to hear you're able to request another ob, it would be awful to have that anxiety hanging over you. I'll be interested to hear what conditions were put on your VBAC - I'll probably be attempting one, and my ob has given the following conditions:

- can go up to 10 days past due date but not later (and no induction of labour)
- will need monitoring during labour but this doesn't mean I have to lie on a bed
- will also have drip during labour
- can't labour for as long as last time (phew! i really wouldn't want to!) but how long will depend on how i'm progressing etc

I think that was it. Are your conditions similar?

Similar conditions:

• Wont be allowed to push for too long or too hard
• Continuously monitored
• Managed 3rd stage - this is due to my blood loss last time, they don't want to risk that again.
• Didn't mention going over, except that I already said that I don't want to be induced and if that happens then I will have the c-section.

sounds like my ob's conditions are pretty standard then. good luck astrid!

YAY for nice old Ob!!!!

Yes it would be a good thing to debrief, and soon. You can feel how shaky you were (or still are) right through your post.
Have you thought about which way you would approach it? The birth debrief threads are good, but sitting in front of a screen typing it all out might be a bit too much right now.
Does the hospital have a counsellor available? Mine did and it was free for Maternity patients. It might be worth asking, I'm sure some of the others in here may have some good suggestions.

Squishy hugs for you xoxo

Please do some research on VBACs in regard to these 'conditions' on your labour. Talk about being set up to fail. What happens after being 10 days overdue that would require a section? Why can't a drip be inserted if needed, it would take seconds to do. Is there any evidence that supports continous monitoring during labour? Why a time limit on how long you can labour for? You don't have to blindly accept advice from Obs especially when it is going to be so very limiting on your labour. Honestly, I'm shocked at some of these 'conditions' and I would urge you both to very carefully consider your choice in careprovider, if you want to have a successful VBAC and not become a statistic.

I agree with Samantha. It's up to you to set the conditions of your labour, your ob can advise you but at the end of the day it's up to you to decide what you want to do. You can refuse any treatment or monitering that makes you uncomfortable or will impede your labour.

Thanks for the advice and support so far. Looks as though I will be definately changing hospitals due to relocating. I have managed to book into the midwife team and speaking to them they sounded very pro vbac. So I will chat to them when manage to get down there. The conditions do worry me a bit, I definately need to do some more reading when I have a chance to.

I was actually thinking the same things as SamanthaP when I came across her post.
Please look into it. It is not up to your ob, it is your labour and your baby. Make sure you find out everything they are planning on doing so you have no suprises. And you *do not* have to agree to anything.

Hey - we also had a fairly traumatic first hospital appointment. I was placed in high risk category due to a history of depression (ten+ years ago) and told I would need to see a psychiatrist, even though I have NOT experienced depressive symptoms during pregnancy, and have a supportive GP who would be my preferred first contact if I DID. Ended up writing a letter to the consumer advocate at the hospital, although they weren't able to change anything before the first appt with high risk clinic. The doctor there took a look at my file, and wasn't able to figure out why I'd even been referred there, so ended up referring me back to low risk (thankfully). However, it was massively stressful, and a classic example of medical practitioner just taking choices out of our hands.