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.

I didn’t know anything about it until I’d gone in for my twenty week scan and I was approached about it then and for me, it was almost like a breath of fresh air because at that point, up until that point, I really didn’t know that I had a decision to make, it was almost drummed into me that because I’d had a section before, you’ll have to go through a trial of labour this time. So, I really didn’t realise that a) I had a decision, and b) I didn’t realise, I knew the risks involved of having a section, but I wasn’t really aware of all the risks involved of going through a trial of labour, so that was really good for me to read up on that as well. And to be able to compare both, and to work out in my head which, obviously I rated as the worst.

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, theres 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.

And what message would you send to the health professionals that advise women in this situation?

Well, I’m not sure really. I think, I think that they need to be really thinking about the interests, the interests of the patients, rather than just the cost to the NHS. And I think that they need to be more realistic and more open-minded about what the, the patient wants.

Certainly on the ward after I’d had [baby’s name] when you say that you’ve had two sections, particularly to this one particular ward midwife, and I said the reason why I had the second section was obviously an emergency, but it was planned before, there was almost kind of a, a how can I describe it? You’re frowned upon for that, for making that decision, so I think people just need to be a bit more open-minded. At the end of the day you know, it’s not a case of being too posh to push, you know, you’re not some rich superstar that’s paying to have it you know, and paying to have a tummy tuck and everything else that goes with it, and you’re not staying in a four star hotel cum hospital, you know, you’re making the decision because it’s the best decision for you and maybe it’s the safest decision for you and you know, if that’s what you want then they should, you should be able to stand by that decision and they should, the health professionals should then be able to respect you and support that decision.

And what message would you send to health professionals who advise women on this decision?

I would say that they need to obviously encourage and promote the fact that it’s possible, and try and dissuade right at the very start sort of negative image of, ‘Oh, you can’t possibly do this’, understanding that they have to give people sort of the full facts tha’ the reason why you’ve had a section in the first place might influence the reason why you might need one again, or not need one again. But I think from a very early sort of stage in pregnancy, they should be promoting you know, ‘You’ll be able to have your’ a good chance of being able to have your baby naturally’, rather than sort of even mentioning the word section again. I think you know, if that wasn’t brought in until a later, later stage it might be