Is there any way you could have been more prepared, do you think?

I don’t think so really, because one of the few things I have learned is that sometimes a little bit of information is not a good thing. At the end of the day you’re putting yourself in the hands of the professionals and they kind of know best, so you don’t really want to know too much.

Okay. So you think you could possibly know too much and that it would be a bit scary?

I think that’s my own fault though, because I did read up on it an awful lot.

I wanted to know really, how safe it was for her to be turned. I also wanted to know the, really just, because obviously this was my first pregnancy, just you know, how possible was it for her to turn by herself and some home methods of trying to turn her. There was all sorts of weird and wonderful things on the internet about putting a cold bag of peas at one end of your stomach and all sorts of, and getting into a certain position and putting your feet up, and, so I tried all that.

And what information did you get with that first pregnancy?

About the elective caesarean, or about?

About pregnancy in general, the whole thing, where did you get your information from?

You, you get a little bit of information from the midwives, when you book in an appointment, which I think was eight weeks, at the time. Most of the information I got was from a book I’d bought called ‘What to expect when you’re expecting’, it’s a bit like an encyclopaedia of pregnancy, and I just found that really useful because some of the things you worry about, the niggles are just explained in English, and they’re quite normal. So yeah, so most of it from the book, really.

Did you go to ante-natal classes at all?

Yes, I did go to ante-natal, but to be honest, at that stage, I knew that my daughter was breech, and a lot of was based, was based on talking about pain relief in labour and actually the delivery itself really, and breastfeeding.

And did they mention much about sections, or ‘?

No. It was mentioned, it was mentioned in the class that was talked about methods of delivery and pain relief and it was mentioned for about five minutes, and that was it.

What information did you actually get? If you can remember where you got the information from?

In the pregnancy pack.

And did you go to antenatal classes?

Yes, I did antenatal classes but I don’t remember getting a great deal from that, to be honest.

Right, but the pack was more?

‘the pack was more useful, I think.

And what was your relationship like with your midwife with the first pregnancy, or midwives?

Hm’ Basic, very basic, very businesslike really, come in-‘ They’re lovely, but it was kind of ‘come in, do what had to be done, go’ type thing. Theres one who I’ve got much more of a’ I don’t know, friendly relationship with now second time round from remembering her from the first time and they are very friendly, but it’s just down to basics and then ‘off you go’, type of thing.

And what was your relationship like with your midwives in your last pregnancy?

To be honest throughout each pregnancy there’s not been a sort of continuity at all, I don’t think I’ve’ it’s very rarely that I’ve seen the same midwife twice which you know, they’re all very nice and they’re all pleasant, I’m not criticising that but they all are starting from scratch with your notes. But I think that’s just the way that surgeries seem to run.

And what about seeing Obstetricians how was that in the last pregnancy?

I think I just saw them hardly at all.

And you said that it was more of a discussion the decision about how you were going to deliver that time; did you feel that you were included in’?

It was’ yeah not with my own GP. My GP I was with at the time I didn’t really have much to do during the pregnancy because it was joint care with [Hospital] so it was a doctor at the [Hospital]. But again at [Hospital] you don’t see the same doctor twice. I think that’s what I found hardest about anything that you’re starting again with everybody. And every time they look at your notes and they make the same comments and they ask the same questions and you’re thinking just you know

Talk to each other?

Yeah.

Okay so did you make a birth plan with the last pregnancy?

No because it was’ I’m assuming because it was a caesarean I don’t think we actually did any sort of detailed thing with that.

So in what ways do you think your treatment or care could have been better last time?

For the caesarean?

Mmm in terms of preparation, information provision?

Basically just to see the same face. I don’t think there was anything that they could really tell you, I think once you know you’re going for a caesarean part of your mind just shuts off from it, or part of my mind because you know what’s going to happen and it takes away the thinking, because you know you’re not going to have any control at all.

How, how you wanted, what the information was that you wanted to know. What were the important things?

Well, I suppose things like, oh, just about the labour. How, you know, the different sort of, not forms of labour, sort of, just the different areas of labour; how long this, the first bit, I can’t think of the terminology’

Stages?

‘the stages, thank you, so how long the stages last, the sort of pain that’s involved, different pain relief available, sort of where you can have it, like at home or in the hospital, whether water birth was available, you know, all that sort of information really.

And what information were you given?

Quite a lot by the midwives actually. They had a lot of leaflets on different things, and I also went to the ante-natal classes, which I found very useful. And having friends that have already had children, I just sort of picked their brains about their experiences, and bought a couple of books, not too many books.

And what was the most useful, do you think?

Probably talking to people who have already been there, and the ante-natal classes, actually.

And were they NHS classes?

Yes.

And, can you remember if they covered anything about the possibility of having a section, or maybe an instrumental delivery?

Yes, when we visited the hospital, they went through all that, the sort of forceps and, ventouse and those sort of things, but’ yeah, I think they did talk about caesarean, but I think it was often sort of assumed that most people would go through a normal delivery, and you’re given the statistics about how many people have caesareans. I think it was one in three or something, and three of us in our class actually did have caesareans, but not a lot more than that really.

And what information did you want with that pregnancy? What did you want to know?

Throughout my whole pregnancy, I was just so ill, I wasn’t really, I was just kind of looking to, to have the baby eventually out. I think that made me want a natural pregnancy more because I’d had such an awful pregnancy, sorry, labour, I wanted a, a bit more natural labour, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

And did you go to ante-natal classes?

I did, yes.

And how useful were they?

Most useful thing about them for me was’ I tend to, I know you shouldn’t, but I tend to read a lot of books and go on the internet and things like that. They were good to meet other mums, who were going to have babies the same age as me. It didn’t work out that way because I went back to work very, very quickly, so, it wasn’t quite as good as I’d expected, but I was really looking more for companion side of things from ante-natal classes.

Right. And you said that you looked at books and the internet as well. What kind of information did you get from there?

Just information on, you know, what pain relief was available, what sort of things could go wrong, just really anything to do with, with labour really.

so I went to all the antenatal classes and there was lots of information about labour, but none about Caesareans! I think they mentioned in once [laughs]. You know, that this sort of could happen. I think that’s probably why I hadn’t’ I know, I knew Caesareans happen, but it was almost like they don’t happen to many people. So I think that’s why I kind of hadn’t thought about them until it sort of happened really.

So thinking back now with hindsight, would you have wanted more information about sections?

Yeah, yep.

And can you think what kind of information?

What happens really and why, you know, why you might have to have one and’ Because I think like if your baby’s breech or something you probably get spoken to about it by the midwife on a one to one, but not in the antenatal classes. ‘So yeah, why you’d have to have one and what it entails, what they actually do. And the recovery and things afterwards.

And was the information that you were given about having a Caesarean useful?

I don’t remember. I mean, they mentioned it in an antenatal class and I’d read books and things so I, I knew what a Caesarean was and I knew roughly what happens’ but, you know, when it was happening’ I sort of found out more afterwards really I suppose.

And you said you had this team, team of midwives?

Yeah.

Do you think that they checked how you were feeling about, your anxieties about your pregnancy and how you were going to deliver?

No it was all sort’ it’s all talked about that everything will be okay, but I suppose that’s the only way to go about it really. But I mean, there was lots of information about labour and birth at the antenatal classes and you could ask questions and things, but I- I suppose I didn’t, I didn’t think to ask questions about a Caesarean. Because it’s just sort of glossed over.

And what were the antenatal classes, what were they like?

They weren’t very informative to be quite honest with you. I didn’t really learn anything.

Right. So where did you get better information from?

Probably off of the tele, watching birthing programmes.

Okay.

And reading magazines of course, Pregnancy and Birth, Mother and Baby.

And what about the obstetrician when you had the growth scan and found out about the breech, did they explain to you about the section at all then?

Yeah.

What kind of things did they tell you?

They basically just said what the procedure was, and that I would have another scan at thirty-eight weeks just to see whether the baby had moved or not, and also explained that I would need to go to the hospital the day before [the section] to have a scan and then where I had to go for the actual section etcetera.

And with hindsight did they prepare you for how you were going to be after the section?

Probably not as much as one would expect really. That was a bit of a shock for me I think. Although I realised it was surgery, I didn’t realise just how difficult it would be to cope with a newborn baby and be so sore as well.

I think maybe it would have been nice to have known about the risks with the second pregnancy, and about what it was like after having the section.

And what kind of information did you want when you were first pregnant?

‘probably they- I think they should give you more information on sort of the possibilities of it. Because I felt like after, I found it difficult because I felt like I’d failed. And I didn’t know why. Theres a lot’ like I know a lot of people who’ve had babies, and they’ve had them naturally and I thought, well’ basically you feel a bit of a’ you’ve gone through all that and then you end up having a caesarean. I was in labour for sort of eighteen hours, and it just seemed a bit of a’ I think they should give you a little bit more information on- on that subject, sort of that you could end up having a section in the end.