Women traumatised after being denied pain relief during childbirth as experts bemoan system ‘failure’

After nearly 12 hours of labour with her first child, Samantha Burgess reached a point where she knew she could no longer cope with the pain.

Up since 3am, she’d spent all day dealing with intense contractions brought on by medication given to induce labour.

She told hospital staff she wanted an epidural, an injection of anaesthetic used to block pain from labour contractions.

It was the third time she’d asked for pain relief over the course of the day.

But each time her requests for help were met with resistance.

The first time, her midwife said it was too early and suggested a bath to help with the pain instead.

—-

Samantha’s story is one of dozens the ABC received as part of its Birth Project, which heard from nearly 4,000 women around the country about their experience having a baby.

Women who contacted the ABC reported having pain relief, including epidurals to numb the lower body, delayed or denied.

Many said they felt some midwives deliberately delayed requests or did not give them access to the full suite of pain relief options available, leaving them traumatised.

This conflicts with advice from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which states women should be informed ahead of time, and in a timely manner, of pain relief options.

Dr Sheridan said myths about epidurals pervaded maternity wards, where staff were keen to keep medical interventions to a minimum.

“The common ones I hear is you’re more likely to need a caesarean section, which isn’t true,” she said.

“With advancing epidural medicine techniques we’re using more and more dilute local anaesthetic solutions and we’re delivering it in a different way.”

She said pain was highly individual, and anatomy, pelvic size or the positioning of the baby could influence a woman’s discomfort.

Psychological factors or even a history of chronic pain could heighten a person’s experience of pain.

“Everyone’s labour is different,” she said.

Hannah Dahlen, a midwife and academic at the University of Western Sydney, said pain during labour had a physiological function including setting off a series of responses in the body including endorphins, which in normal circumstances should help.

“They release a natural opioid-like substance, which gives the woman a feeling of dealing with her pain, but also a timelessness, an ability to be able to manage that pain,” she said.

“Pain is a very natural part of childbirth.”

Professor Dahlen surveyed more than 6,000 Australian women about their birth experiences between 2016 and 2021.

She found approaches to pain were a common complaint, with more than 170 women wanting more pain medications next time.

“We’re failing women,” she said.

Data shows about 80 per cent of women who give birth each year in Australia receive some form of pain relief.

The majority use gas (101,642), the next most common is lower body numbing using an epidural or spinal block (90,384), followed by opioids (20,314) — some women have more than one.

The remainder — about 39,000 — have no pain relief at all, but the figures don’t indicate whether that’s by their own choice or not.

Professor Dahlen said staff shortages could be an issue because women who have epidurals need more intense nursing, including regular blood pressure and baby checks.

“Where you have short staffing, where you have midwives in the room very rarely, (they’re) running in, running out — we know that women get more distressed and have more negative experiences of their birth.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-19/women-denied-pain-relief-during-childbirth/103601032

Would the midwife here likely be a hospital employee, assigned at random, or someone the mother already had a working relationship with?

dv said:

Women traumatised after being denied pain relief during childbirth as experts bemoan system ‘failure’

After nearly 12 hours of labour with her first child, Samantha Burgess reached a point where she knew she could no longer cope with the pain.

Up since 3am, she’d spent all day dealing with intense contractions brought on by medication given to induce labour.

She told hospital staff she wanted an epidural, an injection of anaesthetic used to block pain from labour contractions.

It was the third time she’d asked for pain relief over the course of the day.

But each time her requests for help were met with resistance.

The first time, her midwife said it was too early and suggested a bath to help with the pain instead.

—-

Samantha’s story is one of dozens the ABC received as part of its Birth Project, which heard from nearly 4,000 women around the country about their experience having a baby.

Women who contacted the ABC reported having pain relief, including epidurals to numb the lower body, delayed or denied.

Many said they felt some midwives deliberately delayed requests or did not give them access to the full suite of pain relief options available, leaving them traumatised.

This conflicts with advice from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which states women should be informed ahead of time, and in a timely manner, of pain relief options.

Dr Sheridan said myths about epidurals pervaded maternity wards, where staff were keen to keep medical interventions to a minimum.

“The common ones I hear is you’re more likely to need a caesarean section, which isn’t true,” she said.

“With advancing epidural medicine techniques we’re using more and more dilute local anaesthetic solutions and we’re delivering it in a different way.”

She said pain was highly individual, and anatomy, pelvic size or the positioning of the baby could influence a woman’s discomfort.

Psychological factors or even a history of chronic pain could heighten a person’s experience of pain.

“Everyone’s labour is different,” she said.

Hannah Dahlen, a midwife and academic at the University of Western Sydney, said pain during labour had a physiological function including setting off a series of responses in the body including endorphins, which in normal circumstances should help.

“They release a natural opioid-like substance, which gives the woman a feeling of dealing with her pain, but also a timelessness, an ability to be able to manage that pain,” she said.

“Pain is a very natural part of childbirth.”

Professor Dahlen surveyed more than 6,000 Australian women about their birth experiences between 2016 and 2021.

She found approaches to pain were a common complaint, with more than 170 women wanting more pain medications next time.

“We’re failing women,” she said.

Data shows about 80 per cent of women who give birth each year in Australia receive some form of pain relief.

The majority use gas (101,642), the next most common is lower body numbing using an epidural or spinal block (90,384), followed by opioids (20,314) — some women have more than one.

The remainder — about 39,000 — have no pain relief at all, but the figures don’t indicate whether that’s by their own choice or not.

Professor Dahlen said staff shortages could be an issue because women who have epidurals need more intense nursing, including regular blood pressure and baby checks.

“Where you have short staffing, where you have midwives in the room very rarely, (they’re) running in, running out — we know that women get more distressed and have more negative experiences of their birth.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-19/women-denied-pain-relief-during-childbirth/103601032

Would the midwife here likely be a hospital employee, assigned at random, or someone the mother already had a working relationship with?

Induced labour probably didn’t help

dv said:

Women traumatised after being denied pain relief during childbirth as experts bemoan system ‘failure’

After nearly 12 hours of labour with her first child, Samantha Burgess reached a point where she knew she could no longer cope with the pain.

Up since 3am, she’d spent all day dealing with intense contractions brought on by medication given to induce labour.

She told hospital staff she wanted an epidural, an injection of anaesthetic used to block pain from labour contractions.

It was the third time she’d asked for pain relief over the course of the day.

But each time her requests for help were met with resistance.

The first time, her midwife said it was too early and suggested a bath to help with the pain instead.

—-

Samantha’s story is one of dozens the ABC received as part of its Birth Project, which heard from nearly 4,000 women around the country about their experience having a baby.

Women who contacted the ABC reported having pain relief, including epidurals to numb the lower body, delayed or denied.

Many said they felt some midwives deliberately delayed requests or did not give them access to the full suite of pain relief options available, leaving them traumatised.

This conflicts with advice from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which states women should be informed ahead of time, and in a timely manner, of pain relief options.

Dr Sheridan said myths about epidurals pervaded maternity wards, where staff were keen to keep medical interventions to a minimum.

“The common ones I hear is you’re more likely to need a caesarean section, which isn’t true,” she said.

“With advancing epidural medicine techniques we’re using more and more dilute local anaesthetic solutions and we’re delivering it in a different way.”

She said pain was highly individual, and anatomy, pelvic size or the positioning of the baby could influence a woman’s discomfort.

Psychological factors or even a history of chronic pain could heighten a person’s experience of pain.

“Everyone’s labour is different,” she said.

Hannah Dahlen, a midwife and academic at the University of Western Sydney, said pain during labour had a physiological function including setting off a series of responses in the body including endorphins, which in normal circumstances should help.

“They release a natural opioid-like substance, which gives the woman a feeling of dealing with her pain, but also a timelessness, an ability to be able to manage that pain,” she said.

“Pain is a very natural part of childbirth.”

Professor Dahlen surveyed more than 6,000 Australian women about their birth experiences between 2016 and 2021.

She found approaches to pain were a common complaint, with more than 170 women wanting more pain medications next time.

“We’re failing women,” she said.

Data shows about 80 per cent of women who give birth each year in Australia receive some form of pain relief.

The majority use gas (101,642), the next most common is lower body numbing using an epidural or spinal block (90,384), followed by opioids (20,314) — some women have more than one.

The remainder — about 39,000 — have no pain relief at all, but the figures don’t indicate whether that’s by their own choice or not.

Professor Dahlen said staff shortages could be an issue because women who have epidurals need more intense nursing, including regular blood pressure and baby checks.

“Where you have short staffing, where you have midwives in the room very rarely, (they’re) running in, running out — we know that women get more distressed and have more negative experiences of their birth.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-19/women-denied-pain-relief-during-childbirth/103601032

Would the midwife here likely be a hospital employee, assigned at random, or someone the mother already had a working relationship with?

I’m gonna lock in A

“Would the midwife here likely be a hospital employee, assigned at random, or someone the mother already had a working relationship with?”

Yes.

OCDC said:

“Would the midwife here likely be a hospital employee, assigned at random, or someone the mother already had a working relationship with?”

Yes.

Hoyts at my en retard

The former.

btw I love it when that happens

OCDC said:

btw I love it when that happens

Then I’ve achieved something today

dv said:

OCDC said:

btw I love it when that happens

Then I’ve achieved something today

One shiny star for your book.

RCR

It seems like a time thing as well because some pain relief options like pethidine won’t be given if the mother is too close to actual delivery time as this can affect the baby.

I don’t know how time sensitive it is to have an epidural during the labour process and whether this plays a role in how, when or they can’t opt for an epidural.

I agree this should be discussed with a woman prior to getting to a point of needing pain relief to be part of the care plan.

I personally opted out of an epidural and specifically requested not to have one because of my concerns regarding an injury risk or worsening a pre-existing injury.

I had 2 labours without pain relief based on medical advice at the time as the babies were too close to being born.  I did request pain relief the second time early in the labour stages but was refused this option and then later on… the stage of labour excluded me from the option of pain relief again.

The first labour I experienced went for 40+ hours – Thursday evening to birth early Saturday afternoon. It was known to be large baby.

I started at the newly opened birth centre and tried various options for pain relief…baths, walking, doing the “hula”, massage etc. The scrawny midwife misread the baby’s position and inferred that I was just being lazy, encouraging me to tough it out in the birthing suite. I was asking for pain relief, but made to feel a failure for asking the nurse for it.

My mother finally made enough noise that I was moved to the labour ward. It was determined that my cervix was swollen, and not dilating. Plus the baby wasn’t presenting correctly. An epidural allowed me some pain relief and allowed me to rest, and then dilation improved. Baby was forceps delivery.

Bub and I were extremely lucky to survive with no serious damage.

If I had been allowed to leave the birth centre sooner, and not be called lazy etc, we would have had intervention sooner.

Oh, the doctor and the scrawny midwife blamed my “failure to progress” on my mother, spouting some stats that mothers present at the daughter’s labour interfere with the event. I mean, mother was difficult, but she was the only one who knew where I needed firm massage pressure on my back. She had the same spinal column issue that I have. She birthed 3 big babies and understood it more than the scrawny midwife.

It seems to me that the whole obstetric profession still suffers from a range of archaic conventions and a serious lack of real discussions around consent. From what I’ve seen of it, woman are all too often not given options and not told about the potential consequence of particular actions. The whole birthing process seems to place the wellbeing of the mother at a much lower priority than it really needs to be..

IMO, obstetrics also fails a lot of mother in the post partum phase.. it’s just ‘you’re no longer pregnant and you have this beautiful baby, you should consider yourself lucky and now it’s time for you to move on with your life – thanks very much and we’ll see you next time’

pelvic floor injuries are debilitating for a lot of woman and unfortunately it’s all too often just seen as the ‘cost of being a mother’.

Exactly, healthcare workers are not to be trusted.

SCIENCE said:

Exactly, healthcare workers are not to be trusted.

I think that is a bridge too far, but each to their own I suppose

At the birth of number one sprog my wife had unfortunate experience with an epidural. After around fifteen hours in labour, she had had an epidural put in and it was working quite nicely.. baby was a bit out of position, high forceps had failed and emergency caesarean was called for.

We rushed off to the OR where a couple of quick incisions were made and a lot of blood was lost. I assisted in holding my wife’s hand hard as the epidural line had kinked and was non functional. Once the baby was delivered without any anaesthesia she was given with a big dose of opiates. It was all a bit touch and go for a while. Just as well we were in a large teaching hospital.

Naturally missus was traumatised but she’s tough and just got on with things. She doesn’t “bemoan system ‘failure’”.