What are your experiences of childbirth in Australia? How could the experience have been improved?

I found the birth of my first baby very traumatic. A failed induction followed by a caesarean under general anaesthetic. At the time everyone told me how lucky I was that the baby was OK. I agree. I focused on that and felt I could not say how violated and broken I felt. I had post natal depression for two years. I coped. I went through the motions of being a mum. It was only when I took control of my next birth that my mood changed. After a lot of research and planning and discussions with midwives and doctors, more…

my first baby was born in a birth centre at a big sydney hospital. it was my husband who thought we should go there because they had lower rates of intervention. i was pretty naive about the whole thing, i thought women are made to give birth, it will come naturally to me. the pain and effort involved in labour came as a bit of a shock but the midwives were kind and encouraging. we did the early discharge programme and had home visits for a week after the birth. it was a very positive experience.

my second child was born in a small country hospital and delivered by my local doctor. i knew what i was in for and i was anxious to get it over. i chose to have the membranes ruptured, it was very fast. we went home after a couple of hours, we were only able to have one home visit.

both births were good experiences but i would have benefitted from more discussion about the pain involved and more follow up suport especially with my second child.

My obstetrician was happy to book me in for a caesarean so I was reassured that it was the safest way for my baby to be born. It all went to plan and I was up walking around the next day. I was even able to toast the birth after a few hours. I can't see how it could have been any better, and I am planning the same if I have another baby. I felt all along that my obstetrician was the best person to make the decisions, as he is an expert.

I've had 4 babies. The first experience involved lots of medical intervention and drugs (although luckily I didn't end up with a caesarian). I didn't bond with my baby for 3 months and I now feel cheated that I missed that wonderful first few weeks with him. I truely believe that alot of this lack of bonding was due to the feelings of sheer fear and bewilderment I had during labour and the feeling of being out of control - all brought about by the Drs/drugs. My subsequent births have been drug free and fantastic (although obviously very painful!) with no bonding problems at all and I feel blessed to have been able to experience this natural childbirth. Obviously caesarians are needed in certain circumstances but I believe natural childbirth to be the ideal and it is an ideal which can be achieved a lot more readily than it currently is. From what I have learned from friends world wide is that Drs too often quickly opt for the caesarian to save time and to make money (in private practices).

When I first found out I was pregnant I went along to my GP who didn't talk about any care options(and there are many), she just gave me a list of obstetricians to try and get an appointment with. Because I moved interstate everything changed and I ended up having a drug free natural birth at a Birth Centre in a public hospital. My baby and I were looked after by the same midwife before, during (for all of it) and after the birth. Looking back on it I was lucky it worked out that this way. I cant believe my GP didn't know about or give me the information about all birthing options available. How can parents make choices when GPs (who are usually the first port of call) fail in this way?

I took a long time to recover from my first caesarean, but I had a lot of help at home and it wasn't too bad. I couldn't breastfeed though and I did feel bad about that. I was told that it would be safest for my second baby to be born by caesarean too, as my uterus would rupture if I had contractions. I found it harder the second time because of looking after a toddler as well. I would like to find out about having a normal birth as I have read that this is possible. I don't really want another caesarean.

Many pregnant women in the hospital system opt for GP shared care where many of the antenatal check ups are done by the GP. Women tend to choose this for convenience especially if they have other young children. Having shared care will often mean that hospital appointments are done in the doctors clinic and these women have very little midwifery input in pregnancy. These women often miss out on a lot of important support and information about managing pregnancy, labour, breastfeeding and the postnatal period which is the expertise of midwives. In some countries midwives are attached to GP practices and women can see them throughout their pregnancy. This would seem to be a great idea. It would free up hospital and GP services for the higher risk women who need greater medical input, and ensure more women have access to midwifery services.

The birth of first child went well I felt. Phsyically I had a natural birth with the need for just some stitches and paracetamol for some tearing and that was it. I found that it wasn't the OB that was trying to take over, rather the night duty staff that encouraged me to have an epidural which I did not wish for and then the delay in offering and receiving pain relief whilst having contractions.

Though, being an RN myself, I understood the reasons why the night duty staff wanted me to take an epidural due to the time lag between more…

I felt really unprepared for the pain of labour even though I went to classes at the hospital and read a lot of books. I wanted a natural birth and I really relied on the midwives to tell me what to do. The birthing classes at the hospital were done by a physio and I think there should have been more information on managing the pain and not just on what drugs are available. I think having midwives run the classes must be a better idea as they work with women giving birth.

THIS COMMENT FROM SMILES HAS BEEN MOVED TO THIS SECTION BY THE MODERATOR WITH HER PERMISSION

My first child was born in a birthing centre and was a fantastic experience. I had a private obstetrician but elected to give birth in the birthing centre. The midwives were wonderful and assisted in the delivery of my daughter. Afterwards they confided in me that they purposely did not contact my obstetrician until well into my labour to ensure that he wouldn't attend the delivery as "he would only interfere". For my second birth I elected to give birth in a private hospital. Unfortunately more…

I wanted to have a homebirth but my gp said it was not safe. I read a lot and I knew it was safe but I really didn't know if I wanted to fight to have a homebirth. I went to the birth centre and it was really good. It was a normal birth with no drugs, just gas at the end but it didn't reallt help. I found the shower really good. I went to the ward after because they needed the bed in the birthcentre, but I couldn't sleep I wished I came straight home. The midwives visited me at home for 3 days. I needed some help to latch him on and I really looked foreward to the visits. I will go to the birthcentre again next time. I still love the idea of a homebirth though.

I went to the birthing suite and I felt well cared for. The labour was good and I got to rest for a while after the epidural, before having to push. The pushing was really hard and I needed stitches afterwards. The worst part was how painful the stitches were and it took a long time to feel better. I think there should be more care and help after the birth especially with the pain.

One of my ultrasound due dates put me at 3 weeks over my own calculation. I was quite panicked throughout my pregnancy, not only was it my first but I was scared about the baby being born almost a month late. I know it sounds silly and I would tell myself that the baby will come when he was ready, but the hospital wouldn't listen to my concerns. They treated me like an idiot. I ended up changing hospitals because of how they made me feel. I was just another mum-to-be. Not important at all.

My first baby was born via emergency cesarean due to foetal distress. Whilst pregnant my only thought when thinking of the birth was that I didnt want a cesarean. I was fortunate to only need a spinal block and was therefore conscious during the surgery. However given the nature of emergency cesareans, I felt powerless, and everything seemed to happen so fast.I had difficulty breast feeding and felt somewhat a failure due to this and the fact that I had been unable to deliver naturally, and I didnt really feel connected to my baby until we were home.Although it was more…

I had a fantistic labour with my 2nd pregnancey but when my little boy was born there were a few things wrong with him and some of those things should of been picked up in ultra sounds I had but they wernt and I got no answers as to why they wernt every time I asked they just shrugged it off.

I was very disstressed as I did not no what had happened to my little boy and the doctors did not care at all they just acted as if it was another day at the office and did not consedor that I was completly beside my self not knowing what was happening and not getting and answers (my boy is 21montyhs old now and we STILL have no answers).

I think doctors seem to forget that they may see these type of things happen offen but us as new pearents dont and this is our own flesh and blood that we may go through hell and back just to give birth to

Throughout my pregnancy I was determinded to have a natural birth. however whenever i mentioned this to other mums I would get knowing looks and comments of 'yeah right'. After reading the book BETTER BIRTH by Lareen Newman and Heather Hancock I felt more positve about naturel birthing. So with my husbands support I gave birth to my daughter with the help of two midwives without intervention or drugs. It was amazing. I felt so empowered for weeks afterward and the love I felt for my daugher straight away was imense. At first I had a lot of trouble breastfeeding but with the help of midwives and persaverence I'm now feeding easily. I had no trouble at all with the public system.

I gave birth to my son at the age of 18 in a public Melbourne Hospital. I found this a very traumatic experience as I felt that the Midwives treated me with little respect during the labour and learning to breast-feeding. I felt that this was because of my young age. They were not very supportive when I was not coping with the pain and I didnt feel that I was on control of my labour. My son was kept at the Special Care Nursery for 5 DAYS because of a suspected non-contagious infection and was not allowed to stay with me in the maternity ward. I didnt really feel like I bonded with my baby until I arrived home. Next time around I plan on having a Doula for extra support and Pain Management. Just because I was young, it didnt make me less of a mother.

I found the birth of my first child truly amazing. My water broke at home the day before the due date at around 9pm... My husband and I went to the hospital and were looked after by wonderful wonderful midwives. I didn't start feeling any pain until around midnight. The hospital and it's staff were wonderful and really let us experience everything with little disturbance. At 8:50am baby Jack was born and I am proud to say that with the support of the WONDERFUL and underpaid midwives, my husband and our wonderful Dr Jack was born naturally.. And by naturally I mean nothing, not even gas, just my husband feeding my chips of ice between contractions... Thanks Mercy Hospital... and thanks to all the midwives that go without hearing enough thanks :)

My first baby was four days overdue when I had a show, that night my husband and I went to the hospital to see how we were getting on - incredibly (as I wasn't in pain) I was having three contractions every ten minutes, and I spent the night in the labour ward. The next morning I was beginning to feel pain and my doctor ruptured my membranes. I had always kept my options open pain relief wise, my only birth stipulations were no episiotomy and no caesar unless absolutely necessary. In the first labour I used gas (one suck more…

I am a young (25) mother of 3 beautiful children. My first pregnancy was quite difficult as my son was discovered to have cysts on his lungs at my 19 week ultrasound so the 2 hour drive to John Hunter hospital every 3 weeks was quite traumatic. My partner was in the NT working at the time and it was very unsettling to go through such a tough time virtually alone. I was hospitalized for 3 weeks prior to his birth for "rest and observation"-quite a joke considering i think I saw a doctor twice the whole time I was more…

I have one child and found the pregnancy care in the public health system to be patronising and condescending. Every issue or concern I had I was told it's just pregnancy and I should just learn to deal with it rather than discussing the issues and helping me find natural ways of dealing with some of the pysical problems. I desperately wanted a drug-free water-birth and was told by the obstetrician it was the most unnatural thing he had ever heard of (and a caesarean isn't??). Thankfully I stood my ground and had a water birth and I used self hypnosis to deal with the pain. Unfortunately the doctors tried to intervene throughout the whole process, they tried to physically remove me from the bath just before delivery because the obstetrician had not used the correct level of permission in my file, and there were constant arguments between the midwife and the doctors. I am appalled at how the choice is being taken away from women because of fear of litigation or inconvenience to staff.

Absolutely NOTHING prepares you for labour!! In short, Piper was born via forceps and an episitomy for me. She was born 2wks too early and was kept in Special Care Nursery because she was too small (just under 4 pound) and she apparently smelt funny when she popped out. Many years ago, I was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder, which, I believe I am cured of (I have not had a episode for 3yrs and am not on any medication), so when the hospital picked this information out of my records, all hell broke loose and I was told by the more…

I am one of the lucky ones. I had my 3 children without any intervention or drugs. My midwife was the reason my birth experiences were empowering and had such a positive influence on me post natally. She gave me absolute confidence in my ability to birth and also reassured me that she was open to my wishes at any time. She worked in partnership with a supportive OB and never at any stage did we feel she would ever compromise my or the baby's health because she would reject medical assistance. I birthed naturally and upright. I had no tears or stitches and as a result I marvel at the grace & power of my body. My midwife was Monika Boenighk and I am forever in her debt for guideing and supporting me through the amazing journey of childbirth. I listen to me friend's "horror" stories and am deeply saddened at the level of fear and aprehension they were made to feel. Their birth experiences are so far removed from mine, I have difficulty comprehending what they went through.

Helen Davies

Merewether NSW

I had my first baby at the beginning of this year in a country town in Western Australia. I had a fabulous doctor who answered my questions and my concerns when raised. The biggest problem I had was when I went into labour - being my first baby I had no idea what to expect. After having 2 hours of contractions at 3 minutes apart (that I thought were braxon hicks) I rang the hospital who told me I wasn't in labour and to have a nice hot shower. After another hour we were in the hospital and after still more…