First-time mums learn the hard way

HERVEY Bay first-time mum Jasmine Adame has experienced first-hand just how difficult childbirth can be.

And she agrees with new research, published in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology that suggests that many first-time mums are unprepared for the realities of a complicated labour.

Jasmine delivered her little girl, Hazel Claire, on December 31 at Hervey Bay Hospital after spending a day and a half in labour.

In the end, she was told her labour had stalled and she had to have an emergency caesarean.

Jasmine had attended antenatal classes prior to having her first child and said it was the midwives who held these classes who gave her the best idea of what labour was actually going to be like.

"I knew it wasn't going to be fun.

"But I didn't expect it to be as horrid as it was," she said.

A survey of 195 expectant mums revealed they believed there was a 56.2% chance of having an uncomplicated birth, meaning delivering the baby without the assistance of forceps, suction cups, caesarean or induced labour.

The chances of having a medically uncomplicated birth were actually 21%.

The report prepared from the findings of the survey stated: "We believe that many women and their carers have overly optimistic views.

"In this study we have found that pregnant women, staff and students all overestimate the chance of first-time mothers having an uncomplicated labour and delivery."

Jasmine said that while she had discussed childbirth with her friends that have children, one had to experience it for oneself to fully comprehend it.

"I did think 'that's just them, I'll be able to deal with it better, I have a higher pain threshold'."

Jasmine described being sent home with some Panadol through the first part of her labour, before she was in active labour.

She had heard from others that if she was able to sleep through the first part of her labour that would help her, but she soon realised there was no way she would be able to sleep through even the early labour pains that she was experiencing.

She never thought she might have to have a caesarean.

She said while she was aware it could happen, she had been told there wasn't a high chance she would have to have one.

Because she had been focused on a natural delivery, the decision to deliver the baby by caesarean took Jasmine by surprise - and the time between the decision and the birth was very swift, allowing her little time to adjust.

She also missed out on the experience of being the first to hold her daughter after her birth, because she was still in surgery.

She said her advice to first time mums was to ask their midwives about anything they might be concerned about and to ask what the experience might be like - from the uncomplicated deliveries to an experience like she herself had been through.

"I would tell them to ask heaps of questions," she said.

"Ask the midwives about anything that can go wrong, worst-case scenarios."