Interview Section : Healthtalkonline

Full list of topics

Additional information :
About the interviews and the DiAMOND trial
Terms used in this website

Experiences of previous pregnancy & caesarean :
Women's expectations for their previous births
Information needs/sources in previous pregnancies
Women's experiences of their previous CS

After previous caesarean :
Recovery & complications after previous caesarean
Bonding, feeding and support after previous CS
Women's feelings about their previous caesarean

Preparing for next birth after caesarean :
Women's expectations for their next birth
Information needs & attitudes in next pregnancy
Views on information from health professionals
Views on information from other sources

Decisions about how to give birth after caesarean :
Reasons for wanting a planned caesarean
Reasons for wanting vaginal birth after caesarean
Women's experiences of making the decision
Roles of health professionals in decision-making
Roles of partners & others in decision-making

Experience of next birth after caesarean :
Women's experiences of their next caesarean
Women's experiences of vaginal birth after CS

Taking stock of birthing experiences :
Comparing birth experiences and recovery
Women's views on choice about birth
Advice to other women facing decisions about birth
Messages to health professionals

Search the whole site
Search in this condition

Making decisions about birth after caesarean

People's stories

Aged 36-39

Interview 29

Interview 29

Age at Interview: 38
Background: Manager with two children aged three and four. Husband is an electrician. Ethnic background: White British.

Brief outline:1st child delivered with forceps and ventouse. Had bad tear, lost lots of blood. Planned caesarean with 2nd child 16 months later on advice of doctors. Struggled to decide how to deliver 3rd child, pessimistic about her chance of having VBAC, feels planned CS is the safer option.

To watch or read an interview clip, click on the heading that interests you. Either a video,audio recording or text will open, depending on the clip

To close transcript boxes, click here
To print the interview’s text, click here

She was surprised that the consultant just asked about her preference rather than engage her in discussion. She had expected more of a two-way process.
Print And do you feel that you've had the right quality of information for you this time? Yeah. The only thing is, at the time when the decision was actually made... the doctor that saw me - I felt that it could have… which is probably a good thing, but it wasn't particularly a discussion. It was more, “Have you thought about what you want to do?” “That's fine... I agree with that”, ...and that was sort of it. It wasn't a sort of real two way process. So they didn't really give you enough information for you to make a really informed decision, or they didn't really discuss it? They sort of did that afterwards. It was a bit of a... you know, literally... "What do you want to do?" And then when I said I was thinking about this [caesarean], they said, "Right, well, we'll just have to outline..." Almost as if it was read out... "This will happen", "You need to bear in mind this, that, and the other". But it was not exactly rushed but it was sort of just a sort of practiced… All day? Yeah. And what about the relevance of the information, do you feel that it was tailored enough to your own needs? Yeah. And the timing? Because you said before about the timing of the decision, do you think you'd have liked that earlier do you think? I would have probably liked a chat with a doctor earlier on... but it wasn't essential. I think in a way you get a lot of pressure from family and friends as well and part of me wanted to know so that I could stop them asking me what I was going to do.

Mail to a friend