The Mummy Guides - Intervention in labour

What if my baby needs help to be born?

Sometimes, babies need a little helping to make their entrance into the world. Obstetricians and midwives are experts in providing all the necessary assistance you’ll need, whether it’s a kick-start to labour or the help of ventouse, forceps or a caesarean section. Here are some of the ways your baby can be helped along the way

Induction
If your baby is overdue or you have a health complication such as raised blood pressure, your doctor may decide that it would be safer for your baby to be born quickly and may suggest ‘inducing’ labour, which means starting it off artificially. This may also be offered if your waters have broken prematurely.

What will happen to me?
Pessaries containing a drug called prostraglandin are placed into the vagina to encourage your cervix to open. Sometimes, more than one dose is needed, and your midwife may give you a cervical ‘sweep’, which involves a vaginal examination to encourage the cervix to produce labour-triggering hormomes.
A Syntocinon drip, which contains oxytocin, a hormone to make your womb contract, may also be used if your labour needs to be speeded up.

Real mum’s top tip:
‘The Syntocinon drip made my contractions very strong and hard to cope with. I would definitely recommend getting your about pain relief sorted out before you have the drip put in.'
Gemma Stevenson, 30, mum to Jed, nine weeks

Assisted deliveries
If you are in labour and there are signs that your baby is distressed, or if your baby isn’t making any progress through your pelvis, instruments called forceps or a ventouse machine can be used to help ease him out. These may also be used if you have been in labour a long time and have become exhausted from pushing.
What will they use?

Forceps are a pair of metal instruments that look like large salad servers. They are placed inside your vagina and, as you push your baby, the forceps help guide him out of the birth canal.

Ventouse deliveries involve the use of a suction cap, which is placed on your baby’s head (a bit like a skull cap). The cup gets its suction from a separate machine via a tube. While you push with each contraction, the obstetrician will gently pull the cup, safely guiding your baby out.

What will happen to me?
Your obstetrician will examine you to see which instrument is likely to be best for you; it will depend on the position of your baby.
For either procedure, your bladder will need to be emptied and you’ll have a catheter inserted. Your feet may be placed in stirrups. In most cases, the doctor will need to enlarge the opening of your vagina by giving you an episiotomy, a cut to your perineum (the skin between the back of the vagina and the rectum) which will be stitched up after the birth. If you have an epidural already in place, you won’t be able to feel this, but if not, you’ll be given a local anaesthetic.

Did you know?
Studies show that having continuous support from a birth partner or midwife, using upright positions during labour and avoiding an epidural (which can affect your ability to push) reduces the likelihood of a forceps or ventouse delivery.

Will it hurt?
Forceps and ventouse deliveries can be uncomfortable and distressing, but they won’t cause long-term harm to you or your baby. Your midwife will be there for you throughout, and a paediatrician will check your baby immediately.
Forceps babies often have two red marks on the side of their head, while a ventouse cap can cause a large purple-red bump on the head. These bruises should all go down within the first week or so.

Emergency Caesarean
If a problem arises – for example, if your baby’s heart rate drops, your blood pressure becomes worryingly high, if your labour doesn’t progress, or after forceps and ventouse deliveries have been attempted – you may need an emergency Caesarean section.

What will happen to me?
You’ll be taken to an operating theatre, and, if you haven’t already had an epidural, which numbs you from the waist down, you will be given one (although if a rapid delivery is needed, you may need a general anaesthetic).

The doctor makes a horizontal cut just below your bikini line to deliver your baby. Unless you’ve had a general anaesthetic, you will be able to hold your baby immediately. Although the procedure is likely to be over quickly, you will need to rest for at least six weeks, to allow the scar to heal.