- Libby O'Rourke, 26, had a traumatic first birth in 2010 with baby Willow
- Toni Harman, 43, suffered trauma birthing her daughter, also called Willow
- Julie Hainsworth, 31, complained to the hospital after Toby's birth
- All women say they were bullied during labour
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The birth of a child should be one of a woman's most joyful experiences but for Libby O'Rourke it left her mentally scarred for life.
'I've never felt so worthless,' she says. 'I didn't expect it to be candles and music but I did expect to feel happy and empowered - not traumatised and helpless. I felt like the least important person in the room.'
Libby is one of an increasing number of mothers speaking out with claims they've been bullied and mistreated by medics. In the most extreme cases, some allege they've had internal examinations so brutal that they felt like a form of rape.
Traumatised: Libby O'Rourke with Willow, one day old, in December 2010, following a brutal labour that left Libby mentally scarred for life
Libby's ordeal began on a Saturday in December 2010 when, two weeks overdue with her first baby, she was admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Doctors recommended she be induced, and she agreed to that.
But routine monitoring revealed the baby's heart rate was dipping worryingly. In between dips it would slowly return to normal, so doctors insisted there was no cause for immediate alarm, and began the induction.
For Libby, now 26 and a full-time mum living with her partner Dave Hutchins, 31, and their two children in Reading, it was the start of a three-day nightmare. She recalls: 'I had irregular contractions throughout the night and the next day, and the baby's heart rate continued to be a worry.
'Then, on Monday morning, I was seen by a male doctor, and a midwife expressed concerns. The doctor didn't even look at me but flicked through my notes and just said to carry on with the induction.
'By then I'd had no sleep for two nights and I was desperately worried about my baby, whose heart rate was dropping to ever lower levels before rising again. I told the doctor neither she or I could go on like this and I wanted a Caesarean. He flipped out, threw my notes on to my bed then got every printout showing my baby's heart rate and shouted: “Healthy baby! Healthy baby! Healthy baby!â€
'His English wasn't good - and his attitude put me in floods of tears.'
Baby Willow, just hours old in December 2010, after a very traumatic birth
Libby spent another day and night having painful contractions every five minutes. She kept asking for a Caesarean but was refused. On Tuesday, the baby's heart rate had decreased further and was not recovering so well. Libby recalls: 'At 6am, the midwife said: "That's enough, we need to get you to the delivery suite."'
'The examination was quite brutal and I was shocked. He should have woken me up. I believe the term used now is "birth rape". It's a vile term but it gives an idea of what it feels like.'
By late afternoon, Libby was finally ready to push but was too exhausted. 'I was so tired I was falling asleep between pushes,' she says. 'At one point, I fell asleep on my back and woke up to find a male doctor giving me a rough internal examination without my consent.
'It was quite brutal and I was shocked. He should have woken me up. I believe the term used now is "birth rape". It's a vile term but it gives an idea of what it feels like.'
The examination revealed Libby's baby was stuck and facing the wrong way. 'They said they'd have to use forceps. I'd always said I didn't want forceps because I think they're barbaric. But by then they were the only option.'
Finally free: Libby and Willow, eight weeks old, in February 2011
Libby was taken to an operating theatre. At 7.20pm, baby Willow was born by a forceps delivery. Libby recalls tearfully: 'They'd screened off my lower half so I couldn't see anything, and there were no cries - just silence. When they quickly showed me my baby she wasn't breathing and was bluey-grey. I thought she was dead.
'She needed resuscitating and was rushed to the special care baby unit. It was horrific.
Libby and Dave later made a complaint to the hospital, and Libby says that at a meeting with a consultant, she was told many aspects of her treatment were unacceptable
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'A consultant then came in and said: “So everything was a success then.†I was lying in agony and not knowing if my daughter was alive or dead. I just looked at him. But he wasn't joking, he felt it was a successful outcome.'
Due to miscommunication and under-staffing, Libby wouldn't find out for the next six hours if her baby was alive. She says: 'I was poorly, having lost a lot of blood, so was confined to bed. Dave had been told to wait with me as we needed permission to go to the special baby-care ward. We repeatedly asked midwives to find out what was going on but nobody came back. They were too busy.
'The first we knew was when a nurse came from baby-care to ask what formula she could give Willow.'
It was a further two hours before mum and baby were reunited. Libby and Dave later made a complaint to the hospital, and Libby says that at a meeting with a consultant, she was told many aspects of her treatment were unacceptable, especially the length of time she had to wait for news of her baby - which the consultant admitted was 'appalling'. The hospital has now promised that no mother will ever again have to wait so long for news of her baby.
Mother and daughter: Libby and Willow in 2011 - but six hours after giving birth Libby still didn't know whether or not her daughter was alive
A spokesman for the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust said: 'Libby raised a number of issues with us. Over the past two years we have worked with her to thoroughly investigate each of her concerns.
'Where we found our care or communication with her to be below the usual high standards we set ourselves, we apologised. In addition, Libby has met with senior clinical staff to discuss her care - again she received our apologies for those concerns where our standards fell short of what we expect.'
Post-traumatic stress: Libby is currently taking anti-depressant as a result of her traumatic birth
For Libby, the labour was so traumatic that for the birth of her son Chester last October, she had a planned Caesarean under the care of an NHS consultant specialising in traumatic births. She is currently taking anti-depressants and waiting for counselling for post-traumatic stress from Willow's birth. 'I was made to feel I was nothing more than a “hostâ€, that it didn't matter what happened to my body or what I went through,' she says. Campaigners argue that experiences like hers are increasingly common. A new film, Freedom For Birth, highlights what some feel has become a culture - dubbed 'foetal supremacy' - of putting a woman's rights last in the delivery suite when they should come first.
It has been filmed by Toni Harman, 43, from Brighton who, with partner Alex Wakeford, 44, interviewed childbirth experts and mothers from around the world. The project originated with Toni's own labour with their daughter, also called Willow, who is now five.
Toni's pregnancy had gone well apart from the baby being in a breech position until the last few days. When Toni reached her due date, an examination showed the baby had turned, but the doctor automatically ordered an induction instead of giving her the option of waiting to go into labour naturally, which is common procedure.
She eventually gave birth by emergency Caesarean, and Willow needed resuscitating. 'My body just wasn't ready to give birth,' she says. 'It was only later, from talking to other people, that I realised I should have been given options, such as waiting to see if I went into labour naturally. I just assumed you agreed with the doctors. It didn't occur to me I might have rights.'
Human-rights lawyer Elizabeth Prochaska feels so strongly about the subject she has just launched a charity called Birthrights to give women free legal support and advice about their rights in pregnancy and childbirth .
Human-rights lawyer Elizabeth Prochaska has just launched a charity called Birthrights to give women free legal support and advice about their rights in pregnancy and childbirth
She says: 'It's very common to hear of women being bullied, emotionally blackmailed or pressured into things in childbirth. It's really sad. No mother wants to harm their baby but the law is very clear that the mother has an absolute right to make decisions about her body. The baby, up until the moment of birth, is part of her body.'
Elizabeth believes the problem is exacerbated by a growing litigation culture that means hospitals are more likely to consult policies instead of mothers.
And she adds: 'What's worrying is an increasing tendency for healthcare practitioners to view the mother as simply a vessel for the production of her foetus, and to say “as long as you get a healthy baby and a live mother out of it that's all that mattersâ€.
'But it's not all that matters. Look at the cost to the healthcare system of women with serious disorders post-childbirth - for example, the impact of an assisted forc eps delivery that leaves you incontinent for life.' (According to the British Medical Journal, 83 per cent of women suffer incontinence problems after forceps delivery.)
Documentary: Toni Harman, pictured with her baby, also called Willow, has made a film called Freedom For Birth to highlight how 'foetal supremacy' means mothers are often sidelined during births
'The rise of post-traumatic stress disorder and post-natal depression are problems, too.'
A study at Tel Aviv University last year revealed that one in three women who have given birth now experience symptoms of PTSD.
Julie Hainsworth, 31, from Yorkshire, felt her voice counted for little when she gave birth to Toby, now one. She was sent to hospital to be induced three weeks early because of concerns he wasn't growing properly. But the induction process wasn't started for 24???hours, despite doctors telling Julie her baby's condition was so serious he would probably need to go to the special care baby unit once he was born.
Julie, a part-time NHS clerical officer who has three older children with her partner Christopher, was shocked when a consultant told her late at night she was being sent to another hospital for a Caesarean. 'There was no explanation. It scared the hell out of me,' she says. Ev entually, it was decided she would stay and be induced the next day. But still nothing happened. Unable to cope with the uncertainty, Julie wanted to discharge herself.
The girls: Toni Harman, 43, with her daughter Willow, five, in Hove, Sussex
She recalls: 'I find hospitals very stressful, and I told them that when they admitted me. I got to the point where I felt my baby couldn't be in that much danger or they would have done something, so I might as well be at home where I'd be calmer.
'But a junior doctor shouted that I was putting my baby at risk and being irrational. She should have reassured me - not shouted. Then a consultant told me that if I went home and didn't come back in for monitoring twice a day she would contact social services as I was putting my unborn baby at risk, and it might have implications for my other children. It was shocking.'
Julie agreed to stay, and says: 'Later, another doctor did talk about my options and worries. She listened to me. That's what should have happened at the start.'
The next morning, Julie was finally induced - but two days later still hadn't given birth. By then she felt desperate, and the baby's heart rate was slowing, too. When doctors asked to take a blood sample from his head to give further indications of his distress level, Julie refused. 'I'd let them do a sample a couple of hours earlier but I didn't want them to do another. I remember begging them not to, and to do a C-section as I was in awful pain and the baby was obviously not coping.
'They refused, then three or four doctors and midwives forced me on to my left side and put my right leg in a stirrup, held me and did the test anyway. My partner just held my hand and told me it would be OK. I remember saying “it's not†and feeling like I was being raped.'
Shortly afterwards, Julie gave birth to Toby, who thankfully required no special care. Julie complained to the hospital about her experience and held a meeting with a consultant who, Julie says, admitted she wouldn't have done the second test, and that communication should have been better.
But some medics feel women are often ill-informed and need to have more realistic expectations of labour. Dr Gedis Grudzinskas, a former professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St Barts Hospital, London, says: 'There's a world of diminishing resources but increasing expectations from mothers-to-be. The fact is, because of budget issues, there's much less flexibility and likelihood of a happy outcome to an agreed birth plan.'
Traumatic birth: Baby Toby Hainsworth, pictured minutes after his birth, during which his mother felt violated and helpless
Family time: Julie Hainsworth with her one-year-old son Toby and husband Chris
He says women - often in extreme pain or affected by pain-relieving drugs - must also accept they may not always know what's best. 'Labour is an all-consuming process,' he says. 'And discussion can be very difficult because you might only have one-and-a-half minutes between contractions. So there may be a perception of doctors and midwives being too assertive - therefore bullying - but they have the patients' best interests at heart.
'Doctors don't order tests to be done for the sake of it. They do it because there are good clinical reasons but there might not be the time to explain this. The advice that professionals give is based on many years of experience.
'In the old days, women referred to doctors as experts. Now, many women think they're well-read because they've done research on the internet. But much of that information isn't correct.'
Whether or not mums should accept they might not have the birth t hey want, there's no doubt it's a profoundly defining experience. As Libby says: 'I feel robbed of what should have been one of the happiest events in my life.'
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