Mother recalls agonising birth of her baby which saw her pelvic floor muscle be torn off the bone

A mother has revealed how her forceps-assisted delivery left her with crippling long-term injuries.

Amy Dawes, a 37-year-old mum-of-two, was 33 when she gave birth to her first child at a Sydney hospital.

Speaking to SBS’s The Feed, Md Dawes said she was well aware of the risks involved with cesarean births but not those involving the use of forceps.

‘We’re sort of painted this picture that if we do all the right things, we can have a natural birth and that is the best birth,’ Ms Dawes said on the program, Birth Wars. 

‘And I very much hoped for a natural birth.’

 

Amy Dawes (pictured) is a mum-of-two who suffered trauma after forceps were used to deliver her daughter 

Ms Dawes explained that while she had made every effort to have a natural birth, her daughter ‘wasn’t coming into the world naturally’.

The stress of the situation saw doctors resort to using forceps.

While her daughter was born healthy, Ms Dawes suffered a third-degree tear and there were also problems stemming from the bleeding.

‘I was thinking, “Is this what death feels like”?,’ she said.

Birthing difficulties led doctors to make a decision that forceps should be used to help deliver Ms Dawes’ child

What is a forceps delivery? 

A forceps delivery is a type of assisted vaginal delivery. It’s sometimes needed in the course of vaginal childbirth

In a forceps delivery, a health care provider applies forceps – an instrument shaped like a pair of large spoons or salad tongs – to the baby’s head to help guide the baby out of the birth canal. 

This is typically done during a contraction while the mother pushes

Source: Mayoclinic.org 

Some months later, Ms Dawes would learn the true extent of her injuries.

A pelvic health physiotherapist diagnosed her with a bilateral evulsion, which means the pelvic floor muscle is torn off the bone.

‘She likened my injuries to that of being in a car crash,’ she said.

‘I was suffering from faecal incontinence. I need to carry wet wipes, not just for my baby. I’m now 37 and I feel in some ways like I’m 80.’

While recovering from her injuries, Ms Dawes co-founded the Australasian Birth Trauma Association (ABTA) with Professor Peter Dietz, a urogynecologist specialising in pelvic floor damage.

Ms Dawes, along with Professor Peter Dietz, has founded the Australasian Birth Trauma Association – an organisation which supports women and their families   

The organisation supports women and their families who are suffering post-natally from physical or emotional trauma resulting from the birth process.

Part of the ABTA’s mission is to raise awareness of the issues women and their families can face as a result of trauma and to work alongside medical professionals to bring about change.

Professor Dietz also commented about the use of forceps on The Feed, noting their use can cause major, if not irreparable damage.

‘If somebody has her baby with a normal delivery in one of our hospitals here in Sydney the likelihood of a major pelvic floor muscle tear is about 10 per cent. 

‘If she has that baby by forceps, it’s over 40 per cent.’ 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk