Mothers' views of their childbirth experience two years after term breech delivery

Abstract

Introduction. This study was performed to evaluate mothers' views of their childbirth experience two years after term breech delivery.

Methods. Two years after delivery mothers were asked to fill out a questionnaire concerning their breech birth experience and their view about the care provided to them while giving birth. Outcomes of the planned cesarean section (CS) group were compared with outcomes of the planned vaginal delivery (VD) group, whether or not a vaginal birth was realized or an emergency cesarean section was performed. Any differences were further analyzed by use of logistic regression, controlling for potential confounders.

Results. Significantly more women in the planned CS group were reassured about their baby's health (67.4% vs. 37.9%, p = 0.0006) at the time of delivery, whereas more women in the planned VD group recalled having been worried about their baby's health at the time of delivery (45.0% vs. 25.6%, p = 0.02). Also, more women in the planned VD group experienced more pain during labor and delivery than expected (46.9% vs. 18.5%, p = 0.008). In the planned VD group fewer women indicated they had an active say in decision-making (59.1% vs. 85.3%, p = 0.001).

Conclusions. Evaluation of the mothers' views of their childbirth experience two years after term breech delivery showed that more women in the planned VD group recalled having been worried about their child's health at the time of delivery, experienced more pain than expected, and reported less involvement in decision-making.

Keywords:

• Breech
• term
• cesarean section
• vaginal delivery
• maternal
• decision-making
• birth experience