Parents’ experiences of an instrumental vaginal birth findings from a regional survey in Sweden

Abstract

ObjectiveAn instrumental vaginal birth is known to affect women’s birth experience, few studies have explored the fathers’ experiences of attending such a birth. The aim of this study is to compare birth outcome and parents’ feelings in parents with instrumental vaginal birth or a spontaneous vaginal birth. MethodsA regional survey was conducted of 936 mothers and 827 fathers recruited in mid-pregnancy and followed up 2months after birth. Data was collected by questionnaires. Crude and adjusted odds ratios with a 95% confidence interval were used in the analysis. ResultsThe prevalence for instrumental vaginal birth was 9%. Prolonged labour (OR 8.3; 95% CI 5.0–13.9), augmentation with synthetic oxytocin (OR 5.1; 2.9–8.9), and birth complications (OR 2.5; 1.5–2.6) were more common in the instrumental vaginal group. An instrumental vaginal birth was associated with a negative birth experience for mothers (OR 3.2; 1.3–8.1) and fathers (OR 5.2; 1.2–21.5). Mothers who had an instrumental vaginal birth were more likely to report feelings that the baby would be damaged during birth (OR 3.0; 1.7–5.5) and that the birth experience made them decide not to have any more children (OR 3.4; 1.1–10.7). Fathers reported a near-panic feeling when attending an instrumental vaginal birth (OR 5.2; 1.7–15.5). ConclusionAn instrumental vaginal birth was correlated with longer and more complicated births, epidurals and oxytocin augmentation. It affected the birth outcome and parents’ feelings and was associated with future reproductive thoughts and a negative birth experience.