"Why did you come? Did you think giving birth doesn't hurt?" A Belarusian woman shared a wild story about her childbirth

"They threatened the death of my child to force me to agree to the procedure"

Anna, a Belarusian woman, shared her difficult childbirth story on Threads. The woman became a mother on April 18 at the 5th maternity hospital in Minsk, and only now decided to publish her story.

Anna arrived at the maternity hospital with contractions. She had an agreement for partner childbirth, but her husband was sent home, although he was later allowed to attend the birth.

In the morning, the woman was taken for an ultrasound, and the ultrasound specialist suggested that the baby might be very large. Anna was scared and later, when she was called for an examination, asked for permission to give birth by C-section. But the doctor simply estimated the baby's weight by hand and said that it weighed no more than 4200 grams, so there were no indications for a C-section. When the baby's weight was checked after birth, it was 5130 grams.

Anna was offered to have her amniotic sac punctured to stimulate labor. The woman refused, and then pressure began – one of the doctors demanded that Anna sign a refusal, which also stated her readiness to accept the death of her child:

"This is not a joke. They threatened the death of my child to force me to agree to the procedure. I was scared; at that moment, I hadn't slept for a day. And they punctured my sac."

The woman quickly started having contractions, at some point she realized she could no longer tolerate the pain and asked for a doctor to be called for an epidural. The doctor arrived after 40 minutes:

"At that moment, I was in shock from the pain, couldn't speak coherently, and was just begging for anesthesia. To which the doctor replied: 'Dilation is 4 cm, it's too early'."

Instead of an epidural, Anna was given diazepam and, according to the papers, some painkiller, but she felt no relief from these measures.

"At some point, I couldn't even breathe normally, just screamed from the pain, and at that moment the doctor approached the bed and asked: 'Why did you come? Did you think giving birth doesn't hurt?'"

I think my comments here are superfluous," the Belarusian woman recalls.

The woman then recounts how difficult it was for her, exhausted by pain, to push. She gave birth to the child herself after 6.5 hours, and Anna writes that she had to agree to an episiotomy. The woman writes that the baby was blue.

When the baby's weight was seen after birth, the doctors blamed the woman for it – claiming she had missed gestational diabetes. But, Anna says, she adhered to a diet for 7 months during pregnancy and underwent the proper tests.

The Belarusian woman was discharged from the maternity hospital with a urinary tract infection; later, doctors found problems with her stitches and suspected an abscess. An operation was considered necessary, but medication was sufficient.

In August, Anna filed a complaint against the maternity hospital with the Ministry of Health. The Minsk City Executive Committee established a special commission for the case, and Anna was called for an interview, where she was informed that there had been no violations in her childbirth.

"If she had adequate pain relief and was treated normally, this story wouldn't exist"

We asked gynecologist Stanislav Salavei to comment on this story. The doctor believes that not everything the woman pointed out is within the doctors' area of responsibility, but there were red flags.

Stanislav explains why the medics might have incorrectly estimated Anna's baby's weight:

"Ultrasound accurately estimates the baby's weight within more or less standard ranges; if the weight is greater than these, there will be deviations. Confusing 4500 and 5100 grams is, unfortunately, a common occurrence. The formula used to calculate a baby's weight is strongly linked to abdominal circumference and works well for weights of 3500-4000 grams, but otherwise, there can be errors.

Regarding estimating the baby's weight by hand – about ten years ago, this was a statistically more accurate method than the ultrasound of that time."

But Salavei points out that much depends on the woman's pelvic dimensions: someone can give birth to a 5 kg baby, while someone else might not be able to deliver a smaller one without assistance. If Anna was able to give birth herself, it means that in her case, the medics assessed everything correctly.

It is also logical that the woman was offered labor induction by puncturing the amniotic sac. She had the right to refuse, but she should not have been intimidated in response, Salavei is sure:

"De jure, everything is correct, but the emphasis is placed in such a way as to force the woman to sign the consent. This is a kind of pressure on the patient so that she, out of fear for the child's life, agrees to everything the doctors propose. This is unethical."

It is also incorrect that Anna was denied an epidural:

"According to international practices, if a patient wants an epidural and has no contraindications, she receives it, and that's how it should be. In Belarus, epidural analgesia is available to a woman if she experiences severe pain, and this is assessed subjectively. Sometimes we must insist on an epidural – for example, in cases of premature birth or preeclampsia."

Stanislav explains that in Belarus, for economic reasons, epidural anesthesia is rarely performed, and by law, labor can be pain-relieved using other methods, but they do not always work with the same effectiveness.

Salavei also draws attention to the doctor's words about why Anna came there:

"To put it mildly, this is unethical; it's a violation of medical ethics. Instead of helping and relieving the patient's pain, manipulation occurs – implying that everyone else endured it, and so should you."

As for the infection Anna developed after childbirth and the problems with her stitches, Salavei says that this could have happened anyway, even if the woman had been given antibiotics after childbirth. Usually, the woman is warned that this can happen, but it doesn't always depend on the doctor.

Stanislav believes there are three true red flags in this story – the lack of adequate pain relief and the doctors' attitude towards the woman, as well as the mutual cover-up, where after childbirth, the doctors denied any responsibility towards each other.

"The patient-doctor contact was broken; that's the worst part. If she had adequate pain relief and was treated normally, this story wouldn't exist. Yes, the stitches became inflamed and the baby was larger than expected, but the baby is healthy and the mother is healthy, although her recovery took longer than we would have liked."

After the publication of this story, the Health Committee of the Minsk City Executive Committee confirmed that a commission is working on Anna's case. According to their statement, there are no final conclusions on the story yet.

Committee representatives also urged caution regarding C-sections:

"Dear future and current mothers, when you communicate on social networks, we kindly ask you to consider the fact that a C-section is not just 'they took, cut, took out the baby, and sewed you up.' It is a very dangerous operation, after which there are many risks of complications and consequences. And also, recovery is far from always so easy and quick."

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