the poignant testimony of a mother victim of abdominal expression during childbirth

In 2014, the hashtag # PayeTonUtérus lifted the veil on the mistreatment of women during gynecological appointments. A movement that has grown to such an extent that in 2018 it initiated a report on obstetric and gynecological violence published by the High Council for Equality between Women and Men, on request Marlène Schiappa. In particular, the document presented 26 recommendations structured around three axes: the recognition of sexist acts and violence in the context of gynecological and obstetrical monitoring, the prevention of these acts and the improvement of the reporting process for victims.

See also: Endometriosis: victim of gynecological violence, she testifies

Video by Juliette Le Peillet

Unfortunately, in 2021, it is clear that many women are still victims of this violence. Karine, who agreed to testify for aufeminin, was abused during childbirth. In particular, she underwent the abdominal expression, a practice aimed at pressing on the patient’s stomach to bring the baby out. Although considered dangerous and ineffective by the High Authority of Health, and banned since 2007, abdominal expression is still practiced with impunity in some hospitals. Many future mothers do not know what it is, as it is not mentioned during pregnancy monitoring. A great deal of prevention work on obstetric and gynecological violence is therefore still necessary. If Karine is recovering slowly from this traumatic childbirth, she has the impression that she has wasted the birth of her fourth child. She tells.

Also read: These 11 things you can refuse during childbirth!

“This was my fourth pregnancy, so I had already experienced three deliveries before. During this pregnancy, I developed type 1 gestational diabetes which I just needed to watch out for, but other than that everything was fine. It was my easiest pregnancy.

The day before my delivery, I was already feeling contractions. I figured they were small contractions and not labor contractions so I didn’t go to the hospital. The next morning, I was still having contractions, but I was moving. At one point, I couldn’t take it anymore so I quit. I felt a pressure as if the baby wanted to come out. Around 7 p.m., my mother took me to the emergency room.

I waited 30 minutes in a hallway before being picked up. They then came to get me to put me in a room. The medical team put me under monitoring. I still had contractions, but they were starting to stagnate. The gynecologist auscultated me, she looked at my cervix, but at the same time examining me, she was pressing on my stomach. She told me that I was on the verge of being close, but that I was not yet in labor, that she was going to give me some medicine and that I could go home. She told me that we continued the surveillance a little, but that afterwards it was good.

Change of program

Thirty minutes later, she comes back to examine me again. Once again, she digs in her fingers and presses on my stomach. She told me that my cervix changed again, that it opened and that I was in labor. She told me that she was going to have to keep me because I was going to give birth, but she didn’t explain to me why she was pressing on my stomach like that. As soon as I asked her questions, she would not answer me or she would leave.

I was then taken to the delivery room, where they began to prepare me. But for me it was not natural, I knew that I should not give birth that day. It was my fourth pregnancy and I never gave birth at 37 weeks. Besides, the contractions were calming down. I did not understand, I told myself that it was not possible.

The gynecologist finally gave me homeopathy to help regulate my contractions. The anesthesiologist came in and pricked me for the epidural. Until then, everything was going well, as with a basic childbirth. It was after that it got worse.

“I have the impression that she triggered me”

My cervix was not moving, I was only feeling weak contractions. But each time the gynecologist came to examine me, I felt her fingers insert too deeply, I was in pain, I turned in all directions. She was still pressing on my stomach, with all her strength, to see if she could touch the baby’s head. And after, the collar opened a little more. In fact, I feel like she triggered my childbirth. She repeated these gestures every 30 to 40 minutes, but it was not progressing. At one point, I told her that maybe it wasn’t the day I was due. She told me that she did and told me that she was going to pierce the pocket of waters. For my three other deliveries, my water bag broke naturally and suddenly. There, it flowed in several times. She told me it was normal and she pressed me on my stomach to get it out.

For me, it was not normal. It was inconceivable that one presses on the belly of a pregnant woman to bring her baby out. Yet she continued until the baby was delivered at 2:45 a.m.

I was crying. They laughed at me.

A complicated issue

The epidural didn’t work, I had to ask for a dose. But before the second dose took effect, she asked me to start pushing. Again, I wasn’t feeling any big contractions, so I pushed like crazy, but it wasn’t working. Then the epidural started to take effect and I couldn’t feel a thing. She said to me ‘yes you have no contractions, you have to push there, we are not going to stay like that’. But I couldn’t do it since I couldn’t feel anything. We waited 10 minutes and she again began to press on my stomach. The baby did not want to come out and it tore my cervix (also called uterine rupture, editor’s note).

Despite the epidural, I felt this pain. After the baby came out, they barely put it on me for two seconds. I was hemorrhaging. They say it’s a small hemorrhage, but I still lost 400ml of blood. She started giving me an episiotomy when the placenta still hadn’t come out. While she was stitching me up, that’s where he came out. Besides, if I hadn’t looked up, I wouldn’t have known she was performing an episiotomy. No one explained anything to me.

I felt everything, I cried out for death, I was in so much pain. They brought in the anesthesiologist. He must have pricked me twice because he misplaced the catheter the first time. During this time, the medical team pressed like butchers on my stomach to get all the rest of the placenta out. I kept crying because I was in so much pain and instead of comforting me they laughed at me. The gynecologist told me ‘but no you’re crying because you’re afraid of the needle, it’s nothing’ and then she started laughing. They did not take into account my suffering.

Read also: “I had to be strong, for my baby”: testimony of a future mother suffering from Covid during her pregnancy

“I felt myself leaving”

I hadn’t eaten since 2pm – they refused to give me even a cupcake. Due to the lack of food, medicine, the epidural, and the bleeding, I felt like I was going. I was crying, I was in pain, I was asking my mom for help, I wanted her to get me out of there. They ended up putting on a mask telling me that it was gas that was going to make me laugh, but it didn’t make me laugh at all. It put me to sleep for thirty minutes. When I came to myself, they had finished what they had to do. I started to suffocate, to convulse, my head was going all alone back. Once again I only had one word, it was ‘mom’. My mother was in a panic, she rang the bell, but they didn’t come right away. I thought I was going to die. From that moment until 6 a.m., I have black holes. I just remember the midwife coming to tell me to calm down. When I came to myself I was on oxygen and they told me I had a hypoglycemic attack because I have diabetes.

I was so tired and stung all over the place, drugged up, that I didn’t take advantage of my baby. I couldn’t hug him or speak.

After this traumatic event, I did not have any particular follow-up. I went home two days after giving birth. It was when I told my sister what had happened that she explained to me that it was obstetric violence. I was not aware of being the victim of abdominal expression, although I felt that the birth was not going normally. The more I think about it, the more I tell myself that she triggered my childbirth and that she had no right. She ruined the birth of my fourth baby and prevented me from having an easier birth.

I am not considering legal action against the hospital. They gave me a questionnaire before going out and I indicated that the medical profession had to be more patient and more understanding with future mothers. Even though this is the fourth child, every pregnancy and childbirth is different. They have to take the time to explain what is going on and ask for our consent. There, I had the impression of being in the Middle Ages. Fortunately, my baby is doing well and I am slowly recovering from the birth. “