Women's experiences of childbirth and post-natal healthcare after assisted conception

BACKGROUND The proportion of women who give birth after assisted reproduction technology (ART) treatment is increasing. To date, little is known about their experience of childbirth. One of the aims of this study was to investigate the experience of childbirth and the post-natal healthcare after ART...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human reproduction (Oxford) 2008-07, Vol.23 (7), p.1567-1573
Main Authors: Hammarberg, K., Fisher, J.R.W., Rowe, H.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
assisted reproduction
Biological and medical sciences
birth experience
Caesarean section
Cesarean Section - psychology
Cesarean Section - statistics & numerical data
Female
Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics
Humans
Length of Stay
Maternal Health Services - standards
Medical sciences
Parturition - psychology
Pregnancy
Prospective Studies
Reproductive Techniques, Assisted
Surveys and Questionnaires
Victoria
women
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Summary:BACKGROUND The proportion of women who give birth after assisted reproduction technology (ART) treatment is increasing. To date, little is known about their experience of childbirth. One of the aims of this study was to investigate the experience of childbirth and the post-natal healthcare after ART. METHODS A prospective, longitudinal study of a systematically recruited consecutive cohort of women who had conceived with ART in Melbourne, Australia, in 2001 was investigated using telephone interviews and self-report questionnaires. The experience of birth was explored 3 months post-partum. RESULTS One hundred and sixty-six women who had conceived through ART participated. Compared with other Australian women, participants were more likely to have a Caesarean birth (51% versus 25%, P < 0.0001). Women who had a Caesarean birth were less likely to report having had an active say about the management of the birth (P < 0.01) and to have held their baby at birth (P < 0.0001) and more likely to report disappointment with the birth event (P < 0.0001), severe post-natal pain (P = 0.02) and needing a lot of help or advice with infant feeding (P = 0.001) than those who had a vaginal birth. CONCLUSIONS After ART, there are highly elevated rates of operative birth which appear to influence early post-natal adjustment.
ISSN:0268-1161
1460-2350
DOI:10.1093/humrep/den166