I read your article (Mothers were shamed and traumatised at Shrewsbury hospital. I was one of them, 30 March) feeling my heart pound and my anxiety levels soar. My son will be 30 in a few weeks. Thanks to his “natural” forceps delivery (which I was patronisingly told I should be proud of), I have had six bladder operations, the first just 10 months after he was born and the others over the subsequent years.
None of these operations were “natural”, and the trauma that I have experienced and that I live with day to day, not knowing when the next operation will be needed, is a direct consequence of a misplaced focus on natural childbirth 30 years ago. My son is physically perfect but, like me, has suffered anxiety which may or may not be a consequence of his stressful delivery.
