Voronezh1 Readers Share Traumatic Birth Stories

Yesterday, a tragedy at Maternity Hospital No. 1 in Novokuznetsk shocked the entire country, where during the New Year holidays 9 infants died. Many patients of the maternity hospital told of rude and abusive staff behavior, and that child deaths there were not a first occurrence. Meanwhile, the problem of obstetric violence is not something that happens only in the now-closed Novokuznetsk maternity hospital. Women in labor constantly and everywhere face unacceptable, and often life- and health-threatening, attitudes from medical staff. In the comments to the column «If Maternity Hospitals Weren»t So Scary, We Would Give Birth More« and in our Telegram channel, Voronezh1 readers shared their stories. We thank the women for their courage, because bringing personal matters to the public is not easy. However, if we do not speak about obstetric violence, it will continue.

«I Faced Unpunished Rudeness»

«As a mother of three children, I agree with every word. I twice encountered rudeness and violence during childbirth, and both times in the Perm Regional Perinatal Center, where, it seemed, it should be comfortable and safe. Moreover, the first time I gave birth not alone, but a witness did not particularly stop comments like »don«t scream,» «oh, you fool.» And the cherry on top was a manual examination without anesthesia, when the placenta did not come out completely, and the record of this manipulation was entered into another woman«s history. Then I couldn»t prove anything, thank God that at least there were no postpartum complications.

I gave birth to my second daughter with my husband in our city maternity hospital (while it existed, now it«s closed). The delivery was attended by the gynecologist I was registered with, apparently, so the attitude was good, and I even liked it.

«Unfortunately, I gave birth to my third daughter again in the perinatal center. I managed to see terrible things in the prenatal department. Then I faced unpunished rudeness from a midwife. The doctor left for a cesarean, and I was left alone with an aggressive woman. I begged her to call another doctor to perform a cesarean, since the baby was large, but they didn»t believe me. She forced me to push when she was sitting at a table five meters from me, I couldn«t go to the toilet. She deigned to call the on-duty doctor only towards the end of the process, and the baby could only come out when they literally tore my perineum apart with four hands. My daughter was born 5 kg (11 lb), and miraculously didn»t get stuck in the birth canal«, writes our reader.

«They Pressed on My Stomach, Yelled!»

«I gave birth in summer 2024 at the Voronezh Perinatal Center, in the new building. In the admissions department, the doctor — a rude and sadistic woman; in the surgical department (I had a cesarean) everyone — from orderlies to the anesthesiologist and surgeon — were simply golden, no complaints, everything was super. In the postpartum department, everything was more or less normal. The food was disgusting, there was no drinking water in the entire building even for money. I was there on Saturday and Sunday the buffet was closed, how thirsty you get after breastfeeding, women know, my water ran out and there was none anywhere, I had to go to the first building, on the second day after surgery it»s very difficult. And the neonatologist was some very elderly one«, says Anna.

«My daughter gave birth in Voronezh, for free. She still can»t speak normally when she recalls the childbirth and the rudeness of the midwives. They pressed on her stomach (a banned obstetric technique in Russia. — Ed.), yelled at her that she was doing everything wrong. She burst into tears, and they were surprised: «Well, what»s wrong? We thought it would help you pull yourself together. And you here…« My daughter wanted to come with her husband, but COVID happened. I think that with an outsider present, the midwives wouldn»t have behaved like that. Her friend already went for paid childbirth. But the doctor she paid for only looked into the room once: everything«s fine, well, okay. In short, her friend didn»t expect this. But at least they didn«t yell. I»m already retired, but I also recall my first birth with horror. And nothing has changed over these years. The attitude towards a woman in the delivery room is as towards a function, not a person«, writes another reader.

«They Missed an Infection, Nowhere to Wash, but Overall I»d Come Again«

«I gave birth 22 years ago in Kamensk-Uralsky, where I live. For free, in a ward where everyone is screaming, where there»s a historical bed with bent rods on the back. The midwife — yes, everyone approached her with reverence: «Anna Nikolaevna, please take a look!» She«s now retired, but she was very cool. Constantly someone came into the ward, midwives or even doctors. Well, I had to run to the chair, because the delivery room was separate back then. But we never felt abandoned, everything was explained to us, very attentive staff. They checked dilation, counted contractions, took someone with an IV to the toilet and laughed together. But I myself had an infection. Possibly, remnants of the placenta. Plus February 23, the on-duty doctor didn»t come, they missed the beginning. I lay there for two weeks. Well, there was nowhere to wash entirely, in the room with a bath the light didn«t work, dark and scary. In the wards it was cool, lying with a fever was bad. But overall, the feeling afterwards was — I would gladly come again», our reader optimistically recalls her birth story.

«Apparently, God Heard My Prayers, I Finally Got a Cesarean»

«With my first birth, I was unlucky. They confused the medication dose and brought my blood pressure down to 50/40, they fought for me for a day in intensive care. The intensivist — a golden person, he didn»t leave my side, stayed by my bed all night. And the gynecologist who delivered the baby later came up and said that if there«s an inspection, say it was »anaphylactic shock.« I had no strength or desire to argue, the main thing was that I was alive and my child, I just wanted to be discharged as soon as possible.

My second birth was at the perinatal center, I arrived with contractions, I don«t know whose oversight, either it wasn»t written in my chart, or my doctors didn«t warn them, when I was delivered by ambulance, but I absolutely couldn»t give birth naturally. I said this at the PC later, when I realized they were waiting for cervical dilation, to which the response was: «We are doctors and we know ourselves,» although I had placenta previa (a condition where the placenta covers the exit for the baby into the birth canal, natural birth is simply impossible. — Ed.). But, apparently, God heard my prayers and my labor stopped at 4 cm dilation. Then the shift changed, and there was a completely different attitude. It all ended with a CS, I was afraid the scar would be ugly, as many complain. But the scar is practically unnoticeable. And the anesthesiologist was a wonderful man, noticed that I was very nervous and scared, talked to me, told jokes, asked about my life, in short everything went lightly«, says Yekaterina.

«My daughter gave birth to a healthy child, but recalls the staff»s attitude with a shudder. Rudeness. Which maternity hospital, I won«t name. I don»t think it«s better elsewhere. Probably, doctors are very tired. But women remember these births all their lives. It was during COVID times, and you couldn»t bring a close person into the delivery room. With him present, the doctors probably wouldn«t have allowed themselves such yelling. By the way, her friend already gave birth for pay, hoping for humane treatment, but also wasn»t thrilled. By the way, I«m already 67, but I also recall my first birth with horror. For the second, I was mentally prepared. And over these years, nothing has changed», writes Svetlana.

«PC2, 2025, the staff is not all rude, but there are special ones… Doctors don»t listen much, but, in principle, everything«s normal, when an emergency cesarean was needed, everything went just excellently. The pediatric doctors there are simply magnificent, and they tell and show and you can ask about everything, they find time for each baby», shared Irina Viktorovna.

We told about how they care for premature babies at the Voronezh perinatal center.