Saturday, November 08, 2014

A statistical breakdown of pregnancy outcomes

This was done by a friend of mine:


It makes me even more furious, and scared, and hollow, and feel like I've had my teeth kicked out and all those emotions I don't want to face.
The wheel is plotted from 2012 data and uses these stats:
  • Around 1 in 5 pregnancies ending in miscarriage
  • 1 in 200 ending in stillbirth
  • 1 in 200 resulting in termination for medical reasons
  • 1 in 45 births classified as having some form of birth defect
  • Insufficient data available to include neonatal deaths as an outcome

Remember that miscarriage includes the death of a baby up to 24 weeks.  After 24 weeks the death is classified as a stillbirth.  7 in 10 babies die in the first 28 days of life - that's a neonatal death.

PS, I hate the term pregnancy outcome, nearly as much as I hate the term pregnancy loss.  It makes it sound like there's no child involved, no other human, like it just something that happens to the woman.  Fuck that.

Why the FUCK did no one tell us stillbirth happens.  How the FUCK do doctors and midwives think they have the right to decide what we should know.  If the baby was born breathing they wouldn't shy away from giving us all the information.  Instead we get vague cautions given in wishy washy language.  The baby is distressed.  They can have problems.  You don't want to risk anything.  That means FUCK ALL if they don't tell you that there's a risk of death.  If they don't say that a distressed baby means it's not getting any oxygen.  They make it seem like all problems can be fixed.  Fuck right off.

If you've been affected by this post support is available at Sands.  Sands is a UK stillbirth and neonatal death charity.  They support forum is here: www.forum.sandsforum.orgwww.uk-sands.org/.  The main site with all the information on is here: www.uk-sands.org

2 comments:

SallyP said...

It's true. In all the joy and happiness of hearing that you or someone you know is expecting, nothing is ever brought up about the risks involved. It's true that childbirth is a lot safer than it used to be...but there ARE still risks involved. I had two miscarriages, and it was pretty depressing...although I would imagine that it can't begin to compare with a still-birth.

But it has to be tough for you, and I'm sorry.

Saranga said...

Thank you Sally.
I thought the risks were about harm to the mother, or that the baby might be ill. It never crossed my mind he could die before birth.