( Birth . 2024;51:795-805. doi:10.1111/birt.12854) The First Baby Study investigated what women wish they had known before experiencing their first childbirth and were not informed about. While prenatal care is designed to educate and prepare women, many still reported feeling unprepared for various aspects of labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery. This study, a secondary analysis of a large prospective cohort study in Pennsylvania, involved telephone interviews with 3006 women 1 month after their first childbirth. Participants were included if they were expecting their first baby, aged 18 to 35, English or Spanish-speaking speaking and living in Pennsylvania with plans to give birth there. Among them, 14.7% (441 women) stated there was crucial information they would have liked to know beforehand. These patients were more likely to be older, college educated, with higher stress during pregnancy, with lower social support, have induced labor, experience labor lasting >9 hours, have poor pain control, experience complications during birth, or experience an instrumental or unplanned cesarean delivery (CD). They were also less likely to have a positive birth experience and experience shared decision-making, and experienced symptoms of childbirth-related PTSD more frequently. No differences were observed between women of varying insurance types, labor support, or attendance at birthing classes, although a trend was observed for women attending fewer than 3 classes. The study revealed significant gaps in communication between health care providers and expectant mothers, with many women feeling they lacked adequate information about their birth options, the physiological effects of labor interventions, and the postpartum period.
Levett et al. (Wed,) studied this question.