Maternal position at midwife-attended birth and perineal trauma: is there an association?
Women should be given the choice to give birth in whatever position they find comfortable. Maternity practitioners have a responsibility to inform women of the likelihood of perineal trauma in the preferred birth position. Ongoing audit of all clinicians attending births is encouraged to further determine effects of maternal birth position and perineal trauma, to investigate women's perception of comfortable positioning at birth, and to measure changes to midwifery practice resulting from this study.
For the first time our data indicate a role for new onset infections in initiating early rebleedings. Immediate prophylactic antibiotic treatment for patients at high risk of infection might be effective in lowering both, the risk of acquiring infections and early rebleeding.