LISA BRADY: For 12 years I thought I had failed at labour - and I know I'm not alone. Here's why we MUST heed a stark warning on an archaic practice that is keeping women in agony - and risking mothers and babies lives

Published: 16:49, 13 July 2026 | Updated: 16:49, 13 July 2026 The thing nobody really talks about after a complicated birth is the guilt.  Long after stitches have healed and your baby is sleeping through the night, you can still find yourself wondering that maybe, you just weren’t tough enough to labour properly. For almost 12 years, I had absorbed this belief when it came to having my first daughter, Lana Rose, who was delivered by emergency C-section in December 2014.  That was until Professor Peter Boylan spoke this week, and what he said felt something like a vindication. One of Ireland’s most distinguished obstetricians, a former Master of the National Maternity Hospital with more than four decades of experience, Professor Boylan has overseen the delivery of thousands of babies, and was reflecting on the findings of the UK’s Ockenden Report, which uncovered hundreds of cases in which mothers and babies suffered avoidable harm because of failures in maternity care. Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, he voiced his concern on how Ireland’s own approach to labour, particularly the continued reliance on the concept of so-called latent labour, risks repeating similar catastrophic mistakes. And as I listened to him question how any pregnant woman is supposed to know she has reached four centimetres of cervical dilation while sitting at home, I found myself thinking back to the night of December 13 2014 and the impending birth of my eldest daughter. Relief: Lisa with her daughter Lana Rose who was born by emergency C-section in 2014  More specifically, I thought about the message that was driven home repeatedly over 14 gruelling hours: ‘You’re not really in labour.’  Like most first-time mums, I’d done everything I thought I was supposed to do. I’d read the books, considered a birth plan, attended the antenatal classes and packed my hospital bag weeks in advance.   I knew childbirth would be painful, but I also believed that if I prepared properly and listened to the professionals around me, I’d be able to manage. At just over 40 weeks pregnant, I began having constant Braxton Hicks contractions and noticed my baby’s movements had slowed.  I rang my hospital and was told to come in. After checking my baby’s heartbeat, a midwife told me she needed to do an internal examination. ‘You’re not in labour - yet,’ she said - and what followed was the most intense pain I had experienced in my life - up to that point anyway.  I was so shocked I barely had time to process what had happened before I was told I could go home. It was only much later that I realised I had been given a membrane sweep.  Nobody had explained what was about to happen, asked for my consent or warned me how painful it might be.  We drove home - and as I was preparing for bed, I went to the bathroom, saw blood and the contractions began. 'Now, here’s a woman in labour,’ one member of staff remarked on my appearance - but for hours, the midwives looking after me didn’t seem to agree. Review: Prof Peter Boylan is calling for the term 'latent labour' to be scrapped Again and again, I heard the same words. ‘One cm. Two cm. You’re not there yet,’ they said, kindly but firmly.  The contractions were progressively longer, stronger, and closer together.  I repeatedly asked for pain relief and was repeatedly told I would have to wait because - well, you know why.  Eventually I was given gas and air, then pethidine, neither of which did much at that point. Nearly 11 hours after arriving back at the hospital, a consultant assessed me.  There was meconium in my amniotic fluid and my baby was starting to become distressed - so an emergency Caesarean section was called. Thankfully, my daughter arrived safely and like so many mothers, I focused on that.  I got to bring home a happy baby - how blessed was I?  But what I didn’t realise was that I had also birthed a malignant belief about my birth story.  Maybe I hadn’t coped as well as other women.  Maybe I simply hadn’t understood what labour was supposed to feel like - or maybe I just couldn’t hack it. Listening to Professor Boylan this week changed that, by clarifiying something which seems so obvious - that labour is labour, and if you are having strong contractions, no matter if your cervix is 1cm or 4cm dilated - you are in the throes of birthing.  His grave concerns about the concept of latent labour - stemming from a 1950s study of just 100 first-time mothers in New York - as part of maternity care in Ireland’s updated National Clinical Practice Guidelines needs to be listened to, and not just because it carries the risk of dangerous outcomes for women and babies. Removing this specification from our medical guidelines will support and provide clarity to the thousands of pregnant women struggling to cope with contractions and pain, who are sent home from hospitals, or remain in agony in antenatal wards just because they they haven't passed the 4cm rule.  Challenging our current definition of labour reminds us good maternity care is built not only on clinical expertise, but on informed consent, empathy, and truly listening to women with respect and dignity and acknowledging their pain.  Who knows - it may even result in less of the horror labour stories that continue to pervade our conversations about childbirth today. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.