Hi me again!

I have posted my daughters birth on the thread titled "Hello" but I thought I would share the aftercare I recieved. I have already drafted a letter of complaint to my local hospital but so far have not been brave enought to send it! Just wanted to see what you thought....

After my daughter was born I was still coming round from a general anaethetic so some of this I have been told, but most is what I remeber.
1. My daughter had to spend the night in her sleep suit (that I bought in) and a towel because they had no blankets for her to use.
2. When I got down to the ward I told my mw (before she handed over my care to the ward mw) that my drip was leaking. Instead she just adjusted the flow rate of the drip and went back to the labour ward. So I pulled the needle out and called for the new mw.
3. My baby was latched on to me whilst I was lying on my side. I was then left to feed her, by myself, at two in the morning, whilst only being 3 hours post general anaesthetic.
4. My vital signs (Temp, Bp and pulse) were checked once after I left recovery (about 1.30 am) then again at 7 in the morning. In the hospital we check them on anyone post general at least 4 hourly.
5. The midwife asked me in the morning if my baby had had a poo (about 9am when hubby came in). I had no idea. I had only just come round properly and didnt realise for a moment I had even had a baby. She then told me off for not checking then ordered hubby to change it whilst MW took me for a wash. He had never changed a nappy in his life and had to look round for 5 minutes to find someone to help him.
6. Nobody showed me round the ward. I didnt know that there was changing stuff for LO under the cot. Dinners were served in the day room. I still to this day have no idea where the day room was. The first night I was there I got hubby to collect it for me.
7. The second day they forgot to even order me anything to eat!
8. I was told off because I refused to go for a shower (about 23 hours post c section). I really didnt feel well enough and was incredibly low about the birth. (I had had a good wash earlier tho, i'm not normally that gross!) The midwife then told me it would be my own fault if I got an infection in my wound and that I already had a bit of a temp. Being a nurse (which they would have realised if they had bothered to read my notes) I know exactly the signs of infection and do not need to be lectured too. I also know that when a ward is as hot as that one was I have a bit of a temp. Its normal for me. She then told me that she would HAVE to check it in half hour because she thought I was getting this infection. No one came back and I never did have this infection she was speaking of.
9. My wrist band was never checked when they gave me any drugs (very bad practice)
10. I was told it was my fault that my daughter was jaundice because I wasn't breast feeding her properly. The more the MW tried to get me to do it the more upset I got (she was mean). She then said 'Well you are just getting yourself in a state now!' Lily had to be topped up with formula. Turns out that I lost a litre of blood when she was born and my milk still didnt kick in after feeding and expressing for 5 days.
11. My bloods were never checked even tho I was anaemic.
12. Nobody actually spoke to me about Lily's birth. In fact they completely avoided me. I was only told what happened because I made the mean MW sit down with me and the notes. She made me feel like a pain for asking until she thought I might complain.
13. I was supposed to be given a private room to recover (policy apparently post category one c-sections) but there were none available. I was then put in a room with a lady who didnt speak english and had two very loud new born twins! The midwives were forever coming in to tell her that she had to get her hubby to bring in formula for her twins. But of course she didnt understand. They would come in to tell her at10-11 o'clock at night. Poor woman must have wondered why they kept coming in and telling her off! Everytime they came in it woke me up.

I was lucky enough to be transfered to the local midwife unit near my house about 36 hours after Lily was born. When I got there they showed me round and then said 'we've read your notes. You had a bit of a time of it didnt you' (about the birth) and I just broke down in tears. They couldnt have been nicer and really helped me. One of the health assistants was a student MW as well and sat with me at 1 in the morning one night and debriefed me about what happened. They also really helped with breast feeding and they were the ones who suggested giving her formula all the time. AT that point I was bf feeding, expressing and giving top ups of formula. Not once did they make me feel bad or a failure (unlike the main hospital).

A lot of this may seem trivial to others but has really affected me. My main issue was not once did one of the MW's come and ask me if I was OK. Like I said earlier, I was avoided.

Sorry its a long post!

Serena X

Lol!
Thanks LouLou

midwifes and maternity wards are under a lot of stress and suffer from understaffing and lack of funding so some of the circumstances after your birth were probably unavoidable, like having to share a room.
But i have to say the way you were treated was disgusting. There is no excuse for sloppy nursing or giving you bad attitude!
Anyone who has given birth, and especially yourself after such a traumatic time, needs to have tlc.
what a stroppy m/w! I think you should send a letter definately. I've been meaning to send a lettter to thank the team of people who looked after me as i was really lucky in the care i got. I spent 5 days in hospital so that was probably just as well!

Hi Serena82

I also had a really horrible time in hospital both prior to having my baby (two days) and after (three days) I have explained most of it on the Hello page but have not put everything as it would have been a very long post. My birth wasn't great for me for various reasons but the thing that I have found very hard was the way I was treated in general in hospital.

My baby is ten months old now and like you my complaint letter is sitting on my computer and never been sent. I am currently pregnant again and therefore don't want to send it. My cousins wife was at the same hospital three months later and was also treated very badly. She had a go at the midwives as she was leaving and was also planning to complain but never did (with a new baby other things just take over). My grandad was so disgusted at how we had been treated he was planning to write to our MP but never did.

Two other friends at a different hospital (my other option) were also treated badly by the staff. One had had an emergency C-section she discharged herself after a couple of days as she just wanted to rest at home. She asked for a wheel chair to get to the car and was told 'if you are well enough to go home you are well enough to walk out of here'. It took her and her husband nearly an hour to get to the car with the baby and all her things, she said she was in so much pain but she was determined to go. The other friend was similar to me left in bloody sheets, open gown nothing to eat or drink etc etc. Neither complained either.

I think people should complain more. How are we to expect improvements if we do not complain? I really hope you send the letter and I promise if I have reason to complain this time I will including complaining about what happened last time.

Send the letter I did as I know it wont help with how I feel about the care cos it been and done but if it makes someone realise that something needs to be done it will help others.

I wont go into my aftercare too much but had a horrible labour resulting in section they didnt notice my little boy had not grown since 36 weeks even though I was having scans to a previous condition. They basically left me afterwards my little boy was unsettled even though he was fed and changed and the midwives answer when I finally asked for help was well what do you want me to do about it!

I have recieved an apology from head of midwivery at the hospital and even though it doesnt make me feel better I just got fingers crossed that someone else there wont recieve the care and treatment I did.

Send the letter lol xx

Oh hun, I really feel for you. Your aftercare was terrible. You need to send the letter, so that things can change. As EmmaLou85 says, birth is a new experience for women and as is having a baby, midwives should realise this more & give women better care. I know everyone can have a bad day but that was something else entirely - it's no reason to take your bad mood out on a vulnerable woman after a normal straightforward birth let alone the experience you had. Grrrr!

I had a section too and my experience was on the whole great. The midwives checked me regularly, always asked if I needed help, I had my own private room (all the women who had c-sections had one) and they even asked everyone if they wanted hot chocolate and biscuits at night.

Hiya,
I haven't yet had my baby (due Dec) but i was my sisters birthing partner 2 years ago & she got really badly treated!
When we went into the hosp she was telling them that she was in really really bad pain (i know i know, this was her first & they said that she was going to think it was bad) so they sent us home.
Once home she just got worse & worse & we had to go back in an hour later....where they started to give her an epidural. Once the epidural was sorted they started to monitor the baby....whose heart beat was plummiting to almost nothing...then my sister started bleeding everywhere! they rushed her for a emergency c section. We were told that the placenta had ruptured! So all in all although my sister knew the pains were going to be bad she knew they were wrong...but no one listened to her. When we were waiting for her in surgery not one person came to let us know how she was...for all we knew the worst could've happened! Every MW i asked just told me to go relax & get a coffee!!! yeh right!!
Then on the ward the next day the MW said to my sister so this is your second baby right!!! wrong...if only they had looked at her notes...my sis lost her prev baby at nearly 6 months gone...so my sister in a state after a traumatic birth had to explain to THEM what had happened with her last baby! disgusting!
I am actually going to the same hosp as her...only because i can't stand the one closer to us! but i am so worried about the care i am going to receive!!

It sounds like you had your babies in the same hospital that i did!!!! I had my last baby by emergancy cs it was quite traumatic and i had a huge bleed after so i was on the high dependancy ward for 24 hours where the midwives were lovely, helped me to get out of bed and shower also helped me start feeding which was very difficult due to drips and things (had a blood transfusion) i was then moved to the post natal ward where it could not have been more different. The midwives spent all ther time chatting to each other and if you dared call them to you were rude. I was having problems feeding and i asked the midwife to help me and she asked my why i was bothering bf when i had ff my other babies and she had better things to do then see to me. i ended up in tears and asked for a bottle as i could not get him to settle and got told to pull myself together and not to give a bottle but to get on with it. One concerned dad spoke to the midwives about there baby keep bringing up all there feeds and they were told to not be silly this was normal and as soon as they out of earshot they laughed and said maybe they should learn how to wind the baby!!!
I spent 5 days in and it was the most traumatic time of my life, i know they are understaffed etc but its like they just dont give a sh*t about the women they are supposed to be looking after. I am now pg with no5 and i have been told there have been lots of complaints about post natal care but its unlikely anything has changed xxx

DEFINATELY send the letter. I had a really bad experience with DS no 2 - he was born 6 weeks early and was in special care. I had two womb infections in the 4 weeks following delivery, was aneamic but not given a blood transfusion and one doctor even told me I was a waste of space taking up a valuable hospital bed - he hadnt read my notes and thought I had had a vaginal delivery two days previously, not an emergency c/section with hemorrhaging 6 days previously! My maternity notes are all incorrect, I was laughed at by the MW when I fainted trying to remove my dressing, among many other awful things. We put in a formal complaint in the hope that nobody else would have to go through what I went through. The Trust didnt really answer my letter so we are now going to the Health Commission for resolution. I know midwives are overworked, underpaid and very stressed, but there is no need for sloppy care or rudeness! Good luck for your future