"You are doing a fantastic job!"

I was admitted for induction of labour to the antenatal ward at QEUH at 40+3 gestation due to concerns over static growth of my baby. Me and my baby received fantastic care in the antenatal ward, operating theatre, theatre recovery and in the postnatal ward. 

The midwifes and other members of staff in the antenatal ward were fantastic. They explained every stage of the induction and reassured me throughout the process. Unfortunately I could not tolerate the pain of being induced and after 12 hours of the induction process, I requested a caesarean section. I was worried that the staff would try and convince me to continue on with the induction process however from the moment I requested a c section, the midwife paged the doctor straight away to discuss my options with me. The medical staff were excellent -they explained the options available to me and the risks associated with each one. I felt very reassured and in control with my choice to proceed with a c section.

The following day I was transferred to theatre, where my beautiful baby girl was delivered via caesarean section. A midwife called Gill  looked after me before theatre and in theatre recovery and I am so grateful for the amazing care she showed me and my baby. She was so attentive and could not have done enough for us. 

I would also like to thank the amazing theatre team, in particular, Simon the anaesthetist, and Dougie the theatre nurse. From the beginning they tried to keep me calm and comfortable when I was feeling very nervous in an unfamiliar environment. I really appreciate all the small talk before the procedure which really helped calm my nerves! After my baby was delivered I felt quite a bit of pain as the surgeon was closing up. Simon quickly adapted to this and asked the surgeon to pause the procedure. He explained the options available to me for pain relief and I ended up requiring a general anaesthetic. After the operation, Simon came to chat to me twice to debrief me on what had happened and find out how I was recovering. 

I spent 2 nights in the postnatal ward recovering from the operation and looking after my baby.  Thank you to all the midwifes and other members of staff for looking after me and my baby. I learnt loads from them including how to change my first nappy! 

My only constructive feedback is regarding the visiting policy.  During my time in hospital, the visiting policy had been 2 visitors per patient in between 10:00 am and 10:00 pm. We followed this strictly, and when my mum and dad came to visit, my husband had to wait outside the ward. On my second night in the postnatal ward, a patient was brought in with around 10 visitors with her. This was after 9:00pm at night, they all stayed until 11:00pm (including a toddler who was running around the room).  Another relative then arrived after 11:00pm and stayed with the patient all night. 

I asked the midwife why this patient was allowed so many visitors and she explained that the visiting policy had changed that day to open visiting. I found having so many visitors incredibly disruptive when I was trying to recover from major surgery and look after my baby, and would have asked to go home that day had I known that this would have been allowed. I could also see that the midwifes were struggling to do their job to look after the patient when she had so many visitors present. I think that visiting restrictions protects patient care and the staff delivering care and felt that the 2 visitor policy between 10:00 am and 10:00 pm was very fair. 

Overall my experience was very positive, and I could not be more grateful for the safe delivery of my baby girl and the care shown to us both. Thanks again to all the staff that cared for us, you are doing a fantastic job!