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Care Opinion

Ward care after birth

Posted By jazzhj95

"Ward care after birth"

About: Maternity care (Wards 47, 48 & 50) / Maternity care (Ward 48)

(as the patient),

At the time I didn't say anything because I was so overwhelmed but looking back I find the care I received after giving birth to be much less supportive than everything else up until that point. 

After my emergency c section, I wanted to have skin to skin contact with my baby to make up for not having a chance to touch him when he was born. I had to call a nurse over to help me to take away my babys blankets to support this, but I don't think anyone would have approached me to help if I hadn't asked. I also had to ask for help with breastfeeding, and although someone helped me in that moment, no one came to see how I was doing with it over the next two days I was in hospital.

Instead I relied on my husband bringing syringes of colostrum that I'd harvested prior to the birth to help me feel confident my baby was getting some nutrition. Overall, I felt like I was 'left to it' on the ward, and as it was my first baby I felt very unsure of myself. Even taking him out of his blanket and dressing him for the first time felt like a big deal to me, but again no one was around to help.

It felt like I only saw nurses when I had to have medication or my blood pressure taken. As I'd had an emergency c section, I was on morphine and really didn't feel confident in my ability to look after my baby. I remember going to the toilet to change a bloody pad and hearing him cry, and hobbling over in a panic, just feeling very vulnerable. I was desperate to get home to the support of my husband and family, and I think this experience set me off on a path of self doubt in the early days of motherhood. I think this could have been different if there was capacity to have someone help me in those early hours and days with the basics of caring for my baby. It would have felt like a positive learning experience instead of a pressure at a time of recovery. 

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Responses

Response from Gaynor Bird, Lead Midwife, Maternity, NHSGGC 10 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Gaynor Bird
Lead Midwife, Maternity,
NHSGGC

Submitted on 21/06/2023 at 08:37
Published on Care Opinion at 08:56

picture of Gaynor Bird

Dear jazzhj95,

Firstly congratulations on the birth of your new baby and thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience here at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Maternity Unit and I am so sorry that you felt unsupported during your time on the ward after your baby was born.

I am disappointed that we were unable to offer you the care and support which you needed during your first days as a new parent looking after your baby and caring for your wellbeing. As a maternity team, we aim to ensure that we provide safe and effective, person centred care for women and their families, supporting and providing education in those first few days. I am glad that your husband was able to support you at this time.

On our postnatal wards, we have become more aware of the need to support women and their families with support and education in caring for their newborn baby and realise that sometimes this can be lost in the frantic activity of a busy postnatal ward, in particular we recognise the need to improve the support we provide initiating and establishing breastfeeding. As a health board, we have recruited 18 new Maternity Care Assistants who will begin their training soon and the main focus of their role is to support women with feeding and education in the first few days after their baby is born. In addition to this, we are currently reviewing all aspects of the postnatal journey for women within the wards and how we can improve on this to ensure a positive learning experience.

If you feel that you would like to have a further chat about your experience, it would be great to chat to you about this. Please drop me a direct email and we can arrange this. in addition, we are always keen to involve women's voices in our improvement work and would love to include your feedback.

Best wishes to you and your family.

Gaynor

gaynor.bird@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

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