"I felt basic care was lacking"

I was scheduled to go in for an elective c section, however when I was seen at gestational diabetes clinic plans changed and I was asked to come in for c section the next day, to be admitted that evening. When I arrived to the ward the night staff were amazing and could not have made me feel more at ease. 

I was awoken the following morning and prepped for theatre. The whole experience in theatre and the arrival of our beautiful baby girl could not have been better. The Doctors and Nurses in theatre were so calm kind and caring,  especially the anaesthetist Nurse. I was then brought to recovery and was there for four hour as my blood pressure dipped. I had a lengthy  wait to go back to ward as there was not a bed available, which I thought was strange as I was in the ward that morning and had left a bed, it was as though they did not know I would be returning. 

When I returned to the ward I was put into a side room which was lovely. The midwife told me that someone would be with me shortly to help me wash and dress as I was still wearing the plastic theatre gown. No one came, my mum and sister visited and thankfully helped me change. When my mum was leaving she bent to give me a hug and the bed whizzed across the room, she is a lady in her 70s and she almost ended up on the ground. My sister reacted quickly and stopped the bed from moving. 

Late that night perhaps  as I was trying to get some sleep me and my baby were moved out of the side room and brought to a bay at the very back of the ward. The bed space was so uncomfortable, the curtain was pulled round the bed space to the left, which was being used for storage of equipment. This made the space were I was feel very small and squished with barely enough room for me and my baby.

In the early hours of the morning I was very sore and uncomfortable. After trying for sometime to manoeuvre myself in the bed I buzzed for help. A midwife and a support worker arrived at the bottom of my bed. I explained that I was in bed and could not move, I was told to dig my feet into the bed and push myself up.  The sheets and pillows were in disarray by this stage and I told them I was trying. I could feel the catheter bag pulling and my wound was aching. At this point the midwife pressed the button on the bed the raises both top and bottom of the bed, effectively squeezing me in the middle. I became very upset and frustrated, neither of them laid a hand on me to support me to get comfortable. I had been in the same position in the same bed for 19 hours at this stage. I was offered some IV paracetamol, when I said I thought the cannula had tissued I was dismissed and the midwife proceeded to give me the meds though this site. Needless to say I could feel it dripping down my hand. Another cannula was put in and I  eventually got some pain relief. I then asked could the catheter be removed as I felt well enough to walk and I felt it had displaced when I had been struggling to get comfortable in the bed. This was begrudgingly taken out. I instantly felt better when I could get out of bed and go to the toilet independently. Thankfully I had a very settled baby throughout this ordeal.

I feel the basic care I received were substandard. I feel it is not good enough that family have to support wash and dress a patient and help them feel comfortable. Attention to detail lacking-not putting break on bed.

I feel that ladies who have had caesarean births should be offered a bed closer to the nurses station as they are not able to move the same and require additional support. It was not appropriate to put a patient in the back corner of a bay at the back of the ward that is obviously used for storage, a hospital bay is not the place for equipment storage if it is going to be used for patients.

I felt that basic care was lacking, being squeezed in the middle after having an operation in the abdomen was excruciating. 19 hours in a bed without being supported to move will not help aid recovery in anyway. I felt so much better when I was able to get up and move. 

Finally I did not feel listened to, I felt condescended at a time I was at my most vulnerable.