"Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity"

I went into labour with my second baby in October 2023. Contractions were regular, every 5 minutes, and I was 37 weeks and 1 day into pregnancy. I was due to go to work so went ahead knowing I had a consultant appointment later that day and expecting false labour.

At the appointment at 11am the consultant thought I was definitely in labour and sent me to the assessments unit. I was monitored there for an hour and sent home as everything slowed when I was lying down. Upon standing up and heading out to the car park contractions picked up again. I went to the office and packed up my things, telling my manager I would be finishing that day as I knew baby was coming.

I headed home and called my husband to meet me there and arranged care for my daughter. When I got home around 4pm, I felt like my mucous plug had released and when I checked in the bathroom I had actually passed a large blood clot. I know this isn’t right so phoned the assessment unit who said this is a normal part of labour and to monitor it. I didn’t feel right and felt I was being fobbed off. I paced the house waiting on my husband and getting the final bits together for my bag when I passed more blood.

I phoned the assessment unit again to pass on my concern and they told me I could come in if I wanted to but it wasn’t necessary. When I got to the hospital at 5:20pm and was checked I was 8cm dilated and in labour. They told me I had to go to the Labour Ward as they hadn’t enough staff in the MLU which was my preferred place of birth. I waited in one of the assessment rooms for over an hour before being brought to the Labour Ward around 6:40pm. I asked to go to the bathroom and again noticed I was passing blood. I told my assigned midwife and they checked my underwear and said they weren't sure as they were black. They suggested before knowing anything about my labour that we put in an IV and Canula, which I declined as I didn’t feel any intervention was necessary without a reason behind it.

I asked to lie on the bed as I was tired and thought my waters had broke only for my husband to tell me I had gushed blood. At this point the midwife was concerned I had a placental abruption and phoned a consultant. As I was far into labour, they agreed with the consultant to break my waters and thankfully my son was born within 20 minutes. I knew in my gut that something was wrong from when I got home that day before 4pm. When I phoned and spoke to the assessment unit I felt like they weren’t taking me seriously. I understand that they are busy and see pregnant individuals all day, but knowing now the seriousness of a placental abruption makes me so upset as I could have lost my son. Even in the assessment unit I and my husband spoke to them twice to say I was concerned and they said a midwife would be along soon to take me to the labour ward, but I always felt like somewhat an inconvenience.

In all I lost 780ml of blood, I didn’t want a transfusion and agreed to stay overnight with a blood test the next day to see if my haemoglobin levels were OK for me to be discharged. The following days I was very withdrawn and took a while to process the experience. Not only was I in shock that my son arrived earlier and quickly, I struggled with the placental abruption being discovered so late on in my labour. It doesn’t bear thinking about how this could have had a different outcome and honestly it’s a struggle reliving it now.

On the other hand the midwife that delivered my son acted quickly and respected my wishes for no intervention. They were kind, caring and supportive as were the midwives on the ward that evening. If anything I would just like a gentle reminder to staff to please be vigilante to any symptoms and remember that this may be the 1000th symptom you’ve seen like this that day but every individual’s pregnancy is unique as is every birth. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity and their feelings validated even if you are the professional.