"Treatment was moved to a far away hospital"

At 20 weeks, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I received insulin injections, injected every day on my stomach, one shot per day.

When I was 33 weeks pregnant, I had mucus plug show before labour, so I decided to go to the emergency room at SWAH. The emergency doctor sent me to the women's health department. After that, I was checked by a specialist. The doctor checked everything and everything was normal. But asked me to stay in for 1 night because he was afraid that I would give birth prematurely. The next day, I talked to the doctor. The doctor was very worried because he could not find the cause of the mucus plug show before labour. The cervix was still open. Everything was normal. The doctor let me go home. But  to come back if I have abdominal pain, mucus plug show before labour comes out again, or the baby does not move.

(37 weeks - 3 days. That day, my baby did not move. My husband called the midwife and informed her of this and that I had gestational diabetes and asked if I could come in to be monitored. We were told no, because I had insulin injections! I was told instead to go to Derry. Why cant I be seen in Enniskillen? This was very upsetting but set off driving in the dark for 2 hrs.

39 weeks 3 days. My water broke at 3 am. I couldn't go to Enniskillen Hospital because all my records had been sent to Derry Hospital. So off we went again. By the time we got there, there was stress, pressure, pushing, rough roads and ups and downs almost the entire way. During the journey, my baby stopped moving again. We could only pray that nothing bad would happen to her. When we got there, I had to have an emergency C-section because my water had almost completely broken. After the C-section, my baby was with me for less than 2 hours because he was cold and had low sugar level. The nurses had to take him to the NICU. At that time, I thought, My child probably isn't hurt too badly because the surgeon in the operating room didn't tell us anything at all. I waked to feed my baby, even though so painful to do so with my painful wound.

After 3 days, a midwife assistant came to my room and asked me to pack my stuff by 11 o’clock and to tell my husband to come and pick me up! I was very confused. So I told her that my baby was still in the NICU. My house is in Enniskillen. I didn’t want to go home without my baby. The midwife assistant told me they were really sorry, but their boss ordered it. We cried and walked to the NICU.

The doctor and the nurse in the NICU saw us and asked what happened.  They both seemed confused too and that the baby needs to be breastfed and needs antibiotics.”

What antibiotics?  The doctor then took the records that the surgeon had recorded, stating that the baby had choked on his own faeces while in the womb. My husband and I’s hearts dropped to the floor. We were devastated. The doctor told me to stay in the NICU for one more night, but I had to wait for the assistant to leave first. But my husband had to find alternative accommodation out of the hospital.  

On the 4th morning, I came back from breastfeeding. I found that I didn’t get breakfast, so I asked the staff. They accepted the case and said they would bring it back, but then they disappeared. I was very hungry and cried. There was no humanity left. The nursing assistants in the maternity ward were both good and bad. People who work in this field must have a loving heart, be kind, and have empathy for others. But from what I've encountered, most of them were not.

One day, I sat crying alone in the patient room because of sadness and stress. There was one incident where one of the midwives who I found to be rude pulled the plaster off my incision and was really painful. And I witnessed the same staff member upsetting another staff member.

On the 7th day, I started to get dinner. The staff, was very kind to me. She came to ask what I would eat at noon and in the evening. I got food again. But throughout the past days, I didn't care about whether I would get food or not. So my husband brough food in for me.

And that evening, my baby was discharged from the NICU. I brought my baby to sleep in the bed, and that night, the IV tube at my baby's foot fell out. The same midwife came in and said that she would take her baby to find a new line but didn’t support my baby’s neck which made me cry.  The midwife put my baby down on the crib like a soft thump. There was no softness at all. The child cried even more & I was so angry. A doctor came and took my baby away to get a new line in but struggled and then later that night another doctor came and was successful as getting the line back in and delivered my baby back into bed with me in my arms.

On the next morning, I was in the bathroom as had a pain in my bladder when I urinated. When I came out of the bathroom, I felt I was scolded by the midwife again for putting my baby in bed with me and was shouted at. I know accidents can happen to children when you sleep with them (I admit my mistake). But why did you have to scold me and the other midwife assistant? You can speak nicely.

I feel like the staff often treated me differently when my husband was there to when I was alone, which made me feel sad and uneasy.

Day 9 of hospital stay in Derry. We waited until 8:30 PM. Then we went home sweet home.

For me, South West Acute Hospital is a good hospital. It is a new hospital with many doctors, nurses and people who are dedicated to their duties. But there are some staff or people who have bad habits and sometimes I felt I was not treated like a human being.

But when I went to Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry, the doctor who delivered my child didn't tell me that my child had choked on dark water, which required him to go to the NICU and receive antibiotics. My husband and I only found out on the 3rd day because the doctor at the NICU said.

I would like to thank the chief doctor and nurses in the NICU, the intensive care patients, the babies, everyone, everyone is doing their best in their work. The people who work in this room must really love it. Thank you again from the bottom of our family's heart.

On the Maternity ward at Altnagelvin Area Hospital Emergency Department in Derry, I would like to thank some of the midwife assistants and all the night shift midwives, I repeat, the night shift, for being so nice to me, but some of the night shift assistants were also very rude. And a big thank you to one of the midwife assistant for coming in and listening to a postpartum mother with a sick baby in the NICU like me.

We asked the doctor who looked after our child at the Maternity ward at Altnagelvin what the possible causes of the child choking on cerebral blood. The doctor told us that for us, long distances, uneven roads and long journeys can cause stress in children, which can happen. The question that stuck out to us the most was, why did we have to have the surgery here? In Enniskillen, the hospital is newer and bigger. So I answered that SWAH sent us here because I use insulin injections! The doctor looked puzzled and ended with something strange.