"I’ve had a mixture of experiences with the maternity wards"

In March 2023 I had a miscarriage unknown amount of weeks. I then fell pregnant with my now 21-month-old girl in the April 2023. I had a lot of reduced movements during my pregnancy. My anxiety was through the roof thinking something was going to happen to her. I was at triage a lot due to my anxiety and the reduced movements. A lot of the midwives were very helpful but a small handful I found to be arrogant or that you were an inconvenience to them. I did then get took in twice a week to get CTGs done which all seemed to be reassuring. I then had my baby girl in January 2024 and I couldn’t have had a nicer labour experience. My midwife was amazing. However I never seemed to get much support with my breastfeeding and got sent home at 3am on a freezing cold winter's night without a clue on breastfeeding. Which ruined the whole experience for me. 

I then went on to fall pregnant in the December 2024 11 months after having my baby girl. I also had really bad reduced movements with my boy which also never helped my anxiety again. I had went to triage numerous times due to this. Same again, a lot of the midwives were amazing and so lovely, then on the other hand there were three that made me feel uncomfortable seeing when walking in as I had a horrible experience with my first with one of them. (This is my third baby, I had my first in 2019.)

A few times baby never met criteria so I did get seen at maternity day bed where the girls are just so lovely in there and I loved to see them on when I arrived. This made my whole experience so nice. I got 2 sweeps as I was told I was going to get induced at 39weeks due to terrible pelvic girdle pain that was making it hard to walk or move with.

I went in with reduced movements and baby was not meeting the criteria at all, so I got assessed and the decision got made for me to be induced in the morning. I got kept in antenatal which the girls are also lovely in so had a good experience there. Only thing was that when I went for a shower the bathroom was dirty and not clean at all. I then got took round by a lovely midwife and a student. Where I also had a lovely but very sore experience. The girls were so reassuring and would definitely choose them for next time if I could. They were so so helpful with my breastfeeding after birth and I felt so comfortable to return home that evening and I am still breastfeeding 6 weeks later. 

I then had infections after birth which I felt as though I was getting passed about pillar to post with. I spent the full day in maternity triage with pain to then get sent home with antibiotics 1 week PP. I have currently finished my 2nd round of antibiotics and one infection is still there. Which I have already spoke to GP about. I got told I could phone maternity triage until 6 weeks postpartum which I did. I phoned up one night as I was concerned about my infection and a member of staff answered saying because I was just over 2 weeks postpartum I couldn’t phone them anymore so then got told to phone 111 who told me it was 6 weeks. I then had another concern about myself and baby so I got advised to phone them 4 weeks PP which I did and the midwife couldn’t find me on the system, so the member of staff that told me I couldn’t phone after 2 weeks deleted my file. 

Overall I’ve had a mixture of experiences with the maternity wards and some midwives I would hate to see if I returned with another pregnancy. The midwives that helped bring my babies into the world and genuinely made me feel as though I wasn’t silly for being there have a special place in my heart.