"Lack of Compassion - Obstetrics"

My wife was referred to Obstetrics to have a more in depth conversation about the possibility of having a caesarean section with our second child after complications with our first.

With our first child (born at the General Hospital August 2014) we had water birth booked in but after being in the delivery suite for approx. 1-2 hours it became apparent he wasn't in the correct position (we were told he was back to back) and a water birth was out of the question.

My wife was then moved to a standard delivery room whilst in this room my wife was administered with drugs to help turn the baby for delivery. My wife had opted out of having any drugs bar gas and air for pain management, but after some time decided the pain was enough and elected to have an epidural. I had to brace my wife whilst a nurse anesthetist tried to administer the epidural but after several failed attempts and not managing to administer it they had to go get they senior to administer it, which they did on the first attempt. Some time after this with my wife tiring from over 20hrs of labour and with the baby not completely turned it was decided an episiotomy was needed. This was done and our child was born healthy.

After the birth of our child my wife was kept in for two days due to low iron and low white blood cell count and was on the verge of needing a transfusion, during this time she was suffering headaches which was put down to exhaustion. The headaches continued which resulted in my wife going to her GP, and again been told it was down to exhaustion and told to take paracetamol or ibuprofen. This didn't help what so ever, and when a family member who is a midwife was visiting saw the condition of my wife and was told the symptoms of continuous headaches, they were alarmed and said its more than likely a puncture of the dura mater.

We contacted the General Hospital and after having a consultation confirming the puncture of the dura mater my wife had a blood tap. Pretty much straight away after having the blood tap my wife felt much better and the headaches subsided.

Now with all the above happening with our first child and the complications that followed, my wife and I were hoping for some guidance and reassurance from her meeting this morning. I couldn't make the appointment with her this morning due to work commitments so called her to see how the appointment went. I was shocked and horrified to hear my wife in tears as she explained how things had gone. Firstly the consultant named on the appointment was not there. The 2 consultants who were there practically called her a liar when she explained our first was back to back, which is what we were told but the notes didn't say the baby was back to back. Made her feel stupid for wanting a caesarean section instead of a natural birth and whilst she was visibly upset just kept dismissing her and her concerns. We will be making a formal complaint and possibly move to the LRI for the birth.