"Birthing experience during COVID-19"

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Maternity team at the RAH and in Renfrewshire for their recent pre, ante and post natal care. I delivered my son in May 2020 and overall had a positive experience. I want to take this opportunity to highlight the exceptional aspects of care I received from some truly wonderful staff. There were aspects of my care that I feel could have been improved: I raise these points in an effort to improve future care for myself and others. 

I received my community care from the Blue Team, which is a pilot scheme aiming to provide continuity of care for mums-to-be. As this was my first child, I have no other experience to compare it to however I found the level of care I received from this team to be outstanding. I think the principles of this model of care, focussing on a quality and a patient centred approach, are key to its success and I would strongly support this service delivery. I could not imagine any other service delivery meeting the standards of this care and wish every expectant Mum could received this quality of care. Furthermore the group ante classes were brilliant and thorough. I was due to also receive Hypnobirthing through the RAH but sadly this was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. I would like mention the wonderful blue team Midwives who supported me in the community: Elizabeth, Rachel and Stephanie. I am so grateful for your positive support throughout my journey and I cannot speak highly enough of you all. Thank you.

As a low risk, green pathway Mum, I was keen to receive my care in the CMU however due to service changes in response to COVID-19 this has unfortunately been closed. I was apprehensive about delivering on the labour ward, as I believe it would typically be a more medically managed and intervention driven ward. During and after my labour I received absolutely amazing inpatient care from a brilliant team of doctors/surgeons and Midwives. I would like to acknowledge some exceptional individuals: Jenna (student midwife), Catherine, Paula (from Vale of Leven) and Karen. I understand this team of individuals mentioned (particularly Jenna and Catherine) are CMU based Midwives therefore I believe it is because of their CMU values that I received such respectful and positive low intervention care on the labour ward. They were mindful of my birthing wishes and I could not have managed what I did without them all. They are an absolute credit to the team and I will be forever grateful to this group for their support. From the bottom of my heart thank you.

Although I had an overall positive experience, there were some aspects of my care that I felt had a negative impact. I only wish to raise these in an effort to improve services moving forward. I found triage to be a less supportive experience when coming in to the labour ward. I was left to wait in a room alone (as my husband was not allowed in) for long periods of time with limited reassurance or explanation of the process. At this point I was requiring more pain relief due to the intensity of contractions and the sciatic pain and was feeling incredibly vulnerable. I really needed support and reassurance which I did not feel I received warmly. This was made worse when I went out to reception to enquire about what was happening and overheard the Midwives speaking about me, in what I perceived to be a negative/judgemental manner. One of them went on to provide my initial inpatient care and I struggled to build a good rapport with her after this initial set back and her overall manner. Unfortunately she offered me an opioid medication to support with pain relief during my care which was not part of my birthing wishes and sadly planted a seed of doubt of my capability. As a hypnobirthing Mum this negative approach of offering pain relief is contraindicated due to the impact on mindset. Thankfully when my care was taken over by midwives whose unwavering support and positivity helped me through and I was able to labour with modest/minimal pain relief. I worry that because the CMU remains closed, this will continue to have potential negative impacts on birthing mothers due to different values and approaches between labour ward and CMU. 

I strongly believe that RAH needs to resume its low risk CMU care to help women experience positive low intervention care. This will help birthing Mums now and in the future. Furthermore, the blue team model of care is truly fantastic and I would strongly advocate for it to continue and expand as this quality of care is exceptional. Thank you again to all of those who contributed to my care, I am incredibly grateful to those who contributed positively to my experience.