"Mixed Experience"

My story is quite long so I’m going to put the good points and the bad points in bullet points. 

Good points: 

- staff in labour ward, theatre and recovery were all incredibly friendly and helpful. 

- they keep a very close eye on you and baby before the birth. 

Bad points: 

-I flew all the way from Orkney to Aberdeen for induction to be told they were far too busy and it would be at least 3 days before I could be seen. 2/3 days I could have been at home 🤷🏻‍♀️

- the midwife I had for monitoring and induction was less than helpful, she kept delaying giving me the pessary to start induction and when I asked why I got answers like ‘baby is just misbehaving’ and ‘baby is just being a bit of a monkey’ not very helpful in my opinion... I’m not stupid. 

- the day after surgery I told a midwife I thought I was going to be sick, she stood me up anyway and I was sick all over the floor to which she kept making comments like ‘well you’ve certainly added to our workload for the day 🙄’ 

-after catheter was removed I was told I had to pee about 400ml by a certain time in a sarcastic manor. 

-asked for a glass of water after being sick, was told it’s down the corridor that way, you can go and get it. All only about 8 hours after surgery so I still had a surgical gown on and was expected to walk down the corridor with my back uncovered, in a lot of pain. 

-got no help with breastfeeding at all. 

-nobody ever stuck their head in to door even to check everything was okay and if I rang my bell it took ages for them to come. 

-nobody was very friendly apart from the cleaning staff. 

- someone else in the ward rang their bell one night and I heard a member of staff say ‘aaw who is ringing their bloody bell now’ as she walked past my room. 

All in all I found it a terrifying and unfriendly experience. I am extremely grateful that they delivered my baby safely and always will be.  

I am now however pregnant again and absolutely terrified that I will forced to go to Aberdeen again instead of staying home and going through this really horrible experience again.  I have literally cried every day since finding out I was pregnant at thought of having to deliver in Aberdeen again. I understand it was a very busy time of year but that’s no excuse for the bad manners and lack of compassion shown on the ward after delivery.