"Epidural denial"

In April, I gave birth to my baby at Glasgow Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I was denied an epidural in maternity assessment when I arrived. My intention is not to blame anyone. I just need some sort of closure and want to make sure that no other women go through the same experience than I did.

I am French but have been working and living in Glasgow for the past two years. Below is a timeline of the events that happened during my labour, on at Glasgow Queen Elizabeth Hospital. It was during the first coronavirus peak; partners were only allowed in the labour ward.

My contractions started late evening. I was at home with my partner. My partner phoned the hospital to let them know that labour had started.We phoned again  in the early hours of the following morning to give an update. I was advised to stay at home. We phoned as the contractions were becoming more intense at this point I expressed my wish to be assessed. A few hours later I was admitted to the Maternity Assessment ward on my own as partners were not allowed. As I was only 2/3 cm dilated, I was sent back home to allow labour to establish further.

Later that morning I phoned to give an update on how I was doing since attending the hospital. Late afternoon that day  I phoned again as contractions were becoming more intense and lasted longer. I was asked if I wanted to attend. I said yes. I again attended the maternity assessment ward on my own for the second time. I was welcomed by a midwife who took care of me during all my stay in the assessment ward. The contractions were strong. My dilation was at 4/5 cm. The midwife told me that they would get me to the labour ward. Unfortunately, all the beds were taken, so I had to wait on my own in the assessment ward for 2 hours.

As soon as I arrived, I told the midwife that I wanted an epidural. They replied that I was coping really well, had managed to stay at home for a long time, so that might not be necessary.    They mentioned morphine and also asked me if I had considered water birth; to which I answered no. They came back a few minutes later to tell me that actually all the pools were closed because of coronavirus. Did not mention epidural or morphine anymore and just gave me dihydrocodeine and took my blood.

I felt that the intensity of the contractions had increased dramatically. The midwife phoned the labour ward to see if there was any free bed. I was admitted to the labour ward and finally reunited with my partner. During the handover between the two midwives, I could hear them talking, the information passed on was that I might want an epidural but was coping well so would probably not need it.  It was shift change and a new midwife took over my care. During the handover, my partner and I again overheard them discussing that I might want an epidural. We both reacted at the same time and stated quite vehemently that I did want an epidural. The midwife took my request into account, but we now had to wait for my blood results to come back. As stated above, my blood had only just been taken while I had been on the maternity assessment center. By the time, the results arrived, the anesthetist was taken on an emergency. We therefore had to wait for the epidural siting.

The anesthetist arrived to discuss epidural, afterwards the epidural procedure commenced. The epidural was sited by the anesthetist, but a very short time later my baby was born.

The epidural did not work. I went through the labour with forceps, episiotomy and second degree- tears only using other pain relief (which did not even work at the end as I had to remove the mask to answer the anesthetist’s questions). I ended up with a massive scar.

The night shift labour ward midwife was brilliant and did the best they could with the situation that was inherited. The gynecologist who delivered the baby, also did an amazing job.

I do not understand however how, the first midwife who took care of me,  could decide on their own, that I was coping well and might not need an epidural while I had clearly stated that I wanted one from the start. I am a self-contained person and I have never expressed pain in a dramatic way.

Should I deduce that in the 21st century Scotland, the only way to have an epidural is to scream and cry to show your pain? Are self-contained persons excluded from stronger pain relief because they seem to cope too well?Does this mean that the NHS consider that staff opinion is more valuable than the patient's wishes or does this depend on the person on shift when you arrive? The second thing that I do not understand is why I had to wait for two hours to have my blood taken. We lost precious minutes waiting for blood results to have the epidural sited. Having them earlier might have change the course of events.

I do not feel any sort of pride having been able to go through a forceps, episiotomy and second-degree labour only using gas & air. I just feel traumatised and extremely disappointed. I had never felt so vulnerable in my whole life. Instead of being listened to by the persons who were supposed to take care of me, they decided for me. Because of this experience, I am not sure I want more children.

Once I stopped having nightmares about my labour, I began to do a bit of research. I was astonished to discover that a scandal of epidural denial in the UK had been highlighted in a newspaper back in January 2020. The official inquiry that followed concluded that women in labour were not receiving epidural when they asked for it and that this was in breach of official guidelines. I was able to find several articles in the mainstream news which covered this topic.

          

I keep wondering:

• How could I live this kind of situation, 3 months after the issue was highlighted and only a month after the findings of the official investigations were released?

• Which process is in place to ensure that pain relief options are discussed with women and received when they ask for it?

We have been living in Scotland for 2 years and have enjoyed every part of it. I am extremely proud that my baby was born here. It is just a shame that our only bad experience here is the one that was supposed to be the most beautiful.