"Induction and unplanned caesarean section"

In November 2019 my daughter was born by unplanned caesarean section at 41+1 weeks, following a period of daily attendance at triage where I was being monitored for high BP.

I was actually already in labour when I arrived at ward for planned induction and confused when I was informed that they would induce me anyway. The midwife offered no explanation other than 'that's just what we do'. To be fair to her she was looking after at least three other women in active labour and one who had just given birth, so had little time to really discuss or inform.

Unfortunately the pessary led to contractions which were too intense to endure and this was quickly removed. The labour was long, but progressing, and once we moved to the labour ward we felt very connected to and supported by the new midwife. A new midwife arrived to take over from the nightshift and shortly after things changed when my daughter appeared to be stuck. A Registrar was called, which led to theatre for X 2 failed forceps and an eventual c section.

My daughter was transferred to the NNU, where she went on to have seizures and was therapeutically cooled. We later found out she had suffered a HIE injury. The neonatal care was exceptional and we will remain forever grateful to them for this.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the postnatal ward, where we remained for 8 days post birth, until I requested my own discharge and we were kindly given a room on the neonatal unit. The ward midwives were kind, but clearly very understaffed. There appeared to be little understanding of the pressure of having a baby on the neonatal until and no collaboration or communication that we could see.

I was trying to establish breastfeeding, but was continually called back to the postnatal ward for monitoring and/or medication rounds. I asked several times if this could be done next to my baby, but with each shift change these requests/suggestions seemed to become lost in the wind. There was no appreciation for the obvious role stress was playing in my apparent high BP, or the lack of sleep that the sometimes hourly waking overnight for monitoring was resulting in.

When I eventually suggested I attend triage for monitoring, unsurprisingly my BP reduced almost instantly. Given the serious nature of my daughter's condition, we were assured that a thorough investigation would be carried out, of which we would be actively involved. Sadly this was not what happened and we only found out the conclusion of the investigation 6 months later when we called to find out when we would be contacted.

We were told that the investigation report had been ’finalised’ and asked if we would like a copy.... The report contained lots of inaccuracies and finished with yet another assurance that we would be contacted to discuss the outcome. We never were. Now, almost 18 months later, I still think about and try to process  what happened. Mostly I feel saddened at the stark contrast between the care that was given to my daughter and that which was given to me as a first time mother who was under extreme stress. As we begin to think about having another child, I doubt we will feel safe or comfortable giving birth at the RIE and will be looking to be cared for in another hospital.