"Maternity service experience during my pregnancy"

Was excited to go to my first scan appointment, however I felt the manager of maternity outpatients was dismissive and rude and made no attempt to look for my baby, told me I would have to come back because of my weight. A week later the consultant found my baby straight away with no problems. My partner and I were so disappointed and I was mortified. Also witnessed them being rude to other people in the waiting room and embarrassing other pregnant women and their partners. 

The attitude of EOU nurses in my opinion was equally disappointing, everything felt like an inconvenience. From the night my waters broke until well after I had my baby and still had to go there, I was laying on the bed and heard the nurses on the other side of the curtain asking why I had come to see them and not gone to my GP. Again I was embarrassed and explained to the consultant that came to see me I would have preferred to go to my GP as it was closer but was told I had to go to EOU. 

The worst, however, was maternity ward. Having my baby staying in the neonatal unit and being put in a ward with women and their babies was absolutely heart breaking. I was told within an hour of being there discharge information because I may as well listen to it now while they were telling the other people there, so the midwife didn’t have to go over it again. I was denied a visitor even though I had just had a baby who was not with me, major abdominal surgery and was completely isolated. I felt unwell while sitting out and asked for my observations to be taken and instead was handed 2 paracetamol. I became unwell after this. 

After being moved to a side room I hardly ever saw anyone - midwives, auxiliaries or doctors. The attitude of staff on the maternity seemed to me very uncaring and more concerned with writing copious amounts of notes than actually caring for their patients. 

I do have to say labour ward staff and particularly recovery ward staff were amazing, they were patient, kind and I felt they really cared. 

It was such a shame that my birth experience in the Ulster was so disappointing, from the very first scan until weeks after giving birth I was made to feel uncomfortable and like I was being a nuisance.