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"Painful labour"

About: South West Acute Hospital / Maternity care

(as a service user),

I gave birth to my first baby last year, I was sent from a checkup appointment in Omagh (at 40+3) as I was 3-4 cm and having mild contractions. The second midwife I had was lovely and explained everything to me. When I started pushing, a new midwife came in for shift change.

I pushed for nearly 4 hours and nobody told me anything. There were many midwives in the room as well as a doctor. They told me they were going to use the vacuum cup, but then they made a cut and used forceps. Afterwards, another doctor came in to stitch me up. They had a student doctor with them, and it was incredibly painful as they stitched. I was holding my baby skin to skin, but I was trying to hard not to hurt them or hold them too tight through the pain of being stitched. I kept flinching and gasping in pain and they instructed the student present to tell me to be quiet, at which they told me to use the gas an air.

When I said it hurt, the doctor told me it didn't. I even reached down to show the exact place it hurt when being stitched but I felt like the doctor was ranting at me and berating me. I was told if I didn't be quiet and if I couldn't handle it, they would take me to theatre and stitch me there, where I would be put under anesthesia. I cried and tried not to flinch. I was scared that if I said anything in response that they would make it more painful, that they wouldn't try to be careful.

It was one of the midwives that asked the doctor if the area could be numbed more. When they did that, the doctor said that I hadn't even felt it.

It took 3 hours to stitch me, and when it was done they sent my husband home, put me in a room with no instructions on what to do if I needed help and left. I sat in that room and cried for hours, I struggled to get up to get my baby but I was scared to ask for any help, especially with my husband gone. I have suffered with severe pain since this happened over a year ago and I haven't gone for help as I'm scared of the care I might receive. My mental health has suffered terribly.

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Responses

Response from Donna Blake, Labour ward Sister, Labour Ward South West Acute Hospital, WHSCT 2 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Donna Blake
Labour ward Sister, Labour Ward South West Acute Hospital,
WHSCT
Submitted on 27/10/2022 at 12:48
Published on Care Opinion at 12:50


I am sorry to hear of your experience. May I first start by congratulating you on the birth of your baby, I hope you have been able to enjoy your baby especially after your experience. Can I reassure you, that this is not the level of care we expect to see or deliver within our Labour ward. I was delighted to hear to start off with, you felt involved in your care, and saddened to hear this changed with the change of shift.

I will ensure all the staff hear your story as this is not an experience that I would want anyone to experience again. Also can I ask that you contact me and we can talk through your delivery and see if we can get you help if you are suffering long term pain. I would like to review your notes to see what staff were involved, so they can also get feedback on improving the level of care they provide and their communication skills.

I look forward to hearing from you, to see if I can help in any way.

Donna

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