"Little emotional support during three attempts to induce my baby"

I went into the hospital in November 2007. I was admitted for induction on the Monday night and had the 1st attempt at around 9.00pm. The midwife that did this was very nice and i then went back to maternity.

I was in a lot of pain during the night and was given a Pethidine injection. After being examined the following day i was given my 2nd attempt at induction and this was done in a very rough manner without the midwife really communicating with me. I was then given my final attempt at induction on the Wednesday and despite getting nowhere with the induction of labour i was in a great deal of pain.

The midwives on maternity were very rarely seen and when i did ask specifically for help, they refused to give me any medication "in case it slowed down progress", of which there wasn't any! I couldn't even get down to the delivery suite for my 3rd attempt as they were too busy and i had to have an internal examination and the pessary entered whilst my soup was at my side as it was lunchtime. I found this all degrading.

I begged for somebody to help me as i was in pain and was worried about my baby, i was just told to sit on a birthing ball and walk around the hospital corridors. I explained that i didn't want people looking at me as i was in a lot of pain and couldn't walk for long without sitting. Eventually at around 9pm that night, the registrar came to see me and only then did i see somebody who explained things to me and showed me that things would be okay. This kind man told me that he would ensure that i went to delivery suite at 9am the next morning and he would attempt to break my waters. I felt so relieved that somebody had listened to me.

At 9am the next morning i went to delivery suite and i finally had my baby at 1.37am on the Friday morning. During my labour there were 3 staff changes that involved 3 midwives and 2 students and they were all brilliant. They introduced themselves and i had complete faith in them. My epidural came out at one point and the 2nd attempt to insert failed but even then i had complete faith in the staff involved.

I had quite severe tearing and had to go to theatre after i had delivered and again i was with staff who didn't talk to me (except for the anaethetist) but i was soon back to the delivery suite where they made me toast and gave me a bed bath. On my return to the ward my bags had been "lost" and my husband was dismissed from the ward and sent home. I felt really scared and nobody spoke to me apart from to say that i needed to press the buzzer for assistance to feed my baby when due. I didn't know when this would be as it was my 1st baby.

A midwife introduced herself to me at around 9am the next morning and she said that i should be up and walking not lay in bed, but when i had been in theatre after delivery my epidural had been topped up and i was told not to walk until at least 10am and then only with assistance. I waited for my husband to return as nobody was there to help me.

Later that morning i had to ask for the cannulas to be removed as the doctor i had seen a couple of hours earlier had said it would be shortly. My bed was saturated in blood and the toliets on the ward had blood over the floor and around the toilet seat. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as to whether i should have an anti-clotting injection. A midwife came round and said i needed one and then said she was wrong and i didn't. When the doctor came round he asked if i had received the injection and i said no and he said i should have it. By the time the situation was clarified and i had the injection it was too late for the initial 2 so i had a weakened dose.

I went home at teatime on the Saturday after hours of waiting for my medication as "there was no doctor available to sign the prescription". The delivery suite were brilliant but there was no medical support on the ward, let alone any physical or emotional help for someone who was very scared.