"Unprofessional behaviour shouldn’t be tolerated"

I am writing to you regarding my partner's pregnancy and birth.

It started when my fiancé had a planned elective c-section booked for 9.30am. From start to finish I found it to be very difficult. We went down at 9.30am, they sent me for a hug before she went in. I went to change into my robes and came to sit down in the waiting area when they said they were starting her spinal jab. I got told they were having difficulty getting in. My fiancé told me later she felt they were making a mess of her back, but all I heard for ages was screaming from her, and it sounded bad to me. They called me in to calm her down and my fiancé was crying her eyes out with all these doctors watching her. My wife thinks they must have put this injection in, or tried 10 + times. I came in because one of them said you need to discuss your options. I didn’t want to see her in agony and they said she could be put to sleep. But they changed their minds about this as it seemed it would be too much of a risk. So after all this they decided they would do an epi-spinal (not sure what this is). In the end it luckily worked thank god because I don’t no how much more my fiancé could take, I’m just glad she didn’t pass out. I had to hold her tight while they tried doing all this.

I felt the whole thing looked really bad and unprofessional as there must have been at least 15 people in there. The baby came out and she was measured at 9lbs 8 ounces. They cleaned her up and brought her over and not long after put a bottle in her mouth, which I thought was not right. I have suspicions this has caused my daughter problems and we'd like this matter looked into to.

We then ended up in the recovery area where my fiancé felt really unwell as she had low blood pressure and she was monitored for ages. It seemed to me all the colour in her face and lips went. They said this could have been iron levels or due to the operation, but I’m not too sure if that was it. She was kept monitored and the doctors were discussing if she should go back to the ward or not. They ended up saying she’s going to CDS (central delivery suite) at 2.30pm. I kept asking what’s going on and I feel I didn’t get a clear answer from the midwife about how long my wife would be there. They said she’s going back to the ward and not to worry. We ended up back on the ward at about 7pm, all that time wasted and stressing us out because we just wanted to settle and relax. Things did get better when we got back on the ward.

We were then told that a paediatrician would be coming down to see her and check her over. It took like nearly 2 days for that person to come which I think is not right. When she came she checked her out, and all was fine up to when she said our daughter looked jaundice (yellow) and we might have to put her under the lights. We agreed to this but when I saw the doctor trying to take blood from my daughter’s leg, I was shocked. It seemed like she pricked her leg with something, and squeezed her leg trying to get blood out.

I thought it wasn’t an appropriate way of doing it and she also turned round while squeezing my daughter’s leg, chatting to her colleges. This seemed totally unprofessional to me. I had to go out the room because it was distressing for me, so my fiancé went in for me.

Later we heard nothing, things settled and we got to spend some time with our daughter. But we had a lot of feeding problems as our daughter wouldn’t take any feeds. We were using SMA gold milk, which all our kids have used, so we changed to cow and gate. She still wouldn’t drink and when she did it was making her sick. This made me think of what the midwife did when my daughter was just born, putting a bottle straight into her mouth. So the time came to take her home but she had problems feeding and was loosing weight rapidly. Our midwife said we may have to take her into hospital because of the weight, so she said we will monitor her, day to day. She came out to tell us our daughter was putting on weight, but then another time she would say she wasn’t and last time she had put on 100 + ounce. This relieved us because we were well concerned. The midwife then told us she’d be out Wednesday morning to see us and the baby, but she didn’t turn up! No phone call, and now it’s our next appointment and we’ve heard newt. I think it’s totally unprofessional behaviour of a midwife. Now our children’s worker has been out since and totally give us a different story to the midwife; she said to my fiancé, that what ever the baby had wrong with her has gone and there's nothing wrong with her and not to worry. I’m really upset and so is my fiancé for being told two different things.

The last issue is relating to my fiancé’s back as since the operation she had, she cannot sleep, or move because of the pain. She can feel every place they put them injections in, so she thinks they have damaged her back. We’re going to our GP for stronger medication and to find out what the problem is. The other thing the midwives were monitoring was her wound, which they discovered was infected and I was given instructions to sort it and help it. This midwife should have been back to check it, which didn’t happen. I think this unprofessional behaviour shouldn’t be tolerated. We'd like it dealt with and satisfactory talks to happen, as we believe we shouldn’t stay quiet and forget it.

Thanks for your time in this matter.