"Midwives were great but the doctor spoilt the experience"

Let me start off by saying the midwives were fantastic, they made me feel relaxed and treated me with dignity.

However, in my opinion the doctor who delivered my son was awful. As I went into labour, I felt relaxed and ready to go, I rang up labour ward who told me to come down, where I was then told that I was defiantly in labour. midwives were lovely and made me feel ready and relaxed. As my labour progressed and my waters broke they found meconium in it and I had to stay on the bed so that my baby's heart rate could be monitored.

After over 12 hours of active labour it was time for me to push but due to the size of my baby and the fact I was very tired, I found it hard to push (midwives even allowed me to try off the bed) and after 2 hours the doctors wanted to intervene but the midwives pushed for another half as I was so close. Unfortunately after half an hour the doctor had to come in.

Up to this point (and throughout my labour) the only pain relief I had was gas and air, when the midwives got me back on the bed, with no word of warning the doctor used his hand to make my baby's head crown, which shocked me as I wasn't expecting this, this also made me start to panic. The doctor then used an in and out catheter to empty my bladder then proceeded to perform an episiotomy. At this time my partner wanted to give me the gas and air but the doctor said 'no gas and air' but midwives said to give me the gas and air. Due to this confusion by the time he handed me the gas and air it was too late the doctor had cut me! I understand the urgency of the situation and understand the doctor had to act quick but I feel he could have put me at ease by talking through what he was doing because I had no idea what was going on, which added to the stress.

Not only this I, understandably, was screaming due to the pain of the episiotomy (and the fact I wasn't expecting it) midwives were trying to get me to calm down and concentrate on pushing but the doctor present put his hand across my mouth and told me to 'shh' which I feel was totally unacceptable!

This doctor spoilt the whole experience for me and has left me feeling very unhappy from the experience. Nothing can take away the joy I had from giving birth to my son. But this doctor has left me not wanting to even think or remember this time. Out of all the medical staff involved, this doctor made me feel extremely exposed and when I think about it, I want to cringe and cry.