"Lack of Communication and Continuity in Care"

After having been assessed around 25-ish weeks by my community midwife (the same lady who was absolutely wonderful with all my pregnancies) as bump being a little on the small side, I was told I would need an extra growth scan and some further monitoring. I arrived at Triage and was kept waiting for over 5 hours, no refreshments offered, sat alone on an uncomfortable chair, terrified out of my mind something was wrong with my baby and not a single member of staff took the time to check on me or reassure me. Eventually someone came to see me and hooked me up to a monitor but baby's heart rate was fine. 

I was told I would need to have a steroid injection, and I did receive that, and a 'care plan' of scans and monitoring was put into place. Basically I was strapped to a foetal heart rate monitor for hours, twice a week, until staff were satisfied baby was moving enough (despite the fact her pattern had been only to move at night, and not during the day when I was given appointments). At some point at one of these appointments I was then told by a random midwife I would be induced, which came as a huge shock. I was given a consultant appointment and then each fortnight proceeded to meet with a different doctor, each time who reviewed my fluid level, baby's heart rate and so on, and tried to pressure me into being induced which I found unnecessary given that the scans etc showed everything was fine, placenta function normal and so on.

At no point did anybody consult with me about receiving the steroid injection, the monitoring, the scans, nobody discussed a birth plan, induction was always going to happen - no matter what I thought. I had to fight against this every step of the way, and the remainder of the pregnancy was very stressful. When I finally did go into labour not one single member of staff listened to me. I was first of all told 'stay at home', even though consultants had told me at the first sign of labour to go right in to hospital. The midwife who answered my call said no, and I must not come in. I ignored her, followed my gut and went in anyway, as with a previous birth I stayed at home following their instructions and my baby arrived very quickly in my bedroom!

My midwife insisted on hooking me up to the monitor to check on my contractions and baby's movements, even though my waters had broken and I was contracting regularly. I wanted to move around, but I was not 'allowed' because of the monitoring.  I found her attitude very rude and was astounded when later on she said the on call consultant insisted that I attend my previously scheduled growth scan. I told her I didn't want to attend a scan whilst I was in labour, but the midwife was insistent and refused to advocate for me at all. The threat was if I didn't go to my scan appointment, I might be sent home as my contractions weren't regular (with other pregnancies they never formed an established pattern, but again this information was ignored when I told her), so of course I complied because I didn't want another baby arriving unexpectedly at home. In the end, that scan was never even looked at by whoever the consultant was who had apparently insisted I have it.

Back on the ward for around 90 minutes I was still insisting I was in labour and requested an examination so I could make a decision about pain relief. Several staff members came and went but nobody would examine me. As time passed my husband went to the main desk several times, 3 times we buzzed the alarm and I was refused an exam yet again, and nobody brought me any pain relief despite my requests. Finally another random midwife I'd never met responded and at last agreed to check me and at last believed I was in labour. 

Nobody had read my birth plan, so she wanted me to get on the bed, but I insisted I wanted a pool birth and asked it be sorted. I had already asked several staff members about the use of the pool, been told it was available, but it had gone no further. I then had to waddle down the corridor and made it into the pool for about 5-10 minutes before my daughter was born, and was finally offered some pain relief. During the delivery 2 midwives acted as if I was a huge inconvenience while I was crowning and asking for some feedback as to what was going on. I only remember a student midwife actually speaking to me politely and smiling, and who seemed glad to be doing her job.

Afterwards I felt so discouraged by the whole experience I requested a meeting with the Supervisor of Midwives. We went through some of the issues, and they admitted there were huge gaps in my notes which they said told their own story. I had not had the continuity of care I was entitled to, I was left feeling ignored, threatened and punished and as a result I would not recommend this service to expectant parents. I would consider hiring a doula or private midwife as you will need someone to back you up in your choices.