"My baby's delivery at Queens Hospital, Romford"

Before Hospital arrival

During my pregnancy I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and was under specialist care at the Queens Hospital. I was made aware that due to this when I do eventually go into labour my baby and I would be closely monitored. Special care would also be provided as there were concerns about the baby coping with control of their sugar level after birth.

On the on night toward the end of September 2010 my waters broke (this was around 2am.) My first reaction was to monitor the contractions as this was my third pregnancy and my previous were quick births. I decided to call when there were about 5 minutes apart. I contacted the hospital to make them aware of my contractions. I also told the individual on the phone of the specialist care I was under. I queried if I should come in, I was told to make my way there.

In the Triage room

When I arrived I went to the reception area, she took my notes to book me in and directed me to Triage. When my husband and I came into the Triage there was no visible person present. We came further into the room and a young woman in uniform came forward and we told her our names and she told us to place our notes on the table and take the bed towards the door. I was under the notion that as I had called ahead the monitor for the baby as well as the bed would be set up but that was not the case.

After awhile I was then internally examined, but there appeared to be uncertainty in the midwife’s capability as it took her some time to come to a decision as to the dilation of my cervix. When she eventually made a decision she advised that I was between 3 to 4 centimetres dilated and she would transfer us to the labour ward. There was no more mention of baby monitoring.

The midwife got up from the bed and walked out of the room. We became concern as we were not aware of any alarm or buzzer, we could use in her absence to summon help in the event my contractions got worse.

The Delivery Room

When we got to the delivery room the midwife placed a thermometer strip into my mouth and told us she will go get a Midwife to hand over to. I told her I was going to the bathroom, whilst in the bathroom I overheard the midwife telling my husband she needed to test my blood sugar level. However, this was done by my husband (reading 6.4) and given to her when she returned. She had left the room soon after without us not knowing. We became frustrated by her constant disappearance.

This meant that majority of the time we were left on our own. Moreover, my temperature was never recorded, the monitoring and equipment for delivery never manifested. Whilst still in the bathroom I felt the baby head drop. I told my husband because I became very scared as I was a distance from the bed. My husband came out the bathroom and told the midwife who brought us over from Triage that the baby was coming. Her reply was to tell me not to push and left the room. She stated she needed someone to deliver the baby.

The baby without me pushing was coming out, as my husband turned around and returned to hold me to assist me to the bed. I realised I would not make it to the bed and whilst screaming tried to lower myself with the aid of my husband towards the floor. I was a distance from the bed (doorway of the bathroom). A midwife never materialised to assist with our delivery.

It appears my screaming is what triggered a mass of midwives into the room that were previously unavailable. When they arrived into the room one individual who appeared to be the senior midwife (we assumed this as the other midwives were taking instructions from her) started to shout as to what had occurred. She then turned her attention towards me and started shouting at me to “get up off the floor and don’t disgrace myself.” This was only seconds after I had witnessed my child sliding across the floor after hitting the floor.

How was this possible, I was sitting on the floor, the baby was on the floor still attached to me and the umbilical cord was not clamp. When the umbilical cord was eventually cut and clamped the senior midwife continued to shout at me to get up off the floor. I was still totally in shock as to what happened to me. I found myself just sitting on the floor unable to move in tears. I had just given birth to my beautiful baby girl on the floor of a hospital ward without any proper professional medical assistance.

I was eventually assisted up to the bed by my husband and there was a barrage of midwives around the baby. In my opinion the negative attitude of the group of midwives in the room became more outlandish.

They made unnecessary jokes about me having the baby on the floor, the sex of the baby as I have three daughters and no son. I was emotionally distraught to the extreme by this time and the continued mentioned of how my child entry was made into the world was overwhelming. More so, the midwife from Triage when asked by the senior midwife what happened she looked in my direction and made it clear that “she told me not to push”. That was the last I saw of her.

It appeared that in the commotion they were not sure as to what time the baby arrived and this was estimated by them as 4:20am. The utensils used to cut the umbilical cord were in question as the correct devices were not laid out. I was utterly aghast that they used my towel from home to clean up the floor and place it in a bag next to the bed.

I was given the injection to start the decent of the placenta and was checked over by the midwife to see if I needed any stitches. I found her attitude was appalling. I told her what she was doing hurt. She told me “stop complaining it cannot be as bad as pushing out a child”. She then proceeded afterwards to press my stomach. Without warning or explanation of what was going to happen, she then pulled the placenta from within me. I was left in tears after this.

My daughter during this time was being cleaned and then placed on me. A paediatrician came in and introduced herself and examined the baby. After her examination she explained to my husband and me that at this stage there were no visible injuries to our baby. However, she recommended a scan be done later in the day to ascertain if there could be any internal injuries.

They then all then left the room. A woman came into the room a while later and asked if I needed something to eat. I found here attitude towards me appalling as well. She made clear the toaster was not working and I would have to eat the bread as it is.

At this point I was not sure what was to happen next and was never spoken to directly to be made aware. More so, given the aforementioned actions with the baby and the diabetes issues they left me in the room with my husband alone for long periods of time. We were finally moved to the postnatal ward after 10am.

communication did not appear to be paramount.

The attitude of all involved left a lot to be desired. The scan that was recommended after our baby was born was ignored by the paediatrician on the postnatal ward. She was adamant the baby did need one. When I relayed my concerns she became upset and said she would speak to her register.

In the duration the lady who was monitoring the incident of the delivery came to speak to us. This is the first time the staff on the ward was aware of what occurred in the delivery room. When the scan was done on the Friday, they still continued to doubt the way the baby was born and made clear the scan was a waste of their time.

In conclusion, my experience at Queen’s Hospital was totally unpleasant. I would sincerely wish many things would change at this Hospital but it appears this cannot happen overnight. Up until I write this complaint no contact was made by the hospital with regards to checkups for our baby. The health visitor assigned also tried to get our 6 weeks check up done at the hospital with a hospital consultant but this has not happened.