"Labour ward and aftercare"

My treatment was genuinely awful. It’s been three months post partum and I’m currently going to counselling for CBT to treat PTSD from what happened. I went in for an induction, the first doctor to check me accidentally broke my waters. I then was forced to have an epidural (the first anaesthetist couldn’t find the site after trying multiple times over a hour, the second person they found could do it within 10mins). Then, after being comforted that I would not need a c section many times, I was told I needed one ASAP and did not have time to think about it (there were no clear signs of distress to my knowledge as to why such an emergency surgery was needed so soon, hence my hesitation). During the c section, I had to ask the doctors to stop as I was in so much pain multiple times.

The worst thing though was aftercare. I had to stay in hospital for 5 days after birth, the nurses forced my husband to feed my daughter formula soon after my c section so I had no say. We did not get skin to skin. She didn’t not get to latch within the first hour as I was told was so important in the antenatal classes. I asked every day in Turpin ward for help with breastfeeding, it’s not till day four someone helped even for a few moments, everyone else fobbed me off and said they’d come back and never did. My supply has completely diminished, I’ve tried pumping, skin to skin, anything to get my baby on breast milk but she’s used to the bottle and my low supply just frustrates her.

Since seeing a private Lactation consultant, I’ve been told my little one has a tongue tie (something never picked up on by anyone at the hospital) which may have also been a reason we struggled to breastfeed, something that could have been easily rectified if someone cared enough to help me feed my daughter that wasn’t the easy way out for the nurses.

I write all this to say, if you have to go here for your maternal care, make sure your husband knows your wishes and is willing to fight medical ‘professionals’ to do what they SHOULD do.