A woman on the antenatal ward has been snoring for 12 hours

[Winterfellismyhome]

Currently in for reduced movements (again) and drs talking about a section tomorrow. A woman in the opposite bed is the loudest snorer in the world. Each time shes been woken up for monitoring, shes fallen back to sleep very quickly. I have no idea how she does it. Tell me your ward horror stories to make me not lose my mind

And yes i have earplugs but stupidly didnt bring enough so trying to ration them

This is a terrifying thread! I’m more and more tempted by the option of a home birth when I read this.

When I had my dd I had to stay in for two nights due to high blood pressure. She was the noisy baby on the ward, so loud that the nurses offered to take her out of the ward. I also had really painful after pains and a serious trap wind problem.

On the morning of the second day, I woke up with a bit of a jolt but feeling a lot better. The ward was quite full and EVERYONE was looking in my direction. The nurse told me later that day, that I'd let out the most enormous fart, loud enough to wake myself up!! [laugh]
Thankfully we were discharged that day.

Spent one night on a gynae ward years ago. Woman who had just had a hysterectomy and had ignored nurse’s advice to take it easy the first day then kicked off big time when the strong pain killers wore off and she said she was in agony - nurse said she couldn’t have any more until x time which is why they’d advised her to take it easy. Cue steam of foul abuse from patient once nurse had left the bay including threats to slap her. I was mulling over whether to say anything when another lady on the bay did it for us in loud and firm words telling her she’d brought it on herself and to shut the f… up before she slapped her instead. Worked a treat!

Always take a can of Dettol spray to hospital, @KloppsTeeth. Always. Possibly two cans.

@HandforthParishCouncilClerk

Couple in the bed next to me on the postnatal ward. Teens, whose baby was in special care. The boyfriend stayed and was so unpleasant in the way he spoke to his girlfriend. Played the tv at full blast all night and yelled into his mobile when they weren’t yelling at each other, or snoring like pigs. I felt so sorry for her. At first. Then they were asked if they wanted to go and visit their newborn in NICU, she said “nah, we’re watching tv. Love Island’s on in a minute.” When the midwife said their baby was doing a little better, and would they like her brought down to the ward for them to give her a bottle if they didn’t want to go upstairs, they said “nah, can’t you just do it?”. Poor baby.

FMD

Do you think they'd mind if I just popped in & brought the baby home?? Poor little mite.

I can completely commiserate with you on the snoring. I was in for two days on the postnatal ward with three other women and their babies. It seemed to me that they all snored and their babies slept peacefully the whole time, while my DD screamed and I sat bolt upright listening to it all. This was in the middle of last Jan lockdown so no partners allowed. Thought I was going to lose my mind

After the birth of my 1st DC, I'd had an emergency section, husband told to go home and rest and I was put on an 8 bay post natal ward woman opposite had been there a while by the looks of it, hospital grade breast pump going the whole time, it was quite sad really as social services were discussing the removal of her baby in front of the whole ward with her, she spent every second on the phone to solicitors, papers, everyone she knew, screaming and crying and because I wasn't allowed to shut the curtains she spent the rest of her time trying to talk to me, I was a nervous wreck and completely traumatised, I left after 24 hours. Not her fault, but hugely unfair on all the other ladies in there.

I was in the hospital with DS for a few nights, squeezed onto a folding up cloth sleeping bed (better than a chair, which I’ve also had to do) curtains on our bay separating 3 paediatric patients. The parent on the end with her child clearly wasn’t well herself or was incredibly stressed or just had a very strong belief but all throughout the nights and days the parent would sleep off and on and when she would wake she would unleash holy hell in screaming prayers against demons and other things and press the red button.

Sadly every time she pressed the red button the entire ward staff would come literally running (as they had to) down the corridor. Fair dues to the staff, there was never an emergency but they ran like mad every single time the parent pressed the red button. Eventually the hospital had to keep a nurse with the mum to prevent her from pressing the red button every time she woke up.

I’m spite of the noise and sleepless nights at least I felt safe from demons should one have made its presence known, that mum was formidable!

I was in for pre eclampsia before being induced and the light was awful from the main corridor so the 4 mums pulled their curtains around the bed to make it darker.

The top midwife/matron? came round in the early hours tutting angrily and pulling all the curtains back.

we were all shellshocked as well as sleep deprived.

God, what a lot of horror stories here :-(

Ds was born in first lockdown.
No visitors allowed ( including dh), so was in alone.
Was told due to lack of catering staff was set menu.
Breakfast : black coffee and stale bread - I hate coffee and couldn’t bring myself to eat that
Lunch: some weird mound of cold slaw, with more stale bread. Gone off yogurt - didn’t eat
Dinner- nothing. They forgot me as in private room

So. Arrived midnight Friday night for lack of movements, labour started Saturday morning, baby born 4pm Saturday. Had to stay in the rest of Saturday, all day Sunday, and finally checked out 3pm Monday.

3 and half days basically of no food or drink , bar water and apple juice I took, and some granola bars I had on me. I was completely devoid of energy after labour, and two days of breastfeeding baby on nothing basically.

When I had had dd the woman opposite spent much of the night telling her crying baby to be quiet because "mummy is trying to sleep" Midwife came in eventually told her to feed the baby. During the day she'd spend it trying to scrounge vests and babygros from the rest of us as she had only brought in one to take baby home in when she wasn't getting midwives to bath, wind and change and dress her baby in the clothes the midwives found for her. It was her third baby so no idea why she was so seemingly helpless.

@SirChenjins

I was on an antenatal ward for hyperemesis, attached to a drip and feeling awful after weeks of continual vomiting. The partner of the woman next to me arrived with fish and chips, and stunk the place out. That didn’t help my vomiting at all

When I was in the process of being induced the woman opposite had her entire family round and they brought her a kebab. She already had pizza boxes next to her bed. The combination of her stinky food and her relatives skipping about did nothing for my heart rate!

Also there was a lady on the ward who watched Hollyoaks loudly with no earphones all day. The theme tune still fills me with dread. And the woman whose husband sprayed Lynx all over himself multiple times of day.

Good luck OP! I hope you don’t encounter any more arseholes.

Yep, these stories have cemented it for me. Definitely choosing the hospital with all private rooms for having DS in April

I hope your baby arrives really soon and you can go home

@HPD76

Hell is other people.

You certainly aren't wrong there.

I had the exact same experience, I was in for suspected pre eclampsia abs the woman across from me snored so loud I couldn't sleep. I went over to the day room with a pillow and tried to sleep in there on one of the rubber hard chairs.

My baby was taken into special care. While I was visiting him, the partner of the woman opposite me ate my dinner. I had had a brutal birth so was tearful rather than my usual self of livid. I cried at the nurse station saying my dinner had been eaten.

Every night he stayed until way past visiting hours, talked really loudly, had to be told to leave every night. I usually 'grassed' him up

The woman next to me had a C section kept moaning in her sleep, her baby had an alarm on his cot (not sure what it was for) she kept sleeping through it so I had to keep buzzing the midwives to wake her up.

This happened to me when I had my second - it was so loud that it kept me and newborn awake and the hospital staff kept apologising - it was hell and I've never heard anything like it. Everyone thought I was exaggerating until she fell asleep during visiting times and then heard it themselves.
It was only me and her on the ward and her / her family were very intimidating so no-one said anything or moved her to another room. U should have stayed another night but I got out as soon as I could get discharged

RoyKent, your baby smelt of cabbage? Was the baby ok?

@Heshcher I had a home birth with my second, avoiding the hell of the postnatal ward was wonderful.

Alone on postnatal last year (no visitors because of covid). The woman opposite was delirious and spent all night rocking in a chair and chanting ‘yes mama yes mama’ constantly.

In for reduced movements with first baby and the lady next to me shouted the nurses say she though she was going to give birth. They told her she couldn't as wasn't dilated (not sure why she was on the ward). 10 minutes later she gave birth in the bed next to me, curtains drawn. The screams from her traumatised me as I just didn't know what to expect.

Apparently when I was in hospital this summer I woke everyone up talking in my sleep. Apparently the nurse had moved a chair which had scraped across the floor making a loud fart type of noise. And I shouted "ffs Dave if that smells I'm kicking off" . I slept through the giggling. I don't even know who Dave is

No comparison between the loud snorers -annoying but unavoidable- and the blatantly selfish behaviour by some patients and their visitors. Some of the situations described by poster's make my blood boil.