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Original poster

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

245 replies

Winterfellismyhome · 23/01/2022 08:57

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 Grin

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

OP posts:
ScrumptiousBears · 23/01/2022 16:04

I was kept in for 3 days after a section and I snored. If you snore you just can't help it. I heard the partner of the woman next to me complain to anyone who would listen. He phone people to loudly to tel them, complained to the nurses, bitched to the other patients and relatives etc. obviously heard all of it. I tried to stay awake until I was allowed home. The sleep deprivation nearly killed me. The nurses insisted that my curtains round the bed were kept open in the daytime and I had to face him glaring at me for days. Was the most awful time as I could even get up and move around well.

SingingSands · 23/01/2022 16:18

The snorer next to me 18 years ago didn't even wake up when her baby was bawling, which I found a bit worrying!

Second time around, DS was born at 5am and I stayed in the birthing room until I was discharged at lunchtime. MUCH better!

OP, could you take those earplugs and stick them in her nostrils? Grin

Tempusfudgeit · 23/01/2022 16:31

Visiting time, the lady next to me had her family visit. I counted three different ankle tags under the curtain.

FrangipanFlower · 23/01/2022 17:04

I had my baby in October and was kept in a high dependency unit which sounds like heaven on earth compared to some of these hellish postnatal wards! The relative peace and quiet was broken by one lady who was recovering from her third section. She was constantly on her phone telling everyone she’d “had it”, constantly kept asking for more pain relief and then was asking for sleeping tablets! I’m not quite sure who she thought would take care of her baby while she got some r&r. Mine was in nicu and I’d have done anything to have her with me.

Original poster
Winterfellismyhome · 23/01/2022 17:06

Some of these stories are horrendous! Thanks to everyone who have had a tough time

OP posts:
lolaflores · 23/01/2022 17:19

howareyouflower why was the husbands hand covered in blood and where was his partner and...I have so many images in my head and none of the good..

Yellow85 · 23/01/2022 17:21

When I was in for a suspected mini stroke, I was bunged into an acute medical ward with all ages. Lady next to me would pull out her lines and drips constantly so the machines just beeped ALL night. Another, who I suspect had dementia would get up and walk around completely naked unaware where she was. She was about 90 bless her. The poor staff were rushed off their feet trying to keep everyone going.

I was lucky the consultant let me home after 2 nights of no sleep as long as I came back in the for my MRI.

Sleepyquest · 23/01/2022 17:24

The woman next to me face timed everyone she knew, had multiple
Visitors in the very few hours I was there and kept announcing on her FaceTime calls that she 'was off for a fag'
Delightful Smile

Mumoblue · 23/01/2022 17:30

My ward experience after having my son was the worst. The ward was hotter than the sun, and even when I limped out of bed to open the window next to my bed, the nurse came and shut it 5 minutes later “in case the baby gets cold”- no idea how that would happen considering he was further away from the window than me, wearing a hat and blanket and it was flipping roasting.

The woman opposite me had her bloke laying next to her in her bed and snoring his head off!
And the poor woman on the other side of me had apparently had a forceps birth and her baby was screaming for hours on end, she sounded utterly miserable.

Overall, not a great experience.

headintheproverbial · 23/01/2022 17:33

On a couple of postnatal wards. Husbands who wouldn't fvcking leave. Obvs stay for the immediate aftermath but some were there 24/7 and at such a vulnerable time I just wanted them to stick to the visiting hours which were really long!

I'm afraid my husband did bring me takeaway a couple of times. I missed several meals when not mobile enough to get out of bed and much of the food was not suitable for me! Plenty of sainsburys meal deals but the occasional hot food takeout as well!

Cosywosy · 23/01/2022 17:35

Some of these stories are Shock

But honestly if you snore you snore, yep it's annoying for those sharing a room with you but it's not on purpose!

Shannith · 23/01/2022 17:50

@Whyemseeaye

I went in to labour a month early, waters broke etc. arrived at hospital and was put in a large side room, with a dividing curtain, to be monitored as my delivery was supposed to be was scheduled section as dc was a footling breach.

I’d be in the room 12 hours happily minding my own business when another pregnant woman arrived with her husband in tow.

She complained relentlessly about the outrage of having to share a room with me. I was there first and it’s ideal for neither of us 😵‍💫 and the n the two of them proceeded to devour a HUGE Nando’s take away, while I was nil by mouth 4ft away.

I was so furious with hunger she’s lucky I didn’t berate her.

After dc was born, after a harrowing delivery, I was taken up to the ward, without my baby who was in NICU. Put in a bed next to a couple who shone a light in to my cubicle all night. Not the best experience I’ve ever had 🤯

@Whyemseeaye she's lucky I didn't berate her is quite possibly the funniest, quiet MC seethe ever.
Natsku · 23/01/2022 18:18

Wow, I've clearly been very lucky in hospital, not even bad snorers. Biggest disruption I experience was when a bird flew in the window and flew through the ward, the nurses were chasing after it down the corridor to try and shoo it out another window Grin It came in through the window next to me bed, then perched on the head of the bed of another patient, while he slept, I was worried it would shit on his head so I was trying to shoo it back out the window when a nurse opened the door and it escaped into the hallway of the ward.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 23/01/2022 18:32

i had to go to surgical assessment unit, which was a mixed ward, sat on the bed surrounded by men! i drew the curtains round - luckily they sent me home sharpish,
i had been an in patient and although surrounded by women there were comings and goings all night, just awful

Fameinaframe · 23/01/2022 18:43

HandforthParishCouncilClerk

That is horrible 😢

DwangelaForever · 23/01/2022 20:59

I had ICP and was on the antenatal ward for 11 days before my son was born.

The worst was a woman in the bed beside me with a baby in the transverse position, was due a c section next morning and went into spontaneous labour, she was in agony and the sounds she made I felt so sorry for her, she got rushed away for an emergency c section.

Another girl who's waters ruptured but had meconium in them. Will never forget that smell!

Also a lady in the bed next to me - all her clothes smelt like chippan mixed with cigarette smoke, horrible 🤮

DwangelaForever · 23/01/2022 21:03

My antenatal ward experience was pretty good though, it was all before covid so they encouraged everyone to sit down together for meals and it was like being in jail haha "what you in for"

PlantWitch · 23/01/2022 21:06

My local hospital you have your own room - is that not across the board?! (I don't live anywhere flash btw - Sunderland Grin) I couldn't imagine being on a ward, it was hard enough getting any sleep as it is. Hats off to you all

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 23/01/2022 21:12

The woman next to me after DS1 was born was the loudest snorer ever (and I say that as someone who sounds like a drowning hippopotamus). Then the next morning, she insisted that she hadn't slept at all. The nurse rolled her eyes so hard she nearly dislocated her neck.

waterrat · 23/01/2022 22:17

When my 5 yesr old was severely ill in hospital with pneumonia the highlight was when . Having been barely conscious for three days she suddenly yelled shut up your snoring your keeping me awake !! It was a dad sleeping next to his little one.....

Bacardi101 · 23/01/2022 22:42

Gosh I have so many of these as I’m in hospital lots unfortunately! I’ve had several very poorly elderly patients in beds next to me who would shout/cry and bless her one of them strip all night and the nurses couldn’t keep up with them all and one night I woke up and one was sitting starkers on the end of my bed!!! I know she couldn’t help it at all and was just very confused and unwell but it’s scared me half to death!

Howareyouflower · 23/01/2022 23:22

@lolaflores

howareyouflower why was the husbands hand covered in blood and where was his partner and...I have so many images in my head and none of the good..
Trust me the image was not good! His hand was under the bedclothes.....
TwentinQuarantino · 24/01/2022 00:19

When I had DC last year there was a lady opposite me in ward who was a heavy sleeper and LOUD snorer. When awake though she was chatting on her phone the entire time. When it was lights out she'd still be on the phone in hushed tones until she'd put the phone away and within minutes I'd hear snoring. Thing is, her baby was a crier and very loud, and because she was asleep or on the phone the poor kid was left to cry for, what felt like, ages.

From her loud phone conversations, I realized that her sister had been having an affair with sister's BIL (husband's brother) and since coming to light had caused a huge rift in the familes. And now the pair openly declared their love for each other and wanted to be together but nobody was happy. I was heavily invested by the second day!

Sceptre86 · 24/01/2022 00:50

I've always been on postnatal wards and found them shit. My last one wasn't too bad, you expect babies to cry. Two of the babies would wake every two hours whereas my dd only woke once and then was up for the day at 6am. The lady across from me had s baby was one of the ones that kept crying, she sent him off with a midwife to the nursery so she could get some sleep and I selfishly thought thank god now I can get some rest. Nope, she then preceded to snore so bloody loud. Her baby crying was absolutely fine but her snoring pissed me off. I got my husband to bring me earplugs the next day but thankfully she was discharged.

With my second there was a young mum in the bed beside me who kept complaining loudly on the phone that only the csection mums were getting attention on the ward. She was pressing the bloody buzzer at every opportunity and complained to the midwife who told her she had buzzed more times in the last hour than all of us other women combined. We had all had our babies that day so a few hours old whereas she'd been there two days.

Sloughsabigplace · 24/01/2022 08:46

Out of three children, best experience I had on a post natal ward was with my last baby, August 2020. And that was only because lockdown meant no visitors.

No loud men expecting the midwives and HCA to run round after THEM (I’ve seen men acting shockingly during other stays, asking for food and drink, one who hurt his finger and kept asking midwives to look at it for him and getting pissed off that they wouldn’t arrange an x-ray), no one with ten loud family member around their bed, no children running in and out of curtains when you are half dressed.

It was shit in that in that good partners or family members are sometimes the only way a women gets advocated for - care on postnatal wards can be shocking. But I found the care to be better when the staff weren’t constantly battling rude, entitled family members and could just get on with their jobs without constant interruptions or having to deal with complaints.