To think post natal wards are absolute shit?

[SprogletsMum]

I had ds2 this morning and have been put onto a full 4 bay ward.

2 of the 3 other women have been quiet most of the day but one keeps ringing people all day long. There has not been a single minute of quiet all day.
I've been awake since 1am and I'm shattered but she just won't shut up.
I'm going home to the other 3 dc for some peace and quiet as soon as ds2s 12 hours of obs are up.

The hospital post natal care was just like this when I had my children 35,32 and 25 years ago, however at that time on day 2 mums were transferred to the local maternity home.
We could stay for up to 10 days and it was absolutely wonderful. Meals altogether around a table in the lounge, daily post natal exercise sessions, instruction on bathing, feeding etc. And a night nursery if you wanted to have a sleep and the lovely staff fed your babies.
It was a lovely time and very sad when it closed. As I had a straightforward first birth I was allowed to have my second child there and it was much nicer than the 2 hospital births.

Morning everyone

So sorry to read about some of the experiences MNers have had on postnatal wards. (And to those of you who've recently had babies.)

We just wanted to say that we at MNHQ have clocked how many of you have related experiences like this over the years - and (ssshhh) we're soon going to be launching a big new MN campaign about improving postnatal care - starting with the wards.

If you'd like to be involved or make suggestions for how things can be improved - which includes telling us about good experiences, if you had one - please keep your eyes on Mumsnet at the beginning of May!

Thanks
MNHQ

So, a good experience that I will always remember is a maternity home setting.

Thanks Rowan. I was also diagnosed with PTSD after a horrible experience on a post-natal ward - where I laboured (and was told to 'make sure you lie still so as not to disturb the others), was told to "stop being such a drama queen and get up" when I passed out in the corridor with pain, then was put on the post-natal ward without a sign saying I'd had an emergency C section and spinal block - which nobody believed.

I didn't know until I left that there was a lounge I could walk DD to once the anaesthetic wore off; other women complained that DD didn't sleep and that I didn't "shut that fucking baby up" at night; there was no privacy at all and no way of knowing how to get food or water ourselves - though apparently that "wasn't allowed" either. I was ticked off for changing DD's nappy rather than leaving her in a wet one because it would fill up the bins too quickly..

I discharged myself against medical advice; worst of all was that DD was sent home with a canula in her foot although we repeatedly asked if it needed to be taken out before we left, and were told very clearly that the community nurse would do it at our house.
Two days later we had a very panicked phone call saying it should have been taken out at the hospital; when we returned we were told to sign a risk form outlining why it had happened. According to them, DH and I had misunderstood the instructions because of a "language barrier" as we were "part of a minority group" and that this would be addressed through "diversity training"

DH and I are both native English speakers, as was the paediatric nurse..

I was treated like a sensible, sentient person when I recovered from knee surgery and like a particularly dim child when I was both on a post-natal ward and recovering from a miscarriage ("No, you don't need water" was a common refrain). I really can't work out why it's so different.

I am sure this sounds like a cliche to some, but this is a feminist issue. We are being treated like this due to a woman-specific issue.

Good on MN for campaigning. However, whilst ever you get the kind of gaslighting that much of the British populace engages in re: the NHS ('but it's freeeeee' and 'you should be grateful') then I don't think much will change. We need a culture change that says that our health service is truly valuable and its staff are, and they need MUCH better funding and resourcing - AND that says it is not acceptable to treat ill people as malingerers.

Threads like this have been running on MN for years. I joined in 2010 as we were ttc and was horrified with what I read. When I eventually had my baby in 2015, I had a homebirth and I'd never go near a hospital for maternity stuff if I could help it.

Not everyone has a horrible experience. Because of threads like this i was terrified of post natal care but actually i was treated very humanely and i had no complaints at all. Just in case anyone who is pregnant is reading this and thinks poor care is a certainty. Not to devalue anyone else experience i fully believe it does go on but not in every case .

Yyyy. I paid for a private room after my emcs 12.5 years ago, and it was bliss in comparison. Still had snotty nurses and not as comfy as my own home, but a measure of privacy at least.

yes, neonrainbow. I also had good care from lovely and supportive staff. It's definitely out there. That care plus private rooms, or just an environment a bit more conducive to rest and recovery (less hellishly noisy/busy/hot than the PN ward ) would have been ideal.

I genuinely don't know why postnatal care is so shit. I had fantastic care on the midwife led birthing suite from a lovely qualified midwife and student. But on top of the hellish noise and heat and lack of natural light, space and privacy, the staff on postnatal really did seem to treat women like a massive, irritating imposition. Fortunately I was physically fine and could get up and do stuff myself, because nobody ever answered the buzzer. The night shift seemed to spend the entire night at the nurses' station, chatting. My DH lost his temper at 01:30am with a midwife who was being particularly unpleasant and condescending. The only people who didn't treat us like we were there expressly to make their lives difficult and spent more than 2 minutes with us were the breastfeeding support workers, and one (male) student midwife.

I've never met a woman (of my generation) who didn't report a horrible time on postnatal. My mother raves about how they used to keep you in for 10 days back in the day. I think 10 days would have left me with postpartum psychosis, or other major permanent mental scars.

My experience with DD2 was better. I was terrified of going back there but the entire staff seemed to have changed. The MW who delivered her was lovely, couldn't have been lovlier and the staff on the ward were fab too. Of course it was still like an oven and the woman next to me watched her iPad without headphones at all hours but that's just life on a ward. Overall it was 100x better than with dd1 so it's not all bad.

I agree I had to stay in 4 days with my daughter in 2013 as I'd lost so much blood. I hated it, no privacy, sleep as it was too noisy or bright, I hated the stiff sheets and uncomfortable bed, I wanted to go home and was shell shocked. I felt terrible. The nurses were lovely but seemed to just leave us on our own. I couldn't wait to leave.
I'm predicting I'll be having a early cesarian with this one and I am dreading having to stay in, I'll miss my 4 year old, dog and home.

The constant beeping of the call button drove me insane after DD3.. I lasted 5 hours on the ward before I told them we were leaving. Luckily they got the paper work done sharpish as they could see I was serious and let me come back 2 days later to do the after birth checks.

All of my midwife appointments were done at the local birth centre (I had DD3 in a hospital a bit further away) it was so quiet and nice. If DC ever happens (not likely) I would definately go for a birth centre instead.

Maybe as part of the MN campaign we should name the hospitals and get the CEOs to actually do something about it.

The sheer incompetence of failing to give out medication, for example, is crossing the line into medical negligence in cases where you have a high risk group of people such as pregnant / postpartum women with conditions such as pre-eclampsia.

This is 2017. Why is the shit awful care still allowed to happen?

Becasue of government underfunding. I'm a student midwife. We are allowed x amount of midwives to cover labour and postnatal ward. it's not a large enough number to allow for every labouring woman to have a midwife with her if all our rooms are full (or even if most are full). So if we're really busy, midwives get pulled from PN to go to labour. Even if we're "fully" staffed each MW still has a full bay of women and babies, plus a couple of private rooms to deal with. If 1 or 2 of your women are complicated cases then you're going to be rushed off your feet.

However, our ward is spotless. All our women are fed, no buzzers go unanswered, water jugs are topped up, linen is changed, we'll make you tea and toast in the middle of the night when we haven't eaten for 10+ hours ourselves, we'll support you to feed in any way you choose to, and if BF is't going well we'll help you, or sort you out with expressing facilities. We work 12.5 hour shifts and often don't get breaks.

Midwives and maternity staff DO care, we're just pushed past the limit by the government underfunding, and Brexit will make things worse as we lose our EU midwives, adn with the removal of bursary for student midwives we don;t have anyone to replace them.

I had a good experience both times. It was clean, there was care/support when you needed it, I too got tea and toast at 3am when it became clear ds2 was going to feed/suck all night. It was far, far too hot though.

This is so depressing to read. Like many others, I would describe my time on the post natal ward as hell on earth. The toilets were at the end of the corridor, and I remember leaning against the wall and shuffling myself along the whole way just to get there, as I had lost a lot of blood and was quite wobbly on my feet.
I tried to go and get my lunch but I felt so faint that I had to go and sit back down. I started to cry and a midwife came along. I told her that I just wanted to be at home with my husband and family. She said "Well what are you going to do when you're husband goes back to work?!" No compassion at all.
I had my second six years later at a different hospital. After I had been on the hospital tour I broke down at the memory of how awful it had been the first time around. Thankfully the second time was better as I only had to stay in for one night.

The wards being hot is not a new thing. It was the same 28 years ago when I had my first child. It's also shit for the staff, I know because I had to do my 4 weeks on a postnatal ward, having to wear uniform, tights and shoes and work in what felt like a sauna was awful.
Everything else sounds much much worse though.

They are vile and the fact they are open to visitor seemingly from the crack of dawn until late evening is vile. The last hospital I gave birth in had visiting hours from 10am-8pm and partners staying 24/7. One man physically and verbally abused me and the entire ward was grossly understaffed. When I have been in hospital for operations or similar the visiting hours are never such a free for all. It's disgusting.

Yep. DP just had a rotten time and so did a lot of people we know having babies.

I get why people don't like partners staying - but when your partner has had a c section, can't walk or even physically get out of bed, and the staff expect her to change the baby's nappy, what are you meant to do?

If we are naming and shaming...
Derby city hospital
You nearly killed my son and left me with ptsd and pnd
And not one of the staff I encountered should have been let anywhere near vulnerable women
Awful
Just awful

My DD is 7 weeks old so a very recent experience. I was admitted for 3 weeks antenatally with placenta previa and couldn't fault it. The staff were exemplary. The food was shit but I had many a takeaway with OH instead! Also I had a side room. It was deathly dull and I found it all very emotional, but the staff all had time for me.

Post ELCS I spent one night on a post natal ward. Again the staff were lovely but clearly far more stretched than on the antenatal ward. They offered to bring me food and help with feeding, but did need "nagging" because they were just so bloody busy. DD wouldn't feed and they wanted me to stay but I said that for the sake of my own mental health I needed to go home. They showed me how to syringe and machine express and I was allowed to leave. I didn't get an ounce of sleep due to DD being awake and other babies too. It's also just an unfamiliar environment to be in when you are incredibly hormonal! The next day I cried behind my curtain and just felt so exposed at a very vulnerable time.

I think we need to be careful though. Some things can clearly be changed for the better, but other things simply can't. You are always going to struggle with privacy and sleep, for example. No NHS trust will ever have the budget to provided solely individual rooms. Hormones and naivety, especially as a FTM, also play a huge part.

Oh, this was also QMC Nottingham.

I have nothing but praise for Barnsley where DD was born