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Original poster

Guardian article about women being turned away from hospital when in labour

202 replies

Elephantgrey · 15/01/2018 20:38

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jan/15/i-knew-i-was-in-labour-why-are-women-being-turned-away-from-hospital-during-childbirth

This article is about women being told by midwifes that they are not in labour and being sent home from hospital when they are in labour and the baby is born shortly afterwards.

Is this something that happens a lot? I am pregnant and people with the medical condition I have are more likely to have fast labours.

OP posts:
OP posts:
Unescorted · 15/01/2018 20:42

It happens 16 years ago when DD was born. Not to me but several ladies who got there just after me. There was a minimum baby boom.

Unescorted · 15/01/2018 20:42

Mini not minimum

WhatWouldFlopDoToday · 15/01/2018 20:43

I had this - I wasn’t even examined, just told the fact I managed to walk into the ward meant I wasn’t far enough skin to be in hospital. 90 minutes later I gave birth on my own, on a bed in the antenatal ward as I’d refused to leave, with a bloke shouting at me to stfu as his wife was trying to sleep.

Unsurprisingly I refused to consider getting pregnant again until we’d saved up enough to do it privately.

WickedGoodDoge · 15/01/2018 20:43

I had a grand total of 4 contractions to put me at 9cm. No one believed me but because I was in hospital due to my waters breaking early and my kicking up a very big fuss, they checked me. There was then a very big change of attitude. Grin

My second Labour was at term but was still a precipitous labour. Fantastic to be so quick, but too quick for any drugs!

MinnieMousse · 15/01/2018 20:45

I wasn't turned away, but IME both times the hospital were extremely reluctant to let me come in. They kept telling me on the phone, I wasn't far gone enough. With my second pregnancy, I was booked for a VBAC so I thought they would want me in early for monitoring but they still wanted me to stay at home. I wasn't ever at give birth in the car park stage but I was fully dilated within about 40 minutes of arriving at the hospital both times.

It was nothing like One Born Every Minute where the couples were there for hours beforehand drinking tea!

3littlerabbits · 15/01/2018 20:45

Me. I refused to leave. Then baby arrived. Everyone very apologetic then.

toolonglurking · 15/01/2018 20:46

I was induced but the midwife refused to examine me, half an hour later I had a baby in my arms!

BabyOrSanta · 15/01/2018 20:46

This happened to me in December.
They didn't think I was in labour and tried turning me away. I insisted in sitting in the waiting room and when I got a bed half an hour later, they still wouldn't examine me until I begged them to and I was 8cm.
Apparently there were a lot of babies born that night and they just weren't able to clean the rooms quick enough

Believeitornot · 15/01/2018 20:46

I remember ringing the hospital when I knew I didn't have long to go before dd arrived (she was my second and I just knew). I wasn’t in huge pain and easy pretty calm.

The midwife was initially quite dismissive but I was clear on the phone that it was advanced labour and yes I needed to come in. In the end she relented and I went in.

Dd was born 45 mins later!

Sometimes with midwives and the medical profession I had to take myself out of the submissive “they know best” mindset because actually I could read my body pretty well.

StandardRussian66 · 15/01/2018 20:47

They didn’t believe me that the baby was coming out so I have birth alone.
My friend gave birth in a lift and bled out because they wouldn’t check her either.
Another friend gave birth in the car park walking back to her car.
It’s shocking.

Mybabystolemysanity · 15/01/2018 20:47

I had a relatively fast labour with my first and we live 40 minutes from the hospital. I'm praying for another induction for this one, as I'm so afraid of this happening. Thanks for sharing.

SunshineAndSandyBeaches · 15/01/2018 20:48

Perhaps these women were not in labour and midwives don’t have crystal balls?

No midwife wants to send a woman home and them have a baby in the car park. Really.

MargaretCabbage · 15/01/2018 20:48

Was sent home in my first labour, only to have to return quite quickly because I'd started pushing.

They tried to send me home in my second labour but I refused to leave. My baby arrived 15 mins later.

brownelephant · 15/01/2018 20:50

the mw wanted to send me home. 'come back when your contractions are less than 5 min apart'
I was on a monitor showing contractions every 2 minutes.
I refused to leave.

StandardRussian66 · 15/01/2018 20:50

Perhaps these women were not in labour and midwives don’t have crystal balls

No but perhaps they can do their fucking jobs and actually check you when you say there’s a baby’s head coming out of your twat.

TrinitySquirrel · 15/01/2018 20:51

@minniemousse most you see on OBEM are inductions.

The womens hospital sent me home in full blown labour with undiagnosed pre-e and liver failure/other issues to continue with my home birth after going in because I was in too much pain. Apparently full contractions less than 30 seconds apart lasting 2 minutes weren't enough.

Utter shithole of a place and I can't wait for them to close it down and merge staff with the Royal. Almost every midwife we met there in the MAU was an absolute arse.

missyB1 · 15/01/2018 20:51

Yes I’m afraid it does happen and possibly more often now as hospitals are struggling to cope. There is a shortage of Midwives and some maternity units actually close their doors altogether when they are full.
I don’t mean to scare you OP, but just be prepared to trust your own judgment and dig your heels in if you need to.

WhatWouldFlopDoToday · 15/01/2018 20:51

I’m sure they don’t sunshine but (I imagine due to funding cuts) they want women in and out in as little time as possible. So, if they aren’t convinced a woman is in labour rather than examine her, maybe do a scan, monitor her etc they say come back when contractions are stronger and you’re certain you’re in labour. I would be very surprised if many other first world countries did this as standard.

Tentomidnight · 15/01/2018 20:53

Me.
The midwife refused to examine me despite the fact thst I was having regular contractions so strongly that I couldn't talk and had to cling to the wall. Oh, and that each contraction sent amniotic fluid running down my legs.
Good job I returned less than an hour later as my baby was in distress and I needed an emcs.

expatinscotland · 15/01/2018 20:53

If I had waited for the community midwife to ring me back I'd have had DD2 at home.

MissDuke · 15/01/2018 20:53

I am a midwife and everyone in my hospital gets checked on admission. It is hard as you can only go on what you find at that time - you have no way of knowing what will happen next. If we admitted everyone in early labour the place would soon fill and then women in advanced labour would end up with nowhere to go. Of course on occasion we will get it wrong, but we do our best. Evidence shows labour progresses best when the woman remains at home until labour is well established.

If a woman is visibly distressed about going home then we try to keep them. Often these women don't deliver for another 24 hours or more, so are blocking a bed but what can you do? They are also more at risk of being started on a timer and so being augmented with a syntocinon infusion or having their waters broken, these interventions can lead to instrumental or caesarian. So it really is best to try and stay at home for a while and not rush in - more so if it is your first baby. Subsequent labours tend to be much quicker.

That said, my first labour was very fast and so I rushed in with the 2nd - was examined and found to not be in established labour (1cm!) I refused to leave which was lucky as I gave birth 30 mins later!

Crumbs1 · 15/01/2018 20:54

Very few babies are born before arrival at the maternity unit. Hospitals keep the numbers and each BBA is recorded as an incident. You could ask abthe numbers at your local trust. To put it in perspective I know one large trust (two acute hospitals) had 6 BBAs in a year, our local trust -two consultant units - had 4 BBAs. A BBA is classified as born before midwifery support was available to deliver so birthing in an ambulance is a BBA, as is birthing in the hospital car park.

SunshineAndSandyBeaches · 15/01/2018 20:55

Russian well yes quite. I was meaning those found to be say 1cm on examination.

littlecabbage · 15/01/2018 20:56

I think it's interesting that one of the women in this article mentioned hypnobirthing, which I think can keep a woman calmer than medical staff feel she "ought" to be during late stage labour.

When I had my second son, I knew I was in advanced labour when I rang the hospital from home, as the contractions were every 5 minutes (waters had already broken), but I was told that I couldn't be that far on as I could still speak during the contractions (hadn't even practiced hypnobirthing for this one!). We went to the hospital anyway and my husband had to abandon the car outside the hospital front doors! I gave birth as soon as we got into our delivery room.

For my third birth, I practiced hypnobirthing for the first time and it kept me very relaxed. We arrived at hospital and were not allocated a midwife as they were all busy and they didn't believe I was close. We were left in a delivery room and shortly afterwards my husband had to go and "steal" a midwife from another woman as I was about to give birth.

Highly recommend hypnobirthing by the way - had naively assumed it was some weird hippy rubbish previously, but actually it is all quite sensible and evidence-based. Wish I'd done it for all 3 babies. Didn't go to expensive classes, just had a great book.

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