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

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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.

It's happened to a number of friends and I think the stats hide a lot of the near misses. One friend delivered in the room she was examined in after the midwives insisted she 'wasn't really in labour yet'.

Another ended up with a crash section after midwives refused to examine her during her induction. It went much quicker than expected and when they finally did agree to examine her, she and the baby were at risk of serious trouble.

I haven't had any children myself and always thought that people who wanted home births were mad. But since my friends have started sprogging I have started to think, if you are going to give birth on your own with no help anyway, you may as well stay at home and save yourself the trip. It's safer and calmer than a car park birth, or even pushing one out on the examination table ffs.

Brawne that is pretty uncommon but I actually encountered exactly the same thing not so long ago! Lady was admitted to the antenatal ward as her waters broke and she was pre-term. First baby. In my trust, you are induced if you don't labour within 24 hours of waters going. Her 24 hours were up and she was brought to the induction ward. She was asked about tightenings and said yes she had been all day - getting more intense in the last hour. She was very calm though and didn't appear to be in much pain. She was found to be 8cm!!! I then took her and she birthed just an hour later. So unusual with a first baby. I am used to first babies taking maybe 10 hours of painful contractions and a couple of hours hard work of pushing.

Happened to me first time. Which I'd trusted my instincts and insisted on staying. Got home in pain, felt really demoralised, had to drive back to hospital in agony pretty much straight away after screaming so loudly the neighbours were scarred for life!

Second time around they tried to persuade me out of the birthing pool as they thoughts things were slowing down, I told them no - I knew this time around this was the calm before the storm so to speak. DS was born about 15 minutes later.

Wish there was more education about birth, how it works and helping women trust their bodies and instincts.

It was a registrar who tried to send me home. Didn’t want me cluttering up the nice empty ward. The midwife actually stood her ground and argued the toss with him and won. I was damn lucky that night!

In my first labour I was sent home 3 times it was excruciating going backwards and forwards and I think slowed my labour down.
With my second they tried to send me home said I was only 1.5cm. We refused. They said ok go for a walk for 2 hours. After 30 mins my husband had to push me back on a wheelchair and I was 7cm. Baby born an hour later. It makes me so cross what I went through the first time.

Jass, what was the time frame with your first, from first attendance to the birth?

I did hypnobirthing:

• DD2 I was sent away as I was too calm, had her at the bus stop outside. Very much enjoyed my MW popping back in saying to the one who found me "it's not my lady, it CANT be my lady" it was love

• DD3 refused to believe me despite consultant writing in BIG letters that I had precipitous non painful labours and I needed an IV drip for group b strep at the first twinge, leading to me giving birth with no IV despite begging, the consultant losing their temper at a MW and baby being kept in a week as she contracted the infection.

I do think MWs do their best, I was angry at the 2nd as she should have trusted the notes and my word, but the first I just found funny.

I do think their does need to be a review of "if you aren't wailing in pain you aren't in labour" mentality as some people birth quietly and calmly!

I laboured in a waiting room, with various people waiting to be seen, not enough chairs, I wasn’t believed and was 9cm dilated after pacing the room for 1.5 hours. First DC, 5 hours labour,

Crumbs, I suspect a more meaningful stat would be babies born within one hour of mother's triage. Another interesting stat would be time elapsed between checking in at desk and triage.

Jassmells if you had time to go home and back 3 times then you probably weren’t in established labour and didn’t need to be admitted?

Fuck off Sunshine

I've had my children over the course of 3 decades - 80s, 90s and 2000s and have been the victim of this attitude, as have several friends and one of my sisters.

This sort of shit has been going on forever. My own mother delivered my brother on the bedroom floor as the midwife thought she knew better and told my mum (who'd already had 4 children) that she didn't know what she was talking about.

This has happened to me aswell, not turned away from hospital but midwife refused to give me a room cuz she didn't think I was 4cm dilated ( didn't bother to examine me) apparently she could tell. But in reality I was 6cm and dying.. she apologised to my DH though.

Gave birth to my first in November. I had 3 days of contractions at 13 minutes apart. On the third day I felt them change but got more irregular between 8-12 minutes apart but they were way more intense and I felt ready to go. Can't explain it any other way. We called up and said we were coming in they told me not to but I insisted. Got there at 8.30 only 1cm dilated after demanding that they examined me. Really patronising and rude told me it would be days yet and I needed to just keep going with the paracetamol which was doing nothing. Half an hour in the car Home and I was 5 minutes apart and crying with the pain. Called and they refused to allow me back until I had an hour at 2 minutes apart. 45 minutes later I'd done 40 minutes at 2 minutes apart and couldn't help myself I was literally in pieces being sick and crying on all fours and rocking and desperate for some pain relief so literally rang them and screamed that I was coming in. No no still have days yet this will ease. Half an hour journey back to the hospital. I was 8cm. Within another half an hour I was pushing and they were telling me not to. Checked me again and I was crowning. Baby was in my arms less than an hour later.

Since then I have to say I am really angry about the way I was treated, I was calm and listening to what I was being until I got to 2 minutes apart. But they were so patronising and treating me like a simpleton. So thanks to that I ended up with two excruciating car journeys and being made to feel like an idiot. Also by the time they actually admitted me it was too late for pain relief that I had actually wanted.

Next time as soon as I feel that change I don't care how far apart my contractions are. Im going to stage a sit in if I have to.

That said doesn't mean it will happen to you OP just try and stay calm as much as you can and good luck! Baby will be in your arms in no time

@littlecabbage can I ask you what hypnobirthing book you used?

Silver - that is ridiculous, no excuse for that at all. GBS should always be taken seriously. I don't blame you for being annoyed with her!

I was induced via pessary and after a check they told me to go away for a walk (where bloody to?!) or for lunch or somewhere for ‘a couple of hours’ because apparently I wasn’t in labour, it was just the pain of the induction and they couldnt do anything. Must be psychic. They would’t examine me again over! My waters broke all over the floor and I was fully dilated and rushed to emergency delivery when I begged for help after labouring in a waiting room, a carpark and closed corridor of another part of the hospital I’d walked to. Mecobium in waters. Baby was eventually born via forceps in theatre as he wasn't responding to contractions. That they should have monitored, but when I told them I was having them they told me it wasn’t. Seriously.
They were downright negligent.

Mother I had planned on replying to you with my thoughts until I saw the word simpleton - so I won't bother

Am baffled at 'not able to find notes'.
Are your notes not available on a computer? My first DD was born in 1990 in the US and my antenatal history was on a computer - incl ultrasound, results of all bloodwork and urine tests during pregnancy, non-stress tests at the end, all vitals, age, weight, smoking or non, and all allergies. I had an inpatient number that was used for all my subsequent deliveries at the hospital and also an abdominal operation at the same place. My medical and surgical history was available to all doctors involved in my care.

Not my own experience but know of several lift / taxi babies.. and then more horror stories of not being listened to especially when asking for pain meds and friends being told they were not far along enough, only for baby to be born shortly after.

My experience was negative in a different way - hospital security letting an aunt and uncle in to sit next to me in labour for a few hours like it was a movie theatre (I was on my own and had stated no visitors).. and post natal care included being told by a midwife she would thump me because (due to the drugs) I didn't realise I had tubes attached and tried to get out of bed. And I was left in soiled bed sheets with DD for 4 days - caked in body fluids. All at a well respected hospital.

Mathanxiety - BBAs are those born before midwifery support. The ones born unexpectedly at home or on journey. They are rare with averages of around 8.5 per 10, 000 live births.

If you deliver within an hour of triage you would have midwifery support - the best service in the world couldn’t stop the rare precipitous labours.

The statistics of time from presenting on labour suite or assessment unit to assessment are recorded and should be available if asked.

If you are on the maternity unit, midwifery support for delivery would be readily available once it was apparent delivery was imminent. Near misses are still misses.

Missduke that sounds very similar to my story, particularly as my dd was preterm (definitely not me though as there were complications in the pushing stage and I ended up with a forceps delivery). I was hypnobirthing too which probably contributed to the calmness.

I wasn’t sent away but I wasn’t believed. I was told I wasn’t in established labour so couldn’t have gas and air or even use the birthing pool. I went through the first stage of labour and transition in a bathtub on paracetamol and codeine. They were checking me ready to induce me (my waters had gone the previous day) and found I was fully dilated and ready to push. I had been begging for pain relief but wasn’t believed even though I knew I was ready to push.

As midwives there is pressure on us to not let women in the latent phase of labour be in hospital. Mainly because we don’t have enough beds but also importantly research shows if women stay at home in latent phase they are less likely to have a labour with medical intervention.

But yes, midwives should examine women. However sometimes dilatation can change very suddenly when not expected. If someone having their first baby is 2cm with irregular contractions it’s not unreasonable for them to be sent home, occasionally they deliver thirty mins later! It would be great if all hospitals have a Nest like Chelsea and Westminster.

I will always listen to women. Recently looked after someone who arrived at 8am, third baby, very irregular contractions, not dilated. She told me something was going to happen that day and it would happen fast, her second had been quick. So I said ok, stay on labour ward (we weren’t busy). I kept popping in all shift and no change. The ward sister kept asking what I was playing at. Got to 3pm and my shift was finishing, I went in to tell the lady maybe we should move her to the antenatal ward. She said she thought things were hotting up. I said ok, stay. Handed over care to a newly qualified midwife and said not to send this lady home unless she is happy to go. She delivered thirty mins later. I’m a big believer that most of the time, especially with second or subsequent babies, women know their bodies.

Happened to me with one of my three, I was 6cm but they couldn't feel my contractions so insisted I wasn't in labour. Well I could bloody feel them as minutes later went straight to 10cm and started pushing in the toilet just before I was leaving. I wasn't even allowed gas and air or any form of pain relief either, I'd been there 6 hours by then too hmm.

The reason they didn't believe me? I apparently didn't look like I was in labour either. I definitely did.