Postpartum Care

[Mammabee20]

Evening all, I am just wanting some advice on what to do. If you happen to have seen my other posts I have had a really shitty time of it since my DS was born 6 weeks early on the 10th January. I’ve been in hospital since the 6th January & I am starting to feel like I’ve lost my mind. My DS and I got discharged for 3 days and then ended up back in hospital. We have now been in since Sunday.

As I have been discharged I am no longer under the midwives care.. I am under the care of my community midwife at home (pretty pointless since I am stuck in hospital till he is discharged) the issue is I went down to Triage to ask them to look at my c section incision and they took a swab, it came back yesterday that there was an infection and they put me on antibiotics. I rung down yesterday afternoon for advice on how bad it looked and what could happen, they then told me that they were dealt concerned with my mental health and they wanted me to go down for a chat.

They talked to me for 2 hours which helped me get everything else off my mind but it didn’t help me feel better about how I was recovering physically.. I wanted to know what the chances of it tearing open would be and how likely the infection was to spread. I know mentally I have physical health anxiety at the moment but that’s because I bleed out after the c section and I lost a lot of blood.

I’ve text my midwife for advice but she can’t really help me whilst I am in and I don’t feel like Triage want me to bother them anymore either.. I am so worried that I won’t get the care I need and I will end up in hospital longer with a ruptured c section incision or something. The worst thing I’ve got pain in my right leg now, it feels slightly numb and tingly all the way down and I know that can be a sign of DVT.. AIBU to demand the hospital keep checking me over or wait till my DS and I am discharged again, which could be anytime?

Just for reference whilst my DS and I were inpatients still they obviously checked my incision every day and they kept telling me it was healing wonderfully and it looked great. I went to the GP after I was discharged and they said it looks great and they even said that when I had been readmitted and I went down because it felt sore. They then took the swab and it turned out it has an infection.

My other symptoms are that the pain in my abdomen is not going away and I am nearly 3 weeks post op. They keep putting it down to the bruising from my stomach injections.

I don’t know how else to be taken seriously... 😭

You poor thing! You’ve got it on all fronts.

It seems that you are falling through the cracks which just isn’t good enough, but I know that feeling of not wanting to be identified as a troublemaker or “not coping”.
However, you MUST tell someone about your leg. Go back to triage or just drop in on the postnatal ward and ambush someone.

Anxiety about your health at the moment is entirely reasonable. Have you got a supportive OH or family member who could do performance demanding and worrying on your behalf?

I’ve gone down to Triage and they wouldn’t even see me, I went in and explained current symptoms and they said they will ask a doctor and get them to ring upstairs to the child’s ward where I am if I need to be seen

I’ve said if my son and I get discharged and I have to go back into hospital with an infection then I will sue because I am doing everything in my power to avoid that happening! It just feels absolutely ridiculous to me that they won’t take care of both of us when I’m not even half way through my recovery time

Op it doesn't sound like you are at the hospital as a patient, but that your baby is, can you confirm if that's the case?

I’m not at hospital as a patient, my son is.. however because I am breastfeeding him I can’t leave him and I am still within my 6 weeks recovery period so I am still under midwifery care.. so if they won’t see me and my midwife can’t get too me, where does that leave me?

How far are you from home?

OP I am a bit confused. Triage saw you and swabbed then sorted you out with an antibiotic. Then they saw you for two hours to assess your mental health. Then they listened to your concerns about your leg and clearly were not concerned. What more do you expect them to do? What did you hope threatening to sue would achieve? It sounds like you have been provided with a lot of care,much more than most would at this point. You would normally be discharged from midwifery care by now. Ongoing pain is completely normal, you have had major surgery. You need to try and focus on your baby and trust the care and support you have been given.No one can tell you the chances of the highly unlikely outcome of the wound opening and no one can do a thing right now to reduce the odds. You need to try to accept that.

Hopefully Mamma will be able to confirm soon but I read it as:
She is less than 3 weeks post C-section and discharged from hospital care herself, but currently spending all her time on a paeds or baby ward with her premature baby who was readmitted soon after discharge. She should have access to her community midwives but they’ve told her they can’t help her because she is at the hospital, however because she isn’t a patient at the hospital, she is struggling to get any care or support there.
She is experiencing problems at a very vulnerable time and getting little support. Her incision is infected, despite being told it was fine when she first complained, and she now has symptoms that could be trivial but require DVT to be eliminated.
It must feel quite Kafka-esque.
Should she have to leave her sick and premature newborn at the hospital to hang around at home for an indeterminate period until a community midwife drops in? I mean she is hardly being deliberately awkward. This doesn’t sound fun for her.

What injections are you doing?

You have the same access to medical care as most people at this time but you feel you aren't able to access it as you want to be with your child. It's a difficult situation. Unfortunately, the midwives can't come to you and you don't want to go to them.

It must be so hard trying to establish breast feeding on top of all this OP! Hang in there, you are doing an amazing job.
My second was in NICU, SCBU and then a baby ward for 4 months and I expressed, she was unable to feed. It is HARD! - and I had a vaginal delivery needing no stitches. You have had major abdominal surgery.

Is your OH back at work? I hope there is someone you are close to who can be with you as much as possible and advocate for you.

I would suggest either getting a gp appointment if the distance isn't too far or if the distance is too far then phone 111 and see if they can arrange an appointment closer.

Hi all sorry for some reason I wasn’t alerted to responses! @LightDrizzle has hit the nail on the head.. Triage won’t see me as I am not an inpatient but my own midwife cannot come to the hospital.

I would need to leave the hospital to go see her which means my son potentially going back to the neonatal ward where I wouldn’t be able to remain with him or even worse he would remain on the child’s ward but we would lose the private room we’ve got for me to feed him and express milk in and he would put with other children which would increase his risk of picking up an infection.

So it feels like a catch twenty two. All I want is confirmation that the infection is not going to spread easily and that there is no infection inside because if they discharge him and then I get admitted for some major infection than I buggered because he won’t be able to stay with me again 😢

I don’t know how well mentally I would cope with being admitted again if I was too leave again. Especially if it was for my own health which I have been fighting to get confirmation that it is okay.

Bear in mind all I want to do is recover in my own time at home with my fiancé and my daughter and my son. I would recover a lot better I think in my own environment. I’ve got a 14 month old little girl who keeps asking for mummy as well 😭

@leghairdontcare- it’s not that I don’t want to access them at all, my community midwife can’t come to the hospital and my son would be worse if I did leave him. He might have to go back in a incubator in the neonatal unit otherwise.

I was having whilst I was admitted the stomach injections to avoid blood clots, I was on them for 10 days and the midwife was good and did them all when she brought pain relief as I was an inpatient then. The bruising is obviously taking a while to go down but I don’t want to ignore any pain and it be worse than what I thought.

A bit of back story to why I worry about not knowing what is wrong with me and needing reassurance is that when I was pregnant with my daughter I had gallstones and it wasn’t diagnosed till she was 3 months old. I was having attacks which would cause me to pass out for an hour to two. I had major surgery (keyhole) then to remove the gallbladder & I got pregnant with my son the month after so surgery wise I’ve been through a lot in the last 2 years.

@Mammabee20
Are you in a hospital with a maternity unit/inpatient maternity ward? If so, you could speak to your community midwife and ask them to arrange for a time to go and see one of the midwives on the ward. We frequently do this at my hospital, even for women who have been discharged home if they are coming in daily to visit on NICU.
Hope you're feeling better soon.

Have the hospital told you he would go back to NICU and an incubator? I don't really understand as that would not have been possible where I was.

Oh OP, there's so much going on for you. It's tough. My tuppence:

1. I'm not an expert but I did end up with a c section scar infection. If you're on antibiotics, that should be all you need to clear it up. Just keep checking your scar as they should have told you to do
2. As op have suggested try and sort out an appointment with a community midwife at the hospital. They do still have to check you until you are discharged and IMHE most are based out of hospitals so will be there occasionally (sorry if you've already done this, I can't tell
3. does your trust have a peri natal mental health service? It's great for being able to talk things over.

Good luck

How are you feeling today?

Hi all, sorry about the lack of update. My DS has actually been discharged today. I am now home and things appear to be getting better.

I spoke to my local mental health midwife and she has offered to come out and have a chat to me on Monday, she has also arranged to send a midwife round to the house every day whilst I am on antibiotics so that makes me feel more secure and safe

Oh thats great news all round!

I’m so glad you are both back home. You really have been through the mill and need some looking after x

Sounds like you had a dreadful time OP! That's so good that you're back home now.

It really doesn't sound like your worries were unjustified or anything to do with mental health issues- it sounds more like the hospital were gas-lighting you by making your legitimate concerns seem like health-anxiety worries.

Quick update everyone! A midwife has been out to the house today and she took a look at my c section incision, she told me it looked good but also told me how to keep it clean and dry. She also gave me advice on what to look out for regarding it spreading inside (apparently you are looking for redness moving upwards and hot to touch skin) She took a look at my leg which had been tingling and felt numb and heavy, she said there are no signs of DVT and again she told me what to do to avoid and what to look out for.

Regarding DS she took his temperature (my fiancé and I have been taking it every hour since we got home) and she checked him over.

I feel very good about this visit, she did say no one would be out tomorrow but that she will arrange someone to come out Monday!

Glad to hear it op x