...shrewsbury mat scandal cd have happened to you?

[stovetopespresso]

just watched such a moving interview with Rhiannon Davies,whose baby Kate died as a result of bad treatment. aibu to think that it could have been any of us? my midwife didn't turn up for last dc4's planned home birth, I got "we don't think you're in labour" after 4 or 5 frantic calls. dh delivered him.
for ds2's birth I was fed oxytocin to induce then told there was no midwife to deliver him and the one I ended up with panicked and said she hadn't delivered a baby in 20 years and please could I be quieter. agony. all ended fine but for dc4's experience I was shut down and told I had gone in to labour quickly etc (untrue). so this is not rare i think and I feel so lucky. so sad for the heroes who have had to put up with this sub standard treatment. yanabu= women don't get listened to and it's luck if it works out ok. yabu= let's keeps it as is

What they said today about the obsession with "natural" birth struck a chord with me too. All too often you hear "never mind" when someone has to have a c section, as if it's a failure. It doesn't bother me at all that I had one, I just wish they'd recognised the need for it earlier and my daughter didn't nearly have to die for the sake of a "natural" birth.

I agree with this. I was highly anxious about the birth due to various complications during pregnancy, begged for a c section but was denied. My induced labour went disastrously wrong, I was rushed into theatre and ended up with - you guessed it - an emergency c section. I knew from the outset that this is what the outcome would be and I was right. But the doctor refused to listen.

I’m still in counselling now to help me get over the traumatic birth. It upsets me that there’s this blanket love of the NHS when actually, there’s an awful lot wrong with it and that needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

The story the OP refers to is absolutely heartbreaking, I cried when I watched it on the news.

I had a birth at this trist in the timescale. A positive experience but i was fortunate that my earlier appy were at a different trust and due to a complicated health situation i had been tild at previous hospital trust a lot of information. Shropshire did try and alter this but we were hapoy with the plan. Knowing what we know now i feel so lucky that we had a plan for delivery in place from the previous trust. I dread to think the outcome if we had been advised initially by shrews and telford

• highly anxious about the birth of my baby

That should have been. Sorry.

I wish to god I hadn't swallowed the natural birth is best rhetoric I had got from the NCT.

I agree, c section feels so much safer than natural birth. I will never forgive myself for not insisting on a section as I feel like I put my child’s life in danger by letting myself be talked into an induction which led to failed instrumental then emergency section. Like others on this thread have said, it feels like we were lucky to have survived the whole ordeal.

DC1 had group B strep too, we only found out at the debrief 18 months later! I wish I had challenged them more about several things at the time, they were definitely able to cover up the mistakes they made.

In contrast, the two ELCS were excellent. Well managed and huge contrast to the trauma of our first baby's birth.

I was induced with both my births - one easily and one late.

The late one I was repeatedly told that I wasn't in labour - it was only when I completely lost it that they actually checked me and I was 9cm's and barely made it to delivery room, no time for pain relief before giving birth.

The second induction I had my sister, the medical professional, as my birth partner. It was a high risk pregnancy and I wasn't going to be ignored again!

Hearing these stories is terrifying and unbelievably sad.

Is there anything we as women can do when giving birth to protect ourselves from any of this?

I’m not sure it’s going to get any better in time for me....

Unfortunately Trusts are penalised nowadays if their elective c section rate is too high - which only exacerbates the already significant problems in the area, especially re women being listened to.

Mercifully my 2 experiences were ok, but that was only because I had student midwives with me the whole time. When ds1 was trying to emerge it was the student who overruled the qualified midwife and got help from a senior. When the senior arrived the red button was pushed and the room flooded with people including 3 doctors. I’ll be forever grateful to the student, she was absolutely amazing. The qualified midwife? Not so much.

@1990 women and the public generally need to stop being grateful for suboptimal care because they think it is free. It is not. It is free at the point of delivery and we, the public, need to start kicking up a fuss every time someone is rude, chats shit, to be one off or appears to be incompetent or as though they couldn't give a damn. Only then will things begin to change.

I was left on a foetal monitor that was barely checked in 12 hrs. My DSs heartbeats stopped every time I contracted but they didn't do anything until I pointed this out to them, then the shit hit the fan and I was rushed to the delivery room. When I asked what might happen MW said very bluntly 'your baby might die'. I was literally shaking with shock and fear. Ended up with a ventouse delivery and all was well, but such a horrible experience. Aftercare on the ward was pretty rubbish as well - no help with feeding and made to feel like an inconvenience.

As an ex trainee doctor i am not surprised by these stories at all. The main reason I left was owing to the incredibly stressful, patriarchal, narcissistic power-hungry profession most of my colleagues were. I absolute hate it when people say they chose to be a doctor to be caring, nope money and power trumped any caring in my experience.

My daughter is 4 months old. I discharged early owing to shocking and unkind care. Left in my own filth following a CS, late pain meds because they lost my drug chart and unanswered call bells to name a few. I have complained - still waiting for feedback.

@AuntyCandthefishfingersandwich

I was induced with both my births - one easily and one late.

The late one I was repeatedly told that I wasn't in labour - it was only when I completely lost it that they actually checked me and I was 9cm's and barely made it to delivery room, no time for pain relief before giving birth.

The second induction I had my sister, the medical professional, as my birth partner. It was a high risk pregnancy and I wasn't going to be ignored again!

Same here! Induced and sent to have a bath to help with the pain I was having. DH had been sent home as 'it would be hours yet.' I ran the bath but instinctively knew that if I got in I wouldn't be able to get out as the pains were so much worse. Rang the bell and made to feel I was overreacting and would only be a couple of cm. Insisted they check as it felt so much worse, lo and behold I was 8cm and immediately wheeled off to labour ward. DH had only been home half an hour!

Roses, I agree that people shpuld be complaining loudly about suboptimal care and shitty attitudes.

Sadly, it is going to take far more than that to improve things.

I, and the majority of my colleagues, would welcome a deep dive investigation into the safety of maternity services and some realistic plans for improvement. Not just lip service.

I also feel I had a lucky escape. I gave birth to DS2 at Shrewsbury, by Caesarian. I had previously had my DS1 at a different hospital, extremely prematurely, by emergency CS under GA and had to have a ‘classical’ incision - an up and down incision on my uterus due to being so early. Sadly my DS only lived six weeks.

I was advised that should I become pregnant again, I would have to have a Caesarian section due to high risk of rupture. I was under consultant care at Shrewsbury from the start of my second pregnancy. I did some internet research and discovered a transcript of a Radio 4 medical programme where the lead obstetrician from Shrewsbury was interviewed and turns out Shrewsbury had the lowest rate of CS in the WHOLE of the UK at 13% in comparison to the national rate of 23%. It is still available to read. Seems they were so proud of the statistic....

At an ante natal check I asked the very same consultant what would happen should I go into labour before my elective CS date, and she said in a very blasé way, ‘oh, just go with it’. I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing.

When my waters broke three days before the booked in date, I phoned the hospital and insisted I was coming in. The midwife on duty when I arrived at the hospital seemed very stressed and rushed off her feet and when I told her my waters had broken, she actually said to me ‘Are you sure it wasn’t just a big wee?’ Unbelievable. It was about 10pm and they suggested I go home and return the next morning, but I wanted to stay in the hospital. They then called me to theatre at about 3:30 am saying they may as well get on with it as the anaesthetist was ‘awake’ having just done another operation, so they wouldn’t have to wake him up and he be groggy if he went for a sleep! Thankfully, my DS was delivered safely. My heart goes out to all the families affected, their stories are heartbreaking.

I strongly believe this could happen anywhere until women are listened to. I am an articulate evidence based researcher whose voice was ignored and minimised throughout my pregnancies.

Hyperemesis = everyone feels a bit sick
PGP = everyone's body adjusts to carrying a baby
Waters going = are you sure you didn't wet yourself
I'm in a considerable amount of pain = you're not even in labour
Baby was back to back = I wasn't even told about this till the VBAC appointment for #2! And I even had a debriefing session with the head midwife
#2 is back to back = but you won't have the same problems as with #1
#2 is big = but she won't get stuck like #1
I wanted an ELCS = but nothing like what happened with #1 will happen again
I definitely want an ELCS = Are you sure you're thinking logically

I got my ELCS for #2 although the fight ruined the last 3 months of my sure to be last pregnancy.

I wept saying 'I don't feel I'm being listened to' and nobody listened.

I thought I'd be fine with my well researched decision making but I felt ignored, trivialised and minimised. I believe this could happen in many places. I used the phrase 'natural at any cost' in the VBAC appointment and the midwife insisted that it was in mine and my baby's interest. Despite me very strongly and clearly disagreeing.

I was talking to my DCs about their births this evening and I tried to find some funny bits so #1 didn't feel bad about how horrific the pregnancy and birth were for me. Ultimately #2 was a wonderful birth, exactly as I wanted it. I feel guilty I can't find many positives to say about my experience with #1 and there were so many opportunities to make things better. Yes my DC were born healthy but that's not the only outcome worth measuring.

I’ve suffered from birth trauma related ptsd. It arose due to natural events being exacerbated by poor care, shaming by nhs staff for something that wasn’t my fault. The inability of maternity services to deal with mum not going home in 2hours having given birth in a pool with whale music.

All this is kept hidden by people like Davina fucking cunt mccoll saying people shouldn’t talk about bad birth experiences, comments like at least you’re both (physicallly)ok.

We need to be open about the horrendous near death (and actual death) women and babies experience. How dangerous giving birth still is. Every day I see women whose life has been ruined by birth trauma. It is oh so common but kept hidden. Maternity notes filled with lies, blaming mothers, labelling them with phobias, not trying etc to hide the incompetency, ridicule and lack of consent vulnerable women in labour face. The scandal is women do not matter in the health services. Pnd depression, often pinning blame on the mental weakness of the mother is everywhere. Try talking to people about birth related ptsd and you are ignored.

Women matter!

It is such a vulnerable time as new parents that things happen and it's easy to accept them as normal. It's not until you have time to reflect that sometimes you realise it's not how they should have happened. Our experience of a debrief would be very different now, with age and confidence, compared to my more accepting younger self.

@PanamaPattie

IMO, midwives should be sacked and the whole midwifery shambles given a complete overhaul. The service that is provided is not fit for purpose. How many women do you know were denied pain relief, ignored during labour or ended up with an emergency section because the MW didn't monitor labour adequately or were just too busy chatting and gossiping with their chums? How many women are told that they are not in labour? How many more babies and mothers need to die before there is a nationwide serious case review? A few patronising words and a promise that "lessons will be learnt" isn't good enough. It's utterly heartbreaking to hear these stories when all the deaths could have been prevented if MWs just paid more attention and carried out their roles with care and compassion.

yeh good plan, let’s sack all midwives

A relative gave birth at Shrewsbury and had an awful experience. An obsession with keeping their rate of c-sections low meant 'failure to progress' led to a brutal and unsuccseful intervention with forceps and ventouse before finally admitting they needed an emergency caesarian. She thought she was going to die and suffered horrific birth trauma that marred the first year of her baby's life.