I've namechanged as I don't want to be recognised on this.
Basically, the local NHS trust runs a 'birth reflections' service for anyone who wants to talk about their birth and how it was handled. I rang to ask for an appointment, and they returned my phone call a fortnight later.
In order to have an appointment, they want me to come back to the maternity department. And I just CANNOT do it. I know that ultimately I need to take a deep breath and find a way to get over such ishoooos. However, in order to make use of such an appointment, I also need to be able to speak coherently and ask the questions I have - and I know that if I force myself to return to the department, I will end up a shaking, crying wreck and completely incoherent, and it would be a waste of their time as well as mine.
I've explained this to the midwife who runs the service, and am just getting the 'we can only do what management allow us to do' type response. She's refusing to come to my home, and 'asking' (without, it seems, any expectation of agreement from 'management') whether she can hold the appointment at the GP practice. She's offering an appointment in the hospital coffee shop, but I need more privacy. She's offering a telephone appointment, but I'm concerned that this may compound misundersatndings which led to what was difficult during the birth. And I know that it'd be pointless to force myself to go to the hospital.
AIBU to expect a more accessible, accommodating service? I mean, they've set themselves up for women who are feeling a bit crap about it all to start with.
If I ABU, how/where else am I going to deal with this?
And if I am NBU, how do I stand my ground and insist upon an appointment outside of the hospital?