Hello All - huge congratulations to YCH, KiwiKate and families Lovely names too!
for you STM - I can sympathise as have had a very similar 30 odd hours... Warning - big rant coming...
Went to the midwife on Monday at the GP, and my BP was 140/90. She was a bit worried about it, but I talked her into letting me go until Thursday, as I had a MW appt at UCH. Went to UCH on Thursday, and MW was a bit narky as had already seen MW that week, and she should have done something about my BP. Took my BP - 160/100. Oops. Told me I would have to see the consultant, who said to go for some bloods, go for a walk for an hour, come back and they would see if it came down. It didn't , so they admitted me for 4 hourly BP monitoring, and some meds. Put on the post natal ward with the c-section ladies. DH came in, then went home and got my hospiatl bag. BP was still up (also on 24 hr urine collection - broke the world record, as managed to fill 2 of the containers in a 24 hr period ) all night. Night staff were all lovely. Last BP taken at 6:30am before shift change. 2 traces on baby showed it was just fine - is a bit of a showoff when monitored and flips around all over the place... Next BP due at 10:30, but didn't happen. Went to find MW to do, but no one around. Finally got it done at 12pm. No other contact with staff. 4pm went to find someone to a) collect 24 hr urine sample; b) do next BP check and c) find out if was supposed to have any more meds, as last lot were at 7am. No one there (this despite all the section ladies getting checked every couple of hours - only person I saw was the lunch lady, and believe me, she wasn't worth seeing, the food was abysmal - you have to work pretty hard to make food that foul!!), so pushed my buzzer. 15 minutes later Health Care Asst. appeared, by which time I was in tears and had worked myself into a bit of a state. She said she would come back and do my BP. When she took it, it was 201/111 - . That got a bit of action - the supervising MW was there in a shot, and did it again - made it to 224/111 . Look of panic, then straight on the phone to the labour ward. DH arrived just as I was leaving to go down. Head MW couldn't find my charts, and then realised that they had not only mucked up my monitoring, but also missed my mid-day meds .
So down to the labour ward, where was greeted by 2 MWs and a doctor - feast or famine! Put me on a trace (bubs showing off again), gave me my meds, and 1/2 hourly BP monitoring, plus more bloods. BP came down over 3 hours to normal. Had a discussion about induction later in the week (nooooo....). Then things hotted up on the labour ward, and I got abandoned again. Stress increasing again as now 9:30pm, and am exhausted and determined not to be admitted again... DH went to find someone, and they said they'd be there in a minute. 30 mins later, I stomped out to the MW station and asked what I had to do to discharge myself as was starting to find situation 'farcical and I want to go home NOW!!'. Suddenly had 2 doctors in my room - good being a stroppy pregnant lady. Told them that I wanted to go home as treatment on ward was 'frankly negligent and was the major contributor to the BP spike in the first place' then told them not to take my BP now, as was certain it had just gone up again!! Anyway, they agreed with me and said I could go home as long as went to the Day Assessement Unit today, and took my drugs. No problem... Went up there this morning, and BP is now fine (and feet/ankles are nearly normal for the first time in months - very exciting!!), but they found a trace of protein in my urine, which is a first. Back on Monday for more checking...
Quite possible that I will be induced this week, as they won't let me go past my due dates now. So no birthing unit or pool birth for me . Also, MW said quite likely could end in c-section - am very tempted to go straight to that option, but am going to try some delay tactics on the induction first.
Pretty crap experience all round really. NHS obviously doesn't stretch to bathroom repairs, as of the 3 loos in my ward, one was compeletely out of order, the seat had fallen off one (great for the c-section ladies squatting over the porcelain - not), and one was working. 2 more out of operation in the labour ward. WTF????
Can now see why people opt for home births - not that I would get one now, but if I was staying to have no2 (eek - already thinking about a 2nd??), would definitely go for that. DH and I have decided that the £650 we are spending on a doula is deffo money well spent - thjnk the labour ward would be a nightmare without her!
Whew - sorry, that was very long, but feel much better now! Right, off to cook some dinner and then lie on the sofa...