What was your post natal care like?

[sazzybee]

I had great antenatal care and a good birth experience considering I had some major complications and had to have a cs in the end.

Unfortunately, that excellence didn't continue after my baby was born. I was really shocked by the standard of post-natal care I received - both in the hospital and from the community midwives. I was in hospital for 4 days because of the cs. Some of the things that I was particularly aggrieved by:

• I was nil by mouth all day on the day of my cs as they thought I may have to have one. In the end I went into theatre at 5pm and was on the ward by 10pm. I wasn't given anything to eat or drink until 8am the following morning.
• the woman who brought my breakfast the morning after my cs left it on a tray at the end of the bed so I couldn't reach it and said it wasn't her job to pass it to me
• no one showed me how to hold or change my baby or how to bf
• there has been no continuity of care whatsoever - I never saw the same nurse or mw twice either in my stay at hospital or at home
• when I asked a mw at night to pass me my baby to feed him she said 'what's wrong - broken your legs?' and virtually threw him onto my lap. This was 30 hrs after my op and I found twisting and lifting the baby at the same time really painful
• no one told me how to care for my scar
• no one told me how to expediate my recovery and what I should or shouldn't do after a cs
• the mw didn't turn up when she was supposed to remove my stitches and I got an infection because the beads started growing into my skin

I feel really disappointed and that the lack of care has made my recovery much more difficult. I couldn't wait to get out of hospital and when I got home couldn't wait to get signed off from mw care. I'd be really interested to know if my experience the norm for the NHS nowadays or is it unusual?

Megbusset - i had dd 7 weeks ago in Chase Farm and felt my care was terrible on the whole, you must have had the nice midwives, cos i didn't! I am a senior NHS manager at a london hospital with a clinical back ground as was appalled at the attitude of staff, that is, apart from all of the doctors i saw from admission to delivery. i too had a ventousse (maybe i broke the stirrup) and am very aware of problems with staffing and by nature did not want to be a burdensome patient - i am expressing atm so don't feel like typing it all with one hand, but some of the downright rudeness and lack of understanding shocked me. it was as if they had seen it all once too often and could not be bothered to hear how much pain / urinary retention / scared etc you were. what really shocked me was how they spoke to me while i was writhing in pain, on a different planet on the pethidine they had advised and in NO position to speak up for myself or anything. i remember constantly apologising for making a noise after being talked to like a toddler about needing to calm down and that the contractions were not that bad, i remember feeling upset by that and feeling worried to howl in pain. god, that's only one thing, its all quite upsetting to remember.

i am considering talking to PALS and making a complaint. my nhs work has taught me very few people complain about bad care and new mums are less likely to as too busy, tired and often feel 'oh well, i had a healthy baby at least' and there is no point. more peple should complain about staff attitude, in my trust all complaints go via chief exec and are discussed at very high levels - its worth it to change things. even if its due to poor staff morale due to funding, managers should be aware so funding issues can be addressed.

write to your trust or speak to PALS, each hospital has one and they reqally advocate for you and are not biased on behalf of the trust.

did you have urinary retention too then Louise? did they delay giving you a catheter as well?