Is the post natal ward the fifth circle of hell?

[Fluffygreenslippers]

Because everyone I’ve spoken to has received shocking care, if you can even call it that. Following on from my other thread about labour I thought I was share my experience of the post natal ward. I hope that’s okay. It’s very long!

So after the delivery I was wheeled to the recovery ward to recover. The recovery ward was actually lovely. There was no one there except one nurse. It would have been a great time for me to finally sleep except someone decide it was time to clatter a bucket around outside.

I was pretty much in shock. I suddenly had a baby. A nurse came in and showed us things. I don’t remember, I was too tired to do anything. I still had the cannula in my arm which was extremely painful, my whole hand and wrist had swollen up from the constant iv. I still have staining now from iv leakage.

I had an idea that once I was up and about I could go home. So I fought to stand up and walk around, even though I felt like I had been hit by a train. I was in the recovery ward all day although thinking back it only felt like an hour? Anyway as the day wore on they wheeled me into the post natal ward.

As I was wheeled in, a pig faced woman with her boyfriend glared at me. Like really scowled, like I had farted on her birthday cake or something. The boyfriend gawped at me. I was exhausted and baffled. It was 8pm and DH was told he had to leave. He wasn’t allowed to stay with me. I broke down in tears. I have never felt such despair as I did in that moment. A nice nurse asked me why I was crying. She reassured me that the staff were there to help and not to worry. Ha! DH left.

The day staff left and the night staff came. The scowling woman in the bed opposite started groaning and crying out, saying she was in pain. She did this at regular intervals. I found out later she had a uterus infection. I don’t know where her baby was.

A couple of hours passed. The baby and I looked at each other. He did a poo. I had never changed a nappy in my life. Perhaps one of the nurses could just show me..? I went to have a look for the nice nurse. Oh silly me she had left. The night staff were all sitting in the office and looked at me like I had two heads when I peered in. I managed to change a nappy, and feed him. I later found out the nappy was backwards.

An assistant came to check the babies temperature. She said it was too low. I was suddenly terrified that somehow they would take him away from me.

The baby started crying. The huffing woman opposite started shouting at me saying she wasn’t going to listen to THAT all night. She started an angry call to her boyfriend, complaining about her pain and the noise my baby was making. I felt flustered and embarrassed and was trying not to cry. Let me tell you I am a gobby cow usually. In usual circumstances I would have offered to knock her out. But I’d lost three litres of blood. There were thirty stitches in my vagina. I could barely walk. I felt scared and vulnerable. None of the midwives were around.
The woman started aggressively chomping bbq flavoured crisps. I was so tired. I hadn’t slept since Tuesday night & it was now Friday. I lay down and finally started to go to sleep when the woman opposite started snoring and grunting like a pig. Then I heard music which gradually got louder. Had the woman got a radio on? The baby cried again, the woman woke up and started shouting at me again.

I picked up the baby and staggered to the nurses station. The door was shut. I knocked. No one answered so I opened it anyway. They all glared at me. THEY were playing the radio. Playing a loud radio! At 12am! On a post natal ward! I told them that I wanted to be moved. They argued with me saying they couldn’t move people wherever they wanted. I insisted, tears streaming down my face. One nurse agreed to help me.

I was moved into another room. It was freezing cold. I realised that all the windows were open! I went around shutting them but some I couldn’t reach. I asked a nurse if she could shut them and she just looked at me and walked away. During the night a woman who had had a c section asked if a nurse might pick up the baby for her. The nurse said do it yourself. Another loudly gossiped about her 50th birthday plans. It was 4am at this point. I managed to sleep for 45 minutes. The nurse then came and banged an empty plate on my tray waking me up. An hour later breakfast was served which was brown bread toast. I opened my mouth to tell her I was celiac but she had already fucked off.

At this point I text my husband. I had left him alone all night as I knew he was sleeping but I told him to come get me. I was leaving and if they didn’t let me go I would call the police.

Finally the day staff came, and the ward manager came to talk to me. She said I could go home. Unfortunately I had to have a transfusion and the baby various tests.

We finally escaped at 6pm on Saturday. I had been admitted at 12pm on Wednesday. During that time I had slept approximately 2 hours and eaten nothing.

What was your experience of the post natal ward?

I was expected to walk down a corridor to fetch meals and my own water after c sections

Very similar..horrible staff, horrible patients.
We go through this process and have no idea wtf just happened to us and then we don't know to push for better care and just put up with stuff.
Second time around I knew what to expect which probably helped and my birth was a lot faster than my first (72 hour!)
The staff were much nicer this time around and I really relied on them when I was re-admitted with a post dural headache. They gave him feeds of formula or expressed milk, I buzzed then through the night and asked them to take him whilst I had some sleep and they took him from 1am to 6am and I can tell you it was amazing to get some good sleep.
In fact one time when I got up to get my son I found a doctor holding him whilst he was fast asleep and she was so happy she said she hardly ever got to cuddle babies. Lots of the midwives enjoyed feeding my son and getting cuddles.
Maybe this was because I had to lie absolutely flat after my procedure though.

The thing i found ridiculous was the food. We got re-admitted to hospital with our first for jaundice and low weight and he really wouldn't feed at all and I was absolutely exhausted. The midwife who had come to the house told me to make good use of the staff there as they will show me how to BF and also to take advantage of the food especially as I needed calories to BF.
Well fuck me, the first thing was a cheese sandwich which the packet was slightly open so was all dry and horrible.
Breakfast was the tiniest bowl of rice crispies (those well know high calorie breakfasts?) A tiny brown bread roll and some apricot? Jam.
Lunch was a baked potato and cheese and it literally was a potato on plate with nothing else and a tiny polestyrene pot with 2g if grated cheese.
NHS really needs to look at what they are feeding new mothers especially if they want to encourage BF rates to increase. You cannot do it on rice fucking crispies.
They next day my husband went home and made a huge box of food up for me and thank god he did!

@Hungrycaterpillarsmummy yes the food was ridiculous! Tiny portions that wouldn’t have kept me happy pre pregnancy. I also had gestational diabetes and even the most carefully chosen meals spiked my sugars.

Also terribly timed - 9am, 12pm, 5pm and nothing in between (no snacks/toast/tea available, just water). Thank goodness I’d packed snacks and could send my husband out for more food.

Yep it's atrocious really.
I meant to write a letter to point it out but obviously you have baby to look after so no time. Maybe will actually since it's just triggered my annoyance at it all again!

The timings of meals has reminded me of the inability to also time medication that needed to be eaten after food with food. I kept getting stomach pains and realised they kept giving me such medication on a empty stomach. As soon as I refused it the pain stopped. But ibuprofen still triggers it now. Thanks for that! And of course you don't complain because you have a baby to look after so are kinda short on time.

The idea of having to walk down the corridor to get meals when post-natal horrifies me, I could barely stand up for half a day after I gave birth to my son, the midwives wouldn't even let me go to the toilet by myself, they took me there and one stayed with me the whole time (which was good as I almost passed out on the loo and she had to gently slap me). Meals were brought to the bedside except afternoon coffee and cake which was in the dayroom but I expect anyone who couldn't get up to get it could ask for help. There was a snack fridge in the dayroom too where you could help yourself to yoghurts and crispbread (there might have been other bread too but I only remember the crispbread because it was gluten free) with cheese slices etc. whenever you want, or make yourself tea or coffee, and a fruit bowl so had plenty to eat along with the four meals evenly spread throughout the day.

@RayKray I'd avoid ibuprofen altogether now if it still triggers pain, could be an ulcer. Mine was caused by ibuprofen (including taking it on an empty stomach) and now can't use it at all.

Yep even worse you had to take the baby by pushing them along in their cot as you weren’t allowed to leave them alone or carry them in your arms. Balancing a bowl of cereal, the cot and opening doors was great fun…

I don’t understand why people don’t pay for private rooms if they don’t like other people so much.

I don’t understand why people don’t pay for private rooms if they don’t like other people so much.

Because financial means shouldn’t be a requirement for adequate care.

And most hospitals don’t have them. Mine doesn’t.

At my hospital, private rooms were free but reserved for people who really needed them. There's no option to pay for one.

Can't pay for a private room at my hospital anymore. You used to be able to but since covid it's been medical need only.

Besides, half the problems on this thread have nothing to do with other patients. A private room wouldnt have made me any more able to walk to get breakfast or stand to go to the loo, for example.

My NHS hospital only has private rooms if you are 100% private care (so paying £12k+ for your birth). Not an option for most people.

Ok I'm not reading all the responses but come on - you didn't know how to change a nappy? I'd never changed I've either but it's pretty easy.
It all sounds like you are being very precious and did not do any preparation for having a baby. Most are turfed out the same day. But you expect silence and help with the basics and no disturbances from other patients?
Nationalised healthcare means you muck in with everyone.

I self discharged,
i had a emergency c section and pre- eclampsia. My baby was in special care. I had to be taken in a wheelchair to see my baby as my blood pressure was too high. That evening I asked an agency nurse if she could get me a glass of water. She said she would on this occasion but next time I had to get it myself. I could barely turnover in bed.

i went home with no pain relief - didn’t realise until I had DS2 by c section that you could have pain relief.

i will never forget.

I know criticising nationalised healthcare is on par with hating puppies and kittens on here, but that’s the issue with it - there are no choices. It’s just one-size-fits-all, this-is-what-happens treatment for everyone. You don’t feel like you can ask for anything, or have anything a bit more tailored to your needs, because it’s ‘free’ (of course it isn’t). And staff seem to think they’re doing you a favour looking after you at all. I would love a private room for my next delivery, but it simply isn’t an option at my local hospital - they don’t exist. I would also love the option of a birth pool, but know that will depend on whether they’re in use when I arrive on the ward.

Nothing to do with the Tories, I had my first in 2006 and it was as equally as horrendous as OP describes.

I have PTSD (diagnosed by my psychotherapist) from my birthing and post birth experiences. Put it this way I now know I could have sued the bollocks off the NHS for almost killing me and both my children. I can’t write the detail it’s still triggering. But one child ended up in NICU as a result of a medical error.

I gave birth 2 weeks ago, the induce ward, birthing suite and recovery were all fabulous but the ward I was put on was awful

I had an emergency C section and was in agony, the day staff were fantastic but the night staff weren't. The staff room was next to the ward and us new mums were kept awake all night because the staff were laughing loudly and shouting. It was awful

This is an old thread originally, I'm sorry to those that had difficult times.

I was scared about the post natal ward after reading similar stories but I found it to be good. We were basically just left to it, I didn't see any staff overnight but I didn't buzz for help so didn't need to, in the day I was given help with breastfeeding, didn't see much of other mum's only briefly shared with one other but curtains round the whole time, meals brought to the bed, drinks available a short walk away, shower/toilet easily accessible and never occupied when I wanted, visiting hours good only partner came as I was in for one night (baby born early hours so first night spent still in delivery room)

I would have preferred to have been in the 5th circle of hell than the maternity ward I had the misfortune of being on.

I think the people in the 5th circle would have been kinder than the awful staff and it may have been cooler and less stuffy.

Complaint was upheld and ‘lessons will be learnt’ - sadly I doubt it.

I had shocking aftercare with all three dcs Totally abysmal.The patient next to me told me she hoped it would be better than ger previously experience.

She'd nearly bled to death because (despite her repeatedly saying how much in pain she was) she'd been ignored for hours. They finally pulled the sheets back and she was soaked in blood.

I have three DCs, so have had three PN Ward stays. All were absolutely fine....enjoyable, even...even the post-CS stay, which was three days. A little bit noisy, perhaps, but plenty of camaraderie between the new mums, and support from staff where needed. Spent my time dozing, drinking tea, and gazing at my new babe.

Maybe seven years at boarding school trained me well for communal living and sleeping through anything?

I can't even read all of these responses as I'll be retraumatised, but your experience was so similar to mine. It really tainted the first few months. I've let it go now but my son is 13. I'm so sorry things are still the same.

needed surgical repair after birth and was still connected to a catheter and couldn’t move my legs. Baby crying and needed feeding changing. Asked nurse for help getting baby out of crib. She refused and told me I needed to do it myself. Day staff had to apologise to the woman opposite who had dangerous complications yet staff had not monitored her at all over night. Dangerous negligence.