Midwife laughed at my baby’s name

[unknown884]

I gave birth a couple of months ago to my first child. I had a difficult labour and was on the postnatal ward for about a week afterwards.

During that time I was looked after by numerous different midwives and whilst most of them were lovely, there was one who seemed to have a mean streak.

One night it was about 3 o’clock in the morning and I was very weak, so I can’t be sure - but I’m certain I overheard her telling the other midwives in a loud voice that she thought my choice of name for the baby was awful.

The name isn’t top 10 but it’s hardly a controversial or outlandish name either, so I’m not sure how it could have warranted such a bad reaction.

I don’t know why but the memory of this came back to me again tonight and it really upset me.

Do you think this is something that could have happened? Or could I have misheard? I just don’t understand why a midwife would be so unnecessarily cruel

I've worked in hospitals and I'm sure no health professional would say this. They would be aware of why you were there and the medical necessity of being so.

Thanks Emma. In that case maybe it was just my imagination going into overdrive with all the drugs and exhaustion!

@Oliversmumsarmy
Hospitals don't discharge patients until they are well enough to be discharged. Whether that's in 1, 2 or 3 weeks.
I had a catheter for well over a week.
Your and your friends' experiences aren't the sum of all labours.

Op are you sure she was a MW? They have those support workers now and they may not have the same level of training or access to records which might explain the second comment she made?

It could have happened, or it could have been a half-asleep dream. We can't know, but you shouldn't care what a random woman thinks .

Painkillers made me swear at my mum and think a giraffe was talking to me

I also thought I overheard this particular midwife saying to another how wrong it was that I was taking up a bed on the ward for so long.
I've worked in hospitals and I'm sure no health professional would say this. They would be aware of why you were there and the medical necessity of being so.

Actually hcps 100% would say this. They may not know or care about the reason, or may not agree with the reason. I've seen hcps say exactly this right in front of the patient, eg, "rolls eyes she doesn't need this scan, what a waste of time". I've reminded them to take it up in private with the doctor/team/NUM if they have a problem with it, not bitch in front of the patient, but my words fall on deaf ears.

I agree with previous posters that you may have dreamed it or half hallucinated. I had a traumatic birth and had a lot of painkillers. I had a debrief at the hospital 6 months later and there was a hell of a lot I didn’t remember, or remembered things that hasn’t happened, or wrongly remembered something that happened.

Midwives must hear so many names. I’d imagine it would have be be an extremely unusual or strange name to even raise an eyebrow with a midwife. Or it’s possible she had been talking to another midwife about how there had been so many babies with x name born recently so she laughed when she heard your baby’s name etc.

You’ll never really know now so I’d just try to put it out of your mind and move on. I understand not wanting to share the name but it sounds like it’s not unusual so don’t worry about it. Hope you’re recovering from the traumatic birth. I had one too so I understand how upsetting it can be