Had a horrible ante natal hospital experience today...don't want to go back..ever! Homebirth??

[nicolamumof3]

well was asked to go into today to get checked as had a persistent pain the top of my bump and a hard lump there for at least a week now.

its just under my ribs. Im 21+6

first of all was told they couldn't see me as hospital was full, that may have to go to antoher hospital that was about 15miles away. They called back said that hospital also full so to come there but may be a wait.

This is a new multi million pound state of the art hospital. Which obviously cannot cope, lots of mums have transferred to use the new facilities, and lots of labouring local mums are being turned away as they are 'full'

anyway, after two hours wait a midwife saw me took bp, temp, urine and listened heartbeat. All ok. Dh left to pick up younger dc from school. MW said doctor was on rounds and would see me asap. Three hours later no doc, i dishcarged myself. Im still suffering ms, was freezing cold, needed a drink and was desperate to get home. MW's were quite insistent i stayed, but i explained that dh couldn't collect me any later and we had no idea how long doc would be.

Sorry for long rambling post just feel let down again by nhs, or am i unreasonable in expecting to have been seen within 5hrs?

I am now not feeling confident in any care that i may receive at this hospital. I have low lying placenta and have scan at 34w am hoping it moves as wouldn't want to go back in for a CS, am now considering a hb.

Still in pain, still no idea whats wrong, just taking comfort in fact that bp was ok, and am still feeling lots of movements.

oh and just to add in answer also i feel blessed despite feel crap for the last four months or so to be having another baby and am just glad that all that all seems healthy with baby so far regardless of the sex of it.

The thing is I don 't think the hospital sounds any more understaffed than anywhere else I've worked. Unfortunately its cheaper for hospitals to have you waiting around to see the Drs rather than Drs waiting around to see you. Unless people would rather pay 50% income tax to fund the NHS more I don't think it will change. Hope you're feeling better anyway.

Sorry nicola but your experience is typical of the experiences many women have on antenatal wards. Maternity is massively unpredictable, and while your concerns about the hospital being unable to cope with demand may well be founded, it can happen in any antenatal ward.

I went in with scar pain 3 weeks before my EDD and had to wait 5 hours. The staff were obviously run off their feet. I was given water but they couldn't do anything to update me because the midwives have no way of knowing when a doctor will be free. They apologised but I understood that they couldn't help it. It was an utterly shit day, but shit happens.

As for the placenta praevia, a low-lying placenta at a 20 weeks scan doesn't mean you'll have placenta praevia. If they told you in detail about every possible outcome your antenatal appointments would last days! Cross that bridge if you come to it - you probably won't though :)

what i've learnt tho is that bleeding can start and quickly turn into haemoraging very quickly I have heard stories from here and friends that this actually happened to. So the bleeding could happen very much before my scan at 34w. I wasn't really made aware of this. I investigated this myself but many wouldn't. Really a simple explanation would have only taken minutes.

What i think is ironic that they have spent almost £300m on this hospital that is a hell of a lot of money, then to open it and not be able to see local women who are labouring and turn them away often in ambulances costing £££ seems rather wrong to me.

But even if you knew nothing about placenta praevia, surely if you get bleeding at any point you're going to be straight on the phone to them anyway, no?

No not unless v heavy only went to hops yday after lots nagging!!

Ok no problem, can't have been you then, just someone with an identical name on MN

Sorry but YABU. If it was bad enough for you to seek hospital treatment then it was surely bad enough to have waited for as long as necessary to be seen!?

I have been to my hospital twice for problems in this pregnancy. The first time I was waiting 5 hours the second seen straight away- it's pure luck how busy they are but both times despite the wait I couldn't fault how thorough and helpful the staff were despite being clearly rushed off their feet. At the time I wanted updates but realistically it is asking alot when working with emergencies and priorities. They try their best but like any job that's all they can do! At the end of the day it is the health service- it has it's faults but having lived overseas other countries may well see someone straight away but I can assure you at extortionate prices that many people can't afford!

You may well have been on the ante-natal ward,. but as you said, that is attached to the day assessment wards!

So the dr covers, ante natal, post natal & day assessments as well as theatre probably!

hi Nicola sounds as if you are having a tough time with this pregnancy I know from the july thread that you're not a moaner Hope things start to improve soon for you.

I agree there is nothing more frustrating when you are worried and in pain/feeling sick to be left with no information. I think we all understand that the nhs is stretched at times but good communication makes a huge difference to peoples experience.

I would say that if so many people are keen to book into the new hospital it must be doing something right. Not sure i agree with them accepting more women than they can cope with tho! If you want a homebirth look into it and if there aren't any concerns then go for it You can always change to a hospital if placenta, spd or anything else seems to be causing a concern.

Best of luck