Panorama has terrified me!

[oysterpots]

I'm not anywhere near any of the hospitals featured but the programme has just made me feel so like I won't be in control of what happens to me when I go into labour.

I know it's unlikely that anything bad will happen but is there anything we can do to make our own situations come with as little risk as possible?

Those poor people...

Fio - how appalling your experience was. I'm so sorry to read that.
Has anyone on here actually had a completely straightforward birth? I'd love to hear if so, they only seem to happen to people I don't know. (seriously, not being sarky)

My waters broke and the policy at my hospital was 96 hours, at another local hospital its 72 hours and a friend had her baby in Germany and its 24 hours! I also started to show signs of an infection.

flightattendant - I had a completely straightforward birth, staff were excellent and supportive. I needed a ventouse and then had a PPH followed by blood transfusion (so not THAT straightforward I suppose!) but point being I couldn't have asked for a better service from doctors and midwives alike.

I know there are horror stories but they are a very small minority and I'm sure the vast majority of women have experiences more similar to mine. Please don't let these stories scare you oysterpots - there is no reason why you shouldn't have a positive experience of labour in hospital.

Good to hear it Skidaddle! That's encouraging. I hope I've only heard the worst side of what really goes on from my friends.
Here's hoping those of us who are currently in the home stretch and scared witless, will have better experiences than we fear!

Mine was straightforward too, honest . Most births are straightforward, it's just that we hear about the extreme experiences more. And it's not just me, a close friend has just had her first baby (in our local hosp) and had a straightforward labour.

I think programmes like this are important, as much more money needs to be invested in maternity services, and for all the talk it does not seem to be a real government policy to make the changes needed. However, the 'Daily Mail' element as another poster mentioned is always there, and terrifying women who are about to enter the system is not helpful.

Floss - don't worry about other people's opinion, do what you think is best for you and your family . I stopped mentioning homebirth to anyone (apart from midwife and DH) as I couldn't face dealing with the reaction. It's nobody elses business really!

what, right next to the baked beans?

Maewest- I find that odd that you are coming up against so much anti-feeling towards HB. I am planning one this time, and everyone I have spoken to has been very supportive. I am only 5 mins from hospital if necessary which is a reasurance though.

oh, i missed it - was at antenatal yoga

am half relieved i missed it, and half concerned - which should it be?

flightattendant - I had 3 completely straightforward births and no complaints about the care I received during or after. Yes, they were stretched but I never felt that it affected the way I was treated. And for most of my friends it was the same. Don't forget that even if 1 in 5 women were unhappy, the leaves a majority that weren't.

And if your friends are giving you only the worst picture I don't think they are doing you any favours at all!

honeyapple - I had my DS last year at home, all was fine. TBH people weren't negative as such, but I did get the 'brave' comment a lot, and also from some mothers comments along the line of 'you say that now, but you'll be begging for an epidural'. There also seemed to be a feeling that the right thing to do was to have the first baby in hospital as a trial run and then have home birth with any subsequent children.

I haven't read all this thread, so appologies if I repeat things. I gave birth in an NHS hospital last summer. I had one to one midwife care the entire time I was in labour, and fantastic support on the post natal ward, and at home afterwards from the community midwives. Yes, there are some bad hospitalls out there, but there are also some good ones. It's just tragic that it is such a postcode lottery.

I felt massively sorry for the people who'd had such isolating and dangerous experiences in hospital. Having a baby should be a joyous experience, and I felt angry that women are left to labour alone and without feeling cared for.

The main thought I came away with after watching the programme was how important it is to have someone with you fighting your corner while you're labouring in hospital - whether it be your DH, your mum, your best mate or a doula. I'm hoping to have a home birth, but it pays to be prepared in case things don't go according to plan and I need to transfer to hospital. I'm going to write a clear birth plan and make sure my DH is completely aware of how I'd like be treated if/when I'm in hospital. I also intend to make him watch the prog as I've recorded it (have just noticed you can still watch it online , should you be feeling strong...) so he's completely aware that hospitals don't always follow best practice and that he'll need to be prepared to be vociferous and demand a quality of care if things look a bit iffy. The prog also made me realise that it doesn't pay to suffer in silence - know how often you should be checked and demand it!

I agree with Lulumama - checking out the hospital stats (Dr Foster is also good) and perhaps doing some googling on them for stories is a good way to get the lowdown on their performance.

I avoided watching this as I am due my first child in a few months and hate hospitals enough as it is. I have been really concerned by all the bad press about midwifery services over the last few weeks - it is not very confidence inspiring for someone in my situation!! My sister has been a MW for just over 10 years though and spent quite a lot of time doing community care. Following quite a bit of discussion with her I am planning a home birth for all the usual reasons - better ratio of care - lower rate of intervention - control over the cleanliness (and other aspects) of the enviroment - privacy and the relaxation of not having to worry about when to go to hospital etc. Most of my friends have been really supportive of this (and my best friend had all her 3 at home, with my sister, with no complications or hassle) but I do feel like a bit of a freak when I tell other people this. I have had all the usual comments about "bravery" "you may think that now" "you should be in hospital for number 1" and so on but my midwife is being brilliant and has really got hubby onside so I do feel more confident as a result.

I'd like to reiterate that most births are absolutely fine or if there are niggles they are minor ones, but I can understand mum's feeling anxious and having had three children in two different hospitals I think the most important thing is a well briefed and assertive birthing partner.

Tell them that it is an essential role for you and your child and that it continues until you are both back home.

I always had OK if rather blase nurses, but my husband was fantastic when I was having the children. He is still very proud years later of the contributions he made whilst I was having the children and it definitely made him feel more involved.

He or she should be there to be on your side so I suggest you agree a few things before you go in.

One is, never ever allow the midwife not to check on you every 15 minutes or so (I personally don't think you need the nurse there every single moment in the early stages but thats just my view). If they leave for more than that he/she should go and get them even if that means opening doors to other rooms. (IME they are often chatting at the nursing station). Agree that in advance and emphasise that your partner may need to be more assertive than usual.

Tell them to ask the nurse for a specific update each time they do a check ie "fine" is not good enough. In later stages they should ask each time "is there any sign of foetal distress". This will make the midwife focus on what they are doing. You don't have to be awkward but you do want them to think that there is someone watching them closely. It is just human nature to take more care if you know you are under scrutiny and not just by someone in labour.

I'm sure most midwives do an excellent job but you are trying to manage out the risk of the odd one who is not.

People do tend to discount what you say when you are in labour so your birth partner is your voice. Your birth partner's job is to make what you want happen. If you want a drink or food they either get it if its nearby or organise someone else to get it. Tell them to take and keep a mobile with them at all times so you are never cut off from the outside world and can contact friends if you want your favourite nightie or something similar. They never leave you for more than it takes to go to the loo until you are in bed asleep and they come back as soon as they have had a couple of hours kip so, if for example, you have had a caesarian they should be back there looking after the baby with you.

If you want the room cleared (as happened to me on my 3rd child because I had a room full of nurses all twittering away at me to get out of the pool to give birth and I just wanted to stay in the pool and finish the job), they organise it.

If the room is filthy they complain straight away and say you want a cleaner down (I took spray dettol and bleach into hospital with me for the loos and washbasins anyway). If you don't ask you won't get.

Finally, if you are both being ignored your birth partner should say you want the consultant and the hospital manager bleeped and want to make a formal complaint there and then. They will have an emergency bleep contact so don't take no for an answer or accept that they can only be contacted in office hours.

Most problems seem to arise either because of laziness or because midwives are overworked and don't prioritise properly. An assertive birthing partner can help make sure you get your proper priority.

only caught 10 mins of the prog as settling ds. Had him 7 weeks ago at the JR in Oxford, an induced birth at 42 weeks. It was no picnic but the midwife care was excellent and I also had superb support with getting bf established before I left. However, I know someone who had a less positive experience there and was almost railroaded into an unnecessary section. I'm no expert at all but it does seem as though luck plays an unnacceptably big role in all this - there should be consistency of care, which requires a substantial cash injection from the govt.

so if your hospital where you are expected to give birth in the next few months was heavily featured in the programme and you are now EXTREMELY worried...

what should you do????

CAN YOU DO ANYTHING????

my impression is that once labour starts you are really a woman with no control of her body and thus you can be easily wrongly dealt with and forgotten and ignored with dangerous consequences!

but with no other option (eg going private) available but to attend the hospital ...what can you do?????

petrifying

What shocked me most was how many of these naglecting features happed to me - i've never really thought that my experience was terrible but then my son was healthy. It scared me to think that i could have ended up like one of those who tragically lost their baby.

I was examined on the antenatal ward at 4.30 am whilst the others slept because there was no room and then sent home although my waters had gone. I was told the delivery suite was full i couldn't come in and to have a bath to slow things down, i was labouring in the TV lounge with contractions 3 mins apart, i was moved to my room at 10.10 with contractions 2 mins apart and strapped to a monitor and left. They said i needed to be monitored for 20 mins but after 10 i sent my partner to get help after buzzing twice because i needed to push. The midwife examined me and the baby had already crowned. He was born at 10.40.

During my time on the ward i had many ignored buzzers and was told by one midwife to pull myself together when i was crying because i couldn't latch my baby on. I left after 24 hrs because i hated it.

Last nights program made me realise how badly i was treated and how easily something could have gone wrong.

I'm 21 wks with no.2 and booked to the same hospital - i'm terrified but determined to stand up for myself.

Sorry for the long post - needed to vent.

3mum - thanks for posting. Just wanted to say that it's my first baby and your list of things which should be checked/done is massively helpful - so much so, I'm going to print it off and put it in my medical notes for my DH to read!

3mum - i have done the same...printed it off

are you a midwife??

have just been watching it on line,

My concern is that, YES although I beleive it is very valuable and important to highlight problems within maternity services etc. BUT to put all the worry and anxiety on pregnant women, if they feel like this when they go into hospital in labour, then it will only cause a less effective birth, stress will equal adrenaline and adreneline at the wrong time during labour will cause it to slow down, or stop and lead to intervention and potentially problems.

In the case of the monitors not being available, that is a problem, but I feel that actually the problem has started before that because we have somehow reached a state in which mthers who have had perfectly healthy pregnancy and normal spontaneous labours are being put on monitors when not needed. meaning that midvives end up relying on them to a certain extent to do their job. (through no fault of their own).
giving birth in hospital has come so far away from how natural childbirth is meant to be, being so medicallised there will always be problems created from unessecary intervention, and we are headed that way then maternity units will never manage to keep up the demands and things will go more wrong.
that said, for those who need medical help with childcare, then it is great that so many lives are able to be saved with the expertise available in this country and any problems within that area must be highlighted.
so many women are scared of giving birth when it should be seen as a natural process, as it is by any other mammal, women generally trust in their bodies to create the life in the first place, few I'm sure are so scared of this process instead they trust in their bodies to grow all the right bits at the right time etc, but when it comes to childbirth, there seems to be an expectation that we can't do it without all manner of interferrence.

I'm totally waffling here, I apologise. I wonder if anyone 'catches me drift'