Further Induction being delayed due to covid

[kmini]

I don't want to alarm anyone but would be interested to know if anyone else in same boat.

Had my scheduled balloon induction yesterday. Didn't work, so was waiting for pessary or waters broken this morning.

Labour ward is 40% down on midwives today bc they either got covid/contact with someone with covid/pinged by the app.

Anyone else's hospital the same?

Was just told I wont have any intervention bc too busy with all the staff losses to start me into labour. Hoping it happens tmrw.

So sorry you’re going through that, it must be horrendously stressful.

Thank you! They are better staffed today, but still a massive problem for the midwives. Hoping they'll break my waters soon.

Nhs staff can work without having to self isolate now so hopefully you'll see more today. It is certainly worrying though.

I wish you a quick, easy labour 💕 Not long until newborn snuggles x

Our local DGH told staff to delete / turn off the pp months ago. It was picking up 'contacts' when the staff were at work and of course there were people with covid in their vicinity!

Best wishes for your delivery

where I am there are a more covid positive women coming in for babies now than we’ve seen in the last 18months - it’s not surprising that some staff are going down (I think labouring hasn’t been considered to be an aerosol generating procedure either (despite the huffing, puffing and screaming that goes on!) so simple rather than enhanced PPE is all that’s advised, probably leaving staff more vulnerable than they need to be).

Locally, it also seems like a lot of people did entertain themselves during the first part of lockdown by making babies - we’ve got a bit of a rush on at the mo and I expect that’s being seen elsewhere!

Being double vaccinated doesn’t necessarily preclude getting COVID (either at work or from contact in the community) and HCPs are also just normal people who may have their own risk factors that mean working in a high risk clinical context is not appropriate for them. Staff with children are also having to care for their kids if they become ill. There are many reasons that rotas are short.

There is real concern that staffing is only going to get worse as those with more robust immune systems and physiology have to pick up the rota gaps and burn out/become ill with other problems.

hope your induction goes well!

@Girlmama3 not necessarily, it totally depends on each trust.
My trust you still have to self isolate.

Hope everything goes ok OP xx

@Metallicalover They like to confuse things don't they!

Our trust has decided not to make staff exempt from being contacted by track and trace either. Plus a lot of the staff off are living with family members who have tested positive.

We’re also finding more and more women are coming in with positive covid swabs which then makes patient flow an issue between antenatal / postnatal wards and labour ward as you have to isolate anyone with covid, anyone that had previously been in a bay with that patient, and then all rooms have to have a deep clean and potentially defogging.

It’s causing a lot of issues this time that we didn’t have during previous waves. I think as previously pregnant women were told to isolate we hardly saw any with covid… this time it’s a lot more rife

I must admit my plans for my last trimester this summer have definitely been adapted. I was hoping it would be like last summer where numbers were fairly negligible, plus being fully vaccinated helping, but I am going to semi-shield and just do outdoors things as far as possible. I've already binned off a few plans to meet people in restaurants in favour of going for a walk with a beer garden built in, and gone back to online groceries as much as possible.
Hope your induction ends up going well @kmini and fingers crossed schools breaking up will help relieve some of the pressure on staffing.

Locally, it also seems like a lot of people did entertain themselves during the first part of lockdown by making babies - we’ve got a bit of a rush on at the mo and I expect that’s being seen elsewhere!

We've got a baby boom going on at the moment too. According to an MSW I talked to yesterday, apparently there's a 50% increase in babies born over the past 6 weeks then we would normally see. Not sure about numbers for the rest of the year, but definitely feels like we've been much busier than we would ordinarily be since the beginning of February. Ditto with seeing more Covid positive women over the past couple of weeks.

Never thought about labour being an aerosol generating procedure before, but you're absolutely right! It is!

I hope your induction continues today @kmini and it all goes smoothly.

Happened to me in the baby boom post 9/11. Wards full, no beds, no staff people kept getting bumped down the list.

Happened 3 years later too, hanging around for hours and hours before they could even start the process.

@kmini How’s it going?

I'm still waiting!! Have been bumped again today bc of emergencies coming in, despite the ward being closed to new patients. Midwives saying they are struggling to send people elsewhere bc everywhere has the same problems. I can hardly complain when there are women who are actually in labour.

Today is my due date and I'm not meant to go over bc of still birth risk and my age, but imagine the risk isnt great enough to set off my labour without proper staffing levels.

Feel very sorry for the midwives. They hardly get a chance to take a break, if at all. Stressful and full on for them.

Really hope things get moving on there own!!

Can you go home for the night and get some decent sleep?

Yet another night of all staff being allocated to woman in labour.... as I've said before, I can hardly stamp my feet and complain as Im obviously less in need of their help.

Cant get an update from anyone that knows anything about today's staffing levels. So for all I know, it could be another day.

Hugely frustrating. Day 4 of waiting to be inducted. Cant imagine how women cope with long term bed rest with babies. It must be incredibly frustrating.

@girlmama3 I dont think that would be advisable. I'm now overdue, and as over 40, risk of still birth is higher. So prefer to be monitored. Plus, wouldnt want to lose my place in the queue.

This is actually quite scary.

They have agencies they can rope in. When I was induced there was a lovely agency bank midwife. They're pricey but they clearly need to do it!

We cannot put mothers and babies at risk for the sake of penny pinching.

I really hope you get seen to today and have a lovely smooth labour x

Hope you’re ok! I went through similar in the 2018 heatwave. Labour ward was so busy they had to shut delivery (sending people
Calling up or Arriving to other hospitals) so I was waiting 5ish days to actual go down and have my waters broken.

Was very stressful in the heat! Hopefully you’ll have your baby soon

This happened to me before Covid, it’s pretty common sadly. The catheter they couldn’t get in and then I reacted badly to the pessary and it was removed. I had to wait until they could decide what to do with me.
Fortunately I went in to spontaneous labour whilst waiting and DD born quickly. Hope this happens for you!
I was over 40, first baby too.

I can hardly stamp my feet and complain as Im obviously less in need of their help. I get this but if you are getting concerned please make sure you make sure they know.

@PrettyBlunt

This is actually quite scary.

They have agencies they can rope in. When I was induced there was a lovely agency bank midwife. They're pricey but they clearly need to do it!

We cannot put mothers and babies at risk for the sake of penny pinching.

I really hope you get seen to today and have a lovely smooth labour x

Huge back staff shortage too because of Covid rates. It's a disasterz

@changingstages it's just so scary!

Hope everything is well on your end OP x