Maternity care in the U.K.

[EdinburghFeminist]

Saw this article and thought it raised some important issues. I wasn’t believed during my first labour and by the time they saw fit to examine me I was 7cm and hadn’t had any pain relief. Later when pregnant I was told I ‘probably had a UTI’ and left over the weekend, then it turned out the pain I had bee complaining about was an ectopic pregnancy which ruptured on the Sunday requiring emergency surgery.
amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/04/as-long-as-sexism-lies-at-the-heart-of-childcare-babies-and-women-will-continue-to-die

Accounts like yours are so painful but so necessary to read.

I'm so sorry for what you endured.

I am so sorry for what you went through. I also thought the article was really good, though I am sure many people will find it provocative, I think the points it makes are good and not said enough. Woman-centred care should mean access to all needed medical care, as much as support for natural childbirth, but that discussion usually only seems to go one way. Sonia Sodha is brave. As are all the women fighting for the right to decent care.

Thank you for posting this - that's an excellent article from a fine reporter. Sometimes seems that women - centred maternity care is going backwards with the demands of men / political lobby groups / anyone with an anti woman agenda being prioritised over the needs of women and babies.

I'm so sorry, OP.

Care varies hugely, I found. Some outstanding; some verging on abusive - two different hospitals, such different experiences.

I’m sorry for what you went through, I hope you feel in some small way vindicated.

I’m sorry that happened to you.

Unfortunately I had a similar experience. I was sent home from A&E three times after presenting with awful pain. Because it sometimes died down they sent me home. This went on for 4 days. My friend ended up having to call an ambulance, I had a ruptured ectopic and lost a tube and ovary.

Sadly not being believed is as old as time. When my Mum was in labour with my big sister (she had had a still birth previous to this) the ward staff sent my Dad in to 'shut her up' as she was making too much of a fuss and the monitor was saying she wasn't in labour. My sister arrived 30 minutes later.

My experience - dc1 - I said I felt like I needed to push, I was grumped at as it wasn't time for me to be examined - but 'oh yes you are fully dilated' dc2 - I was pre-term so being constantly monitored (this was after I had been told that it couldn't have been my waters breaking and I must have just wet myself) and I was told that I wasn't in labour, yep he arrived a few hours later.

I (and my Mum) actually labour in the hip area, so a monitor will never pick up on contractions as they are not traditional ones, I also only had gas and air towards the very end as I managed ok. I am not saying that to be all smug, but to highlight because I don't labour in an expected way I wasn't really believed.

This is part of the reason I will have an elective c section. The risks involved with vaginal birth are more scary to me than the risks involved with c section, and I also do not trust maternity services to give me the appropriate care to minimise and manage the risks of vaginal birth.