A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023:
I had my daughter at the JR December 2023. My waters broke before labour started and it was approx 40 hours before the hospital made contact with me to say I should go in for an induction.
I’ve later learnt that the hospital policy is to aim to see women for an induction within 24 hours of waters breaking and then wellbeing checks should be made in the interim. I was told after 40 hours (first point of contact) that if I went into the hospital for an induction at 10pm I would be seen as high priority as it had been so long since my waters had broken. I found this reassuring and so me and my husband travelled to the hospital.
Once at the hospital I was taken to delivery suite and a midwife let me know that after staff breaks I would meet my midwife and that the room I was in was where I’d have my baby. I had naturally gone into labour without an induction at this point - and it was ramping up quickly. Thirty minutes later that same midwife came back to tell me, while I was in labour and already in a lot of pain, that there was no longer a midwife for me. No woman should EVER hear that.
I was already in a lot of pain and was now frightened, feeling unsupported, and the horror stories of poor maternity care felt like they were now happening to me. I was given the option to stay in that room (it was clear they didn’t want me to) with no support or pain relief, or move to another room where they said there would be some support.
The room they took me to was a tiny single room where there was only a tiny bed. No birthing ball, room to move around, nothing. I tried to have an upright labour rather than laying on my back as I knew this facilitates labour. The only way I could do this was lean over the back of the bed for hours on end.
They left me and my husband in there for five hours - and only came in when I buzzed when absolutely desperate - and then only gave me a rough check and minor, ineffective pain relief. There was no kindness, no care, nothing. Two of those hours I was in established labour and I should have had 1:1 care.
I was screaming from pain and they would have heard me struggling down the corridor - no one came to help me. It was extremely traumatic - I was scared, in extreme pain and not able to communicate. I was made to feel like a nuisance.
Earlier in the experience I tried to use the bathrooms as I knew that a full bladder can hinder labour. The toilets were covered in other women’s blood, so in labour I had to try to walk between contractions down long corridors to find a clean bathroom.
When I was finally allocated a midwife, I was beyond the point of return. There was no possibility I could have been coached through contractions - I could barely open my eyes from the pain. An epidural took hours - the anaesthetists themselves apologised when they arrived, acknowledging that I’d waited a very long time.
Someone with less experience attempted the epidural four times until a consultant took over (five attempts total). I was treated like a guinea pig, someone to gain practice on. They never asked me if the multiple attempts were ok. There are risks with each attempt and I wasn’t able to advocate for myself because I couldn’t speak. Unsurprisingly, I ended up having a failed forceps trial and then an emergency c-section.
My aftercare was awful too. The ward was busy, noisy and the midwives were not present. My husband was made to leave less than three hours after delivery - before I could even feel my legs. I needed him - I couldn’t pick up my baby let alone try to feed her. I knew that I needed to feed my daughter and had to buzz each time. Again I felt like a nuisance, and received no real support. I barely held her overnight and this still causes me emotional pain, knowing that she would have needed comfort and feeding but received nothing from me.
Breastfeeding was unsuccessful - likely because we missed the golden hour and 24 hours after. The midwives discharged me with no recovery information. I was later told by the hospital that I should have received a leaflet, but they didn’t have any and the midwives didn’t know how to share digital copies. So instead they gave me nothing, not even verbal information - which is completely negligent.
I was discharged without pain relief, after a 20 hour labour, forceps and a c-section.
The community midwives that visited me the day after discharge cried when they heard what had happened and organised emergency pain relief because I was in so much pain. I’ve since received a debrief and apology from the hospital.
There are too many stories in the news about poor maternity care. As a group, new families don’t have the time to write to MPs, write complaints, seek legal help, which is why, I feel, hospitals are getting away with this.
We were lucky and are both healthy - for others, that’s not the case.
There seems to be so much focus on ‘if you and your baby are healthy you should be grateful’ - we should be aiming for a higher standard than “you’ve survived”.
I’m angry - families deserve better.