A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023:
My daughter was born in 2023 at the John Radcliffe Hospital via emergency caesarean section.
My labour started a week before my daughter was born. I started experiencing contractions at home on the Tuesday evening. We managed at home until Thursday evening. Arrangements were made that I could be checked at the local midwife-led unit. They confirmed I was in active labour, so we made our over to Spires.
After a couple of hours being on Spires, the midwife wanted to check to see how I was progressing. In the few hours since I was last checked, I was still 4cm dilated. I felt like I was being kicked out onto the street. I was told I had to go home which I refused to do as we lived an hour away. Due to “staffing issues”, the only other option I was given was to be administered Oromorph (I had not requested any pain relief) and I would be transferred to Level 6 to sleep. I felt totally unsafe and my anxiety levels were increasing. Once we were transferred to level 6, my contractions came to a stop as I was no longer in a safe environment.
We spent the following day on the ward but there was no communication from the midwives or doctors about what we should do. We decided to leave as my labour had stalled but as soon as I was back in the car and got home the intense contractions started up again.
We managed at home until Saturday. I was mentally and physically exhausted. I hadn’t slept properly since the Monday night. My blood pressure was raised due to the stress and my pulse was high. I was admitted with the plan to induce me urgently as my body was stuck in latent labour and I was not coping. I was informed the process would be started that evening.
Two days passed and there was still no communication. My mental state very quickly deteriorated but nobody seemed to care. Foetal movements were decreasing and sometimes non-existent for multiple hours, but again nobody listened.
On Monday evening, a midwife finally took me seriously and listened to my concerns. The CTG showed baby was having abnormal decelerations. Due to staff shortages I wasn’t transferred to labour ward until Tuesday morning.
My waters were broken and the oxytocin infusion was started. Looking back, there was not really any proper explanation on what was going to happen - risks were not discussed and no alternative options were given. I do not feel that I was fully informed.
Baby was not coping with the induction, she continued having decelerations and my cervix was still not dilating. I knew things weren’t going well and I kept asking for a c-section as I could sense it would probably lead to some kind of emergency. Looking back on the discussions we had with the doctors, we feel like we were coerced away from having a c-section. We were repeatedly told there was no medical need for one so we listened to the ‘experts’. I wish I had fought harder but I was exhausted.
I was persuaded to have an epidural so that I could sleep as I was told it would help labour progress. It took a few extremely painful, traumatic hours for the anaesthetists to successfully place an epidural. During this time I also experienced a dural puncture. I felt like it was brushed off and I was simply just told that I would ‘probably get a headache tomorrow’.
A short while later the monitor started alarming again - I saw baby’s heart rate dropping. I thought she was going to die. Her heart rate didn’t recover for what felt like an eternity. The emergency bell was alarmed.
We were rushed into theatre. Thankfully baby was born healthy. As I was in shock I couldn’t hold her and I feel like I was robbed of the magical ‘golden hour’ which still haunts me to this day.
I started to feel sensation returning to my legs. I started to feel what they were doing and I was in so much pain. It felt like the anaesthetist was ignoring me and nobody else cared that I was in huge amounts of pain. Nobody was listening to me. I was told it was normal.
My husband was told to leave 2 hours after the most traumatic event of our lives. I was left alone with no support to care for our newborn baby. I was transferred to the postnatal ward a few hours later. I had to drag my own bags into the bed space as there was no help available.
The following night, I started experiencing the most horrendous headache. I asked the midwife for more pain relief and I was told no. I knew what I was prescribed, I knew when I could have it but I was denied it. I felt like I was dying. I was unable to look after my baby. The nurse never came back to see how I was and she seemed clueless about the headache and my dural puncture.
The headache continued for 2 weeks after being discharged which is the worst thing I have ever experienced. I would never wish for anyone to experience what I did during those first weeks of motherhood.