when I specifically agreed with the doctor that the intermittent hand monitor be used? Why did the doctor say I would receive oxytocin 2 hours after my waters were broken, and when I challenged this short time frame it was quickly increased to 4? After delivering my baby and placenta, why did the midwife insert her hand and wipe out clots, causing me to cry out in more pain and discomfort than I had experienced while giving birth?
And I got answers. The letter had been discussed sensitively with the midwife concerned for her personal reflection and one of the labour ward matrons talked me through my notes and explained why certain things happened. She was grateful for the feedback on hospital stockings as she knew women were being made to wear them who did not need them. A box had mistakenly been ticked on a DVT risk assessment form which in the process of being changed to be clearer. Intermittent monitoring (using hand-held device) had been misinterpreted as using the continuous fetal monitor for only 20 minutes within every hour rather than all the time. Four hours was the usual time given between breaking waters and starting the oxytocin drip so I was right to question.
Some of my wishes were outside clinical guidelines and this
caused a level of anxiety for the midwife caring for me. But the ward matrons are trying to change this by upskilling their senior midwives to be better advocates for women and to feel comfortable when women’s birth preferences deviate from guidelines. I have told my birth story at a couple of these training sessions and it is reassuring to see this work happening. And hopefully it will help other women keep childbirth as natural as possible, even if they do require doctor-led care.
If you’d like to feed back on your maternity experience, contact Hannah Lynes of Bromley Maternity Voices, on [email protected] or 07790 032620.