"Birth experience - not feeling listened to"

Towards the end of pregnancy, I was admitted to hospital because of my blood pressure being too high. I was also started on medication. I was told by the Doctor a couple of days later that they wouldn’t feel comfortable sending me home with my blood pressure being so unstable and that it was my choice whether or not I began the induction process. This Doctor told me that my bloods also weren’t perfect so they were concerned about pre-eclampsia.

That lunchtime I was given a pessary, but I started to become overstimulated. I got checked in the early evening and was told I was 2cm dilated. The staff then changed over at night time and the ward round came to see me. The midwife told them I was overstimulated so she checked me again and I was still 2cm dilated. The midwife then took out my pessary so I could get a rest overnight.

The next morning, I got given another pessary. A different Doctor came to see me because the midwives were concerned that my baby’s heart rate was dropping. This Doctor took the pessary out and left. The midwife had to call her back again because my baby’s heart rate had dropped again. This Doctor kept telling me that everything was alright and the baby’s heart rate wasn’t dropping. The midwife came into the room with a catheter and bloods in case we had to go to theatre, but this wasn’t fully explained to me until the next morning. I felt really angry when I found this out because I was told everything was okay.

This Doctor checked me and told me I wasn’t dilated. I was then given an injection to relax my uterus and stop my contractions. This doctor made the decision  to stop my induction at that point and to trial a cooks balloon when I’d had a chance to rest. I felt exhausted and tired, so I asked if it would be possible to have an elective section rather than a cooks balloon.

Prior to my induction, I had been contracting on and off for a week and I’d been started and stopped so much with the induction that I just felt I couldn’t do it anymore. This Doctor said they would speak to their higher up and come back, but they didn’t. This made me feel quite annoyed because a lot had been going on so it was like I’d been forgotten about. 

I gave a urine sample and there was protein in my urine and I got more bloods. The doctors did their ward rounds and told me I should never of been started off in the first place so they were sending me home. The doctor didn’t examine me, but I was asked to give another urine sample.

This had a trace of protein but the staff weren’t concerned because this was less than the previous sample. My bloods were also okay at this point so I was sent home with an appointment to come back to day care for a blood pressure check on after the weekend. At this point I felt exhausted, but there were 5 people coming in for induction that day so I felt like they were trying to get me out the door because they needed my bed. 

While I was in hospital, I felt like the staff weren’t listening to me and would rather listen to my mum because she is older. I kept getting told lots of different things by lots of different people and this felt quite annoying because I felt like I was just being passed about. I felt like my voice didn’t matter. Everyone kept saying I didn’t have pre-eclampsia, but I had all the signs. This made me feel quite annoyed and worried because I felt my dates were also wrong and it all just didn’t add up. 

I went in for my blood pressure check after the weekend and was told the tablets were keeping my blood pressure under control. I had an appointment to see my consultant in 4 days time. I had asked if I could book an elective section, but the consultant said they wanted to wait until I was 40 weeks and send me in for another induction.

The consultant sent me away to talk things over with my mum, but it felt like they were hoping my mum would try talk me out of the section. When we went back, the consultant did eventually book the section. I got really upset talking to the doctor, but felt better when the section was booked. 

I had an elective section the following week which was a positive experience, but the hospital staff still tried to convince me to have an induction when I was admitted the morning of my section. They kept offering to examine me and they kept telling me the risks over and over again - not just once, but 3 times by different members of staff. This felt terrifying and I felt staff were trying to coerce me into having an induction.

I’m happy everything turned out okay in the end. but I was worried things could have gone wrong. Overall it didn’t feel like a really good experience having to go back and forth to the hospital so much. I think my care could have been improved if staff had listened to me directly and not just gone to my mum for everything. This made me feel like my opinion and what I was saying didn’t matter, which had a negative impact on this experience and the care I received.

The community midwives and the midwives at the hospital were really good. My community midwife Leanne and the rest of the chestnut and cherry team were helpful.  I feel the midwives listened more to me than the doctor did and this was good because I felt like my voice mattered.