"There was one midwife that really ..."

What I liked

There was one midwife that really helped me with breast feeding and this helped me after a difficult birth and experience.

Other than this there was very little that was up to a decent standard.

What could be improved

Communication and Care and Facilities.

Communication between the midwife and myself during the labour needed improving. The midwife I was assigned hardly spoke to me and left me feeling like I had no idea what was going on. She told me it was all down to me and didn't say anything further. My gas and air was taken away from me without explanation at midnight and I didn't give birth untill 2.30am so I was without any pain relief for this time and in a great deal of pain.I had to be taken to theatre and on the way the line of my drip got caught on something and I remember screaming for them to stop pushing the bed. They didn't notice that it had caught on a door.

The aftercare that I received was appalling. I was left overnight after having a spinal with my new born baby all by myself. When my baby was crying I could not get out of bed to attend him and in the end I had to hook him out of the crib by hanging on to the bed and pulling my baby out with the blanket. The following night I asked a nurse to help me change my baby as I was still really shaky and she told me to "get on with it". I stood in the middle of the ward crying and my baby was crying and the nurses just walked past me and ignored me as they said they were busy. In the end I asked to go home as I knew I would receive more care from my husband and Mother than the nurses. Actually when I asked to go home the doctor said I couldn't go untill I had been to the toilet and I hadn't. More than one midwife/nurse said that I should just say that I had been so that I could go home because they basically agreed with me that I would get more care at home than in the hospital.

At one point all of the toilets in the ward were out of order and they were in an absolutely disgusting state, sanitary pads on the floor etc...

To be honest I could go on further - there is a great deal of work to be done to improve this department.

Anything else?

My message is to warn other women of the poor standard of care at the hospital. If you are intending to attend the maternity unit at Milton Keynes hospital please look at your options and go elsewhere. I would not wish my experience on my worst enemy. I am a woman of 30 years old and a maths teacher at a secondary school and feel that I am quite a practical person quite able to cope with difficult situations but the whole experience has affected me very badly. It has been 8 months since the birth of my son and I still have sleepless nights going over the events of the labour and the aftercare.