"Poor management of labour at Russell's Hall Hospital"

I was admitted for an induction on my due date because of diagnosed SPD and the baby was estimated as 'a good size.' I arrived on the Sunday evening and given the first of three pessaries - in short these did little to bring on labour and by Wednesday midnight was only 2cm dilated, so my waters were broken and I was put on the drip.

From the Sunday to Wednesday evening while in Triage I had seen a number of midwives, and never the same one twice. With the exception of one, Leanne, all made me feel like I was an inconvenience. In my opinion the fact I wasn't an emergency resulted in me being left on the sidelines as the days rolled by.

The drip was administered at midninght on Wednesday and it wasn't until the staff changeover the following morning (Thursday) that it was noticed the IV needle was leaking - without consultation and in spite of being both exhausted from both lack of sleep and food (I'd been nil by mouth since Tuesday morning as they suspected I may need a cesarean) they restarted the drip.

By 6:30pm on Thursday I had become too exhasted to push any more and a descision to aid delivery was taken - at no point was I told it would be by forceps (my husband was with me for the whole time and supports this fact).

In my notes it claims I requested forceps as the baby's heart rate had dropped - I didn't, nor knew about a falling heart rate, however I do recall the aneathesist arguing with the consultant that the procedure should be done in theatre, not the delivery room.

Thankfully my baby was born alive and well

But the whole experience has left me traumatised: the neglect that I experienced by the midwives in triage, the poor management of induced labour and the brutality of the actual birth. It's eight months since the birth and although the feelings have ebbed I do not look back on my son's birth as a happy event. In conclusion I still have pelvic pain and the perineal scar is still painful and has not fully healed (even though I had remedial surgery 4 months ago). In my opinion, my negative experince was down to the poor management of my labour and the lack of care I recieved from the midwives who treated me.