"Early Pregnancy and miscarriage"

I attended A&E with lower abdominal pain and spotting. The wait was long but the doctor I saw was incredible. He was kind, compassionate and informative and despite being incredibly busy, he took the time to reassure me and treated me with respect. I could not have asked for a better doctor. After this, I was taken to Ward 1 Early Pregnancy Unit (E. P. U. ).

E. P. U. was a completely different story. I understand that the staff deal with miscarriages on a daily basis but I however do not. As I walked into the sonographer's room, there were patient notes on the desk and scan photos of babies. They left me unattended with those at one point and then came back to collect the notes only. I was treated insensitively and without feeling by the sonographer. I was given no choice about having a chaperone and the screen in front of me was left on so I could see the heart-breaking news before they even said. I was scared and alone. When they asked if I could have got my dates wrong, I said no but they refused to listen and said that I could have done. I was told that the foetus (my baby) had demised as there was no heartbeat. Then they walked out and left me alone.

When I came out of the room, they gave me my notes of the scan and told me to return for an appointment two weeks later. And that was that. Thankfully a senior nurse came to see me and just sat with me as I cried. At least she acknowledged that I was a sentient being.

My next scan appointment was just as horrific. I was not given a choice about having a chaperone yet again and the screen for me to see my scan was again on. I informed the sonographer that I had passed huge clots and bled a lot as I thought this scan was to see how the miscarriage was progressing for my health. I had to have an internal scan and informed the sonographer that I was still bleeding to which response was that it was ok as they deal with that all of the time. This made me feel like I was just a number to them and that my feelings were again not considered. At the end of the scan, the sonographer said that they were sorry to inform me that I had had a miscarriage. I already knew this and did not need reminding.

Then I had to wait in a room for 25 minutes to be seen by a senior nurse for the results of my scan. They gave me my notes and said that I would need to do a pregnancy test in three weeks. I said that surely it should be more like one to two weeks considering my baby had died two weeks ago at least and that I had already passed the huge clots. They again treated me like I knew nothing and then went on to give me an information leaflet on first trimester miscarriage and what to expect in terms of bleeding and pain. At this point I could not take anymore and told them that if anybody on this unit had actually listened to me, that they would know that I have already passed the huge clots and done the heavy bleeding and been in immense pain both emotionally and physically and it was too late to give me this information now.

I walked away hurt, angry and upset. This whole experience has put me off trying for another baby for fear of going through all of this again combined with what I feel was hideous and horrendous treatment I have faced by your staff.