"Emergency Cesarean Birth, Retained Placenta"

My husband and I were in and out of the maternity ward for a few days leading up to my birth. We presented on a Tuesday at 6pm due to reduced movements, whilst there I began experiencing labour pains. I was going to be sent home but was kept in due to baby not moving much on ultrasound.

When I called the nurse bell I recall the midwife stated that they didn’t even know we were in there (the triage room). Eventually after 6 hours in the triage room I was admitted.

The midwife’s told me I was going to be having a speculum exam to see if I was dilated. I mentioned that due to having Vaginismus I usually have gas and air for pain relief due to how painful this is for me and that has never been an issue previously. I was initially made to feel like this wasn’t going to be an option and became very distressed and anxious. I was visibly crying when the midwife then entered the room with the gas and air and told me they were going to do a vaginal exam as it was “less painful”.

They didn’t asked if I was okay, they didn’t wait for me to stop crying they handed me the gas and air and I didn’t feel it was working. I mentioned this and the midwife checked the gas, I recall stating they didn’t turn it on properly and that it was almost empty.

The gas and air was barely effective during the exam which was excruciatingly painful and following a birth debrief I don’t feel that I was able to give proper informed consent to this exam before it was preformed.

My husband kept asking if I wanted the midwife to stop and I recall they responded “it’s very important we get this done”. I didn’t want to endure it again and once it was over the midwife told me I was 4cm dilated and in labour.

On the way to theatre one staff member asked the other how their day was going the midwife responded “I have had better days”, on what was going to be the most important day of our lives. We had a birth preferences sheet written out that we didn’t feel comfortable sharing with the midwife as we wanted to avoid any further issues.

During the cesarean baby was taken to special care, my husband followed. I was left alone on the table getting stitched up with no support. The anaesthetic doctor and nurse were talking about their day to day lives whilst I was shaking from my spinal and trying to hold my own vomit bag as I was throwing up. It was like as soon as the birth was over, the mother no longer mattered.

3 hours later I met my baby and no one helped me to initiate breastfeeding until almost 9 hours after my baby was born. Thankfully that was a smooth process for us. I was sent home with inadequate pain relief, not enough to last one night after an emergency cesarean.

My amazing visiting home midwife had to sort this out for me the following day. The postpartum midwives and visiting home midwives were amazing in particular Chantelle and Tracey, they were absolutely incredible and we felt so safe and confident in their care!

7 weeks later I was hospitalised again for retained placenta and required 24-48 hours of antibiotics prior to surgery to remove it. I fasted for over 24 hours with small meals in between as my surgery was consistently delayed. This had an effect on my milk supply and I was offered no IV fluids during this time to keep me hydrated. My 7 week old baby had an upset tummy from the antibiotics but it felt like they were being used as a bandaid

Whilst my surgery was constantly delayed. I was constantly trying to organise my pain relief with the registrar due to pre existing pelvic pain on top of cesarean & D & C recovery and sent home again with inadequate pain relief by this doctor despite this and was still having pain and bleeding for over a week post op.

My birth experience was awful, and traumatic. I have utilised the birth debrief service but feel this is needed again following the post birth complications. I feel really anxious about having to have future cesarean births at Bunbury regional hospital due to my negative experience and will be looking at alternative options to ensure I will be supported and advocated for especially when it comes to my pre existing medical conditions.