"Premature labour"

My waters broke at 35 weeks plus 3 days, which was a bit of a shock! I was planning on birthing at Busselton Hospital, but rung them and was advised to go straight to Bunbury Hospital. After arriving in Bunbury, we waited for at least 30mins to be seen, while my waters continued to leak out. Lucky a midwife gave me a towel while I waited! I was seen by a midwife and was only 1cm dilated. I had some swabs competed, including for GBS and was put in a labour room. I had contractions that built for a while, but then stopped, and so I could sleep the rest of the night. For some reason, I wasn’t given corticosteroids, I believe despite it being WACHS policy. 

The next day at 0600 I was woken up and moved into a ward room. While there, the doctors started talking about discharging me despite my waters being broken if my GBS swab came back negative. I was quite anxious about being at home (40 mins from the hospital) and not making it back to the hospital in time. 

Around 6pm I had contractions that continued to build. Later that night, I was put on the monitors, however I think they were placed wrong, as they didn’t show the contractions. The midwife believed I wasn’t in labour and gave me a sleeping tablet and told me to rest. At that point, lying down was extremely painful, and I was pacing the room. By 0330 the pain was getting worse. The midwife told me I needed to have a vaginal check if I wanted more pain relief. The doctor came and checked me, and stated I was 5 cms dilated and they could see baby’s head. I was quickly taken to a labour room. The midwife I had during the labour was great once she knew I was in labour. I had some gas and air, but couldn’t have morphine due to the risk to bub. I was instructed that the best method for delivery given bub’s prematurity would be on my back with the monitors on. The midwives did let me know that it was my choice though, and they were offering best practice advice. I really appreciated feeling empowered to know I could make my own choices. 

I started pushing around 0600, and bub came at 0645. My baby's heart rate was quite elevated at the end, but the midwives and doctor were very encouraging while I was pushing. It was a relief to hear my baby cry and have them on my chest briefly. I was given the injection to encourage my placenta to come out, and then the doctor stated she was going to pull on the cord to encourage it out. Unfortunately the cord snapped, and I then had to go straight into surgery to have my placenta removed. This meant I didn’t get the see bub or hubby for a few hours which was horrible!! 

Once I was back in my room, I was encouraged to try and breastfeed. Unfortunately bub was too weak to do so. The paediatric team put a plan in place for 5mins of breastfeeding with formula top ups. We were going well with this the first day. Unfortunately the midwife that first night didn’t follow the plan. At 0400 on the following morning I requested the formula so I could feed my baby. When the midwife asked about breastfeeding, I stated we had tried, but it felt like my baby didn’t latch at all. Despite this, on their notes the midwife wrote that the breastfeeding was “good” and refused to get me the formula. I wish I had pushed harder for it, but I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours at that point apart from the surgery. 

Later that day bub had low blood sugars and was very close to getting taken to the special care nursery and having a nasal gastric tube. I got hubby to get some stocks of formula to ensure we always had some on hand. We also started writing the feeding times on the whiteboard to ensure we stuck to the timings to avoid any more low blood sugars. 

On the following, we saw the lactation consultant. She confirmed that bub’s suck was very weak, and my baby wasn’t getting anything while breastfeeding. I really wished we saw the LC quicker, as I feel this would have helped. I’m assuming they don’t work weekends, but it would be amazing if they did!! 

Most of the midwives and special care nurses were absolutely amazing. Call bells did take around 30 mins to get answered on both Maternity A and B, but I understand they are likely short staffed. It just made it difficult when things like bottles and formula were needed.