"Birth of first child"

I recently had my first baby at the Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital. We attended parenting classes prior to prepare us for the birth and did a tour of a birth suite.

I was told we would have a birth suite for privacy and support during labour. We were advised to bring reading materials, massage oil, our own music - all to make the birthing experience as personal and comfortable as possible.

Reality was totally different. We presented to hospital after my waters broke to be assessed. There was no bed in the review clinic so we waited. The midwives were changing shifts so we waited. They had to answer an on call phone service for pregnant women as well as attend the patients in an overfull department. So we waited. I was seen once at 6. 30am and then despite having contractions lasting a minute and being only a minute apart nobody would come to review me. I was told standard procedure was to review me in 4 hours.

My husband was there but we didn't know what to expect as it was our first baby. We were left alone to labour for hours without any reassurance or support from nursing staff and while we were waiting for someone to assess me I cried.

I cried because I was scared, because I didn't know what was happening, because I felt alone and ignored by nursing staff. I felt like an inconvenience. I had no privacy, was told to walk the general hospital corridor to help with labour & had a curtain for a door as I suffered through contractions.

I cried because I wanted to go home and couldn't understand why reality was so different to my expectations. My baby is a number of weeks old and I still feel traumatised by the lack of support and empathy shown to me.

In my opinion I got told off for making a mess as I was in the process of bringing a new life into this world. I was lucky to make it to a birthing suite, as there are only 10 in a hospital that caters to a significant catchment area.

On the positive side Birth Suite itself was amazing.