"My pregnancy & post pregnancy experience"

During my pregnancy it was difficult and I was hospitalised regularly due to hyperemesis. I felt some of the midwives were hit and miss but I dealt with a couple of really lovely ladies. The only time I was not happy with Maternity Fetal  Assessment Unit (MFAS) was when they tried to send me home during my labour (I was an elective c-section for legitimate health reasons backed up by 3 medical professionals) and my spouse noticed our child’s heart rate dropping. The on-call doctor dismissed this. I believe it nearly killed our baby.

I’m happy that both my spouse and I were able to advocate for my health and appropriate treatment. My labour was horrible while in MFAS, as I was supposed to be a c-section. I had to wait 9 hours with pain medication that I felt didn’t work on me. The midwife/doctor tried a couple of different medications. I was in a lot of pain until the epidural was given.

Due to being quite stressed out from being so sick during my whole pregnancy, I needed specialist mental health care from KEMH. The triage nurse messed around with my time (as I was working). They were also, I felt, really rude to me and downplayed the reason for seeking mental health help during pregnancy. I ended up writing a formal complaint as the way I was treated was unacceptable. KEMH reassessed my pregnancy notes, bypassing the nurse, and I was allowed to see a specialist for the remainder of my pregnancy.

Food in hospital was great but I felt I was left to starve on the first night because I was given a meal I couldn’t eat. No one told me that I had to fill out the cards and the person who served dinners was rude in my opinion. They told me I couldn’t borrow their pen, they wouldn’t pass mine out of my bag (as I couldn’t walk from the c section) and just left me there hungry. My diet preferences were also left in my pregnancy book - as I don’t eat pork for religious reasons. The young person who does the morning food services was so lovely and explained how to order food.

The parent education area at KEMH is where I felt I had consistently bad treatment from the training midwives.

When I did the hospital tour (apparently c section patients don’t need to do the tour), the tour guide, I felt, looked at me like I was an idiot for asking about the inconsistencies in the baggage limits. I believe the KEMH book says one thing and midwives said another.

I was also doing the baby massage course and the person running it was also rude in my opinion. I sent them an email asking if I could have the details of the other participants with their permission of course (we do this in other mother classes) and I felt they were so rude about it, I didn’t want to go back to the classes. So I didn’t.