"Quality of care during labour and birth"

My story relates to my pregnancy care and birth.

I selected GP Shared Care and was assigned a particular for my birth with an estimated due date (EDD). On the evening before my EDD, I began to experience early signs of labour.

For the next full four days, I labored with my contractions remaining sporadic in frequency and intensity fluctuating, between being 3 minutes apart and being 20 minutes apart. My spouse phoned the hospital we were with many times over these days, each time being advised to wait until the contractions were consistently 3-4 minutes apart.

I was finally assessed in person four days after labour commenced but at the end of the assessment, I was advised to return home and continue with the early labour at home and to call back when the contractions were established at 2-3 minutes apart, at which time “active labour” would have commenced and I would be able to return.

Upon returning home, the contractions increased in frequency and intensity, however never established a pattern close enough to 3 minutes apart. They ranged from 2 minutes to 8 minutes apart from this point until the next day when in the evening they died off again, coming every 15 minutes. At this point I was beyond exhausted from 5 full days of contractions and I felt deflated and that when active labour was established that I wouldn’t have the energy to go through labour. I was following all of the medical advice that had been provided to me and I felt as though it still wasn’t enough to allow me to call the hospital again as I was not displaying the correct signs. I emotionally broke down and my spouse was concerned for my physical and mental health.

That night my spouse called the hospital and was assisted by a very friendly, understanding and helpful midwife. She was compassionate to the circumstances and was the first midwife we spoke to that left us feeling as though we had a plan in place. She explained that the hospital was currently at capacity, however, she would contact Angliss Hospital and see if they were able to take me for an assessment ASAP with the intent to create a plan for the next steps (e.g. next day induction). Within 10 minutes she called back confirming that Angliss Hospital would be expecting us when we were ready.

We arrived at the other hospital approximately one and a half hours later where I was immediately attended to and assessed. An internal examination found I was 4.5cm, almost 5cm, dilated. The midwife performed a stretch at the same time to encourage labor and in the meantime, an induction was booked for the next morning at our original hospital. After an hour, after all monitoring had been completed, the midwife returned to advise that she had discussed with the on charge and said we were welcome to stay for an hour or 2 to see if active labour would establish. We decided to stay and shortly after, I was in active labour.

A few hours later, an internal examination was completed with the intent to rupture the remaining waters as they believed this was slowing the progression. I was 8cm dilated, the waters were ruptured and the baby was assessed. It was at this point, for the first time in my pregnancy, I was advised that the baby was breech. From here, an emergency “code green” caesarean was organised. My baby was born approximately one and a half hours later with my birth complications listed as breech presentation, breech undiagnosed, primary post-partum haemorrhage (1L) and a tear in my uterus. Due to the undiagnosed breech position that the baby had been in for most likely a number of weeks or months, my baby’s complications are bilateral hip dislocation.

I have told my story about my experience with that hospital here as I was disappointed that I was allowed to labour for so long and the breech was not picked up earlier. However, I cannot fault the quality of care received by the staff at Angliss hospital from check-in to check out. All midwives and doctors were friendly, attentive, informative and compassionate to the circumstances.