"My birth horror story"

I came in to KEMH a few days ago around night time after my water had broken almost an hours earlier. I rang the hospital before coming in and was told that I needed to come to the hospital. I was 35 weeks pregnant with my 5th child.

Upon arriving at the hospital I presented at the MAFU (mother and foetal assessment unit) as instructed.

I was told to wait in the waiting room and sit on an absorbent sheet as I was covered in amniotic fluid. I sat with a mask on due to COVID restrictions for around 90 minutes before I was taken (without my husband, again because of COVID restrictions) to a small room and placed on a trolley. I had a foetal heart rate monitor put on and had a tube inserted for IV antibiotics. The first attempt was unsuccessful and after another attempt got the line inserted. This would prove to be a great source of pain every time something was put through the drip and ended with it being taken out and put in the other arm after it was finally realised that it had gone into my tissue and caused my arm to swell up.

I was left alone all night and had to tell my husband to go home because he couldn’t see me. I was told I would have an ultrasound in the morning.

I finally made it through the night and walked myself to ultrasound that morning, then back to the MAFU.

At around mid-morning, my contractions had started and I convinced the midwife that I was in labour. They finally took me to Labour ward and I could see my husband.

The midwife in labour ward asked around 8 times I believe, over the following painful hour when they were getting their tea break.

They had the foetal heart monitor on me and checked my cervix which was 2cm dilated. I informed the doctor that in all my previous labours my cervix took awhile to get to 4cm but then very quickly went from 4-10cm dilation.

I asked several times to be allowed to stand up as that had helped progress labour in previous pregnancies. I was told that my baby's heart rate kept dropping and that I had to stay where I was so they could monitor me.

I was breathing hard through quicker contractions and knew my cervix was dilating rapidly but instead of checking my cervix again, they said I was going to be taken upstairs for an emergency caesarean. I was in a lot of pain and could feel labour progressing. I was then rushed into the elevator and taken upstairs and again away from my husband. As they were trying to give me a General Anaesthetic I was trying to tell them I needed to push but I felt I was ignored and placed under General Anaesthesia. Upon waking I was told that I had not needed a Caesarean as I was fully dilated when they finally decided to check me. So they delivered my baby by forceps and had to manually remove my placenta while I was knocked out.

So in my opinion, the General Anaesthetic that I received was completely unnecessary and caused both my husband and I to completely miss the birth of our baby.

The emotional stress and trauma that resulted from this has been unbearable and has made me have repeated flashbacks and insomnia. I feel one of the most precious moments in my child's, my husband’s and my life has been stolen from us and I am absolutely devastated.