"Postpartum care."

I’m only recently postpartum recovering from a pretty traumatic birth, after a failed induction then prep for an emergency C-section which then led to a forcep and episiotomy delivery in the theatre. I have been in a crazy amount of pain with the stitches opening up and a lot of pain where the catheters were put in.

I called maternity ward and explained the pain and I was told because I have already been discharged that I could not come to the maternity ward, they recommended going to urgent care because it would be apparently quicker than going to ED and if I need stitches they told me they could do them at urgent care.

My partner, myself and baby waited 4 hours at urgent care and where told there were still 9 people infront of us and it would be hours, and if I need stitches I’d be sent to the hospital anyway, by this point I was already exhausted from my baby cluster feeding all night before and cluster feeding the whole time I was waiting to be seen, I went into the parents room at urgent care to feed my baby and there wasn’t even a chair to feed them so I had to feed my baby standing up in the bathroom (I’m recently pp so feeding infront of people just wasn’t an option) my partner decided for us to just go to ED because I was in so much pain and felt it wasn’t worth sitting there for hours and hours to be told to go to the hospital if I did require stitches, so we headed to the hospital.

Same deal at the ED waiting and waiting and trying to feed my baby standing up in the toilets. At this point I was so scared because I’ve had my newborn baby exposed to so many sick people for the entire day. We left urgent care at around midday and we finally got seen at the hospital ED in the later afternoon.

I just believe that the Bunbury hospital should be more accommodating to postpartum mothers, I had to sit on my painful stitches for hours and hours and feed my cluster feeding baby every hour standing in a dirty toilet room with nothing but a toilet and a change table (same in the urgent care) I believe not everyone is comfortable to feed their babies in front of so many sick people. I’m praying my baby doesn’t get sick now being around everyone I’m so scared that they will. We even had a nurse come up and just grab the baby off of my partner, didn’t even ask permission. And walked away with my baby cooing over them. I’m a FTM and I’m suffering crazy separation anxiety and I was so upset they didn’t even ask and then continued to walk around sick people with my brand new baby who was crying because they were hungry. 

Once I finally got seen they’d told me that the stitches should heal even though I told them it’s been continuously getting bigger day by day, and they just gave me a script for antibiotics and said that it’s infected downstairs, the actual doctor was lovely and it was a five minute checkover. 

I was happy to wait I just wish there was somewhere provided for me to feed my baby in private. and also somewhere we could have gone while waiting that would be away from sick people with my newborn who hasn’t had a chance to build any immunity at all at their aged I will be so so disappointed if my beautiful baby comes down with a sickness just because I had to be seen by a doctor.