in

Birth Trauma Support Group

My birth story

My name is Amy, I am 35 years old from the Scottish Borders. I gave birth at The Borders General Hospital on the 12th of November 2023, my son is now 9 weeks old.
My waters broke spontaneously the night of the 11th. I was only 32 weeks pregnant. In the hospital I started to give birth naturally but my baby became distressed, and I was told he was stuck. I had to have an emergency C-section under general anesthetic, which in itself is petrifying. The amount of hospital staff in the theater room was overwhelming and I was given a lot of information I didn't fully understand at the time. My baby was taken straight to special care so I didn’t even get to see him when he was born because I was put to sleep and then he had to have support. I was put in the maternity ward to recover, surrounded by other women and their new babies, which was upsetting. Later that day I got to see him and was informed that he had suffered a bleed to the brain, from his traumatic birth, so we would need to be transferred to a bigger hospital where he could get the support he needed. I was not offered to be transferred with my son and had to discharge myself against medical advice and find my own transport to Glasgow that night- less than 24 hours post surgery.
My son was transferred to The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow that night where he was put in the high dependency NICU and I was admitted to hospital to recover from my C-section. We then ended up staying in Glasgow for two weeks before getting transferred back home. During my time in Glasgow I saw a psychologist who helped to be able to talk about things that happened. This was a 45 minute appointment and although helpful, I feel more sessions to go over what happened would have benefited me.
We then spent a further 5 weeks in special care when back in The Borders General Hospital. Leaving my son in the hospital alone every night was very difficult. Since being home I had a birth debrief with the doctor who performed my C-section which did answer questions I had regarding the birth. My son ended up with a severe brain injury which will likely result in being diagnosed with cerebral palsy.