Choosing which hospital to give birth at!

I think you’d have to totally move the whole care. There would be some risks with picking another hospital to provide your care but that can be discussed with your midwife :) also home birth is something you can discuss too.

What happened at Ipswich, if you don’t mind me asking?

I went in at 39 weeks with slight reduced movements…everything was absolutely fine in the end but because I was 39 weeks the midwife told me I needed to be induced (something I did not really want) I just found they were quite pushy with induction and really trying to lay it on thick!!

Few days later I came in to be induced…the midwife who greeted me called me by another lady’s name? Was talking to me about another lady’s care…until I politely told her she has the wrong woman?? The communication in that place is dreadful!

Induction goes ahead…I start contracting hard and when I asked for pain relief I was told they had “run out” of gas and air and could only have paracetamol…they just really didn’t care AT ALL!

Every midwife who checked me down there 👇 had a different opinion about dilation…I just felt so uneasy and like no one really knew what they were doing!

Fast forward 3 days and still no progress and in ALOT of pain I threw in the towel and had a c-section….

During the C-section my surgeon was talking badly about another colleague…so impersonal and I felt so afraid the whole time..my partner felt uneasy too! No communication when baby was born, I just heard him cry…we felt like a number not like people :/ Back on the post ward, I was left alone crying, unable to pick up my baby and the midwives were cold and sharp and did the bare minimum before running off to stand at the desk station chatting and laughing….

so sorry you experienced this. I do have to say that it’s not acceptable to make a patient feel like a number, ever but if the gas and air was out of use for any reason then that’s not on the midwives. Dilation is subjective so it will be different for each midwife. Induction is not a natural process of labour so can be long and more painful. Have you spoken to your gp about a birth reflections chat? You can go through your experience and why things were done, not done, advised etc. help you process the series of events and hopefully make you feel more comfortable with this baby. Always remember that you have the right to decline every intervention, medication, advice etc. I know it’s hard but speak up too, if your not sure why they advise something then say well why is this? Ask questions. It might make you think oh yeah that’s a good idea or you feel safe enough to decline :)

I didn’t blame the midwives for anything that happened, I just was shocked by their attitude towards my requests and how they were reacting to my concerns etc…i wasn’t really aware of the birth reflections thing? To be honest they barely spoke to me at all so I guess I wouldn’t be 🫣 i did also try to explain my feelings towards being induced in the first place but those were dismissed and she was extremely hard faced and sharp…hopefully this will be a different experience as it’s been over a year since!! But absolutely I agree, I will be making my voice heard this time round 🥰

Depending where abouts you live you maybe able to move over to Bury hospital. I lived in stowmarket and was given the choice. I stuck with Ipswich but to felt it was a bad experience specially my second. Xx

I have heard great things about bury…not sure if they go on how far away you live from the hospital as I think bury is 50 mins from me 🤔

Oh I’m so sorry to hear that, thank you for explaining. Really hard to feel dismissed or unimportant when going through the scariest unknown thing ever! It’s a bit of a luck of the drawer as to who is working as well I guess which is hard. Fingers crossed you enjoy your experience more next time 💛

@Amelia all you can do is ask. Stress your worries and pass experience see what they say.
At the end of the day if you turn up at Bury in labour surly they can't turn you away. X