Who would you like to thank for looking after you in labour? Share your positive NHS stories here
DanielleMFM
admin
Hello everyone,
We’ve been reading about musician Paloma Faith, who’s just had a baby. She had a difficult labour and then an emergency Caesarean, and her latest Instagram post (below) is full of thanks and praise for all the NHS staff who helped her through it. She calls the doctors, midwives and nurses “incredible” and says she is “humbled by the whole experience”.
Which kind of made us a feel a bit teary, because we felt like that too when we had our babies.
Didn’t you?
So we thought you might like to use this thread to say thank you to the people who looked after you while you were in labour – whether they just did or said something kind or they performed some major act of medical wizardry.
After all, there seem to be no end of stories at the moment about what’s wrong with the NHS. Wouldn’t it be nice to celebrate what’s right?
Please do tell us all about the people you’d like to thank – and why – (even if it all happened ages ago) by posting a reply to this thread. We’re really looking forward to feeling all teary again…
Replies
When i had my first daughter, it was at a hospital that had recently been in the news for having one of the worst maternity units within the NHS trust, so i was hesitant to say the least. But i could not fault the care i received. I had the most wonderful midwife who saw me through the labour to birth wonderfully.
Jump a few years later and i had miscarried. Again, the epu unit were amazing (same hospital) and i remember the midwife holding my hand, telling me what was happening - i had to have a d&c and the staff were wonderfully caring.
Then 3 years ago i was back having my second daughter - i had one midwife from beginning of labour until the end, and she was the most wonderful woman - when you have it good, it makes the world of difference (though the aneasthetist who put in my epidural hit a nerve, but i've almost forgotten about that!!!)
Thank goodness for our NHS - i recently heard you have to pay in America to have your baby, something crazy like £10k. We are so lucky.
Having had my first two girls a week overdue & both with Vaginal births I was pretty much in & out with them both...big shock then having my twins at 35wks.
Firstly I had to have an emergency section as they were concerned that I had been violently sick shortly after arriving in triage & that my son was showing tachycardia signs. I was whisked from triage to theatre & both twins were out within 5mins. The team in theatre were lovely & reassuring throughout.
The team that I won't forget though were the neonatal staff. I spent a full fortnight with the twins in neonatal care trying to establish feeding & regain their lost birth weight. Both twins had drips in their hands feeding antibiotics (in case they had caught any bugs off me), they were fed via nasogastric tubes (I wasn't allowed to touch them for 24hrs & couldn't breastfeed until 48hrs after my sickness episode ) & seeing them like that made me teary. I would express my milk for it to be placed through the tube to begin with & then after a couple of days I was allowed to attempt a latch.
I had had no problems with my girls so was shocked when I struggled to get the twins to latch on. The staff explained that it was normal with 'preemies' & wasn't anything I was doing wrong. They offered lots of support & encouragement. When weight was still falling they suggested that we try formula top ups alongside the breast, I had never bottle fed before so felt a mix of emotions. They again reassured that I had done nothing wrong & that I was doing the best for my babies, they showed me how to prepare & offer the bottle.
I had a lot of mixed emotions during my stay - the need to be with my twins but also knowing that my big girls were home with Daddy, the concerns that my babies were drastically below weight & struggling to regain, the joys when they fed from me for the first time, the lows when they were weighed & it was still down.....each time I had the nurses there sharing hugs, friendly chat & even making me cups of tea, coffee & the odd breakfast in bed.
I really can't praise the team enough, by the end of the fortnight I had more than just a health team, more than just friends...they became an extended family & I will pop in & say hello everytime I have a hospital appointment now (next at the end of the month )
Nothing but praise for the wonderful staff at Nottingham City Hospital. I was in from Tuesday to Saturday after a long induction, a far from birth plan labour and a forceps delivery. ALL of the midwives, Doctors, Professors and Consultants were absolutely amazing, professional, efficient and had a wonderful bedside manner.
Full story here: http://www.madeformums.com/forum/birth-clubs/the-due-in-december-2016-big-birth-announcement-thread/242050.html
Since then my stitches have come undone and I've had an infection and again the midwives have been fantastic. Amazing care in the community and in hospital.
Thank you x
For me by far the most helpful people were 2 students I had a horrendous time in labour and birth and the students were so amazing went far above and beyond what I expected from any midwife let alone a student plus as they we're students didn't leave my side the whole time! I had a student and midwife up until pushing then a different team for pushing! amazing couldn't have done it without them x
I'm so happy to come across this thread, I was thinking last night how actually my labour was insane and if it wasn't for the nurses and midwives who knows what the fate of My son & me would have been.
After I was super lucky to have a straight forward pregnancy, my labour was far from the same. Going by the care I received on the delivery suite at Treliske in Cornwall, which to me is the most important part of my experience as it's where my son was born, I could not thank anyone on that ward enough.
I went in to hospital at 4am on the Sunday morning; after having light contractions from 7pm Saturday night, of which by 12am were regular and much more painful. first of all the delivery suite was full, so we we're in a downstairs room being monitored until 9am. The midwife who cared for us from 4am -7:30am was quite distant and didn't really make her presnece known (with me rolling on the floor, jumping on my ball & shouting at my mum and friend for laughing at me, it could have been my fault!😂) We didn't see much of her, which made me anxious, I was happy when handover came and a young girl was assigned to me. She examined me straight away and put me on a monitor for an hour, now I felt we were getting somewhere. I relaxed even more when they took me upstairs on a bed to the delivery suite! I HAD THE BEST TEAM OF MIFWIVES EVER!! I had 3 midwives, all of them I'd say were over 40! They were so supportive and so funny! At first they helped me through worsening contractions with no pain relief, but after having had these for a good 18hours they discreetly suggested tying some pain relief as I needed a rest. Best suggestion ever, after the pethedine wore off I opted for the epi💁🏼😂 No one made me feel rubbish for this, the one midwife even told me it doesnt make anyone more or less of a person for pushing through labour without pain relief. That I'd tried my hardest but baby was way too comfortable in there haha. From here i was on cloud 9 really, I was tied up to machines monitoring the both of us, and we were always being checked on. I felt extremely comfortable knowing me & my baby were in the hands of these midwives. Every midwife, doctor & consultant I'd been in contact with during the day came to say bye to me before they left for handover! i even got a hug of the older lady of the group. i really do think how people treat you in these situation is a lot to do with how you treat them. Okay so, after handover the next consultant wasn't happy with how little I'd progressed in such a long amount of time, so decided to examine me early. Praise the lord he did because actually something wasn't right!! The fact I was retaining urine and cathetirised worried him, Richard he was called, I love Richard. 😂 Next an anaesthetist was talking me through a spinal blocker and the process of a Csention, she inisited I didn't panick about how busy it would be in surgery and that everyone who surrounded me needed to be there. Before I knew it I was on the table shaking like a leaf, uncontrollably and my baby was being cut out of me. I add they turned on radio1 because I said it was my favourite station, legends! Becky the anaesthatist stayed at my end with mum! Constantly reassuring me that everything was going to be ok. I remember Richard telling me (after mum told me I'd had a boy..) that he expects me to name my baby after him and said he hopes the baby supports England and not the Welsh rugby team. 😂 He also sewed me up quickly, but perfectly, I have the tidiest scar haha!
From here I will ALWAYS remember the name of the nurse (Debbie) who saved my life. She was there during my section at 21:16 and consequently, no exaggeration, saved me. I remember saying to her whilst uncontrollably shaking in recovery "I'm going to die aren't I?" She squeezed my right hand tight, looked at me square in the eyes and said "not on my watch you're not!! Your baby boy is waiting for you."
I ended up with StrepA and sepsis which is why my labour was so long. Somehow they missed this, BUT I can not fault anyone who I dealt with those 2 days. We were not just left alone in a room for hours, we were constantly monitored, these things I guess just happen. Every midwife from the Sunday day visited us in the recovery Ward, praised me and cooed over morgan! They all guessed boy when I was in labour haha! the consultant of the day came and apologised for missing what she did!!!!! She was broken hearted, I cried because she was practically crying as she sat on the bottom of our bed apologising! Not the best of births no, but at the end of the day, after all of that I'd still go back to those 2 days.. all because of how lovely the staff were and all they done for me that Sunday, legends they were And I came out of this well and with a beautiful healthy bundle of joy.💙
the next 2 weeks in hospital weren't as accommodating! However, I totally understand that hospitals are incredibly over worked and understaffed.