hospital- clean? what here? (Hospital Births)

Member Name: cjk231176

Product:	Hospital Births
Date:	22/09/05 (652 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: all medical interventions are near by if needed

Disadvantages: many maternity wards are noit clean anymore

Hi, I wanted to write a few lines about my hospital birth experiecnes.
I had my first son 7 1/2 years ago, in essex. It was not a plesent experience.
Mnay of the staff were short tempered, rude and didnt inform me of what was going on at all.
One midwife even walked in, stabbed me in the top of my leg with a needle, wile I was asleep, and walked off without so much as, we're giving you this because....
Not a word! I didnt know what I had been given until an hour later I asked if I could get into the birthing pool and was told " no, you had pethidine"
I did my nut, I said I hadn't asked for pethidine, and wasnt told I was being iven it. It was clearly marked in my birthing pan I wanted a water birth if possible, and I f require more than gas and air I would ask for it, but not to offer it otherwise.

After spending all night onmy own, they wouldnt let my birthing parnter stay as it wasnt vising hours, I was moved to labour ward, a few hours later I was gain moved to the high risk end of the ward, without being told why. The reason they gave was "just in case". I asked "just in case of what" and they said "oh, just in case"

My first son was born 18 hours later via forceps delivery.
The wards were filthy. You could run your finger over the window sills and they came away black, the beds were swept around, not under, and my slippers ( which had been brought brand new) had black soles in under a day.
The shower was so dirty I cleaned it before getting in.
I sprayed my sons plasctic cot with antibacterial spray before I would let them put him in it. ( They must have loved me there).

I had to ask for my bed sheets to be changed, and was told they didnt need changing every day, forme to insist that I know when my bed sheets are in need of changing!

My second child, 1 1/2 years ago, was born in a northamptonshire hospital. Was this any cleaner? NO.

It was dec23rd when he was born, and the bathrooms and loo's didnt get cleaned for 3 days over christmas, nor were the bins emptied, you could smell the bathrooms from 10 metres away. THe floor, well, dont dare tread barefoot unless you like your feet covered in bit of fluff, muchy stuff, crumbs etc.

I had an emergancy c section, and was left in agony all night, given pethidine, which did nothing, and when i asked for ain relief was told " you just had some an hour ago, youre not due anymore". Oh, I'm sorry, NEXT TIME I@LL TELL THE PAIN TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT SHALL I?
Nextmorning a doctor told me I could have had morphine.
!8 hoursd later and i still hadnt set eyes on my own baby ( i was given a general anesthetic, and he was whisked right off to SCBU). I was told I couldnt have any injections for pain relief if I wanted to see him. They gave me kapake! honestly, i take them for a headache,not after major abdo surgery! ( I'm a nurse, so knew the score). Then, to top it all off I was told if i wanted to see my son i had to walk, yes your ead right WALK to ScBU to see him, by myself!!!!!

Christmas day he's allowed out of SCBU, but there's me, hardly able to bend, let alone see to a baby, do you think i got any help? NONE.
I asked for pethidine, andwas told no, i had gone without all day so i could go without now. I told them I had only made myself go without all day cos they said i couldnt see my baby if i didnt. No, they told me to take kapake or nothing.

Five days later I have an infected wound, any idiot could see it was infected, so what do they do? take my stitches out! ( I am diabetic too, so any wound is going to take longer to heal on me anyway without an infection). Ok, so here I am with an infected wound which has now burst open again.
I am sewn up AGAIN, oh and this time am I given pain relief? NO, still lef tin agony. And now to top it all off theyre telling me I'm asking for pain killers too often!
so, i totally loose it, blow up at the midwife, and say "if you bloody well gave me pain relief that worked I wouldnt keep asking for it would i?"
What answer was i given? "the pain relief does work, im just being a wimp!!!!!

So what do i do now? ( after Im done with the hysterical tears, and ranting and raving that they would treat an animal better).
I phone my mum and tell her they are letting me go home, I get them to get the doctor to come and see me, and tell him I insist on going home, and I walk out!

Having said that, I was just unlucky, not all hospitlas are like this.
There has been a lot of press coverage lately in relation to dirty maternity units. My feeling, and you can take this as a nurse, hospitals are NOT cleaned proeprly. How can one woman clean a whole wrd properly in an hour?
A quick wipe around the top of a loo with a damp cloth, then wipe the next loo with the same cloth and they think thats done?
Sweep around the beds and furntiure and not under them, and then mop them, all in under 20 minutes!
Those hospital cleaners should be in the guiness bok of records for speed cleaning.

Bring back the matrons is what I say, and clean the places properly.
Give the staff with a bad attitude the boot, there are far too many "care staff" who dont "care".
why hbe in this porfession if you dont like it, are not dedicated to it, or dont give a damn about the people in your care?

Let'sface it, anyone in hospitla is worried, anxious, tried etc. A little bit of support and comfort goes a long way.

next time I have a child I am NOT going to my local hospital ( which is where I had my last son). i've told my husband to drive me to addenbrookes and tell them we were out shopping when I wnet into labour LOL

I dont think I personally would like a home birth though, I like to know that there are doctors midwives and theatres near by, with any equipment my child or i may need.
But then neither of my births were normal!

All i would say is if you want a home birth be strong and insist, there are far too many staff out there willing to bully you into conforming with thier ideas.
women use dto have thier kids at home all the time, so why shouldnt we have that choice now?

Summary: be strong of mind and stick to your guns