"A male nurse said to nurse A that’s CO₂ she was replacing the oxygen canister with"

A mother’s experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2025:

The lack of care started from the beginning when my waters broke. I was told the usual, if nothing progresses in the next 24hrs then ring back and we will need to induce you for infection prevention.

So 24hrs later I call and say I’m in extreme pain can I please come in as it’s been 24hrs, they tell me I have to wait for a phone call as they are really busy. What they said about the risk of infection after 24hrs was playing on my mind at this point as it had now past that time scale.

After several more hours at home and still no phone call, me and my husband decided to go into the women’s centre and try our luck. I was in excruciating pain at this point and left in the waiting room while everyone was watching me. When I eventually get called into a room they check and I’m not dilated at all. They try sending me home again but my husband refuses. So they leave us in the room until a space on the delivery ward became free.

The birth experience itself was great and was well looked after despite a few minor things. The care we received once moved off the delivery ward while we were waiting to be moved upstairs on the mother and baby ward was absolutely appalling.

I was left completely alone with no help at all from nurses with a baby that wouldn’t wake up for anything even when I tried feeding him changing him. He just would not wake up. The nurse (A) that came in eventually, only cared about the fact my husband had dressed my son in clothes and told us to get them off him. She didn’t explain why and left. Confused, me and my husband undressed him and wrapped him in a blanket. Baby at this point was still not waking up or responding.

The nurse (A) came back and told my husband to put the baby down and leave him in the trolly. Luckily for her my husband didn’t hear this and he kept holding the baby and she never said anything else. My husband asked her about why he was still asleep, he’s not eaten in hours and she replied saying babies sleep. A different nurse (B) came in a short while after and did some checks on baby and she instantly took him to a different room with my husband to get a heat lamp and oxygen as he was cold and had very low oxygen.

Nurse A was there changing the O2 tank as it was empty. A male nurse said to nurse A that’s CO₂ she was replacing the oxygen canister with. Nurse B was amazing and was explaining that baby wasn’t very well and because he was inside for so long after my waters broke, he may have a slight infection.

My son was then moved to NICU where he was monitored. He was put on a course of antibiotics for 36hrs. We were asked why baby had no clothes on...

We were moved up to the mother and baby ward when the nurses in the NICU were happy with his obs and they came up to give him his antibiotics regularly. Baby had a round sticker on the side of his cheek. I assumed it was there for a reason as it had been there since being in NICU. None of the midwives mentioned anything so I thought it was there for a reason.

The next day baby had a doctor appointed to check his joints etc and she asked me what the sticker was for. I say it’s from when he was in NICU and she just looks at me. She says she’s going to try get it off as it definitely shouldn’t be there. She wets the sticker and slowly manages to get it off his skin without any damage and tells me to take a photo of his face as she was going to report it.

Once I was in the mother and baby ward the care was amazing. I told them of the treatment we had had from nurse A and they apologised on behalf of her and said that wasn’t acceptable.

The fear and treatment we experienced was awful and could have been prevented if we were listened to about our baby. Without the intervention of nurse B god knows why would have happened.