"I had in fact broken my tail bone during delivery. For which I received no pain relief or treatment."

A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2021:

It’s hard to put into words but my 4th baby was born at the JR hospital in March of 2021. She was born naturally after a horrific induction, weighing 12lb 9oz.

This, not being my first rodeo, was the single most traumatic event of my life. I had previously had 3 relatively large (9lb+) baby girls, all induced for various reasons at the JR. This was very different.

At my 36 week growth scan, my baby measured 10lb. My last and largest previous baby had weighed 7lb 11 at her 36 week scan. I questioned the sonographer, the consultant, and many, many midwives and doctors during countless visits to MAU over the following 4 weeks with blood pressure problems. They all refused any intervention as I had previously delivered big babies naturally and had no underlying conditions.

Eventually it was agreed (by the doctors, not by me) that I was to be induced at 40 weeks due to medicated high blood pressure. Well, 40 weeks came and went with no induction date. A community midwife at Witney hospital, campaigned tirelessly to have me induced, and I went in just before 41 weeks.

The induction was brutal, my waters were broken and within an hour they’d started me on the drip. Back to back contractions came for hours. I begged and begged for pain relief but was told it was too late. My daughter got stuck due to shoulder dystocia and they had to perform a McRoberts manoeuvre to get her shoulders out.

She was lifted on to my chest but was so heavy I couldn’t breathe. I was still in agony as the placenta was birthed. I was told it was complete.

I then started to haemorrhage. The doctors couldn’t get it under control so I was taken to theatre. They struggled to get a second line in my arm, which one nurse suggested was because I was so huge, not because I’d lost an awful lot of blood. She rubbed and hit my arms trying to find a vein despite me crying out in pain. I had so many bruises from many previous blood tests, that were sore and black. The midwife asked her to stop as I was distressed.

They eventually got my bleeding under control and found I had retained some placenta too. I had been in theatre 40 or 50 minutes and still not seen or held my baby. I was desperately asking for her and my husband. I was taken to recovery where my husband has joined us with the baby, but I couldn’t hold her as I was shaking and vomiting so violently.

The midwife kept repeating that I needed to feed my baby as her blood sugar was low. I simply wasn’t capable, but she tried to put her on my boob. I told her to stop and give her some formula if it was that urgent as I couldn’t do it. They then forced my husband to leave, saying that if he didn’t go immediately, he wouldn’t be allowed back the following day for his 1 hour visit as it would go over 12pm.

I was still vomiting, shaking, my temperature had gone through the roof and a midwife was left to look after my newborn. Myself and my husband were both horrified and devastated. I struggled through the next couple of days on the ward with my husband’s 1 hour visit, in pain and very tired. No one gave me any blood products or iron infusions despite my awful anaemia. I struggled terribly getting on and off the bed or chair.

When I asked for painkillers, I was told it would delay my discharge if I needed them and I desperately wanted to get home to my children and my husband.

It turned out, weeks later, that I had in fact broken my tail bone during delivery. For which I received no pain relief or treatment.

Now 4 years on, I know I suffered PTSD from that day. I had nightmares, flashbacks and never spoke about the birth to anyone. I did do the Birth Afterthoughts service but found it very unhelpful and it just showed the great divide between what midwives think and what doctors think.

The term “all’s all that ends well” was used by more than one medical professional, not a phrase that you would like to associate with childbirth.

My daughter is about to be diagnosed with a rare genetic overgrowth condition called Beckwith Wiedemann Syndrome. This condition is normally picked up on ultrasound or when newly born, but it was missed by everyone, despite her having several symptoms and characteristics of the disease.

The condition comes with an increased risk of childhood cancer that needs very regular monitoring. The long delay in diagnosis means that she has had 4 years of no monitoring or medical care. And that all of this birth trauma could have been predicted and prevented.

There were so many missed opportunities and unheard cries for help during my care at the JR. And the traumatic events that unfolded will forever be with me.