"She forcibly gave me a strip wash without my consent"

A mother's experience using Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2023:

When I was in recovery after my emergency c section in 2023 I was treated poorly by one midwife in particular.

My son ended up in the high dependency unit due to wet lung which I discovered was common due to his size and delivery. This [description of age, gender and accent*] midwife spoke to her colleagues about me, claiming it was my fault my "poor boy" was ill because I was "too lazy" to give birth naturally and that i was a bad mother.

She offered me oramorph and after i declined, she gave it to me anyway, saying she had to watch me drink it so i needed to do so quickly.

She called me lazy for not getting out of bed again couple hours after my surgery, despite not being able to feel my legs still, saying "come on you've been sat there ages, we need to get you off your bum, try walk.

As soon as i managed to stand up, she looked me up and down claiming i had been "just laid there all day" so she needed to check for bed sores.

She forcibly gave me a strip wash without my consent, leaving me feel utterly humiliated ON TOP of feeling like a failure as a mother for making my boy ill.

My anxiety went through the roof and I unfortunately didn't speak up in defence for myself, all I could do was cry. It's been over a year since and I still get upset thinking about how that midwife made me feel after what was meant to be a magical time.

*We have removed the description provided in the mother's experience due to legal reasons.