"when they sewed me up, I felt every stitch"

A mother's experience of Oxford University Hospitals Maternity Services in 2024:

Prenatal care was fine. Postnatal was horrible for me. Lots of issues but I’ll name a few:

1) Had a bladder scan and was meant to get a catheter inserted and nobody turned up to do it and that was the end of it. I was in there a week and this was near the end and I just wanted to go home so I didn’t bother asking what the hell happened to it.

2) Constantly told different things about when I would be discharged.

3) They claimed my baby lost over 10% weight and when she was 10% or below, I could go home. Later that day I told them they had her birth weight wrong and that she hadn’t lost over 10% it was actually 9% and they then came up with different reason why I couldn’t go home.

4) No dignity, I had breastfeeding nurse in and had no top on and a nurse came in opened the curtain and then the person delivering my lunch came in and they was shocked didn’t know what to do and in the end just ended up standing there with my food while curtain open. There was pots of piss stored in the bathrooms from other patients that the nurses left in there.

During my birth I asked for epidural and they was too slow so couldn’t get it but refused to give me any pain relief only gas and air. It was a forceps delivery and they did an episiotomy and when they sewed me up, I felt every stitch.

They refused to help me or other patients with looking after baby. I woke up in bed with my baby hanging off the bed as I had fell asleep with her. Thank god I woke up just in time, but they refused to have her even though it was unsafe. I take regular medicine that makes me sleepy and less alert and they knew this. They was also meant to provide me with this medicine when I was in hospital and assured me they had some in stock before my induction day but yet when I got there they couldn’t get a hold of it for days.

Just really shit aftercare.

I asked the nurse after baby was born in delivery room if it’s normal that baby hasn’t wee yet and she turned around in a bitchy voice and said “you haven’t peed yet why do u expect her to” I was like it was a question like the two are not comparable When in the labour ward I set my alarm during the night to wake me to feed my baby but I slept through it and a nurse came charging in having ago at me.

The next day I asked if they could wake me up and they told me to set an alarm and I explained that I did but because of the medication I’m on and how tired I am it just doesn’t wake me up. And a nurse had ago at me for doing it. So I felt the only choice I had was to stay up all night so I could feed my baby.

I have so many more things but that’s some.