hello everyone, i want to share my story with you all....
as an insulin dependant diabetic and having pre-eclampsia i was induced at 36 weeks. i was in labout 21 hours where i had an epidural, this was a major factor in having to have a forceps delivery.
my beautiful son was born weighing 6lb14oz. we were taken down to the post natal ward where very quickly he became very jaundice very quickly, he was under triple phototherapy. at 1 am that morning i got up to go to the toilet where i lost 2 liters of blood on the toilet floor. i was shocked to say the least! i pulled the emergency chord and waited......20 mins later they came and got me. the midwife wiped me down with a wet tissue and sent me back to bed!!! within hours we were both taken to hdu where i was given 2 blood transfusions.
while all of this was going on my son was becoming very ill indeed. he kept making little twitchin movements, and arching his back. as a first time mother i was worried, i asked a midwife to take a look, i was told to stop being silly. i asked a further 3 midwives to see a peadiatrition, finally after 3 days they gave in. the lovely nicu doctor walked into the side room where we had been put and noticed immediately thayt my baby WAS havin seisures!! he was taken straight to nicu where they scanned his head and found a grade 2 bleed in his brain. he was given anti fitting drugs. my poor newborn was put through so many tests he looked like a pin cushion! it was concluded that it was indeed the forceps going around the wrong part of his head, and excessive force being used to pull him out that caused all of this.
we were told at this point that, up untill then our healthy son, would more than likely have learning difficulties.
now 3 years 3 months on he is doing extremely well, starting nursary in a few weeks and has no obvious learning difficulties. i am so proud of him!!!
i have since had a daughter, she is 17 months now an a cesarian delivery, but i am expecting again and i am dreading the thought of a vaginal delivery again.
can you add photos on here?? if you can i will post a newborn photo. its so destressing that when we came home and the bruising had gone, my community midwife came and saw the photo. she actually cried.
so thats my story, every time i go over what happened it makes me cry, i re-live every second of it like it was yesterday. if you ever have any worries about your baby, dont give up pestering the midwives because you are worried what they will say. im so glad i didnt because it could have made the difference between me havin my son sitting here with me now, or not having him at all.
thanks for listening to me, xx

[Modified by: lovingmummy on 11 July 2009 07:59:2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6508&id=711977288 hopefully you can see a pic of my son.

[Modified by: lovingmummy on 12 July 2009 12:55:36 ]

Hi
At first i want to say I can't believe how you was treated, just awful, but then I can believe it because it was quite similar to what happened to me 11 weeks ago. How awful that the midwife didn't pick up on the fact that your baby wasn't right and very poorly. I'm lucky that as soon as the night shift came on they took quick action with my baby.
Can i ask a question? Have you thought of putting in a complaint or taking legal action? I'm a nurse and work closely with Doctors, nurses and midwives who have all advised me to take legal action, i'm not sure what to do.
I know how you feel about feeling nervous about a vaginal delivery but you can request a c section.
I have put in a link about Noah's birth story. However it does not include that Noah was readmitted into hospital as was shaking and very jittery, they ruled out low blood sugar, but could not find a cause. The consultant was very concerned that noah may have a fractured skull and was concerned he may have brain injuries due to this. Noah thankfully didn't have a fracture and seems to be doing very well developmental wise, we have a review with the consultant on Tuesday, so i'm very nervous.
The pictures don't show how bad his swelling on the back of his head was, or how a lot of the skin off his scalp had been torn away by the vontouse.
I didn't mean to go on about me, i just have an idea how your feeling. It is still alll very raw for me at the moment.
I am so pleased that your little boy is doing well, and even though my Noah didn't have a bleed in his brain (well we don't think he had) it makes me very hopeful that Noah will be ok. Thanks for sharing your story.
Claire x x x http://www.babyexpert.com/chatroom/topic/100054

hi, yes me and hubby did put in a complaint. the hospital admitted that the way we were treated was terrible,and apoligised for that, but there was no mention of the brain injury to my son, jus the fact that we were ignored so many times!! they stated that the midwives involved had been 'spoken to' and that there is now a different sounding alarm in the toilet.
we did start legal proceedings but the law firm we were using were a bit slow to say the least! we had to send the same information 5 times over the space of a year and didnt get anywhere! they stated that unless he is currently suffering from what happened then there is not much they can claim for. i think i am not the only person who thinks that we are very lucky to have him fit and well, so id rather that than have him with problems now and a wedge in the bank.
we did have a lot of tests run on him last year because he was being sick regularly in his sleep, there were eeg's, ecg's, mri... they thought possible epilepsy, but again thank god it wasnt, just a long living virus! however we did find that he does have some brain damage to the white matter of his brain, this does not seem to have affected him in any way though.
im so glad to have found someone who knows how this can affect you. im sorry about your son, im sure he will be ok. the hospital will probably keep a close eye on him now untill he is in the clear. glad he seems to be doing well.
i also know that this does not happen very often because my community midwife knew what had happened already. she said that we were the talk of the ward!!! this is what originally got alarm bells ringing.
i really hope he does well, and yes, do make legal proceedings. you may have more luck tham me but you wont know unless you try xx

[Modified by: lovingmummy on July 12, 2009 06:57 AM]

[Modified by: lovingmummy on July 12, 2009 06:58 AM]

Hi
Having just read your story, i want to say that my heart goes out to you and of course your little boy. You were treated so awful by the midwives and it angers me that they treat us as though we are stupid.
my little girl is 18 months now, but i can remember posting my story on here.
basically, having had 2 prem births; it was no surprise to end up in hospital at 28 weeks. I had some bleeding and pains quite low down. The low pains continued, but i was told i wasnt in labour. After that i was virtually left for 4 hours at a time. I couldnt sleep or walk to the loo on my own and kept ringing for a Mw but no one would come. after 24 hours I couldnt take it anymore and phoned my mum in tears. My mum was angry that i'd been left on my own and in severe pain. It took a phone call from her to get a doctor to examine me. Within seconds i was being taken into theatre for an emergency c. The whole of the membranes were had come down through my vagina (sorry tmi) My poor baby was stuck hard very low down in my pelvis and thats why i had such terrible pain low down. I was very ill afterwards with kidney problems and was also on oxygen. elise was so bruised afterwards and had also suffered a bleed on the brain. I wrote a letter of complaint too, but their reply was quite demeaning. So far Elise is doing well, ut they are keeping an eye out for any learning difficulties.
maria

hi mini-mum-maria.
i have just read your post and i really feel for you! i know these midwives are sometimes very busy, but that is still no excuse!!! (i was told that they were busy the whole time i was there, even the emergency call at 1 am when everyone was sound asleep, and one even moaned because she was meant to be on a faaag break! obviously she thought i was completely out of it by then.)
i am currently pregnant with my 3rd child now so it has not put me off, but i had a c sec with my daughter and have now been told that i can have a natural birth with this one. im absoloutly terrified!!
im sorry to hear that this treatment seems commonplace all over the country. im really pleased your daughter is doing well, and that they are keeping an eye on her, at least they can do something right!
take care,

lovingmummy x

[Modified by: lovingmummy on August 05, 2009 08:02 PM]

[Modified by: lovingmummy on August 05, 2009 08:05 PM]

[Modified by: lovingmummy on August 05, 2009 08:17 PM]