"My birth experience at Campbelltown Hospital"

My baby was born last year, however I think about the experience I had with her birth every day. I never made any kind of complaint, but I feel I should share my story so that other new mothers do not find themselves in my situation. 

It was  my baby's due date. I had been having 'tightenings' all day and had called to speak to the hospital as they had advised us to in the anti-natal classes. A little after midnight I called the hospital as my 'tightenings' were approximately 5 mins apart. They told me to come in and they would have a look at what was going on. When I got there they had 1 birthing room available and I remembered that in the anti-natal class they had told us that there was 36 babies due to be born a matter of days prior to my due date. 

When the midwife examined me they said I was only 3cm dilated and that I was not in active labour. Eventually they gave me some morphine so that I could sleep. When I woke up in the morning the midwife told me that I could either go home or wait for active labour in the maternity ward. I chose to stay as I live 40 minutes away from the hospital. I could tell that this bothered one of the midwives by her attitude. 

I waited around the hospital still having 'tightenings', but being given panadine forte every 5 hours. I felt like I was in a lot of pain, but it got really bad in the middle of the following night. I was moved back into the birthing room again and examined. Same thing again, 3cm not active labour. However the midwife was optimistic and said that it was really thin and could happen at any time. I was given more morphine and slept through the night. 

The next day one of the midwives told me that they were going to break my water and move things along. They didn't know when, but sometime that day. They put the drip thing in my hand ready to go. I told the midwife that I thought my water might have broken as something had come out in the toilet. She said, that just happened because I examined you. I was sent back to the maternity ward to wait. 

About an hour later a different midwife informed me that they didn't have enough staff to induce me that day, but they would do it tomorrow. I was disappointed, but at least it was going to happen tomorrow. 

The next day came, one of the head midwives came to speak to me. They were also too short staffed today to induce me, but they would do it first thing in the morning. I cried, because I was sick of having contractions and nothing happening. At the same time they were being careful at taking my blood pressure, as sometimes it was high, sometimes it wasn't. Some of the midwives were so nice and I think they felt sorry for me, whereas some didn't understand why I was still waiting at the hospital when I wasn't in active labour, (as they didn't care to whisper when they were talking about me.) I told one of the young midwives that I felt like I needed to push to do a pooh, but she told me not to push too hard in case the baby starts coming. 

On the 5th day one of the nice midwives came to get me early so I could get into the room before someone else got it. When the midwife examined me my baby's head was already half way out. The labour part was pretty fine, however my placenta was stuck and I needed to go under anaesthetic to get it removed. The man asked me to move onto the bed, I told him I didn't have the energy, so he grunted at me like I was a drama queen. 

After all this my baby wasn't interested in feeding, my baby wasn't crying and hadn't pooped. On my baby's second day of life they was constantly vomiting bile, which the midwives told me was normal. However that night in the bath my baby was having difficulty breathing. The doctors were called and my baby was transferred to Westmead Hospital. Not before me overhearing the doctors complaining that the midwives had not told them that my baby had had any of these symptoms even though I believe they are meant to.

By the time my baby got to Westmead Children's Hospital they were severely dehydrated. Westmead knew exactly what was wrong with my baby and I believe saved my baby's life.