AD's Story - Brantford General Hospital, Brantford

I have 2 stories...for the next 2 I had a midwife, and homebirths.

Baby #1 - First time Mom, who went into the hospital with NO contractions, but my water fully broke. They did not ask me anything, they immediately just hooked me up to pitocin to induce contractions. Now I was stuck in a bed essentially. 

My contractions had BARELY started, and in walked the nurse who convinced me (at 9pm) that I NEEDED to get an epidural because the anesthesiologist was leaving shortly and he probably would not be coming back.

I was terrified. I wanted to TRY and have a baby on my own, without even MORE intervention but I also did not want to be left without any options. 

For the next 14 hours the pitocin and epidural battled each other until they finally had upped the pitocin so high that my body could actually be in labour. In the meantime 2 different nurses referred to my husband, in VERY rude tone as my boyfriend. (we looked pretty young at the time but were well into our 20s) 

AFTER she was born the nurses continued to treat me like a teen mom..which in itself is horrifying because I would say that if a young mom was having a baby they should be treated with extra love and support not the opposite. 

Also I was trying for the life of me to nurse my sweet baby girl and the nurses were stressing me out so much. They came in every half an hour and said are you feeding her (at this point I was bleeding and tired) and the baby was a bit fussy. They kept insisting that if she didn't poop very soon they were going to make me give her a bottle. This did not help the situation.

To this day still do not have confidence in my milk supply, and would often try to intervene or would stress, and do stress non stop that my body is not doing what it is supposed to be.

Baby # 2 - I came into the hospital after labouring at home, for probably a bit too long. I was more than 8 cms dilated, and at the point I now know is the point when most woman say they cannot do it. 

I was begging for an epidural at that point, and I wish terribly someone would have just said you're almost there, but no, instead they did not wait for my blood work to come back they just gave me one. Which stopped my contractions and I had to be hooked up to pitocin to get them going again which took 8 hours before I was in active labour again. 

At that point I was complaining saying I could very much feel my contractions, they assured me it was just pressure. I told them I remembered what the pressure felt like from the last time and it wasn't just pressure. They didn't bother to trust me. 

After she was born, literally minutes later, before my body even had a CHANCE to do what it was supposed to, without warning the OB reached up inside me and pulled my placenta out. 

Apparently he had somewhere to be and did not want to wait for it to come out on its own. I screamed and nearly went through the roof.

He looked at the nurse, and said whats wrong with the girl isn't she supposed to be frozen?….for any of you who have had babies naturally and can remember how sensitive it is down there after you have just given birth, you can appreciate what this felt like for me..it was horrifying. He did not apologize he literally just said that to the nurse and left. 

Despite these things I LOVED my OB who I had with the first two (but didn't deliver my babies) She was brand new to her job with my firstborn. just 5 years later when I was pregnant with my 3rd I was excited to go back to her. Things had drastically changed in the 2.5 years since I had been there last. 1st her office was packed. I waited for 2 hours for my appointment something I had bragged about that never happened with her before, as she was just starting out. Then when I had my appointment with her she was different, disconnected. 

She didn't even ever sit down for our appointments, I was suffering from sever SPD and she just disregarded me just would nod and say yup yup....it seemed like she had conformed to every other doctor and it was just a numbers game to her now (how many patients can I see in an hour) I felt I was treated like a number, or livestock or something. 

I never went back. And despite me being further along in pregnancy, and the midwives being so swamped you have to book like the day you find out your pregnant, I begged them to take me on. WHAT A DIFFERENCE.

Loved my experience with the midwives. I only wish the government would provide more funding so they could hire more staff and more people had the opportunity I did with my last 2 babes.

 

 

Submitted by AD