After my last post, I took a step back, as I found it really emotionally draining to go back over the utterly shite treatment I had with my last birth in particular. But the state of post-natal care also needs to be addressed and was, on the whole, poor during both my experiences. There have… Continue reading Blog series post #6: Better post-natal care
Both my births were traumatic in different ways. My first son was born after a very long back-to-back labour, I didn’t dilate past 7cm and eventually his oxygen levels plummeted to the point where I had to have a category 1 c-section. I was whisked into a make-shift theatre because the labour suite was in… Continue reading Blog series post #5: Birth trauma
Today marks the end of the second UK Maternal Mental Health Week, led by the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership. World Maternal Mental Health Day on Wednesday’s focus on ‘The Village’ emphasised the importance of giving access to the information and help that new mothers need. Much of the work needs to start with how we… Continue reading Maternal Mental Health Week 2018
The government announced recently that more than 3,ooo places on midwifery training courses will be created over the next four years. There also been the ‘promise’ to mothers that they will be seen by the same midwife throughout labour, pregnancy and birth by 2021. It’s an admirable aim, and one that would vastly improve the… Continue reading More midwives only half the answer
A few weeks ago, we had to take Gus to A&E. He’d banged his head and a couple of days later started being sick – over me – at 1 o’clock in the morning, yeah! So I spoke to the GP and was advised to go up to the hospital to get it checked out,… Continue reading A&E revisited
With Birth Trauma Awareness Week having taken place a few weeks ago and a bit of a hoo-ha about the pushing or not pushing (excuse the pun) of ‘normal’ births in the news recently (there is a great piece about it here), it seems apt that after another difficult birth experience for me second time… Continue reading Getting caught up in process, not progress
Once I was transferred to the post natal ward, I was put into bay ‘B4’. That was what was written on my notes, and my name was not even noted down above my bed. The experience on the ward with my first son had been noisy and stressful so another request of mine had been… Continue reading When birth doesn’t go to plan…again (Part 2)
I had my 20-week scan this week and was pretty nervous. Everything was ok though and we wanted to find out the sex. So the sonographer paused and hovered over my tummy before shouting ‘scrotum and penis!’ to which I replied ‘is it a boy?’ ‘No…’ he said dryly, ‘of course it’s a boy’. I… Continue reading Half way there
My Beautiful Diary of the Amazingly Mundane 