Hi ladies. I really need to get some things off my chest....hope you don't mind. As of today I'm a week overdue. Baby was SO active a few weeks back and we were so sure she'd be born early that I got myself all geared up for it and these past few weeks have been dragging by so slowly. I've got awful backache (sciatic nerve), constant indigestion, swollen feet and ankles, and my hips are aching something awful. I just feel shattered all the time and it's really getting me down. I have a three year old daughter and I'm trying to keep it all together for her sake, but when I feel like this, it's so hard. To top it all off my husband has just found out he has pleurisy.
I haven't had one midwife appointment where she wasn't on a cell phone to another patient (they are always 'on-call') or multi-tasking for someone else. Makes you feel like you're taking up their valuable time and it's upsetting. The other week I finally got a decent midwife for two appointments in a row and last week she told me she would be booking me in for my induction at the hospital for the 28th (if I didn't have the baby before then). Yesterday I saw her again to have a membrane sweep to try to get this little lady moving, and it was like she was a different person. At one point I though she didn't recognize me because I had to ask her to check up on the results of my blood test (I'm anaemic), had to remind her that I was coming in for a sweep... I was surprised when she called the hospital to book my induction, because I assumed she'd done it last week when we spoke on the phone. Come to find out, the hospital doesn't have any beds available for induction until January 30th---by which time I'll be 12 days overdue. And it could possibly drag out for a couple days after that, the way they do things here. A friend of the family went in for induction at 10 days overdue and they let her lie there in pain for 2 days before FINALLY deciding she needed a cesaerian since the baby's head wouldn't engage. And get this---I don't even have peace of mind of knowing that my induction is booked for the 30th...no, I have to call the labor ward the morning of the 30th to 'see if they have a bed available' and my reaction to that was "And what if they don't?" to which the midwife replied "Well, they'll tell you what to do on the day." The midwife didn't even ask me if I minded the student nurse being there as she was giving me the internal exam, and I just felt really humiliated. (I know I should have spoken up for myself but by that time I was just too upset.) The midwife seemed surprised that I hadn't had any contractions yet, and told me I shouldn't hold out any hopes of the baby arriving before my induction, because her head is very high and she's not engaged. (And she's got her legs firmly lodged in my left ribcage, and has for weeks. OUCH.) I was told to 'just keep walking' to try to get her head engaged, but it's not so easy when I'm in constant back pain. It's a common fact that the longer the baby is left in the womb past their due date, the risk of complications rise incredibly, but no one seems to care. I've read internet articles which say that often babies fail to engage because the cord is wrapped around their necks. This thought has haunted me throughout both of my pregnancies, but especially now. I feel so frustrated no one is taking my concerns seriously. I've called the hospital with my concerns (the pain I've been in, the stress I've been under (hubby has left me 3 times throughout my pregnancy among other things, my anaemia and my legs swelling) on two different occasions and I was told to take two paracetamols and get in a warm bath, and that I couldn't come in unless I was in 'established labor'. "Once your induction date is booked, you have to keep that date. It's protocol." When I was having my daughter (now three yrs old), one of the midwives told me she thought things were 'too over-medicalised' in the States (where I'm from originally) and that it was a natural process which didn't require doctors and 'all that stuff.' Well I'd rather be over-medicalised and have a doctor that took my concerns seriously than an old battle-ax who would let me and my baby die because we're an inconvenience. I can't sleep properly and when I catch a few hours here and there, I'm having nightmares about awful things happening to my baby.
I'm sorry if it seems like all I'm doing is complaining. Please don't get me wrong, I am so greateful to be pregnant and this little one is wanted so much by us both. I am just want her HERE, safe and in my arms. I pray she comes soon. Please spare a thought for us. xoxo.
I haven't had one midwife appointment where she wasn't on a cell phone to another patient (they are always 'on-call') or multi-tasking for someone else. Makes you feel like you're taking up their valuable time and it's upsetting. The other week I finally got a decent midwife for two appointments in a row and last week she told me she would be booking me in for my induction at the hospital for the 28th (if I didn't have the baby before then). Yesterday I saw her again to have a membrane sweep to try to get this little lady moving, and it was like she was a different person. At one point I though she didn't recognize me because I had to ask her to check up on the results of my blood test (I'm anaemic), had to remind her that I was coming in for a sweep... I was surprised when she called the hospital to book my induction, because I assumed she'd done it last week when we spoke on the phone. Come to find out, the hospital doesn't have any beds available for induction until January 30th---by which time I'll be 12 days overdue. And it could possibly drag out for a couple days after that, the way they do things here. A friend of the family went in for induction at 10 days overdue and they let her lie there in pain for 2 days before FINALLY deciding she needed a cesaerian since the baby's head wouldn't engage. And get this---I don't even have peace of mind of knowing that my induction is booked for the 30th...no, I have to call the labor ward the morning of the 30th to 'see if they have a bed available' and my reaction to that was "And what if they don't?" to which the midwife replied "Well, they'll tell you what to do on the day." The midwife didn't even ask me if I minded the student nurse being there as she was giving me the internal exam, and I just felt really humiliated. (I know I should have spoken up for myself but by that time I was just too upset.) The midwife seemed surprised that I hadn't had any contractions yet, and told me I shouldn't hold out any hopes of the baby arriving before my induction, because her head is very high and she's not engaged. (And she's got her legs firmly lodged in my left ribcage, and has for weeks. OUCH.) I was told to 'just keep walking' to try to get her head engaged, but it's not so easy when I'm in constant back pain. It's a common fact that the longer the baby is left in the womb past their due date, the risk of complications rise incredibly, but no one seems to care. I've read internet articles which say that often babies fail to engage because the cord is wrapped around their necks. This thought has haunted me throughout both of my pregnancies, but especially now. I feel so frustrated no one is taking my concerns seriously. I've called the hospital with my concerns (the pain I've been in, the stress I've been under (hubby has left me 3 times throughout my pregnancy among other things, my anaemia and my legs swelling) on two different occasions and I was told to take two paracetamols and get in a warm bath, and that I couldn't come in unless I was in 'established labor'. "Once your induction date is booked, you have to keep that date. It's protocol." When I was having my daughter (now three yrs old), one of the midwives told me she thought things were 'too over-medicalised' in the States (where I'm from originally) and that it was a natural process which didn't require doctors and 'all that stuff.' Well I'd rather be over-medicalised and have a doctor that took my concerns seriously than an old battle-ax who would let me and my baby die because we're an inconvenience. I can't sleep properly and when I catch a few hours here and there, I'm having nightmares about awful things happening to my baby.
I'm sorry if it seems like all I'm doing is complaining. Please don't get me wrong, I am so greateful to be pregnant and this little one is wanted so much by us both. I am just want her HERE, safe and in my arms. I pray she comes soon. Please spare a thought for us. xoxo.
) to you and answer your concerns without you feeling like you are just getting in the way.
