NHS useless. Any tips to get us back on track?

[DavidJones]

So.. my partner is pregnant with our second child. She is 37 weeks along!

Her first pregnancy was fairly smooth until she had a very traumatic delivery. We moved house 3 times while she was pregnant so never really got a proper midwife experience.

The problems with this pregnancy.

1. My partner is very concerned that what happened with our first child will happen again. She lost 2 litres of blood. Had a severe trauma. Was for some reason kicked out of hospital early and was left bedridden for 6-8 weeks.
2. She has had severe back paid since 8 weeks. Painkillers do not work. (Apparently some people do not metabolise the active ingredient or something.) She has had multiple steriod injections with local anesthetic to make getting through the day vaguely bearable.
3. She has SPD. It's pretty bad. She hasn't slept through the night in months. She finds stairs difficult. She lay's down but then cannot change position without great discomfort. She finds moving her legs difficult while laying. She finds being on all fours painful.

Our midwife has been terrible. She forgot to write down measurements, she forgot to call when she said she would. She said she would put us in touch with a consultant and forgot until we asked again when this appointment would be... she forgot to offer us ante-natal classes... Recently she has got sick.. unfortunately it seems all midwives are sick so for our last 3 appointments we have seen different people. There is no consistent care. It seems each midwife spots something that is missing in the notes. There is no person to really sort out what is going on.

Our consultant started off helpful. I was really against a C-Section. I thought it would be best if my partner gave it a go and we decided some sweeps on the early side would give her some confidence in that. When we confirmed this with the consultant the appointment was very brief and he didn't really seem to care to be honest.

Since then my partner has been diagnosed with SPD. She hasn't slept through the night in months. When she lay's down she cannot move without great discomfort. She cannot be on all fours. I am greatly concerned about how she will make it through labour with all these back and pelvic problems. I am also concerned if she has a natural birth it will make the SPD worse and it will be something she is stuck with.

I read the SPD page about labour and it spoke about a birth plan.. should the midwife or consultant have brought this up? For them the plan seems to be turn up and get the baby out? A key thing on the SPD page seems to talk about a water birth but my partner has already said due to previous complications this isn't an option.

We are seeing the consultant again on Wednesday and I think I am going to try to fight to get my partner a C-Section. While it is far from ideal it sounds like it might best when it comes to the long-term effects of her SPD and back problems.

I just don't really know what I should be doing. I would have thought by now we would have a plan and know what we are doing. Instead, at 37+2 really we have no idea. We are just hanging on till Wednesday and hoping someone will help.

Has anyone been in this situation? Does anyone have any advice?

 

[Linzie2012]

I didn't want to read & run but cannot answer your questions - hope someone can give you some advice soon

 

[redbear]

so sorry your having a bad time, make a complaint about your midwife for a start although to be fair i see a different midwife every time through choice because i go to the sure start canter and i think the more people look at you the more people to spot something wrong.
please dont let the spd make you go for c section its caused by the pelvis been too loose and can make labour easier! I had it through my last pregnancy and had a very easy labour under two hours. I think recovering from an operation like that and having it would have been worse! Obviously talk to your consultant if thats something she wants but honestly it doesnt make labour any harder than for anyone without it. xx

 

[rheannymac]

I'm so sorry that yous havnt recieved the care you deserved. I can't imagine what it's like to go through pregnancy without professional care.
As for the SPD, I suffered from this during my pregnancy although to be honest not as bad as it sounds it is for your partner. I can say though that my SPD never affected my labour. I did have a very long, drawn out labour (2 & a half days!) however I don't feel it was made any worse by the SPD. Just make sure that the midwives who are with you during labour & birth are made aware of it if yous do go for a natural birth. If a c-section is what she really wants then fair enough, but I would say that going for one just because of the SPD isn't a great idea. My SPD hasn't been an issue for me at all since having my son so hopefully it'll be the same for your partner!
Good luck, I hope everything works out for you both and you get the labour & birth yous want! Xxx

 

[busymummy]

I'm sorry to hear your parntner hasn't recieved good treatment.
As the others have said, the SPD really doesn't get in the way in labour. I could barely walk with it by the end of my pregnancy and I managed it naturally. You just need to think about positions a bit more. For example, I had the bed raised to a sitting up position, and a kneeled over the back, meaning my legs didn't have to be to far apart, gravity helped and I had something to support myself on. The SPD dissappeared almost immidiately after too. I hope all goes well with the birth, and if she feels more comfortable, given the circumstances, to have a c-cection, then she should, but I'd honestly reccommend a natural birth Good luck x