One mum nearly bled to death on a coffee （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, another's baby died after '存在 fed only sugar and water': SARAH VINE 明らかにする／漏らすs women's heartbreaking real-life stories from maternity 区s that will make you weep
Childbirth is never 平易な and rarely straightforward. Throughout human history, giving birth has been at best painful, at worst 致命的な. It’s only in 最近の times that the 期待 of both mother and child 生き残るing has been the norm.
We have modern 医療の practice to thank for that. But as last week’s 議会の 調査 into birth 外傷／ショック has 最高潮の場面d, there are 面s of pregnancy and motherhood that still seem rooted in what can only be 述べるd as a 中世 mindset. Neglect 瀬戸際ing on cruelty, dismissive, patronising 態度s, ignorance, ineptitude and a dangerous 欠如（する） of rigour - all experiences 述べるd in this shocking 報告（する）／憶測.
令状ing about my own experiences of childbirth over two １０年間s ago, I 反映するd that time and again, in conversations with friends and 親族s who had been through the same, there was one ありふれた denominator: a 欠如（する） of compassion and competence in the 配達／演説／出産 room.?
Throughout human history, giving birth has been at best painful, at worst 致命的な. It’s only in 最近の times that the 期待 of both mother and child 生き残るing has been the norm
The very people who were supposed to guide us through the 過程 of childbirth seemed all too often to be obstructive, uninterested and at times 危険に incompetent.?
Several readers wrote in, wondering whether this might have something to do with the fact that midwives are no longer 要求するd to を受ける nursing 資格s; some midwives got in touch to berate me for 尋問 their profession, 告発する／非難するing me of ‘lazy journalism’.?
But by far the most 圧倒的な 返答 was from women - of all ages - 株ing their own, often heart-rending, いつかs 破滅的な experiences. They paint a picture of a broken system that can no longer be ignored.
Sarah Vine
I nearly bled to death on the coffee （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する
After a first 長引いた birth where pre-eclampsia was belatedly 診断するd - midwives had 繰り返して ignored my 恐れるs in the 先行する months - I was terrified about giving birth a second time. It turned out I had good 推論する／理由 to be.
Having haemorrhaged the first time, it was written all over my 公式文書，認めるs that I should only give birth in hospital - a home birth or birthing centre were out of the question - as I was more likely to haemorrhage again.
I went into 労働 in the 早期に hours of a 冷淡な November morning in 2016. After the first hour, the 収縮過程s were already happening every minute but when I spoke to a midwife at the hospital, she 怒って 宣言するd the fact I could speak meant I was nowhere 近づく 労働 so should stay at home.
Forty-five minutes later, I got the shock of my life when my waters broke and seconds later my baby was born in the living room - while my husband received 指示／教授／教育s from the 999 操作者. It was half an hour before the paramedics arrived to 削減（する） the cord, advising me that I’d probably get away with not going to hospital at all.
When a young, nervous-looking midwife arrived, having got lost on the way, she helped me ‘give birth’ to the placenta. She did not even ちらりと見ること at the 公式文書，認めるs which said I should be given an 注射 to 急いで this part - 予定 to the 危険 of bleeding. That’s when it all went wrong.
By the time her more 上級の 同僚 arrived, I was bleeding ひどく - part of the placenta having got stuck. They plonked me on the coffee （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and endlessly discussed whether to stitch me up there and then. Two hours passed, during which I lost my 見通し and panicked that the 血 was still ebbing from me, before they hurried me into an 救急車.
When will midwives start listening to mothers, asks one woman, who requested anonymity (とじ込み／提出する photo)
Unable to see, feeling weak yet rigid with 恐れる, I was utterly 納得させるd I was dying as the サイレン／魅惑的な blared on our rocky 旅行. My 恐れるs hardly 静めるd by the 速度(を上げる） with which they 押し進めるd my trolley into theatre. When I asked the 外科医 if I was going to die he replied 簡単に, ‘It’s my 職業 to try to 妨げる that.’ Why didn’t he say no? Then everything went blank.
I lived to tell the tale of course - and thankfully my daughter had been born healthy - but no thanks to all that dithering. And the antenatal midwives who had ignored my 恐れるs I had pre-eclampsia a second time. I 要求するd six 部隊s of 血 and spent days in 集中的な care where it 現れるd I had HELLP syndrome - a life-脅すing variant of pre-eclampsia.
The NHS took it upon themselves to send my 公式文書，認めるs for 怠慢，過失 review. Surprise, surprise, it turned out they weren’t at fault.
When will midwives start listening to mothers?
Anon.
They ignored my 嘆願s that something was wrong with my baby - then he died
I gave birth to my second baby in 1975. After a bad experience with my first son, I 選ぶd for the 私的な wing of Harrogate hospital.
It started 不正に when an unfriendly nurse told me, ‘Don’t think you’re anybody special because you’ve got your own room.’
I gave birth to a 9lbs 2oz baby in the 労働 room and the nurse said he was healthy. They put him on the 規模s and I noticed he was shivering and his lips were quivering. When I commented about that they said, ‘Have you never seen a baby’s lip quiver before?‘
They brought me my baby for feeding. I was to 瓶／封じ込める 料金d but I just couldn’t do it as I was in so much 苦痛 with haemorrhoids I couldn’t sit up. I asked the nurse if she would help me 料金d him and she said, ‘No we have better things to do.’ They left the 瓶／封じ込める beside the bed. I noticed it was colourless. I asked the nurse why he wasn’t 存在 given any milk. She said, ‘It’s sugar and water, which is better for his 腎臓s and besides he’s a big baby and he won’t 苦しむ’ - her exact words. I tried but it was not successful.
The next day, another nurse brought my baby to be fed and said to me, ‘Here you are, yours is the one that’s always blathered up.’ He was having constant diarrhoea. My husband （機の）カム to visit that night. As he was leaving at 8.15pm, he saw the baby, who was crying at the time.
Half an hour later a nurse and a smartly dressed doctor appeared in my room looking solemn. He said, ‘Your baby is dead.’ I was stunned. He had died of cot death. I すぐに haemorrhaged and they 発射する／解雇するd me with Valium.
The gynaecologist who 成し遂げるd my 地位，任命する-誕生の check said that I wasn’t the first, that there had been nine deaths there that year. This was later 否定するd.
When I 結局 felt able to complain about my 治療 there, I received a letter from the 長，率いる of nursing 明言する／公表するing that the 関係 between 患者 and midwife is very often abrasive.
Until 2004 I was still trying to communicate with the hospital about this and …に出席するing 会合s but getting nowhere. I was 結局 able to read my baby’s 医療の 公式文書，認めるs which 明言する／公表するd that he had been 診察するd and was healthy and that he was 存在 fed 決まり文句／製法 milk, which was a 嘘（をつく）. He never had milk.
I think of the ordeal every day.
ジーンズ Garbutt
If men gave birth, the sorry 明言する／公表する of maternity care would be 権利d in a trice
I think Sarah Vine and I must have had the same 恐ろしい midwife at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, where my daughter was born 22 years ago. At one point during the 労働 the only way I could get any 救済 was on all fours on the 床に打ち倒す - I vividly remember 星／主役にするing at my husband’s (very smart) polished shoes. She 積極性 ordered me to ‘get 支援する on the bed’ and when I said no she 脅すd (as a 罰) to get the doctor.
Of course when the lady doctor arrived she was charming and professional. But the midwife was 明確に furious with me as she 扱う／治療するd me with 敵意 and venom thereafter. I remember worrying through the 労働 that she was going to 傷つける me or - worse - put the baby in 危険，危なくする. Happily a 訓練生 midwife joined the team and すぐに （機の）カム and held my 手渡す, asking, ‘Are you 承認する?’ And then soothingly, ‘You’re doing really 井戸／弁護士席.’ What a sweetie! But why should we women feel 感謝する for what should be 基準 親切 and empathy?
If men gave birth, this sorry 明言する／公表する of maternity care would be 権利d in a trice.
Emma Kay
The hospital 認める 原因（となる）ing my son's 壊滅的な brain 傷害s - but the midwife kept her 職業
It is dreadful to think that no 改良s in maternity care have been made since my own terrible experience nearly 32 years ago.
I have three sons, the eldest, a healthy 37 year old with wife and family was born by 緊急 caesarean. Poor Andrew, who followed five year s later, was a ‘裁判，公判 of scar’ [where 労働 is 試みる／企てるd after the previous child was 配達するd by C-section] and 約束s were made that all would be 井戸／弁護士席.
にもかかわらず my protestations to the midwife on 義務 that things did not seem 権利, Andrew 苦しむd a 壊滅的な brain 傷害 at birth. He has lived with the consequences ever since. He has fits, cannot speak, 料金d himself and wears nappies. He has developed scoliosis of the spine, 苦しむs sleep apnoea (with 夜通し alarm fitted), he has a feeding tube 挿入するd into his abdomen, and the 最新の X-ray shows dislocation of both hips. He has lived all his life with 苦痛 and 苦しむing and the mental indignation of having all his needs met by others.
This is an immensely コンビナート／複合体 始める，決める of circumstances for anyone to have to を取り引きする. Andrew 現在／一般に resides in a care home in Eastbourne which is 38 miles away from our home. At 64, I take him to all hospital/clinic 任命s which are many, 含むing The 王室の 国家の Orthopedic Hospital at Stanmore and St Thomas’ Hospital in London; long 旅行s with a 攻撃を受けやすい 車椅子-bound adult are not 平易な.
It is truly a 悲劇の and unnecessary 始める，決める of 失敗s by the midwife on 義務 that night. にもかかわらず my 試みる／企てるs to get her 除去するd from her 職業 経由で the UK Central 会議 For Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, they 保護するd her - even though 十分な causation of Andrew’s 傷害 was 認める by the 地元の hospital.
Clare Jenks
When I went to complain about mistakes 原因（となる）ing my baby's brain 損失, my 医療の 公式文書，認めるs were 行方不明の?
I too 苦しむd over 50 years ago from a shambolic birth at UCH... but in my 事例／患者 the midwives were 訂正する and the junior doctors were at fault. The 反対／詐欺 sultant never …に出席するd.
I was 21 at the time and thought I didn’t need 私的な care (how wrong was I!). I was three weeks 延滞の, put on an oxytocin drip and after three days my baby was passing meconium. The midwives told the registrar that I needed a caesarean, which they 完全に ignored, and gave me high forceps and vacuum extraction. My son, Jonathan, was born blue and not breathing. After five minutes or more they resuscitated, which left him 完全に brain 損失d. When I 協議するd another obstetrician 個人として at the hospital he 知らせるd me I should have had a caesarean at that time 予定 to my pelvis 存在 small, the baby’s position and other factors.
Even 35 years later, one woman told how she is still 苦しむing from the consequences of a forceps 配達／演説／出産 that went wrong (とじ込み／提出する photo)
Fortunately I was able to have two more healthy children 個人として in a small clinic. My son Jonathan was at home with me for four or five years but with many sleepless nights with a 苦しめるd child crying day and night. He had 多重の phys io 開会／開廷／会期s to no avail, with no speech, no sight and immobility. He was then given a place at a phenomenal home and is still alive today but in a vegetative 明言する／公表する.
I did not want to 告訴する, but did not want any other mother to 苦しむ, so I did go to my 地元の MP, Margaret Thatcher, who at the time passed it on to the 大臣 of Health. But unfortunately half my 医療の 公式文書，認めるs were 行方不明の!
Lady Estelle Wolfson, London
Traumatic birth meant I could never 熟視する／熟考する having another child?
My own experience of childbirth was 十分に 恐ろしい that I didn’t even 熟視する／熟考する another pregnancy. And 35 years later, like so many other women, I’m still 苦しむing from the consequences of a forceps 配達／演説／出産 that left my newborn looking like he had a 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむ and me 全く 爆撃する-shocked!
To 追加する 侮辱 to 傷害 I was in hospital for eight days and 設立する the staff on the 区 unfriendly and unhelpful (my dear mum was already dead so I didn’t have her loving support). The one time somebody showed me some 親切 I nearly cried.
For some かなりの time, I could easily be brought to 涙／ほころびs just thinking about the whole experience. As I couldn’t 直面する giving birth again, I fostered for over 20 years as I felt I had so much love to give to children.
Anon.
The doctor was so appalled by the midwives he said he'd help me complain?
I was so shocked to read about the 現在の 状況／情勢 regarding childbirth even today. It was bad enough in 1962, when I had my second baby.
I had been to antenatal classes and taught how to manage 苦痛 by 緩和 and how to position myself into a frontal position to give birth. But two utterly callous midwives continuously laughed at me and kept throwing me 概略で の上に my 味方する to 押し進める. Hours of 非，不，無-birth resulted in a 急ぐd 軍隊d ejection and me 存在 torn tremendously.
They left me naked and bleeding with all the windows wide open while they fetched a doctor, which took ages. He was appalled when he saw me; I’d gone into total shock by then. He covered me up, 急ぐd around shutting all the windows and 叫び声をあげるing for 援助, then took many minutes stitching me inside and out. He gently told me I might never be able to give birth this way ever again. He also said if I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to make a （民事の）告訴, he would 支援する me to the hilt.
Of course, I never did. I didn’t have the strength, lost all my hair and my milk and never やめる 社債d with that baby as I did with my others, which was awful for us both.
I am now in my 80s and can never forget the most awful traumatic time in my life, ever.
Carole Giles, 演説（する）／住所 供給（する）d.
As a former midwife I would rather not have children then 苦しむ this
I qualified as a midwife in 1972 and had superb training at 物陰／風下d Maternity Hospital. 事前の to this, I had 完全にするd a three-year training to become a 明言する／公表する 登録（する）d nurse at Liverpool 王室の Infirmary.
The care we gave in 物陰／風下d was excellent, as later was my own experience of the antenatal, 配達／演説／出産 and postnatal care for me and my children.
I can hardly believe what horrific ordeals these women have endu red. What a 災害 for the 未来 of this country. If I 手配中の，お尋ね者 a family at this time, I would have to 支払う／賃金 to go 個人として or not become a parent.
Lesley Burton, Amble, Northumberland
