Back in October 2022, I was newly pregnant with my second baby and excited for my first midwifery appointment. What I didn’t know, was that I’d be leaving there frustrated at the ‘care’ I received, and later, furious at the consequences…
My appointment fell on a nursery day for my eldest child, so naturally I was doing as many jobs as possible, including redecorating our lounge with a new lick of paint.
I rushed off to my appointment with, let’s call her, for anonymity’s sake, Karen (rather fitting, I feel).
I was called in to my appointment where my midwife introduced herself…
Kristina - ‘Hello Karen, were you previously part of the home birth team?’ (I asked this as I remembered there was a ‘Karen’ on the NGH home birth team when I was pregnant with my first baby)
Karen - ‘No that was a different Karen, were you booked for a home birth last time then?’
Kristina - ‘Yes, I had planned one but unfortunately lockdown meant the home birth service was cancelled, and I ended up having an emergency caesarean’
Karen - BURST into laughter… ‘HAHAHA so home birth is off the table this time then!’
Kristina - ‘No actually that’s what I want.’
Sadly, we were already off to a terrible start…
Whilst we then went through my details, I noticed I had specks of paint all over my hands and apologised to Karen for having hands covered with paint!
Shortly after this conversation, Karen asked me to do the carbon monoxide breath test. Something totally new to me, as I was never offered the test when pregnant with my first baby. Into the mouthpiece I blew and it went BEEP BEEP BEEP. Naturally, I thought the beeps meant I’d passed with flying colours. Oh, how wrong I was… the beeps, in fact, meant the reading result was HIGH. I was initially very shocked, but quickly realised that it must have been the paint - as I have never smoked and we do not have a gas fire at home. It was also raining that day, so the lounge I was painting wasn’t well ventilated and I must have inhaled lots of fumes.
Karen agreed that it was likely the paint, but said she needed to refer me for growth scans that would start from 28 weeks, due to the risk of having a small baby. I explained that I did not want to be referred, and instead asked why I could not be retested at a later date instead?
I clearly stated to Karen that I would be declining the growth scans and I asked multiple times to not be referred (this is on the basis that they were being offered after a ‘one off’ high carbon monoxide reading immediately after painting in a poorly ventilated room - if there were other or medically indicated reasons for a growth scan, I would of course consider them and make an informed decision on that basis). Karen was incredibly insistent that she ‘had’ to make a referral for me, and explained that I would receive letters/details of the scans in the post etc and I could then chose to decline or accept the scans at that time. I reiterated that I did not give consent, and that it was totally ridiculous to refer me and frustrating - Karen quite clearly did not want to apply any common sense.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I receive this text….
Well, safe to say, especially having never smoked - I was FURIOUS. This referral was made without my consent and my data (including personal contact details) had been passed onto another service which was quite clearly, as a non-smoker, not relevant for me.
So I’m sure you can see my frustrations at this absolutely diabolical first midwife appointment… but why did this has the potential to derail my care & birth?
Let me explain…
As I’d previously had a c-section, I was already deemed ‘high risk’. Being referred for high C02 and in my file’s eyes… a potential ‘smoker’, would’ve added even more ‘high risk’ factors to my profile. Making it even less likely that I’d be able to access the local Home birth team services, and placing me under even more pressure to birth only on the labour ward with monitoring.
Growth scans are notoriously inaccurate. In fact, they have a 15% margin of error. What does that mean, I hear you ask? Well, say if your baby is actually 8lb, that scan could show them to be anywhere between 6lb 13 oz and 9lb 3 oz…. Yeah. So although I would know to take the measurements with a pinch of salt, once that information is on your notes - should any concerns be raised, it again adds even more pressure from Health Care Professionals, to more strictly medically manage the pregnancy and birth - like increase the pressure for an induction for example.
Having to attend hospital for multiple (unnecessary) growth scans would have been very stressful for me personally, time consuming and negatively affect my mindset and oxytocin production - not ideal for birth!
So what happened?
Well, I complained, to the Head of Midwifery - who apologised profusely and agreed that Karen’s behaviour was shocking, unacceptable and that it was clearly a serious issue that needed to be addressed. Karen was spoken too about non-consent for the scan referrals, as well as stop smoking service, and it was reiterated to her that this was not appropriate. I was also informed that this learning would be shared with all community midwifery at their next team meeting, as ‘choice, consent and patient experience are so important to us.’
I had all the growth scans cancelled by a Consultant over a telephone appointment - who agreed that it was ridiculous of Karen to not agree too just retest me at a later date.
Went on to have an amazing water birth VBAC, which you can read about here….
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