Boy do I have a "horror story" for you about my 2nd labor & delivery.
Basically I arrived at 7:05am to be induced on the 17th. They took me and my fiancé back to my room and got my IV and all that set up. They gave me something that would induce contractions and work on softening and dilating the cervix. At some point I started having some mild contractions, they started off like period cramps, gradually got worse but then after an hour of dealing with them, 30s and 40s felt like nothing. When they checked me I was 4cm dilated and offered an epidural, I said sure cause I wanted to get some sleep. Well. They sent my fiancé out of the room, which in WA they didn't make him leave at all, they kept him there to help support me and keep me calm. So the whole time they were doing my epidural I was having an anxiety attack, shaking like fucking crazy. That's over and done with, so they try to put in the catheter, I have another panic attack and nearly pass out. Mind you, my fiancé was holding my hand for support and watched the color drain from my body and my hands go from warm to nearly iced. I also could feel this mind you. But eventually they get it in and carry on from there. With my first baby, I couldn't feel it there, like there was pressure but I couldn't FEEL it nor did it bring me discomfort. This one did. It honestly probably got in the way of me actually napping the entire time; it felt like I needed to pee at all times and had that weird burning sensation you get when you are about to pee with a UTI.
Now every time they did a cervix check it fucking HURT. They would make comments like "your cervix is super soft and flexible but your really tight." Which should have been an indication to them that I was feeling them shove their fucking hand in my vagina. Again, with my first, they would do their checks after the epidural and I would feel nothing other than pressure which didn't bother me. But their excuse for me so obviously feeling pain despite having the epidural is "most women mistake pressure for pain."
No. Not this one. This isn't my first baby, something is wrong. They would send in the people to give me more doses of epidural that mind you, did nothing. Like the amount of nothing it was doing was I could still move my legs around but unable to feel ice water that was being sprayed on my arms and torso. Now let's fast forward. It's maybe... 1am maybe even 12, I'm having contractions 1 minute apart and it fucking hurts and my body is trying to push. I tell the nurse this and 1. She checks my cervix and says I'm only at an 8 so I have to wait. 2. The "pain" I'm feeling is pressure. {I'm in so much pain and trying to fight my bodies urge to push that I'm screaming out in pain and crying while telling myself "no stop, don't push."} After what felt like forever they finally say I can go for it. During labor, I probably passed out 2 or 3 times with them waking me up to push again. Baby is out, instant relief, skin to skin.
But my fiancé was acting weird. Like he ran to the bathroom to puke (which he didn't do with our first or even with his son from what I was told.) And is like, constantly wiping his eyes. So I finally ask him what's up.
Apparently when my baby girl came out she was blue with her cord wrapped around her shoulder and neck. He pukes because he thought she was dead and it was super overwhelming.
That's the labor part. After was just as shit. The day time nurses were assholes, really pushy about breastfeeding, delaying getting me formula like I was asking. Never asked my partner if he needed anything (and I get he didn't have a baby but being someone's support through labor is fucking hard and even worse when you think you're going to lose them; mind you when I kept passing out one of the doctors kept talking Bout worse case scenarios with me in front of him) night time shift was better kind of. Throughout the stay they offer taking your baby to the nursery so you can get some sleep, I didn't like sending her there cause everytime she went she came back acting like she was starving and her diaper was always full- and if they did feed or change her; they never told me so I could properly keep track of it.
Last day there, they take her to the nursery to do her hearing test and I called my nurse asking for pain and cramp meds and reminded her that I still need formula for the baby. She said she would do it, never did. When I was being discharged, the pediatrician noticed they hadn't removed my IV and had to do it herself. They sent me and the baby home without doing any of the things I had asked for. Mind you, when we got home they didn't even remove the wrist or ankle band, but of course had removed the one that would set an alarm.
On top of that, when the baby was born she swallowed the fluids and they didn't vacuum her, so she was and still is really backed up and struggles to breath. They shouldn't have sent us home without making sure she would be okay and not get sick from this.
The thing I get a real kick from is, my first baby, the hospital gave me a prescription for pain medication, Tylenol and Ibuprofen, cause you know, having a baby is painful and healing is painful. On no, they didn't prescribe me pain meds, the only thing sent to my pharmacy was BIRTH CONTROL.
Overall besides free food and snacks given at the hospital, it was a terrible experience. I am constantly checking in on my baby in fear of her gagging on mucous or having any other issues from the lack of actual care given to her by these nurses.
