I had a d and c at the gold coast hospital for a blighted ovum that wouldnt budge on its own and was treated terribly by ward staff, theatre staff were brilliant. I am a nursing student myself and had even had training on the ward next to it and recognised faces but i was disgusted. Im only 21 and was treated like it didnt matter because i was so young and i have plenty of time but they didnt know i had been trying with my partner for 14 months! I didnt get any pre op info or post op info. i never got a follow up appointment or even saw a doctor or ob to get some info all i got was a consent form with a few risks on it. I never got a letter for my gp! i was in and out within 8 hours and as i walked past the nurses station not one of them got out of there chair and acknoledged me as I left. I got no communication and after i had been waiting for 2 hours in the hospital bed my partner decided to ask when i was supposed to go down for the procedure and the nurse said "dont you know your on a waiting list, when there is a spot then you can go" i was never told this! i thought it had been booked i then waited another 2 hours wanting to get this thing out of me as i was so distressed. No one even offered to cut of my wrist tag as i left. im still furious about this and have learned more there on how to be a great nurse then 3 years of uni!
Before my daughter was born I experienced a missed miscarriage at 10 weeks. I was told I had to go into the RWH in Brisbane the following day to have a D&C. I was never given the option to go home and wait it out and being completely naive at the time I just did it.
This sort of experience is obviously pretty awful no matter where you go through it but I will never forget how alone I felt that day and how horrible it was. I fronted up to the ward at 7am not knowing what was going to happen or how long it would take.
About 10am I saw someone and they admitted me and gave me some gels to soften my cervix up. I began cramping and spotting a bit and I was just crying the whole time. At about 1pm they took me into theatre and I had the D&C, and as soon as I opened my eyes I started crying again knowing my baby was gone.
I was put on the maternity ward with heavily pregnant women and newborns which was just beyond insensitive...listening to women labour and babies cry all afternoon. I know this isn't unusual and happens in alot of hospitals and I think is one of the things they really need to look at in their handling of miscarriage and stillbirth.
Anyway at about 9 that evening I finally discharged myself because basically I'd been forgotten about. Took me a very long time to come to terms with that loss
I had another missed miscarriage after my daughter and was treated in the private system - there was such a difference. I was in and out relatively quickly and never went near a maternity ward. A much less traumatic experience.
Last edited by Tobily; October 9th, 2008 at 04:02 PM.
: bad spelling
My first loss was at 10 weeks. I too had a blighted ovum.. the Us staff, Nurses and other hospital staff were very lovely.. I had no problems..
My 2nd loss was at 10 weeks as well, We went for a routine Us only to be told the bad news.. Same as before but this time there was a little baby in there that had died the week before. The place I got my US dne at the staff were wonderful.. They sat with me till I stopped crying then escorted us over to the hospital. Taking us the back ways so I didn't have to face anyone..
The hospital however The Dr who came down to see me, he was a OB. His bedside manner was terrible.. I was almost beyond hysterical.. I really didn't cope well with the news and he just stood there not saying anything. When I calmed down enough to ask questions such as would they do testing he said no you have to lose 3 before we do that.. I explained my reasoning behind wanting testing and yet he still wouldn't budge. We went home and had to come back the following day for the d&c. That went as smoothly as you expect and I was glad not to have to see that Dr again. 5 days later I was at home when I started bleeding heavily. the cramps were so bad. My husband came home from work and took me back to the hospital. to cut a long story short. they didn't do the d&c properly. so I basically miscarried. When it was happening though we didn't realise. The emergency Dr I had was so brilliant. He stayed with me when I was all crampy and was trying his best to work out what was wrong.. He tried to hurry up the US (if it had been done when he requested we would have got 100% confirmation that the d&c was not done fully) I went to the toilet passed an incredible amount of blood and clots( sorry for tmi) About half hour later i went for my Us and of course my uterus was empty. anyways The Dr wanted to admit me but I cried so much cus I wanted to go home with my boys. he sent me home with strict instructions to rest rest rest and wanted me back at the hospital by 9am.. At 8am I got a phone call from the actual Dr asking how I was and was I coming back up. When we got there he took us right out the back and talked to us.. he was just lovely. My GP was also great!
Hope thats what you wanted to know.. the hosp i was treated at both times does not have a good reputation.. I did not have my living babies in this town. We chose to travel out of town...
i went to my GP as i had been bleeding for 2 weeks. She referred me to an OB/GYN as a public patient (he practiced privately and publicly..not sure how this works...). So i went down there that day expecting to be told that the pill i was on just needed changing.
he told me to get up on the table as he would do an internal ultrasound to check things out.
he looked at the screen and told me that i was having a m/c at 8 weeks. he wiped my belly and went over to his desk to write something down and told me to get dressed. i just lay there for awhile trying desperately to curb the shame and sadness that i felt at first not realising that i was pregnant and that i was losing a baby that i know DH and I would have loved and wanted had we known. i got up and stood there for what felt like an eternity and finally had to ask him what i had to do from here. he looked up surprised that i was still there and told me there was nothing to be done. that i would have to pass the baby for the next couple of months that's it. i was devastated. the way he looked at me as though i were asking such a silly, uneducated question. so i left his rooms and saw all these gorgeous brimming bellies and just burst into tears. my DH (DP at the time!) was waiting in the room and had no idea what was going on. i signed the stupid paperwork (the staff didnt even look at me). the OB came out and said in a normal talking voice so that everyone there could hear that i was a m/c and to charge me accordingly and explained the rebate that i would get as a public patient (the 'oh you dont have insurance' question was asked).
it took a good 2 months for everything to clear re the m/c. but soon after i had further complications as there was retained material and endo had come into the picture. and it was later diagnosed that the inaction on the m/c caused me the fertility issues that i had later.
Overall, it was a really awful experience. the handling of the OB and the staff at the hospital was really insensitive. as though i was not worth their time as my baby had died.
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The Dr who came down to see me, he was a OB. His bedside manner was terrible.. I was almost beyond hysterical.. I really didn't cope well with the news and he just stood there not saying anything. When I calmed down enough to ask questions such as would they do testing he said no you have to lose 3 before we do that.. I explained my reasoning behind wanting testing and yet he still wouldn't budge. We went home and had to come back the following day for the d&c. That went as smoothly as you expect and I was glad not to have to see that Dr again. 5 days later I was at home when I started bleeding heavily. the cramps were so bad. My husband came home from work and took me back to the hospital. to cut a long story short. they didn't do the d&c properly. so I basically miscarried. When it was happening though we didn't realise. The emergency Dr I had was so brilliant. He stayed with me when I was all crampy and was trying his best to work out what was wrong.. He tried to hurry up the US (if it had been done when he requested we would have got 100% confirmation that the d&c was not done fully) I went to the toilet passed an incredible amount of blood and clots( sorry for tmi) About half hour later i went for my Us and of course my uterus was empty. anyways The Dr wanted to admit me but I cried so much cus I wanted to go home with my boys. he sent me home with strict instructions to rest rest rest and wanted me back at the hospital by 9am.. At 8am I got a phone call from the actual Dr asking how I was and was I coming back up. When we got there he took us right out the back and talked to us.. he was just lovely. My GP was also great!
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