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MAMA-KANGAROO 045
Baby No. 1 What year did you give birth? - 2002 In which town and hospital? - Beograd, Visegradska Hospital Did anything unpleasant happen to you in the hospital? What? Did anybody insult you? How? - The admission was catastrophic, a young doctor, completely uninterested, kept me waiting for two hours before giving me an examination and sending me off to a hospital. Before that, I had filled in a bunch of questionnaires asking why I was pregnant, how I got pregnant, even asking for information on grandparents. Of course, I got the hospital nightgown, which proudly revealed my bust, and brown rubber slippers, because you can’t use your own in a maternity ward, and I was sent to the third floor, followed by a Cerberus-nurse who kept telling me to stop falling behind and get a move on. How were you addressed in the hospital? By your name and last name, or some nicknames? Which ones? - Mother, primipara. Were there any problems with the accommodation or with the medical equipment? What sort of problems? - After having been given a shave, enema, and an examination, in front of anyone who happened to be present, by two doctors, three interns, and a couple of students who stared into my crotch, I was placed in a room. Of course, I was “attached” to an induction and left alone, without any notice. I was lying there alone for full 4 hours and witnessed a couple of deliveries during that time. - Then, midwives darted in and gave me a lightning quick delivery. Then an intern turned up, put on that butcher’s apron, and stitched me up without an anesthetic. When did you see your child for the first time after giving birth? How often did you see him/her? Could you see him/her whenever you wanted? - I was shown my child immediately after the delivery, and afterwards he was brought to me only the day after at the same time, which is to say 24 hours later. I couldn’t see him when I wanted to, because to be able to do so, I had to enter a room usually occupied by pediatric nurses, and look at him through the glass, but entrance there was forbidden. When did you breastfeed your baby for the first time? Were there any problems with breastfeeding? What sort of problems? - The first time he was brought to me, they just dropped the baby next to me, and I quote: "Mother, get your tit out and breastfeed the child " and I of course neither knew how nor what to do, while the baby was screaming incessantly. Did you ever happen to doubt the expertise of the doctors and other medical staff? When and why? - No. Did you ever doubt whether some of the hospital protocols and rules were justified? Which ones? Why? How would you change them? - Why is episiotomy necessary? Did you have to bribe anyone? If yes, whom (you can state just his/her title, without a name)? What for? How much? - No, though I think I maybe should have, at least so as to have a connection... Do you have any other impressions or comments that you consider important? - Toilet and bathroom in a terrible state, a shambles, baskets full of used sanitary towels. Nurses are unkind, acting like they were in Wild West. Lactarium nurses are the same, they just rush in through the door and ask for milk which you HAVE to express and donate for a hoard of hungry babies, and if the glass is empty, you have to give excuses why, while the “milkmaid” stares daggers at you. - The only thing I can’t reproach is baby discharge. It’s true that I waited for him from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. but the nurses were very nice and kind.
Baby No. 2 What year did you give birth? - 2005 In which town and hospital? - Beograd, Visegradska Hospital Did anything unpleasant happen to you in the hospital? What? Did anybody insult you? How? - Admitted with a twin pregnancy and a skyrocketing blood pressure to High Risk Pregnancy Ward. Dr Dukanac, painfully unkind, is arguing with me all the time, I have no personal belongings because I came in just to get a CTG and was kept in hospital. The doctor even waited for my mom and fought with her in the hall, why… I don’t’ know. Due to high blood pressure I didn’t get any food the entire day, only tomorrow morning did I get a spoonful of boiled cornmeal. It was a stroke of luck that I had contractions and left that place, otherwise I would have strangled the doctor. Examinations with Bensedin every half an hour. How were you addressed in the hospital? By your name and last name, or some nicknames? Which ones? - Mother, that one Were there any problems with the accommodation or with the medical equipment? What sort of problems? - The delivery lasted from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. They just added induction without explaining what they were doing and why. A midwife delivered my baby, at my insistence, at 7 in the evening, first one baby, then the other. It was a stroke of luck I got around episiotomy, but not manual revision, without anesthetics. The doctor was almost hissing at me because she had to do it, and there was a bunch of students observing. When did you see your child for the first time after giving birth? How often did you see him/her? Could you see him/her whenever you wanted? - I saw the babies two days later because they were in an incubator. The neonatologist was available for talking to patients every day between 12 and 13 hours, but in three weeks that we spent there, I didn’t find him there once at the designated hour. The nurses at Semi-intensive Care Unit are horrible, they know nothing, can’t show you the baby, each question is answered with "Ask the neonatologist in charge of your case". When did you breastfeed your baby for the first time? Were there any problems with breastfeeding? What sort of problems? - The first time only 4 days after the delivery, with completely clogged and inflamed breasts. Babies in Semi-intensive Care Unit are not brought to their mother’s rooms but mothers go to a special room intended for that, the nurse only walks in, hands over the baby and goes out, and you manage any way you can. Sometimes they skip breastfeeding because the heating is out of order there. All in all, I ended up on “the milking machine”, their breast pump. Did you ever happen to doubt the expertise of the doctors and other medical staff? When and why? - Once during breastfeeding, I noticed a baby was breathing in a funny way, and managed to catch a nurse in the hall and tell it to her. Two weeks later, the elusive neonatologist called me to ask whether I had noticed anything strange. Unfortunately, by that time it was already late, and the baby died later. The question is raised "how can a neonatologist, who allegedly examines the babies every day, fail to notice for two weeks that a baby is going blue and practically is not breathing"? Did you ever doubt whether some of the hospital protocols and rules were justified? Which ones? Why? How would you change them? - ... Did you have to bribe anyone? If yes, whom (you can state just his/her title, without a name)? What for? How much? - No, and it was a mistake, and a big one, I definitively should have Do you have any other impressions or comments that you consider important? - Of course, standard unkindness and lack of interest, dirty bathrooms and poor food. In the meantime, the doctors started fighting the patients; even the cleaning ladies were unkind. The beds had to be made immaculately, like in the army, without any surrounding items, we even had to put away our slippers so the doctor wouldn’t see them. All in all, I had a bad time, less bad the first time, more bad the second time, and it’s high time something changed.
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STORIES FROM MATERNITY WARDS Mama-Kangaroo 002
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