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MAMA-KANGAROO 049
What year did you give birth? - 2005 In which town and hospital? - Beograd, Zvezdara Hospital Did anything unpleasant happen to you in the hospital? What? Did anybody insult you? How? - There was no unpleasantness of that sort, but a midwife was offending a woman who didn’t know what to do with her breasts, so she had some cabbage smuggled in, and put its leaves on her breasts, which was a desperate attempt by someone who nobody wanted to help. How were you addressed in the hospital? By your name and last name, or some nicknames? Which ones? - Mother gemelli Were there any problems with the accommodation or with the medical equipment? What sort of problems? - The bed didn’t have a brake, so when I sat on it, I’d roll to the other side of the room; since I spent 15 days in hospital, I was moved from one room to another, the babies were brought to me for breastfeeding at different times, one with all the other babies and the other in between, so they’d often forget to come and take the other one away, so I was forced to spend up to 6-7 hours constantly holding the baby and crying together with it. 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? - One baby was brought to me during the first breastfeeding time, the day after delivery, and I could see the other baby once a day from 1 p.m. to 1.15 p.m. because it was in ICU; later it was at feeding time, they were brought to me 5 times a day, whenever it was the time, not when I wanted When did you breastfeed your baby for the first time? Were there any problems with breastfeeding? What sort of problems? - I didn’t have any milk until the third day, the woman in charge of breastfeeding was very harsh, and when the milk started flowing I had a problem, since the babies had already been fed and put to sleep when they arrived for breastfeeding; I was lucky not to have any problems with my breasts and I openly showed them my pump and all they did was to inform me not to give the baby that milk since conditions for keeping bottles were not hygienic. 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? - The only thing that irritated me was the approach to breastfeeding; if I decided to breastfeed and if I was previously informed that there was a woman in charge of just that, then, sincerely, I expect her job not to end in pinching the nipples and jotting down “milk flowing”, “milk not flowing”, and as for all other information, you find it out yourself. - Withholding information on baby’s condition, and the shock on reading baby’s discharge papers. - Banning fathers from seeing the baby and mother if they are in the Unit. Did you have to bribe anyone? If yes, whom (you can state just his/her title, without a name)? What for? How much? - No, because I was somebody’s sister and I had an implicit priority, and as for epidural I was told not to have it, since the good anesthesiologist was on vacation, and the other one shouldn’t be allowed to put a dog to sleep, so I was left without epidural, and, apparently, saved myself a 250 Euros. Do you have any other impressions or comments that you consider important? - The bed sheets were changed after 7 days and only when I begged for it, and I got another nightgown after 5 days because the doctor who was doing the rounds ordered them to give me a new one; generally the hygiene was a problem.
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STORIES FROM MATERNITY WARDS Mama-Kangaroo 002
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