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srpski

Civic initiative
MOTHER COURAGE

MAMA-KANGAROO 077

What year did you give birth?
- 2006

In which town and hospital?

- Pančevo, the Town hospital

Did anything unpleasant happen to you in the hospital? What? Did anybody insult you? How?

-  The doctors were as good as one can only hope for. I have huge objections to the behavior of the nurses-midwives, who were extremely rude and arrogant, and who, without exceptions, refused to help us in any way concerning our personal hygiene, or to show us how to breastfeed properly. I gave birth by Cesarean section, and I was fortunate enough that my sister gave birth the same way only twenty days or so, and I had an inkling about the procedure. What I didn’t expect was such an inhumane treatment that my room-mate and I received. The very first morning after the delivery, the nurses refused to help us get to the bathroom, even though we were in great pain from the wound, but also from the injections we got for the uterus to constrict. It took me about 10 minutes to drag myself to the bathroom which was only a few meters away. To my question if anyone can help I got the following reply: “What do you think how many of us are supposed to work here to get each and every one of you wherever you wanna go?” I held my tongue, and the first day went by excess free. The second day passes, and they won’t bring us our kids for feeding. I talked to my sister and asked her when she got to see her baby for the first time, and she told me “The next day”. I ask the nurse if perhaps they should bring us our kids to be fed and she asked me: “When did you give birth?” I say “The night before last”, so she comes and presses my breasts, sees that I have milk and goes to bring me my baby.
- The baby was of course fed to her ears, and just slept, so I didn’t feed him that day. No one even implied that I should use a breast pump, or showed me how to use it. The next morning, I woke up with breasts like Pamela’s, and I immediately called the nurse to ask what’s wrong. She said that my breasts are becoming inflamed and brought the again fully fed baby over.  I tried to place him on my breast, which I simply couldn’t do, because he wasn’t in the mood, and my breasts were so swollen that I could only put the tip of the nipple into his mouth. I called her again and asked her how to put him on the breast, or at least how to compress, to what she irritably said: “Mother, did you read even a thing in these nine months?” I replied: “If I tell you that the stem on a tree has taken on when the surface dries up, does that make any sense to you? No? Well, what I’ve read means exactly the same to me until someone shows it to me in real life.” She just went out and sent another nurse who like pressed my breasts for half an hour, told me to get a pump and left. They brought me a pump, but I didn’t manage to do much with it, so that my breasts were as hard as stone and hot under my fingers by the time I left the hospital, and all my pleading and complaining was characterized as my being spoiled, so they would either ditch me anytime I called them, or they ignored me completely. My problem was only solved when I got home, when my neighbor –an ex-midwife, helped me by massaging and keeping my breasts warm, and using the pump. You don’t want to know the amount of blood, puss and what not that came out of my breasts, and I managed to breastfeed my baby for the first time only fifteen days later.

How were you addressed in the hospital? By your name and last name, or some nicknames? Which ones?

- They all addressed us "Mother"

Were there any problems with the accommodation or with the medical equipment? What sort of problems? 

- The renovation of the maternity ward was taking place, but apart from the bad springs in the mattresses, I have no complaints.

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 him the second day after birth and the babies were brought only at feeding time.

When did you breastfeed your baby for the first time? Were there any problems with breastfeeding? What sort of problems? 

- I already explained.

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? 

- I don’t have any complaints.

Did you have to bribe anyone? If yes, whom (you can state just his/her title, without a name)? What for? How much?
- I didn’t remember to. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t have had any problems with breastfeeding.

Do you have any other impressions or comments that you consider important?

- No.

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