"I feel the immediate postnatal care could have been better"

I want to feedback about the postnatal experience I had at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow. I’m doing this to improve the quality of postnatal care. 

I feel the immediate postnatal care could be better. I had emergency Caesarean section and it was my first baby. One of the midwives wheeling me from the recovery room was forcing me to eat when I clearly was feeling like vomiting but I think they needed me to eat to move me to the postnatal ward even when I wasn’t ready to eat.

Wheeling me to the ward from the recovery room,  she made racial comments, when she asked where I was from, I told her I was Nigerian and she said she knew a few Nigerians but we seemed like nice calm ones. I was too tired to even express myself.

I told the same midwife I was dizzy and she said I shouldn’t be dizzy because my blood pressure was normal. I was indeed very dizzy both possibly from the blood loss and all the medication from the theatre.

Most importantly, my husband was told to leave me with the baby about 2 hours after having him because it was an emergency CS and we didn’t get to the ward until almost 12 midnight.

I feel women who just had babies should be helped to carry their babies and feed them with bottle when they can barely move off the bed immediately post CS with no established breastfeeding and with no family to help. It brought me to tears struggling to pick my baby up just 2 hours after having him and having to carry him on my tummy to feed and lift my baby up which was so painful and physically difficult. However, I  appreciate the milk I was given.

I feel like there should be a balance between ‘rooming in’ and trying to promote breastfeeding with the physical abilities of the mum post CS.

I’m a doctor myself who has worked in Obstetrics but I felt helpless and hate to think about my birth experience.

I have to say the prenatal ward was fine and the nurses were kind.