But she says that when she arrived at Halifax’s IWK Health Center early one morning in July after her water broke, what was supposed to be an exciting experience turned into a traumatic one. MacDonald claims that from the start of her birth experience, she faced neglect and a lack of compassion – at one point she was left in a room for 13 hours as she suffered excruciating pain.
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“If this could happen to someone like me — not that I’m better than anyone else, but I feel like I was extremely resourceful and prepared — it could happen to anyone, and I’m pretty sure it probably is,” MacDonald said. said Global News. Story continues below ad Before her daughter was born, MacDonald said she had received “absolutely outstanding” care from IWK’s perinatal center, so she expected the same level of care during labor. “That’s what set the foundation for what I expected my birth experience to be and why I was so relaxed and why I was so confident about it,” she said. Meghan MacDonald with her daughter, Madilyn. Alex Cooke/World News MacDonald first arrived at the IWK Health Center with her mother and husband around 4:30 a.m. She went to an early assessment area where she was given underwear with a pad and told there was “no room” for her as 22 more babies were born. During her wait, she said she was checked on by the resident and the doctor on call. She knew she would have to have an IV later and asked if she could have a smaller needle because she has small veins and has had difficulty with IVs in the past. Story continues below ad “Her response to that was… “I don’t care what size IV you get. I’m leaving the shift,” he claimed.
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After about four hours, she said she was moved to a room in the early assessment and delivery clinic. She lay in bed, still wearing the gown she arrived at the hospital in, and said she was not offered a hospital gown, water or even an extra blanket or pillow. “I’m in labor and I’m a first-time mother and I don’t know what to expect,” MacDonald said. “No one even offers to help me go to the bathroom or show me where it is.” MacDonald said she waited in that room, in pain, for about 13 hours, during which no one checked on her. She got help, she said, only after her mother went to find a nurse.
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“The only reason I got treatment was because my mother supported me,” MacDonald said. “I’d hate to think what would have happened if he hadn’t been there.” After her mother got some help, MacDonald got a dose of morphine and was taken to another room and placed in a bathtub, where she labored for another four hours. Story continues below ad
“someone please watch me”
Before going to the hospital, MacDonald had prepared a birth plan – something she was encouraged to do by staff at the perinatal clinic – but said that although she offered it to several staff members, no one read it. The birth plan said she wanted to have an epidural, which would ease some of the pain, since she was three centimeters dilated. At this point, she said she was about five centimeters dilated, but was told the anesthetist was busy and couldn’t do the epidural yet. “All they kept telling me was that there is no room for you. And during that … I see women constantly wheeling up to the next floor,” MacDonald said. 2:11 Couple fights to add both moms to baby’s birth certificate in Nova Scotia She said her mother asked why others who arrived after them were able to go up to the next floor and was told it was because they were scheduled for C-sections. Current trend
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Story continues below ad “If I had known – and I know the recovery situation for a C-section is longer – but I would have signed up for a C-section. I just didn’t know it was available,” MacDonald said. “So simply, I quote, ‘I have to wait.’ Well, I can only wait so long because I can’t control how long this child will stay inside of me and be born, and I’m also asking someone to look after me to manage this pain,” she said. . “I mean, I didn’t go into this experience thinking it was going to be a walk in the park and that it was going to be painless. “Would it be painless? No. Is the pain manageable? Yes. Do we live in a first world country where the expectation is that if we have pain and we ask for it to be taken care of and managed? Yes, that was the expectation.” MacDonald said she was only able to care after her mother, Evelyn Smith, supported her. Alex Cooke/World News She said that instead of an epidural, she was given gas and air, which she said did “nothing” to stop the pain. Story continues below ad Eventually, she said, she was placed in a wheelchair, naked in a hospital gown “kind of strewn over me, but they didn’t put it on,” and wheeled into the next room, out of sight of other families and staff. “Not that I’m a completely shy person — I mean, it’s health care, people have seen people naked before — but it was embarrassing,” she said. When he got to the next room and put her on the table, MacDonald said he finally did the epidural — when she was about 10 centimeters dilated. “I had some relief, thankfully, but at the time, you could have told me you were cutting my leg off and I would have said, ‘Just give me the epidural!’ he said.
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The nurse in that room was “wonderful,” McDonald said, and helped her practice pushing. Her daughter arrived soon after. MacDonald said she was bleeding and praised the hospital staff for their quick response. But then, she said she rushed out of the room. “I had my baby in my arms. Super happy, happy. The world is a better place, looking her face in the eye,” he said. “But then they told me I have 45 minutes to shower and be ready to go.” Story continues below ad MacDonald said she went into another room to breastfeed her daughter, but had trouble getting her to breastfeed. He rang a bell three times to call for help and it took about an hour for someone to arrive. She said the nurse told her she “didn’t do it right,” which was painful to hear as a mother who had never breastfed before, especially after such a traumatic birth. She later hired a private lactation consultant.
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MacDonald also said she asked for a new pad, but was told to wash the pair she was currently wearing and reuse it. “I don’t find it acceptable … to be told to reuse it after it has been stained with amniotic fluid and blood after a vaginal birth,” she said. “I didn’t know there was a limit to how much you could have. “So many things I didn’t know.” In all, MacDonald said she interacted with about 10 staff members in total, who had varying levels of professionalism and compassion. MacDonald’s mother, Evelyn Smith, said when she had her daughter in Ottawa 37 years ago, it was different. Story continues below ad “Health care was different when I gave birth to Megan. I could choose a delivery room. There was a rocking chair. There was a nurse,” he said. “And that was like, wow. I had never been to IWK before. … It was a very big surprise.”
“I wasn’t ready to beg”
MacDonald said she is happy and grateful that her daughter is healthy and enjoying motherhood so far. But the experience left her traumatized and she is now in therapy to deal with her feelings. It also made her reconsider having children in the future — at least at IWK. “I felt like I was extremely well prepared – or thought I was,” she said. “I wasn’t ready to beg.” In an email, IWK spokesman Ben Maycock said the hospital “cannot comment on the care of any specific patient, but strongly encourages the patient to connect to our patient feedback line if they have not already does”.
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MacDonald said she sent a letter to the IWK detailing her experience and forwarded it to the head of…