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Mother of one (born 2010s), from the Midlands

The hospital was horribly overstretched and understaffed when I gave birth. I had a very long labour (around 60 hours with 3 nights and 4 days awake) and I believe that the care I received as a result of the understaffing contributed to my very long labour which ended with a cesarean section by general anesthetic (hence why my husband was absent from the birth). Had there been more staff available to listen to me when I told them that my epidural wasn't working and that my baby's heart rate was reduced when I lay on my lefthand side I believe I could have avoided some of the length of my labour and the general anaesthetic if not the c section. This traumatic labour and birth made it very hard for me to recover after the birth as we have no additional family support. The staff did not even tell my husband that I had had to have general anesthetic and that he therefore could not attend the birth. They left him in the delivery room on his own in his scrubs for over an hour with no communication. I do feel that both my husband I missed my baby's birth due to lack of care rather than medical need and I still feel very sad about this. I haven't made a formal complaint to the hospital as I don't feel up to doing so. There is also no routine feedback or discussion of a person's birth and patients are not given their labour notes nor indeed their pregnancy or postpartum notes.