My daughter is now a healthy baby,but I am plagued by memories of the care I received from hospital midwives before my emergency caesareanFriday evening in a busy west London maternity hospital and I'm being wheeled briskly into theatre for my emergency caesarean. There is a sense of urgency, a situation growing more grave by the minute. Paediatricians hover and doctors consult. "Does the baby need in-utero resuscitation?" I hear someone question. Should I hold a general anaesthetic or an epidural; how much time do we hold? My husband is whisked absent to dress for theatre. I feel strangely calm, and relieved to be in the hands of doctors duly concerned about my labour,absent from the midwives who seemed anything but during the past seven hours in their care.
The anaesthetist administers an epidural. "Three minutes," the surgeon tells him, and his eyes fixed on the heart monitor showing my baby's distress.Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com