Watford Hospital

[Petemate]

Has anyone had any experiences of this hospital regarding sending new mums home too early? Our daughter had her first baby last Friday and due to him being two weeks early and breached, she had to have an emergency caesarean. He was only 5lb 2oz. They sent her home - in our opinion - too early. The outcome was that he was not feeding properly, they had a bad first night with him, and the visiting midwife took one look at him and they were whisked straight back in, and are now in the specialist unit.
During the time that my OH was in there she was not impressed with the general state of the place. She is a nurse so she knows what she is talking about. We were not even aware that they had been sent home until yesterday eve.
Altogether a bad experience for a first time mum.
I understand in this day & age of 'production-line' techniques they have to 'move 'em on' but with a borderline 'prem' baby, I am annoyed that this has happened. As we are in Oxford, it was hard for OH to keep an eye on her as OH herself is on shifts and still working - she had a week booked off for assistance once daughter & baby would have been home normally.
Not happy.

[turbolucie]

When did they get sent home? The same day? Down here emergency c-sections tend to stay in 2 days I think, and anything over 37 weeks can go home straight away as long as they're fine, as they are classed as term. I'm no expert though.

Best bet is for your daughter to discuss with a nurse/doctor her feelings, they should be given proper explanations, if not then that's another issue.

Edited by turbolucie on Tuesday 1st March 23:11

[Petemate]

turbolucie said:

When did they get sent home? The same day? Down here emergency c-sections tend to stay in 2 days I think, and anything over 37 weeks can go home straight away as long as they're fine, as they are classed as term. I'm no expert though.

Best bet is for your daughter to discuss with a nurse/doctor her feelings, they should be given proper explanations, if not then that's another issue.

Edited by turbolucie on Tuesday 1st March 23:11

Not sure of the time, but they went home Sunday - the op was 21.30 Friday , but considering the low weight of the child I think she should have been kept in longer. They had a rough night Sun; the baby was dehydrated when the midwife came round and she went bananas and got them back in the hospital pronto. Turned out the baby was so weak from the start that he couldn't even take feed from the breast properly; our poor daughter didn't know any different and thought he was feeding OK. His weight had dipped alarmingly and according to the midwife looked like he was fading away. Straight into the specialist unit and into an incubator.
I am sure this is a product of the system as in my many experiences in various hospitals (bloody motorbikes, a new hip, and a hernia) all the nurses have been wonderful.
Apparently on advice she will be expressing and then feeding him from the resultant bottle, to go on formula very soon. My good lady (we had five children) reckons breast feeding is all very well, but one needs to know how much baby has had and there is not yet a fuel gauge on a pair of......well. you get the picture!

[Petemate]

Postscript to the above, for anyone who was viewing the thread. They are still in the special baby unit, but doing fairly well. Mum is expressing the milk (did I hear someone saying "bitty"?) and he is taking it from the bottle, albeit with a little difficulty as he is a 'lazy' baby as the sayings go (probably still a bit weak through being early) He is now out of the incubator and they are happy with him. Just the usual jaundice, and a bit of apnoea (probably as he was premautre) They will be keeping him & mum in until they are satisfied that all is under control.
Good result now, we are all very relieved.