Giving Birth At Whipps Cross Hospital, London - My Labour Story

I’d like to share my labour experience at Whipps Cross Hospital. I hope other women who are thinking about choosing this hospital to have their baby will find this useful especially as tours have been cancelled due to the pandemic. This is is a bit of a review of all the areas you may come across during labour at Whipps Cross Hospital - Barts Health NHS Trust.

We were overjoyed when our baby boy arrived in June 2021. In the end I required an assisted delivery with a ventouse but we felt like we were in safe hands which is the most important thing. There were a few ups and downs as with most labour stories, so we experienced four key parts of the maternity department- Triage, Lilac Ward (for low risk births) before moving to the Labour Ward (for constant monitoring), and then the Postnatal Mulberry ward. There were parts of my experience which weren’t great, however during our time leading up to and including delivery on the Labour ward we experienced first rate care and I would recommend Whipps Cross. I would just prepare yourself for perhaps the other bits, and hopefully my story might help you.

Triage

We went to triage when our contractions lasted 1 minute and was occurring 3 times every 10 minutes. However, when the nurse measured me I had only dilated 2cms. She offered me a sweep, which I declined, the idea of it to me was worse than delivery! However she pushed it, so eventually I said yes. I’m not sure whether it was because I couldn’t bare the idea of a sweep which made it incredibly uncomfortable and painful but it made me bleed quite a bit so she recommended we stay at the hospital, and called up to the Lilac ward to ask if there was room to monitor me. The nurse could have sent us home, but she was concerned enough to let us stay, especially when there was room. Overall it led to me getting closer monitoring, which we were grateful for. My husband was certainly relieved we didn’t have to head back home, when I could be looked after by more qualified people!

Lilac Ward

The room was bright, modern, clean and well ventilated, with large windows, which were slightly ajar. It had a small shower room, bed, birthing ball and mat on the floor covered in clean pressed linen. The wall by the bed was fitted with buzzers and a tube for gas and air. Two midwives later appeared and introduced themselves. They were incredibly professional and friendly, and they also took swabs to check us for Covid.

I was told to put on a pad so that they could see how much I was bleeding. An hour had passed and they got a doctor to check me, and he felt I was 3cms dilated. He tried to take a look inside but as I was still bloody inside he couldn’t see enough, so recommended I go down to the Labour ward for constant monitoring. This news actually came as a relief. I was certainly glad that the midwives and doctors treated us with more caution than not!

Labour Ward

The room was more dated than the lilac rooms, but was perfectly fine. I was introduced to another 2 midwives who were going to be stationed with us constantly in the rooms. They were also very professional and friendly.

Epidural

I was immediately asked if I wanted an epidural to which I said yes as by now 18 hours had passed and I was only at 3cms. The anesthetist took a while to arrive as there were obviously a lot of women also needing him! When he arrived he was very professional and quick. I was asked to sit over the side of the bed and hug my husband at his waist who was standing up, whilst bending my back over like a banana. I was not scared as by now the pain from the contractions were so painful the thought of a needle paled in comparison. Within 10 minutes my mind started to regain some clarity. As I no longer felt pain, my husband and I were able to get rest and we both snoozed on and off as we waited for my cervix to dilate to 10cms. Having clarity over what was happening around me and not being in constant pain was priceless and I have no regrets about getting an epidural, although you should understand it can cause a cascade of issues and corresponding actions taken (e.g. fever and antibiotics), which this birth doula explains so brilliantly on her YouTube channel here. Although I did get a fever which may or may not have been triggered from the epidural, I still have no regrets getting the epidural.

Complications - Baby’s heartrate shot up and down

Whilst we waited for me to reach 10cms, the baby’s heartrate shot up, which the midwife caught and very quickly pressed the buzzer to notify a wider team, within seconds a whole bunch of people shot in. But the heart rate went back down just as quickly as it went up and the doctor explained this sometimes happens with no reason, but obviously I was going to be continued to be monitored. At this point I was really grateful we had moved down to the Labour ward. If we’d been up in Lilac, perhaps this wouldn’t have been caught as the baby’s heartrate would not have been constantly monitored, only regularly checked with a Doppler by the midwives.

Unfortunately, later on I started to get massive shivers, at first I thought it was because of the epidural, which is known to cause a fever in some cases. The midwives took my temperature and it was normal, however my shivering got more intense, and a doctor came in and measured my temperature again, that time it was 39 degrees. Immediately I was given liquid paracetamol which brought my temperature back down as well as antibiotics in case I had an infection. The baby’s heart rate also shot up for a prolonged period and so it was very tense for a few hours. The heart rate was not high enough for the doctors to decide for an immediate C section, but they decided to start inducing me to speed everything up.

By 8pm I was finally at 10cms, and we waited for a delivery team to arrive. In that time I was asked if I wanted another top up of epidural, to which I said YES! When the team arrived, we were introduced to each person which was great. Again they looked professional and on it, so I felt really relieved. Within a minute however the baby’s heart rate went down, so the doctor who had read my notes for the day immediately stated that she wanted to assist the delivery, which we knew meant either a ventouse or forceps. Someone wheeled the instrument trolley over and I could hear the instruments rattling on the tin, but I couldn’t see it (thank god) because I was raised up in bed on stirrups (which is the position you’re in if you have an epidural). The doctor told me she was going to give me an episiotomy. Again this wasn’t scary as I’d topped up on epidural so couldn’t feel a thing down there. We nodded, I just wanted the baby out and safe, instead of inside and his wellbeing less outside of our control.

With just 3 pushes and the doctor pulling on the ventouse the baby was out! My husband described the pulling as if she was rowing! The doctor stitched me back up and then the team left. I was just told to rest after that. It was a bit weird, as I didn’t know what to do with myself. My baby was here, I’ve just been cut open and stitched back up, do I need a shower, wash all the crap off? Do I try and feed the baby? It was all a bit hazy. All I remember was I also felt very nauseous. I quickly asked for a nurse to get me something to be sick into. What came out was green bile and she explained it was probably because I hadn’t eaten. The nurse injected something into my canula to help with my nausea, which went as soon as I’d sicked up.

Ventouse Delivery

All in all, I was pleased with this method. Although it sounded scary from our NCT classes, my baby did not have a particularly noticeable misshapen head. Obviously this may be different for every baby and may depend on how much you’ve dilated, and the position of the baby at the time. My baby was in the best position facing backwards and obviously head down. My husband described the doctor pulling on it with a lot of strength, like she was pulling on a rowing machine. I was also pushing with all my might and at the time I remember the doctor looked surprised and encouraged with the strength of my pushing, so perhaps that helped. I don’t believe I had a large episiotomy or a tear as I didn’t feel too much pain down there at all after. And I did ask my husband to look down there and he said it didn’t actually look too different to normal. So I was really pleased with how it went down there!

Postnatal Ward

It must have been very busy at the hospital, as we were not able to transfer to the postnatal ward till 3am, even though our son arrived around 9pm. However this was probably a good thing as partners are not allowed in the postnatal ward outside of visitors hours 9-5 (because of the pandemic). This meant my husband could stay with us till 3am. I was still quite disorientated from it all, as I wasn’t really sure what would happen here or how long I’d be there for. I felt like I entered a room with row and rows of hospital beds with cubicle curtains around each bed, but actually it was a room with 6 beds all with curtains pulled for privacy.

Facilities

There were a number of large rooms, all with 6 beds with curtains around each bed. Each room had a sink, where you can brush your teeth. There were fully stocked tissues, sanitizing wet wipes at each station. In the ward there were about 8 toilets. Each toilet had a bidet for you to wash your bits. And there were probably about 4 very small showers. Theses were really old facilities and didn’t look great. Although to be fair, the times I needed the toilet, it was tidy, not like a pub toilet with tissue and wee and poo stains everywhere. I didn’t bother using the showers and just used wet wipes to clean myself up at the end of each day.

In the corridor of the ward is a tea station, where you can get boiling water to make yourself a tea or coffee, along with biscuits, (custard creams and gluten free cake). I brought my own mug (Covid times!).

There is also a kitchen type area which just had a fridge for people to store their formula for their babies, a sink for you to wash baby bottles, and a microwave, purely for sterilising baby bottles.

Infection - Group B Strep

Unfortunately the next morning the pediatrician told me that they had tested both mine and the baby’s blood which confirmed a high count of antibodies, which meant we both had an infection. They would check our bloods again and see if this count would increase or decrease. Unfortunately the count increased, which meant they needed to keep the baby in for longer to administer antibodies through his canular, and me through a drip. At this point they did not know the cause of infection, they would take blood from me the next day, which would reveal that I had Group B strep (a bacteria that exists in about 40% of women and is usually harmless, but can be harmful to a newborn baby).

All in all I stayed 7 nights on the postpartum ward, which is longer than for most women, and this was due to the baby having had the strep b infection and needing a course of 7 days of antibiotics which was administered through his canular.

First few nights

I actually found these nights the hardest, harder than the contractions and delivery. I was exhausted, disorientated and on my own looking after the baby with absolutely no clue what I was doing! My baby didn’t sleep at night at all, and slept better in the day. So the nights were spent pacing around, shushing for hours, frantically changing nappies whilst he was screaming his head off and worrying that I was waking up all the other babies and mothers in the room. I didn’t find most of the staff here in the first few nights at all helpful. They would come into the room, demanding what I was doing as my baby was crying so loud. Or if I’d go ask for help because he’d been crying non stop for ages, even with shushing, cuddling, feeding, they’d look at me like I was an idiot, they’d just say to me abruptly: he needs feeding. Well I’d been letting him nibble on my boob for 40 minutes (they say 20 minutes is about right), so I knew it wasn’t exactly that. I was so exhausted and disorientated, I felt like I was in prison. I was so exhausted I once woke up in a panic from the baby screaming, completely out of it, thinking I was in a gameshow, and that there was a test I needed to pass! I also thought I was in a cubicle amongst a huge room of beds, but by morning of a few days later I realised there were only 6 beds in the room!

Breastfeeding and Topping up with formula

I think this is actually so important to prepare for. My theory is that my boobs weren’t producing enough milk in the first few days for the baby, or it wasn’t filling enough and that’s partly why the baby was crying so much. So no matter how long I left him nibbling on my boobs, he wasn’t getting enough. Well since I had no issue with formula, it made sense to top him up with it. I’m surprised how this isn’t suggested sooner. You basically let them nibble on boob first so they can get what they can from that first, and then top up with formula. The hospital won’t provide you with formula, you need to bring your own, and it needs to be liquid already. You then keep the liquid milk formula in a fridge in a kitchen type area on the ward. You also need to bring your own bottles. The hospital will only provide the first mini bottle, which is only supposed to be used once and then disposed of. There were a few women in the room who had not been feeding their baby enough, which meant the baby was very weak and just sleeping for very long stretches, this led to midwives scolding the mother and keeping them in for an extra night, till they could prove they could feed their baby. Whilst this makes sense I think it should be reminded to the women that the baby need waking to feed, because your natural reaction is to allow the baby to sleep. And when you’re exhausted you may also forget what you may have been told at the NCT class!

Your meals

These are pretty good. You get two hot meals a day and breakfast. There is a menu in the cubicle and a health assistant takes your order for all 3 meals at the beginning of the day. I didn’t spot the menu in the room, and was shouted at by the health assistant for not having my order ready. It really pissed me off, but I didn’t want her to spit in my food so swallowed down a retort!

Baby Checks

On the second day, your baby is taken into a doctor’s room, where he/she is checked over physically. There is also another person who comes round the bed to specifically do a hearing check. As my baby had an infection there were constant checks round the clock for temperature, and heart rate. They also chart your baby’s jaundice readings.

Immediate Postpartum Issues

I lost the urge to pee, and was not warned about this in any NCT class or Hospital provided parental classes. I believe it is linked to having an epidural. This meant that I didn’t pee for 24 hours, because when you’ve got your hands full with your baby and no partner in hospital, the last thing you think about doing is going for a wee, when you body isn’t even telling you you’re busting! This led to me just totally wetting myself onto the hospital floor. I managed to clean it up and get changed without anyone noticing.

Your legs and feet get really swollen, again no one warned me of this! And this actually happens to pretty much every woman. It is probably to do with your body trying to remove all the additional water it was carrying for the baby. And for me probably because I wasn’t peeing often enough! You are given special flight socks at some point during labour to prevent blood clots, and you should try and hold onto these for your stay on the postpartum ward.

You are given blood clot prevention injections in the leg. Again not something that is discussed. These injections aren’t too bad, in that the the needle is pretty short - 1cm, versus the usual inch. Some women are given injection to keep taking after they are discharged but because I wasn’t classed as high risk, i only required them for my stay in the hospital.

Staff

There were lots of different types and levels of staff, and I was not really told how it worked, but realised they wore different uniforms a few days in. On the whole the midwives felt more responsible and appeared dedicated, whilst many of the Health Assistants acted like they resented working there, many would scowl if you pressed the buzzer which you are told to press if you need something or have a question, and would answer your questions patronisingly or with sarcasm. Not all of them were unpleasant, but a substantial portion were (75%) just be prepared for this so you’re not shocked! The Sister was brilliant, and spoke to me very kindly and gave me lots of her time and advice. I think you are also assigned one specific person who helps you throughout your stay to get some consistency. I was luckily allocated a brilliant nurse who was so kind and friendly.

PICTURES

Pictures of Maternity Ward (these seem a little old from 2020, the Lilac Wards have been recently refurbished see new pictures of the Lilac Ward here on twitter).

Conclusion

Without having experienced a maternity ward elsewhere, it is hard to really know how Whipps Cross compares, however I felt that when it came to it, the most important bit was making sure my health and the baby’s health were taken seriously; we were closely monitored and issues where quickly identified and quickly acted upon. So I have to say that Whipps Cross ultimately did very well especially up to and during delivery, as well as identifying that the baby and I had an infection. Whilst some of the staff in the postnatal ward were awful, there was a substantial number of staff were wonderful and I feel sad that there may be a few who drag things down for the rest of the team who are probably working in a high stress and very busy environment.

I hope this account helps those of you decide and also get a better picture of what the whole experience in hospital is like.

Good luck on all your deliveries! Let me know what yours was like in the comments below.

All the best

WomenOnTheLadder

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