My birth story, by Shona McAdam

I was expecting twins and had a good pregnancy with very little problems.

Then, when I was going for my 34 week scan it showed that one of my babies had stopped growing. At 35 weeks+ 4 days I was told to go home and pack my hospital bag and make my way back to hospital to be induced that evening, with the view to having my twins the next day. So I went home and told my son who is 6 that Mummy would see him tomorrow with his new baby brothers or sisters.

That evening I was given the gel to start my labor in the Paisley Maternity hospital. At 1am the Doctor and 2 midwifes woke me up and told me that I would have to be transferred to another hospital as they didn't have any room in the special care baby unit for my twins. The nearest hospital on offer was Ninewells in Dundee! I told the doctor that I did not want to go but they told me I had no option.

I phoned my partner to let him know what was happening. The hospital wouldn't allow him to come in the ambulance with me, and I arrived at Ninewells at 3 o'clock in the morning after travelling through heavy snow. I kept praying that I didn't go into labour in the ambulance. The next day my partner made his way to Dundee, he had to get a lift as we don't own a car and my son went to stay with a relative.

The hospital allowed my partner to stay in hospital accomodation as he had no way of travelling to and fro. I eventually gave birth to my son Fraser who weighed in at 4lb9oz and my daughter Kirsty who was 6lb8oz at 35+6days on Hogmanay by emergency cesaren. Thankfully they didn't need any special care it was one of the happiest days of my life and also one of the saddest as I couldn't share it with my oldest son. I had not seen him for 6 days. When it was time for me to go home we weren't provided with any transport and we had to get a friend to come and pick us up.

When we got home I noticed my leg had swollen to twice it's normal size and I had to go back to hospital - another night I didn't see my son. The next day when I got home from hospital I was so happy to see him but I felt we had been robbed of something special as a family my oldest son should have been there.

I have asked my local MSP to help me file a complaint against the hospital and I am still waiting for an apology.

Shona McAdam

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Page last updated: 29-Jan-2008

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