I do NOT recommend Huntsville Memorial Hospital, TX

I finally had time to sit down and finish out my pregnancy journal today in between caring for baby and recovering. So here is a brief for everyone to read on what I experienced with my first C-section/tubal and the hospital where I stayed.

03-23-09 Contractions & Delivery – 38 wks gestation

Around 6am I started feeling the contractions again, so I just laid there for awhile to ensure they were true contractions or just another false start. Sean got up at 7am and started to get dressed for work and I decided to tell him not to go and to start timing my contractions. Thank goodness it was Monday and my OBGYN office was open today. We timed contractions for a long while, waiting on the OBGYN office to open up, talked to the nurse and went to see my doctor at his office at 10am. Upon exam he told me I was effaced and it looked like we might be having a baby today, I told him I was VERY ready and so he sent me over to the hospital to have me watched for awhile longer.

Upon admittance, we got placed into the normal observation room, got all hooked up to the necessary monitors to watch the baby’s heartbeat and my contractions, they added the blood pressure cuff since my blood pressure has be going up and down and also started me on the antibiotic for the Grp B Strep. I got Four bags of the Grp B Strep treatment. I also got started with an IV drip.

I was checked on periodically by the nursing staff and eventually dilated to 2 cm on my own and then they officially admitted me into my birthing room after spending two hours in the observation room.

Dr. Atkins came in at 7pm and busted my water, I will still 2 dilation and 80% effaced, at 8:10pm, I was given an epidural around 3-4 cm dilation and 90% effaced ; it worked well for awhile and then stopped working. At 9:30pm I was 5-6 dilation, and at 9:40pm I began vomiting. At 9:50 I began uncontrollable shaking and they increased my epidurals due to the pain. At 11: 40 I was 7cm dilated with 90% effaced. 1:45am 8 dilated. They decided to give me Pitosin to progress me to the 10cm, feeling every one of my labor pains by the time I reached 8 cm because the epidurals no longer worked after repeated tries. Doctor came in again and said that one side of my cervix was very swollen and had reached only 8 cm and that the other side was 10 cm, so I was not even in my dilation all the way around in my cervix. He also said that the baby was coming with her back of her head looking face up, he tried to turn her and it did not work, he decided I was not going to have the baby vaginally and told me we needed to move forward with a C-section. I agreed and so preparations began.

So I was wheeled into the surgery room, scared to death of course as this was my first surgery EVER. I was prepped and numbed well, thank goodness that worked and I did not feel a thing in labor pains, ohhh what a relief, I could relax and concentrate on baby being born now and being scared of what was fixing to happen to me and baby. Sean came in all dressed up in his plastic looking white coat, hat, shoes, etc., he he he . . . Autumn was born and tears of joy from both of us flowed when we saw her and kissed her fat little cheeks before they took her to the nursery.

BORN: March 24th, 2009 at 38 wks gestation
Time: 5:02am
Name: Autumn Marie Smith
Weight: 7lbs. 0 oz., 19 ¼ inches long
Born by emergency C-section after 24 hrs. labor & 9cm dilated
Proud Parents: Sean & Tammy Smith
Location: Madisonville, Texas

I was wheeled to recovery shortly after the birth and my tubes being tied. I was wide awake the whole time. In recovery I requested my baby to be with me so I could breast feed, I was totally shocked and disappointed she could not join me after I was told I could request this. So then, I asked if my husband could join me, she said no, he was with the baby.

The nurse in recovery did NOT have the best bed side manner or compassion for a person never having experienced a surgery before and of course being an emotional prego woman. She was all business, no compassion sitting beside my bed, checking my vitals constantly and typing away on a computer in front of her. She also began to push and manipulate my tummy and surgery area. I thought I was going to die, my numbing meds. were wearing off and the pain was indescribable. I asked her repeatedly to stop hurting me and she said it was necessary to massage my uterus, arrrggg, it hurt so bad. After recovery, I was wheeled back to my room, so glad to leave recovery, however, upon returning to my room, I saw they had moved me out of my assigned birthing room and into a single bed typical hospital room. I was PISSED! Why did I lose my room birthing room, I complained about this repeatedly to the hospital stuff, I felt cheated just because I had to have a C-section and was not able to have a vaginal delivery that I was no longer important enough to have a birthing room.

From that point forward things just sort of went downhill with the hospital protocol crap I had to deal with and the staff’s BS I got.

My husband was unable to stay the first several nights with me because there was no extra bed in the room leaving me alone and it was planned that my husband and baby would stay with me at all times, the staff said they would bring me a cot for my husband but I had to fight verbally for two days to get the cot brought to the room. I finally broke down emotionally in crying not having my husband around to aid me and be with me and the baby at night time, to where a nurse came in when I was having one of my crying fits and was sweet enough to hold me and finally get someone to get me a cot in the room for my husband to stay the night on.

Then again, one of the late evenings I had been left by my family briefly for them to go home and tend to our animals and while waiting for their return I had pushed the nurses button for help to turn a light on and help me go to the bathroom. Help never came; I sat in the dark holding my urine for 45 mins. with my known bladder disorder crying until my husband and family arrived to aid me. Once they aided me I called the nurses button and commented never mind my family tended to me.

Pain pills had to be repeatedly requested instead of giving them to me after I requested not to let them over lapse in dispensing time to me as I did want them.
All the stress made me have an asthma attack I was unable to control, so the on call doctor ended up having me put onto nebulizer treatments. He also had wanted me to have a blood thinner injection into my stomach, this I refused, I couldn’t stop thinking of Dennis Quaids twins and the whole issues over the blood thinners, especially with me breastfeeding. Then he also wanted me to have a CAT SCAN or MRI on my chest, I refused this as well. He also requested a artery blood draw, which I did allow them to do this, however, the nurse that came to draw the sample was unable to get a successful draw, she ended up stabbing me 4 times and then gave up, then they tried to send in another nurse to repeat the procedure, I turned this down as well, I got tired of being a pin cushion on top of all the emotions I was going through in the hospital not being what I expected in room and care. It seemed like they wanted to do the worst case scenario type things on me instead of doing some conservative treatments first to see if it worked, so I told them one treatment at a time. The nebulizer treatments worked as long as they did not stress me out.
Some nurses were better than others in aiding and checking on me frequently, however, I did have one that was inconsiderate, she was very adamant about me trying to get up all by myself without help and it would make me stress with the pain involved just to go to the bathroom and set my asthma off, I seemed to stay on oxygen for awhile due to my stress levels.

I started experiencing severe swelling in the abdomen and around my sides to where my OBGYN was called in as I also had a red line going from the surgery site to my side. I believe it was caused from the stress and forced issues of me caring for myself without nurse’s aide. Antibiotics were prescribed by my OBGYN and I was to be checked the next day.

I also had a IV placed in my hand, it was hurting so bad, it felt like it was pushed in too tightly, I steady complained about it and finally my hand started exhibiting severe swelling. I started crying one evening about my hand and a nice caring nurse took it out of my hand after I told her I wanted my discharge papers, I just could not take any more stress and worry at the hospital.

Upon discharge, my OBGYN came in very early and told me he was releasing me. I was so excited because I was so ready to do my recovery at home where my husband and family would wait on me hand and foot. I expected a discharge time reasonable to help me get home with the new baby and settled in. As time kept going by getting later and later finally the one nurse that was never really helpful came in and said she ordered me and my husband a steak dinner and would discharge us after the dinner. Well the dinner came and went and so did the time. Again we were told we would be discharged after the shift change, I couldn’t believe I was going to be discharged that late. Finally at 8pm they came in with the discharge papers. I was so upset to send a mom home with a surgery C-section and tubal with a newborn so late at night. We got home after 9pm. It was so hard to get settled into being back home after a week in the hospital getting home so late. Just another complaint for me to add to the hospital.

I WILL be sending in a formal Complaint to the hospital, hopefully to help the hospital take steps to improve so other mothers expecting certain treatment gets better treatment then what I feel I got.