Mum tells of agonising childbirth without pain relief

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Mum tells of agonising childbirth without pain relief



I was just really scared. I didn't know what was happening. I wasn't told any alternative of pain relief until I got to the hospital. Emma was about to endure the most agonising pain of her life, struggling to deliver a baby without any gas and air pain relief. It was really bad. I've never experienced that type of pain before. Well, I've had that type but without the pain relief, it was really excruciating.

And I think if he was my first baby that would really put me off of having another one. It was hard to breathe through it because I was taking my breath away. It was really bad. Emma's hospital suspended gas and air because of safety fears, but nobody had warned her. It was just the pain. He's not my first baby. So my previous labours, all I've had is gas and air and it helped with the contractions, the pushing part of things as well.

I really struggled without it. The gas and air canisters were all in the corridors, all on view and it's just there and you can't have any. How do you feel you've been treated as an expectant mother? Not very well. Someone should have phoned us up and said, look, this has happened at the hospital. We have to suspend gas and air and explain why that way. Not reading it on Facebook. The days before Kingston's birth were anxious and stressful, far from ideal for an expected mother.

Emma says she has nothing but praise for the nurses, midwives and other health workers who delivered her baby safely. But she says she had to endure seven hours of agony without ever being told why she couldn't have access to gas and air. She says the treatment is simply shocking. Ipswich Hospital has resumed gas and air after improving the ventilation in its maternity units. It says it had to take the action to ensure the safety of staff. While completely safe for mothers and babies, prolonged exposure to gas and air has been linked to infertility and other serious harms. The health and safety executive have given guidance to hospital trusts on this and it was some time ago.

There definitely seems to have been a domino effect with one or two units realising they have a problem and then other units beginning to sit up and take notice. I think it is a symptom of a lack of investment in maternity services and it certainly seems to give the message to staff that their health and safety is not a priority. NHS England has warned hospitals that gas and air should only be stopped as a last resort. That will be of little comfort to anxious mothers ahead of one of the most important moments in their lives. I'm Joshy Sky News in Ipswich.



sky news live, breaking, health news, child birth, Entonox, gas, air, painkiller, ashish joshi

Location: London, UK

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