A modern day disgrace

Day 2 in hospital. The day I feel in love with JJ

Just over ten years ago I gave birth to my son JJ and it wasn't at all the kind of birth I wanted. I had a birth plan written and I envisioned my first baby to be born in water with soft music playing, there would be minimal intervention as I believed my body was built for this and I would be able to do the most natural thing without too much fuss. My husband and Mum would be with me and I would have instant skin to skin contact to breastfeed and bond with my new baby.

The reality was a bit different. I was admitted for an unwanted induction because I had pre-eclampsia. The staff changed shifts and forgot about me for hours, at 11pm I finally begged for a bed as I was tired and they admitted they did not know I was there. The next day I ended up being given my second pessary and no-one linking me up to the monitor, by the time they did and came back to check it, I was in labour and JJ was having serious heart de-accelerations. Within minutes the consultant was called and I was rushed to theatre for a section, after a number of failed spinal blocks and epidurals I recall the surgeon shouting, 'just get her under we need this baby out now'. I ended up with a crash section under general anaesthetic and waking a few hours later and not believing JJ was mine, I just kept sobbing 'but I didn't give birth'. During the time I was in hospital I got no sleep in four whole days and sobbed an awful lot. The midwives were far too busy and I had to wait numerous times when I was in need.

I'll be honest and say it took me quite some time to get over this birth experience. I was traumatised for a while afterwards and felt sad and let down. I would happily tell anyone who listened how rubbish my birth experience was and that I was unlucky.

I look back on that birth today and think what a crock of s**t, I wasn't unlucky I was extremely lucky and blessed to end up with a child who is now ten and a giant and very healthy. Why was I lucky?

I was lucky as I live in the UK and have access to superb medical care and a dedicated midwifery team. Every part of the birth process that I felt sad and let down with was actually a luxury to many millions of people living on our earth.

• I was lucky to have a pre-natal check-up with my community midwife just before my due day so they could discover my pre-eclampsia
• I was lucky there was a bed in a clean hospital that could take me, with a team of midwives to care for me
• I was lucky there was a skilled surgeon and anaesthetist available to allow me to have instant surgery
• I was lucky I was able to stay in hospital for 4 days after the birth to heal
• I was lucky that the midwives showed me how to breastfeed and persevered with me when I found it difficult
• I was lucky the midwifery care continued once I was home and they were able to spot my c-section wound was infected

Amazing what a change of perspective does to the same situation! I WAS LUCKY!

In October 2012 I travelled to Ethiopia with the ONE campaign and I met many midwives and health professionals out there and we travelled to see a midwifery centre and it was wonderful. Primitive and basic but saving so many lives, of both mothers and babies. The sad truth is that in countries like Ethiopia this centre is just a drop in the ocean. Women across the world should have access to the kind of care I did. They should be able to expect to have a midwife help them and a hospital bed if they need it.

As the title of my post says, it is a modern day disgrace that 1 million babies a year are not making it to their second day of life. Then scarier still is the fact that 2.9 million babes a year won't reach their second month of life.

This isn't right is it?  Not by anybody's standards. We cannot just turn out backs on this and do nothing. Otherwise we become the modern day disgrace. We are the generation fighting for a better world, for an end to poverty, for access to good health care for all, for a fairer spread of wealth and for every person to be treated equally and with dignity.

Save the Children have launched a new campaign this month - #Firstday - campaign to end newborn deaths and we would love you to take notice and join in. I've said it before, when we all take small steps together the leap can be massive.

What can you do to help?

If you’ve got one minute:

*  Sign the STC petition to ask David Cameron to put a global plan into action in 2014 that will ensure every baby is born with the life-saving help of a trained and equipped midwife and use his influence to get world leaders to do the same.
*  Text a donation: a donation of £3, the price of a cup of coffee, could save 10 newborn lives by buying 10 tubes of antiseptic cream. Text COFFEE to 70090

Then please once you have done either/ both of those things share the link with your friends/ colleagues/ acquaintances via FaceBoook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, email, by word of mouth, in your church service - however suits you. Just please talk about it.

If you’ve got 10 minutes or more:
*  Write about the campaign online and why it’s so important that the world acts this year to save newborn lives - If you are a blogger join the 100 word challenge blog linky (Check out Chris' blog for more info)

And remember when you tweet out your posts please mention @savechildrenuk and #firstday so they can spot them and retweet!


Please I'm asking you sincerely, get involved. Do whatever it is that you can do, one tweet, mention it to a friend, sign the petition....... it really all does help.

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Failure to Thrive.... but YOU can help!

My Story:  Failure to Thrive

Gosh, each time I hear those words my heart quickens just a bit, they conjure up such emotions in me and not good ones. I am transported back to late July 2007, two weeks post c-section, still in pain and hormones raging, baby twins keeping me awake at night and my smaller baby seems to be getting smaller and smaller and she is as yellow as anything. The last thing you need to hear when your little baby is just a couple of weeks old and has lost over 20oz's is that she may have to be admitted back to hospital as she is showing a failure to thrive. I am told I need to stop breastfeeding her and start to feed her formula every hour or so, just a small bit from a syringe to try and wake her up and help the jaundice to go away.

I recall being in the children's A and E trying to get Miss E to go to wee in the small dish provided. So I stand there wanting to be useful, but feeling such a failure myself as I don't seem able to feed and nourish this little babe. She can't get the hang of breast feeding and it makes me feel so tearful. I have no objection to giving her some formula if that is what she needs but then the guilt overwhelms me, I breastfed JJ for 6 months, why should it be so much less for the twins? Surely it has to be equal to show all the kids I love them the same? Ohh the warped logic of female hormones.

Let's make Chris Proud! Will you join us? #HealthWorkers

Today I attended a conference for bloggers and vloggers at the Save the Children head office in London.  This was not just any blogging event.  Yes, I got to see some amazing people that I chat to on the Internet but more than that I was reminded of how I can help a cause which just seems too big, insurmountable even.

I am sure that by now you have seen there is a severe drought in East Africa. I learned today that 750,000 are about to die and that we (yes all of us) are letting them die.  Gosh, that does not sit comfortably does it? I hear you now 'Who me, no I don't want anyone to die'. I beg you, don't close the browser, keep reading. None of us want people to die but we have to challenge ourselves as to what we are willing to do about it.  Saving our fellow humans is the responsibility of us all and that is not just giving money.  Please do shy away and think 'I'm broke, I can't help'.  Yes you can, we all can.  That is the truly amazing thing and all it costs is a little time.

These people in the developing world all have names and families and things they love to do but what they do not have is enough presence over here, a big enough voice so they are heard. Lets all help to give these people a voice. Today I listened to Lucy, talking from South Sudan about how a lack of #healthworkers in so many countries means that people die needlessly. Save the Children are campaigning to change this.

 Dr Morou & DJ Amilou (Image Credit)

On Tuesday, a fellow blogger and friend Chris Mosler (@ChristineMosler) will attend the UN General Assembly in New York. She is going there with Liz Scarff on behalf of Save the Children to pressure David Cameron to play his full part in solving the health worker crisis.  There is a target of 60,000 signatures on the petition by Tuesday. At the moment that petition sits at 41,673 can we change that? Sure we can!

Let's pull together, people power and make Chris proud.  Lets do our damnedest to make sure she goes on Tuesday armed with 60,000 signatures.

1. So first off - Let's all sign the petition, 30 seconds work and a step closer.
   
   
2. Then the challenge set by @HelloItsGemma and I is that we want (need) to see 100 posts of 100 words linked up here by Tuesday. If 100 bloggers each write a post about this and encourage more signatures that could make a massive dent in the 20,000 signature shortfall that we sit with right now!
   
   Write your 100 words about a great health professional you have encountered in your life. Add a link to the petition and either link or add in some information from Save the Children about the #Healthworkers campaign
   
   
3. Link to a number of other bloggers/ vloggers and ask them to do the same. 
   
   
4. Tweet about this, facebook mention it, remark on google plus, talk to your Mum on the phone, whatever you can do to spread this to just a few more people, please do it.

So here is my list of people I want to pass this baton on to -

Maggy at RedTedArt
Emma at Mummy Mummy Mum
Sabina at Mummy Matters
Josie at Sleap is for the Weak
Nickie at Typecast
Emma at The Real SuperMum
Sally at Who's the Mummy
Rosie at Rosie Scribble
Ella at Notes from Home
Tim at Bringing Up Charlie
CJ at Crystal Jigsaw
Karin at Cafe Bebe

and YOU, don't be precious that I have not named you, this is too important and there were too many wonderful people I wanted to link to.

Link your post up here (or take the blog hop code and add it onto your own blog) as soon as you can, but by early Tuesday as the deadline.  Then we can let Chris and Liz see the support that has been going on here for the work they are doing at the hard end.

Thank you, each and every one of you.  Mich x