"June 13, 2013: I went into labor at 4am the day after my doctor's appointment where I realized later the OB did an unauthorized membrane stripping and invasive exam. I got to the hospital at 6am in extreme pain and was left alone in a room except to be periodically yelled at by a random nurse. I had an IV stuck in my arm (while I said "NO") and they hooked me up to several monitors until almost 9am when some doctor strolled in for half a minute to tell me I was fine.
Finally around 10:30-11am, the anesthesiologist came to give me an epidural. The first one was administered incorrectly. He even asked me beforehand if I had any pain in my ears or throat as that was an indication it went in wrong. My ears immediately felt like they were going to burst and my throat proceeded to close up but I said "YES!" as loud as I could and pointed and put my hands up to my ears and held them there. They tried again and made it worse. Then they left, telling me it was my fault because I moved (writhing in agony).
Slowly my throat closed all the way shut and I stopped breathing. I guess it set off some monitors or something because the same nurse came in and started screaming at me to breathe and "quit being dramatic." That was it. This lasted for about two full minutes before I could start to get a tiny bit of air. Then they left again. My husband went out to find someone else to help but came back and said there was no one else on the floor and the lights were off.
At this point, I was exhausted and gave up looking for help. I stopped moving and the nurse came back in to yell at me again. Some random person gave me another invasive exam. Some other nurse came in and immediately left.
Sometime around noon, the anesthesiologist returned and said he "thought about it" and decided the epidural didn't work. He rolled me over and up, said he was going to "get me to smile again,", and administered a third epidural. The same second it snapped into my back, the pressure in my ears went away, my throat immediately opened and I took a huge gasp of air. Then they pushed me down flat in the bed and said I was not allowed to move after that point.
They left and a few minutes later, two new nurses came rushing in and put me on oxygen. I finally was no longer in extreme pain so I fell asleep for a couple hours. It was dark when I was awakened by someone shoving a needle in my arm. I already had an IV so I asked what they were doing. The nurse would NOT speak. I asked several times and tried to pull my arm away. She left and immediately two other nurses came in, one shoved me down while the other one finished my arm and checked my temperature. I ask again and she says "These are antibiotics, you have a blood infection." Interesting, since I didn't when I got there. My husband says a few more random people gave me invasive exams while I was asleep. And somehow I had a catheter put in that I only knew about from the pain and pressure.
The next hour was strange....people giving me every type of check, blood pressure, temperature every 5 minutes, and fetal monitoring. My doctor finally shows up about 8pm and lectures me on "failure to progress." My son had dropped down to the right position but wasn't coming out. My doctor tells me he's starting Pitocin. I say, "no, I am very against that". They do it anyway. The doctor and nurses stay to watch the effects. There are none. They discuss it for a minute and leave. One nurse comes in to ask/tell me when I am feeling contractions. I am so full of meds at this point, I feel nothing. She leaves to report I am "being difficult."
I hear him in the hall send in two angry and aggressive nurses who come in and throw my legs up, start counting, and telling me when to push. They yell repeatedly at me. I can feel nothing so have no idea if I am really pushing or not. After about 30 minutes, they give up. I can feel my son is stuck at this point.
The doctor comes in with another lecture about "failure to progress" and tells me "time's up" and I'm going in for a c-section. He walks out and another man with medication puts pills in my mouth while holding me down. Of course they get stuck in my throat. No water allowed. I try to ask what the pills were. No answer.
In the OR, there were more unidentified pills. I started trembling uncontrollably because of all the medication. They kept asking me if I was cold and putting blankets on me. I was sweating. They had nurses come on both sides of me and sit on my arms to hold them down. They took my son and gave him to my husband however, I wasn't allowed to move. My son was born at 10:02pm, taken away somewhere as I was taken back to L&D, and they brought him in about an hour later.
The way were treated for the next seven days until we left the hospital is another story....."