Misconception that matters
Mon 12th May 2008 by Ben Palmer.When I picked Emily up from school this afternoon (and I can hear what she'd say to me here, "It's not school, Daddy, it's NURSERY school") I said hello to the head teacher as Emily came rushing out.
"I saved this for you," she said, "It's missing a bit but I thought you'd be interested." She handed me a pulled out spread from a newspaper.
When I got home I started reading it. It was an article from Times2 last week, Save the independent midwife, along with a personal tale, right at the end in the on-line version, written by a mother, Alex O'Connell, who had had a horrific first delivery, and had opted for a home birth the next time, assisted by an independent midwife.
I finished reading it on-line and something jumped out at me. It was the reference to Alex's post-puerperal fever after discharge from hospital first time. How lucky she was that it only took two doses of antibiotics to shift it, and how wrong she was to assume that the lack of infection second time around was because she was far from a maternity ward.
Yes you can acquire an infection in hospital - MRSA, C diff etc - but puerperal/childbed fever is not a hospital acquired infection - it is caused by community bacteria, and nobody is safe. I'm going to go on and on saying it. I'm even going to shout it. NOBODY IS SAFE FROM THIS HORRIFIC DISEASE, whether they deliver in hospital, a birthing centre, their own bedroom or the back of a taxi.
It doesn't matter whether they are young, old, fat or thin. It doesn't matter if the midwife is independent or NHS employed, it just matters that the symptoms are spotted in time to give you your antibiotics.
July 21st, 2008 at 16:48
I had puerperal fever and my situation was simlilar to your wife. I was 34, fit and it was my 2nd child. It came super fast and I was hospitalized for 2 weeks and a couple more months of recovery and I had to have surgery to remove the painful scar tissue.
The strangest thing, is that I developed a winged scapula from the ordeal. That is a paralyzed nerve that causes my right shoulder blade to stick out when I move my arm. Painful and difficult to use. It's been 1 1/2 years and I may never have a normal shoulder again. Has this happened to anyone else??
July 23rd, 2008 at 19:19
Hi Ben,
Just read your book...an amazing, but very sad read. As a midwife I was especially interested and shuddered when read of the CMW not visiting on Jessica's first day at home with Emily. This visit is vital, even if the woman has had a normal delivery or if she has had 10 babies before! We are iof course taught about sepsis in 'midwifery school' but reading your book has highlighted it to me even more and when i do my postnatal checks, Jessica will undoubtedly be in my thoughts.
My thoughts are with you and yopur little ones.
Emma