Conditions that threaten women’s lives in childbirth & pregnancy
Father's/ partner's experiences in hospital
Natalie and her husband were back on the ward, after the emergency of her haemorrhage had passed....
Natalie and her husband were back on the ward, after the emergency of her haemorrhage had passed....
My husband’s very contained. He’s very, he contains his emotions very, very well and he did that very much when it was happening. So I would never have known. He wasn’t freaking out, he wasn’t panicking, he was being calm, he was keeping me calm. He was very comforting, he was very reassuring. And I think that’s his way of dealing with the situation. I don’t think he allowed himself to think about what was going on at the time. And I think it was only afterwards when we were in the recovery room, that the emotions overcame him, and he just thought, he just thought he was going to lose me, and he was like, what would I have done? And he was terribly upset by what had happened and what he’d seen. And overjoyed at the same time that, you know, his son was here. So I think it was a whole range of experiences, emotions going through him at that time. But he’s since confessed, in that birth thing, birth story, he did say that he had a weird feeling that something was going to happen and that towards the later stage of my pregnancy, he had actually been distancing himself from the pregnancy and me to some degree because he didn’t, he was almost afraid to become attached because he had some weird feelings something was going to happen.
Kerry’s partner was planning to attend the emergency caesarean section, but was traumatised when...
Kerry’s partner was planning to attend the emergency caesarean section, but was traumatised when...
Mark described how the crash team swung into action as soon as the ambulance arrived at the...
Mark described how the crash team swung into action as soon as the ambulance arrived at the...
Sally was asked to leave the delivery suite as Amy started to haemorrhage. It was hard waiting...
Sally was asked to leave the delivery suite as Amy started to haemorrhage. It was hard waiting...
Amy' And then I think, and then I don’t really, I sort of vaguely remember being transferred onto a trolley and saying to them, “Just leave me alone.” I remember getting quite cross with them. I was like, “Stop touching me. Just go away and leave me alone.” And then being taken to the high dependency unit.
John was left alone in the delivery suite after his partner was rushed off to surgery to stop her...
John was left alone in the delivery suite after his partner was rushed off to surgery to stop her...
Craig was shocked to find his wife in Intensive Care. The nurses were taking her rings off (in...
Craig was shocked to find his wife in Intensive Care. The nurses were taking her rings off (in...
Mike refused to leave his wife when she was she went through to theatre to stop her bleeding and...
Mike refused to leave his wife when she was she went through to theatre to stop her bleeding and...
Michael was grateful to one of the doctors who brought photos of his son out of the operating...
Michael was grateful to one of the doctors who brought photos of his son out of the operating...
When his partner was critically ill with amniotic fluid embolism (amniotic fluid enters the...
When his partner was critically ill with amniotic fluid embolism (amniotic fluid enters the...
And then kind of being escorted out of the theatre with [daughter]. Was it [daughter], or was it one of those wheel along kind of things or… and me being taken to this room and being sat there with this nurse. And, it’s so funny, because this would have been really clear at one time. I just remember being in this room and then someone, I can’t even remember if it was the consultant or not. For some reason in my head, I’ve got a bloke and a woman both coming in and talking to me, and it might have been that a nurse came in and then the consultant. There was a female came in. Kind of saying a bit of what the problem was. I don’t remember what, what they said the problem, but I can remember me saying, I remember it being kind of you know, very vague medical speak, and I actually had to say at the end, “So there’s a chance she won’t make it?” I think I just wanted a meat and potatoes kind of conversation. I didn’t want some fancy words. I kind of, “What, so there’s a chance she won’t make it?” And, and they actually said, “Yes.” I can’t remember if I said, “What is the chance… the situation.” I remember, I mean my head, sort of it was 50/50 as if that was kind of what I’d been told. That wasn’t something I had worked out, because I didn’t have enough information for that, so I think they would have said, it’s sort of 50/50. But that, that information only came because I’ve asked for it.
James's partner had to stay in isolation. His daughter was well so the hospital asked him to take...
James's partner had to stay in isolation. His daughter was well so the hospital asked him to take...
Dean’s baby was in NICU while his wife was in Intensive Care. He established a routine spending...
Dean’s baby was in NICU while his wife was in Intensive Care. He established a routine spending...
Men (and lesbian partner) we talked to described how hard it was being pulled in two directions – joy at the arrival of their new baby and terrible fear for the health of the mother. James said, “I was very aware that kind of my head was being pulled in two different directions at the same time. Because there was this kind of, I’d got this daughter, I’d also got this unconscious partner.”
Last reviewed April 2016.
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