{"id":9397,"date":"2025-12-09T09:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T10:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=9397"},"modified":"2025-12-10T21:34:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:34:38","slug":"i-pressed-the-emergency-button-after-54-hours-in-labour-nobody-helped-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/09\/i-pressed-the-emergency-button-after-54-hours-in-labour-nobody-helped-me\/","title":{"rendered":"I pressed the emergency button after 54 hours in labour \u2014 nobody helped me"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"\"\t<\/div>
Rachel Coles gave birth in September 2021 (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Rachel Coles gave birth in September 2021, she was in labour<\/a> for an agonising 54 hours. <\/p>\n

She ended up losing three litres of blood<\/a> due to a haemorrhage that she alleges had been caused by a \u2018lack of intervention.\u2019<\/a> Emergency sugery followed, but when Rachel came around from the op – confused and exhausted from the two-day ordeal – she says nobody came to help.<\/p>\n

Now, a national probe has been launched – and it’s reviewing the maternity care provided under 14 NHS Trusts. Experts have warned that women and babies are not receiving the ‘safe, compassionate care they deserve,’ and Sky News<\/a> has delivered a new documentary about the perceived failures.<\/p>\n

And, since chairing a review into maternity care that started in August, Baroness Valerie Amos has said that the stories she’d heard so far have been ‘much worse’ than she expected.<\/p>\n

Amos said <\/a>she was looking to identify ‘systemic changes’ to improve the quality of care given by maternity units across the country, recounting stories of ‘women bleeding out in bathrooms.’<\/p>\n

24 hours after her waters broke, Rachel was not progressing and had not reached 4cm dilation, so she was placed on an antenatal ward while experiencing \u2018severe contractions.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018My husband was sent home and was told he could only come back when I was going to be admitted to the labour ward,\u2019 Rachel, who is 29 and lives in Essex<\/a>, tells Metro<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Two days after she first went into labour, she was still on the antenatal unit where she was given a sweep. ‘I did not consent to it and it should not have been done as my waters had broken,\u2019 she adds, noting that after six hours of labouring on that day, she was finally given a bed. Up to this point, the only pain relief she\u2019d had access to was gas and air.<\/p>\n

After several pleas, she was given an epidural \u2013 but it failed twice and had to be redone.<\/p>\n

\u2018After what felt like forever, I got told I was ready to push. At this point, the epidural had completely worn off and I could feel the pressure,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"\"\t<\/div>
Rachel was in labour for over 50 hours (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It took two hours of pushing to get her son out, while several doctors were concerned that he would \u2018get stuck.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Concerningly, while she was pushing, Rachel overheard one doctor say that \u2018we should have given her a c-section hours ago\u2019 \u2013 a comment which gave her a final burst of energy and, subsequently, her son was born.<\/p>\n

However, Rachel\u2019s problems didn\u2019t end there. As she had been experiencing contractions for over 50 hours and had been on a Pitocin drip for \u2018longer than recommended,\u2019 her placenta had started to \u2018disintegrate\u2019 inside her.<\/p>\n

\u2018When they gave me the injection to birth the placenta, it broke up and left a small tear in my uterus, which caused me to lose three litres of blood,\u2019 she details. \u2018About 20 doctors\u2019 ran into the room, and she was handed a form to consent to surgery that could\u2019ve ended in a full hysterectomy if they could not stop the bleeding.<\/p>\n

Three hours later, she woke up \u2013 but the midwives never \u2018really explained\u2019 what had happened. She wasn\u2019t offered any aftercare and was told if she wanted more information, that she needed to book a \u2018birth reflection review\u2019 \u2013 an appointment that was only scheduled almost three years after she gave birth. <\/p>\n

\u2018I started to see a private therapist who diagnosed me with PTSD due to the birth trauma,\u2019 Rachel reflects. <\/p>\n

\u2018It took me a long time, but I am now recovered. I do want a second child, but my concerns are still there, and I do think the trauma might resurface if I were to be pregnant and be approaching birth.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I remember pressing the emergency button after I\u2019d come out of surgery and a lady came in and said she couldn\u2019t help me, said it wasn\u2019t her baby, wasn\u2019t her problem and walked out and left me there,\u2019 she recalled.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tResources on birth trauma\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

If you’ve been impacted by birth trauma and would like to access support, the following organisations do just that:<\/p>\n