Some mothers have called on health training institutions to mount behavioural change programmes as part of their curricula to help change negative attitudes of midwives towards pregnant women.

They noted that negative attitudes on the part of some midwives such as familiarity, negligence, poor communication on the dos and don’ts of pre and post-delivery activities has the tendency of causing shocks, fear, depression and delays in the healing processes before and after delivery among pregnant women.

The mothers were sharing their respective experiences in an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra.

They included an Entrepreneur, Rosemary Boachie, a Communication Practitioner, Jackie Hansen and an Administration Officer, Gladys Addo.

Education

Ms Boachie said she went through episiotomy with her first child without either education on aftercare nor pre-conscientisation.

She contended that such an experience affected her in a lot of ways, including her sex life.

  “I went through an episiotomy and the lack of education that came with it affected my sex life. I was not informed I would feel some pain during sex.” 

“Why didn’t they tell me about my options? Before I was due, they should have educated me about these things. When you go for these routine check-ups, they check you, check your baby and they do these for some weeks. Are they not supposed to have an idea of size of baby and guide you through?” Ms Boachie said.

Episiotomy, is a surgical incision that is usually performed during the second stage of labour to quickly enlarge the opening for the baby to pass through.
 
 Mental Health

She continued that that experience had a diverse effect on her life including her mental health which put her baby at risk.

Ms Boachie explained that she struggled with recovery from the stitching because of the pain and this led to her inability to produce enough breast milk for her child. 

“My brain was not in a good shape or state to do that. Finally, I got him canned baby milk and he was on it till six months,” Ms Boachie said.

Attitude

Subsequently, Ms Boachie added that the attitude of those health professionals blaming the mothers for everything should be looked at.

“When I went to the hospital to express my concerns, the attention was on me, like I was the problem. These are people who are supposed to help me, educate me to make my journey as a mother easy, to make me help my baby better.”
 
Depression

Furthermore, she stated that postpartum depression was real and medical practitioners should be skilled enough to handle it.

She said “when you conceive, or give birth, your brain just does something to you, you change which could lead to depression and medical personnel do not give attention to the mental health of new mothers, and how best they can help them”. 

“They are only concerned about breastfeeding and weight of the baby but the mother, no. If not for some things that are inevitable with childbirth, I wouldn’t want to go through that again,” she said.

Wrong aftercare

For her part, Mrs Hansen said she was given the wrong aftercare after undergoing a Caesarean section (CS) which resulted in severe migraines weeks after delivery.

“Apparently after a procedure like that, you need to stay in bed for a number of hours before getting up to do anything but mine was not like that, not long after I was asked by the nurse to get out of bed and I paid dearly for it,” she said. 
 
 Explanation

Mrs Addo, for her part, spoke on how a doctor at a government hospital changed his mind two days to her scheduled CS without an explanation.

“After being persistent on why the decision, he later referred us to a private hospital and interestingly, he was the same doctor who operated on me. I was in pain after the procedure, struggling to breathe and when I called for help, a nurse told me I was a spoilt lady, who always wanted the attention of my husband,” she said.

She concluded that later the doctor came to examine her and his remarks were, “I now understand why you opted for the CS because there was no way you would have survived the vaginal delivery”.

Negligence

Another mother who wants to remain anonymous noted that a wrong dose of general anaesthesia was administered to her during her first CS.

“Reflecting on that incident, I can only thank God for saving me,” she said.

Furthermore, she stated that the lessons from her first experience made her vigilant for the second, saying “it still feels like yesterday,” she stated.
 
Response

Responding to some of those concerns, the Head of Nursing and midwifery at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Gifty Aryee, said some of those things were as a result of individual attitudes by the midwives.

She said their profession was keen on good service and the involvement of patients at every point of service.

“You need to involve them in decision-making. At some points you need to ask permission from them.  You need to know how to communicate, what to say, at what point and how to say it. 

“Some jokes can be expensive, your language, gestures, everything has to be on point. Even when you take a decision at the peak of labour, you owe it to the patient to tell them, explain things to them and guide them through it,” she said.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline