Breastfeeding Unfriendly Hospital and so much more!

My cousin gave birth last week at one of the hospitals along E.Rod (You can take a guess na lang). Mark and I visited her the following night after she gave birth. She had undergone C-section so inevitably, I asked her why she had undergone C-section. She actually did not know she had CS until she woke up! She was not informed. The staff asked for the husband's consent instead. The things that made me raise my eyebrows were the following:



1. She had undergone C-section because the baby had cord coil na daw.

2. Her cervix was not evaluated kahit once. Hindi sya na IE. I think that's basic diba? I also had CS because my cervix stopped dilating na when it reached 4cm.  I just don't get it! I mean, in my experience, pagdating ko sa hospital, the first thing na ginagawa is to check my cervix talaga. Even before totally sumakit ang tyan ko. I asked one OB and she said "hindi pwedeng hindi icheck ang cervix".

3. Why didn't the doctors inform my cousin that she will need to undergo C-section? Ok naman na hiningi ang consent ng husband but they should have informed my cousin first, unless super emergency na hindi na sya makausap, which is not the case.

4. She was under general anesthesia! I asked my OB before and I also researched why it is not good to be under general anesthesia during C-section. I have also attended a lot of pregnancy lay forums. Kasi daw when you're asleep, then the baby is also asleep and this is risky for the baby. There are times that gen anesthesia is used in CS but this is on rare occasions na super emergency na talaga and there's no time to do the epidural or spinal. Maybe the OB had his reasons for giving the general anethesia, which he did not mention to the relatives.

5. She had blood transfusion. They were told that while my cousin is already in the recovery room, nagbleed daw sya kaya they needed blood transfusion. So, ang question, binalik ba sya sa OR so they could address the bleeding problem? They don't know and they were not informed again. Ang alam lang nila, pagkasalin ng dugo, nagstop na ang bleeding. Nakakalito diba?

6. So, you'll think that my cousin's case was super emergency because of all these diba? Pero, naka bikini cut sya! The doctor had no time to get my cousin's consent and no time to administer epidural, but he had time for a bikini cut! It's a rule, na kapag emergency, vertical talaga ang cut because bikini cut takes more time.Unless there's another explanation for this? Can someone enlighten me? Maybe, bikini cut is not that difficult and time consuming for emergency cases? I don't know.

7. Ito ang pinaka problema ko sa kanila- When we visited, it was already almost 2 days after she gave birth. Kasi she gave birth in the morning, then we visited her the following night pa. The baby was not in the room! And they were told to buy formula milk. They were even asked to sign a waiver for buying the formula milk! Sabi sakanila, magpahinga daw muna ang cousin ko kasi pagod sya and had blood transfusion. I never thought that being tired and in pain because of a c-section is a contraindication to breastfeed! The baby was just in the nursery, perfectly healthy! Nainis na ko, so I asked the nurse bakit hindi sila breastfeeding friendly sa hospital na yun. Ang sagot nya, breastfeeding friendly naman daw sila pero depende sa OB. I told her to bring the baby to the room na so my cousin can breastfeed. She said Ok. So, after a while the baby was delivered to the room na.

8. Bonus: The room had a step going to the restroom. So CS na nga, hahakbang ka pa para makapasok sa CR sa loob ng room, and sa loob ng CR, may isa pang step. Napaka patient friendly.

P.S. I called the DOH to confirm these points. They were also shocked with what I told them. There is already a Republic Act for rooming-in and promoting breastfeeding:

Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. - The State adopts rooming-in as a national policy to encourage, 
protect and support the practice of breastfeeding. It shall create an environment where basic 
physical, emotional, and psychological needs of mothers and infants are fulfilled through the practice 
of rooming-in and breastfeeding.

I blogged about this because I am concerned about the moms who will have to experience the same thing not even knowing na mali ang ginawa sakanila. My cousin and her husband were actually thankful na ok silang mag-ina, but what the OB and the hospital staff did was wrong. I even called the hospital and asked them if they encourage rooming in. The person I talked to proudly said that yes, automatic yun pagkapanganak room-in agad. So anyare diba? I told her about my concerns above, she said that the my cousin's OB does not really do IE's unless the mom is already in labor. My cousin was in labor na nga e, hindi pa din sya na IE. When I asked about the steps in the room, ganun daw kasi talaga ang pagkakagawa ng room. When I asked why my cousin was asked to buy formula milk, wala na sya maisagot.

Ayun, so ang moral lesson: Choose your OB and hospital wisely.

P.P.S. I have nothing against OB's and doctors in general. Kaya please, if you're a doctor, don't get offended if these things don't apply to you. This is my blog and these are my thoughts. There is no room for debate here on my blog. Thank you.