On December 6th 2018 I had a precautionary cerclage placed in my cervix (due to previous early delivery). Everything went well with the placement, upon discharge I was told and given paper work that stated that the placement of the stitch could cause cramping bleeding or contractions and if any of these things were to happen, I was to return to Baptist Labor and delivery so they could stop whatever was going on. On Dec 8th around 6:30pm I became slightly uncomfortable (mostly in my back) I believed it may have just been from lying around like I was instructed to do, to be on safe side I took my temperature which was normal and then to make sure I was well hydrated and wasn’t starting to contract I began drinking extra water. After close to an hour of resting and a good amount of water, the discomfort continued. I became concerned and we headed to Baptist hospital L&D as instructed on 12/6. On the way my pain increased and was definitely able to be identified as contractions spaced out 5 mins apart. Upon arrival to the emergency department, I stated I was pregnant and at that point was instructed that L&D was located in the women’s pavilion and open 24/7 and to go there. No one asked me my name, how many weeks pregnant, or what my emergency was, nor was I offered a wheel chair to get there. I arrived at the desk for L&D around 8:00pm. I informed the lady at the desk I had cerclage placed two days prior and was in significant pain due to contractions that were five minutes apart and it was increasing rapidly. The woman at the desk asked my personal information placed it in the computer and had me sign a few papers. She then called up to L&D to let them know they had a patient. I could not hear the person on the other end of the phone but by her responses I assumed the person on the phone wanted her to place me somewhere other than L&D because she asked the person she was speaking with if they wanted her to send me back to the emergency department. I politely interrupted and informed the lady behind the desk that I could not get myself back to the emergency department, I had been instructed on the 6th to come to L&D but if that was incorrect that they could send me wherever, that I just needed help asap and they were going to have to transport me back there because pain was getting increasingly worse. I was then taken in a wheelchair to the L&D floor at approximately 8:30pm and received by Nurse K.. Upon arrival to the room I was asked to change clothes and leave a urine sample. I was then asked my reason for coming and pain level, in which I stated that I had received a cerclage on 12/6 as a precautionary measure due to incompetent cervix and was told to return if contracting and they would give me medicine to stop contractions. I explained to her that before leaving the house I was unsure if it was contractions because it was so much in my back but I recalled my other three pregnancies started with back labor and so that as a precautionary I had doubled my water before leaving home. I also told her that at that point I was 100% sure they were contractions, 5 minutes apart at the most, that my pain was at that point around 7, and that when I collected the urine sample, I was bleeding. I then told her I had used terbutaline post stitch in my previous pregnancy to stop contractions and to call Dr. D. from ROC (Regional Obstetric Consultants) because they are who placed the stitch, and he mentioned using a different medication this time but that either was fine with me, I just needed the contractions to stop. I reminded her that the faster I received medicine the better chance it has of stopping labor. We did not want to take the chance of losing our little boy. I was then hooked to a contraction monitor, a blood pressure cuff, a pulse ox, and my temperature was taken (which was in normal range.). Nurse K then informed me I would be watched for contractions, and the on-call doctor (Dr. P.) would be in soon. Before she left the room, I again requested that she contact Roc. At some point of the conversation upon my arrival she made sure to mention I shouldn’t be on that hospital floor, I apologized and said this was where I was told to go but that if they needed to move me they could, I just needed them to stop the contractions because he was too small to come out yet. I had several contractions while she was in the room, at one point I had one right as she was looking at the monitor so I asked her if she could see it because I wanted to be sure it was showing up. she said nothing major just a little blip. I again mentioned medicine to stop contractions because didn’t need to contract at all with the cerclage even if it was just small contractions. She then left the room. When she returned, she had two cups of water and a fetal Doppler. She told me to drink the water and it should stop my “crampiness”. I then told Kaitlyn again that the pain is way more than cramping and that contractions were timing every 5 minutes. I reminded her that I was well hydrated because I had been drinking water since I became uncomfortable but that I would drink her water while waiting on the doctor. She struggled to find the babies heart rate even though I was pointing out where he was located. She found a heartbeat and wrote down as his at 107 bpm. This was the exact same as my pulse Ox was reading at the time. (John realized this as she was leaving the room and voiced his concern to me that she may not know what she was doing, I told him she was probably just nervous but it didn’t matter cause a doctor would be in soon.) Nurse K. then said she was going to find Dr P. and pass along the information to see what the treatment plan would be. I again asked her to please contact Roc. I was told when they placed the stitch on 12/6 that they should be called if I was contracting or bleeding. I also asked her to remind Dr P. I had a stitch because of incompetent cervix and any contractions even if small were not good, and that at this point the contractions no longer felt small. She was gone a few minutes and came back in to reassess fetal heart rate (I assume because she was instructed to do so by doctor or another nurse because 107bpm was my exact heart rate and that is way lower than 120-160bpm that his heart rate should have been). This time she listened to where I said he was located and found his heart rate almost immediately at what I believe to have been 156bpm. By this point it was around 9pm, my contractions were even closer together timing at 3 minutes max apart and rapidly intensifying along with an increase in bleeding. I made sure to voice the changes of the increased pain and bleeding to our nurse. By this point of our visit I felt the need to defend myself. Nurse K. was treating me as if I was being dramatic or exaggerating my pain I felt as if she was not taking me seriously. I made sure she understood that I had been in labor before. I have had three other babies, two without epidural, and this pain level was equivalent if not above that pain. She had no response and went back to consult Dr again. Nurse K. then returned back to the room with two more glasses of water and said Dr. P. believed there was nothing going on but instructed her to check my cervix just in case to make sure I had no dilation. When she said check my cervix, I asked was the ultrasound machine coming to my room or did I have to be transported to somewhere with a machine. She then informed me she was going to check me with her hand. I was immediately alarmed and told her no I was not comfortable with her checking me that way that with my cerclage. In my previous pregnancy with a cerclage no one ever touched it, especially that close to placement or while actively having contractions. In the past they have only used sonogram to check my cervix. I apologized for questioning her but asked was she sure Dr Porter had directed her to touch my cervix with a cerclage placed. I then told her to consult Dr P. again, to make absolutely certain she wanted to touch a cerclage placed two days prior. I also stated that I did not feel comfortable with her being the one to check my cervix if it was going to be touched, I felt more comfortable (but still very uncomfortable) with a doctor being the one to check it. Also, I once again suggested Roc being called before checking my cervix that way because I felt as if they would suggest not to do so. She informed me she was clear with the directions given to her and checked my cervix despite my objections. At that point I was told my cervix were still long and closed the stitch was still the correctly intact and left the room. While she was gone my pain continued to worsen. Because I was at an increased pain level and also felt I should relieve my bladder, we called Nurse K. back in to the room. When she returned to the room it was around 9:15pm. I told her my contractions were now one minute apart and even more painful and that I also felt the need to relieve my bladder. She disconnected everything from me and informed me when I was done using the restroom, we didn’t have to put any of it back on because I was being discharged. Even though I was in so much pain I could not get to the restroom without being escorted by John. We both immediately questioned discharge, John even pointing out the visible pain I was in and informed her we did not feel comfortable leaving the hospital without seeing a doctor. She then informed us Dr. P. believed there was nothing going on and no reason to keep me or do further testing, she told me I could get dressed and left the room. At a little after 9:30 she returned to our room with discharge papers and was visibly agitated that I was still in my hospital gown. I told her there was no way I could get dressed my contractions were still one minute apart. I then asked if she had been able to see the contractions on the monitor before removing it. She said yes, but that they are just little blips and your cervix is fine, we have no reason for concern so keep drinking lots of water and to follow up with your doctor on Monday. I told her that the contractions were definitely way worse than little blips and asked her to be mindful that my uterus wasn’t full term size and my contractions weren’t going to show up as mountains they were going to be little blips. John then added that even if she wanted to say they weren’t contractions that something major was visibly going on and we did not feel comfortable with leaving in this much pain especially without seeing a doctor. She informed us that they do not see 16-week uteruses on the L&D floor and told me again that I was in the wrong department, and because of that she didn’t know what a contraction at 16 weeks would look like on that machine. I told her if that was the case then please send in the doctor or transport me to a floor that does see this so they can help me and I once again asked for Roc to be called. She responded with we don’t feel there is anything wrong with you and we have no reason to contact Roc. If I still have pain on Monday to follow up in office with my doctor and if I began to cramp, have contractions, or bleed to go back to the emergency room. She then looked at John and firmly said for him to go get the car while I got dressed. He then pointed out I had all of the things she said to come back for going on at that moment and questioned her on how I was going to get in the car while doubled over and moaning in pain, in fact so much pain that I was unable to stand, move, or get dressed and that at this point I was even having trouble responding through pain. She then said oh if you don’t think you can walk that far I’ll send for a wheel chair it won’t take long I’ll have her down there by time you have gotten the car and left the room. John did not leave the room and I did not get dressed. When the wheel chair arrived, I showed the nurse that brought it that I was at this point bleeding significantly she said oh yea I see that, I will get your nurse. When Nurse K. our returned to the room, she was visibly irritated that I was not ready to go. I showed her toilet paper I had just used that was covered in blood and pointed out that the bleeding was significantly worse than when I arrived. I told her my pain was at this point intolerable and John added that we were not leaving until we saw a doctor and once again demanding she call Roc. She informed us they were busy and it would be a while till we saw a doctor and that Dr P. didn’t feel Roc needed to be contacted because nothing was wrong with me. We again told her there was absolutely no way we were leaving without seeing a doctor, again pointing out we that couldn’t leave if we wanted to because the pain was too intense to even get out of the bed. John continued to point out I was doubled over in pain and that talking was even a huge task for me between contractions. She then said she would talk to the doctor and left my room. At this point we called Roc ourselves but they have no answering service, it says to call your regular OB/GYN. Nurse K. did not return to the room for some time it was now around 10:15 pm at this point instead of returning herself she sent in the assistant nurse manager (I believe named Nurse M.) who was visibly Irritated from the moment she walked in. The first words out of her mouth were… what’s the problem, why are you refusing to leave. We proceeded to tell her what was going on and begged her to send in a doctor, any doctor. to get us some meds to stop contractions and call Roc, because the pain was way too much to be nothing. Instead of being receptive and trying to help, she had no interest in what we had to say and kept interrupting us to tell me I was fine, had been discharged, and we needed to leave. she said that Roc could not be called after hours and I wasn’t having contractions (I was visibly having contractions one minute apart while she was in the room) and that even if I was contracting there was no medication that stops them. She said I just needed to drink water and call Roc Monday. John then began to explain to her that the other nurse, Nurse K. said there were blips but nothing major. We then explained to her as we had previously explained to Nurse K., that the monitor would not show contractions as the huge mountains they were looking for because of the size of my uterus, this made her even more irate. At this point her voice became extremely elevated and she began aggressively speaking at us about how she had been a nurse for 25 years and she knew how to do her job and what a contraction looked like. We told her Nurse K. said she didn’t have a clue about how monitors read a uterus at 16 weeks because they don’t see 16 weeks on that floor. The assistant nurse manager then repeated there was nothing wrong with me, I was discharged, and they were busy. She told me I wouldn’t be seeing a doctor and we needed to leave. John once again pointed out that my pain was not acceptable and that at that point, that I was not even looking at her I was rolled over having a contraction clenching the side of the bed almost screaming in pain because it was so intolerable and asked how we were supposed to leave like that. Instead of responding she then left the room. At that point John and I discussed leaving to go to another hospital but I was not physically able to leave. At 10:30pm my water broke in the middle of a contraction.

THIS POST SHOULD BE FOLLOWED BY PART 2