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Stuff-co-nz
Rebekah Burgess gave birth during the confinement
A woman says she felt like “an animal” after giving birth at Wellington Hospital during the lockdown.
Rebekah Burgess, 39, first became a mother a month ago for a girl, but said she was traumatized after losing her midwife before birth and her husband’s support afterward.
She is one of thousands.
Hospitals across the country have a no-visit policy during closure, but women are allowed one support person during delivery, and for up to two hours after birth.
“My biggest fear was being left alone after being born to a newborn I can’t care for,” she told parliamentarians on the epidemic response committee on Wednesday.
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The-Dominion-Post
Rebekah Burgess shared her experience of giving birth at Wellington Hospital with members of the Epidemic Response Committee.
Burgess had planned a home water birth, but her midwife withdrew.
She found another midwife on short notice, but was told that she would need to go to the hospital to be inducted after the waters broke.
“I was terrified of going to Wellington Hospital because I knew my only support would be taken away from me,” she said.
What happened next made her “feel like an animal.”
“Shortly after Trinity was ripped from me, my partner was ripped too.
“At the most vulnerable time in my life, bleeding and sobbing, I was taken to the postpartum room and there I received poor care.
“They criticized me for not having enough diapers [and] for not having enough newborn clothes.
“I asked the midwife at the hospital for help feeding me, and she said there would be no midwife to help me at home, and that I would have to do it myself.”
“I had not been able to attend any kind of breastfeeding before the virus.
“I felt asleep with the baby in my arms constantly waiting for help,” she said.
The first two days of her daughter’s life were blurred, and she only slept about three hours.
“I don’t know how many times I cried in the hospital. Trinity bothered me when they took us away from their father.
“I told her that I didn’t want her, that I didn’t want to touch her.
“These feelings happened when I downloaded,” he said.
Her experience made her feel that she was not worth it as a mother and that she was not capable.
“I am still angry and feel like I don’t want to see another midwife again or set foot inside a hospital,” she said.
Burgess called for consistency across the country on how long support people can stay.
Childbirth rights and postnatal support must be protected and include face-to-face meetings.
“You can’t say, ‘Look, I’m having this problem with breastfeeding. [over the phone] and how do I do it, “he said.
