What struck me wasn't just how heartbreaking those stories were, it was how similar they were.
Again and again, women said the same thing: 'I wasn't listened to.'
Donna Ockenden's report on maternity services at Nottingham University hospitals NHS trust made plain that this isn't mere coincidence – this is an established pattern.
She found that too many women experience a loss of autonomy and poor communication, and are excluded from decisions about their own care.
Valerie Amos's review of maternity services across England offered an equally damning indictment this week.
She found maternity care had not adjusted to older motherhood and the stark rise in the number of women having caesarean sections.
Another report this year from the charity Birthrights revealed that many women feel under pressure to have medical procedures, including caesareans, during their maternity care.
It found women are being repeatedly denied 'genuine informed choice' in their birthing options.
After everything I heard about maternity care in the UK, I started asking myself if I would really be listened to during birth.
A personal calculation of risk and calm
There was another layer to it. Black and Asian women experience worse outcomes in pregnancy and childbirth than white women.
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As a British-Asian woman, I have known the statistics for years, but reading them while you are pregnant feels completely different.
Statistics suddenly become personal. Then there was the fact that my own maternity trust was included in the national maternity investigation.
