I had my baby at the Mayday on 15 October 2009. Having read this thread I almost transferred to the PRU but decided against it as I was hoping to go into the Mayday's birth centre. That didn't happen for various reasons and I ended up on the labour ward. I can honestly not fault the midwives who looked after me. Kelly, Rati and especially Clare made the experience as close to the gentle birth we hoped for as possible and were caring and attentive throughout the 50 hour induction / labour / c-section.

The aftercare on the Mary Ward was also fantastic. Clare helped with feeding and when I pushed the call bell a midwife always came straight away. The food was terrible but that's hospitals... I wasn't that hungry anyway!

So if you're reading these horror stories don't be put off - it's hit and miss who you get on the day but from what I can see, the vast majority of midwives there are lovely.

Mayday experience Dec 08.
I cannot fault the staff on labour ward, I was looked after really well by a lovely midwife called Deborah. Unfortunately, I had to have an emercency C-section as baby was in distress etc etc. Again, I cannot fault the surgical team that carried out the operation, they were professional and caring.

The problems started when I was transferred to Mary ward. Here, I found most of the staff to be lazy, incompetant and rude. Examples:

Some refused to even speak to me when I asked them to pass me my baby (spinal block meant I couldn't move). very distressing after a long labour and major surgery.

When i was having trouble getting off the bed the day after the section, a sister pulled me up by my arms, making me scream with pain. She just said "I told you that you should do it yourself".

One senior midwife tried to give my drugs to the person in the next bed. When i complained to my doctor the next day, she told me to take it up with the midwife in charge (the one in question!).

When the meal trolley comes round you are expected to go and get your food. So if you can't walk because of the spinal block, you go hungry (luckily my family were there to get me something to eat).

If you need to go to the loo the staff will not watch your baby, you are expected to leave baby at your bed (in a room full of strangers and their visitors, which goes against every new mother's instincts). I found this particularly upsetting.

I had to ask 3 times to get my bed linen changed as it was blood stained after the birth (I wanted to prevent infection even if they didn't).

There are loads more things, like the midwife who came round at 2am with her phone radio on, and the healthcare assisstant who accused me of stealing a bottle of milk at 3.30am...

My baby is now 6 months old and I am still struggling to get my head around the attitude of the staff on Mary ward. However, since this is my first baby, I have nothing to compare it to. But I would never go back there again.

hi again, i just thought i would come back and let you know that i had a brilliant experience at mayday birth centre, the midwife was excellent, read my birth plan and stuck to it as far as she could and was very supportive but non-intrusive during the labour. i used the birth pool which really helped me to relax between contractions - at one point i think i even fell asleep! the baby was born at 3am and we were at home 6 hours later.
i had heard some awful things about the hospital but personally i couldn't fault the service so i felt it was important to get a good review out!

Hi,

I gave birth in the birth pool at Mayday Birthing centre 2 and a half years ago and it was an amazing experience. Now I teach HypnoBirthing classes in Croydon as as result of that experience. Check me out at hjwood.co.uk or look at the hypnobirthing uk website for lots more information.

Hi there, just read the thread - very interesting stuff!
I am due in March '09 and am either hoping to use the birth centre at Mayday or possibly considering a water birth at home. I have read that there should be some active birth classes/birth preparation classes offered by the hospital but cannot find any information on when these take place or where.
I see that there are a couple of students on the thread and was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction!
Many thanks!

Hi, Just to let you all know that I am a pregnancy yoga teacher in croydon providing classes or 1 2 1 sessions. As well as giving gentle exercise, my classes can help theraputicly with many conditions that may arise though your pregnancy. As well as breathing practicies and positions for labour being taught there are exerices that can help with your child's birth and your general relaxation and wellbeing.

If you are interested contact me on 07870277958 or email me nadashakti@hotmail.co.uk

Look forward to hearing from you soon
Craig

I had a very positive experience at the Mayday in Dec 07, despite a complicated birth, at a really busy time for the hospital just before Christmas. I started off in the very lovely birth centre, but was transferred to the Labour Ward when things became complicated and foetal distress detected. Despite my 18-hours of strenuous effort, my daughter was eventually delivered by emergency c-section. The team were super-professional in the early hours of the morning, performed the op very efficiently and were v. reassuring throughout. As there was no space on the post-natal ward, I was kept on the antenatal ward afterwards, not ideal, but the staff were great and as helpful as they could be, given staff shortages. No stay in hospital is ever a fantastic 5-star experience (food, tiredness, feeling rotten and wanting to go home) and unfortunately some people have difficult births. A lot of this can be down to biology and an understandably anxious state-of-mind if things don't go to plan, rather than treatment from a particular hospital or so-called "mean midwives".

Talking to other London mums, you can expect much the same (hectic) experience from any big, busy London hospital, so don't assume the worst from a few individual horror stories. Take an antenatal class, do the tour, and you'll feel much more able to make the right decision for you. When you're in labour, you'll want somewhere closer to home, for sure, as maternity units generally won't accept you until you're a long way through labour, making that last journey pretty awkward.

Am about to give birth in the birth centre at Mayday, have been there for a check re leakage the other day, they were lovely! Will let you know how it goes (6 days overdue at the mo)

I'm a user rep for maternity services at Mayday so I hear lots and lots of stories about the hospital from local women. The view I've formed is that the care at Mayday (on the labour ward) is no better or no worse than the care women receive in other large London teaching hospitals where they have a busy consultant led unit - in other words, it's patchy. It totally depends on how busy the ward is when you arrive and your individual midwife.

The problem is with staff at Mayday is that they are very complacent because of their low c-section rate. Women are rarely encouraged to have active labours. One of the mw's at Mayday recently did a survey asking women about things like birth positions and pain relief. Of the women she asked 51% gave birth sitting up on the bed, 15% gave birth lying flat on their backs (!) and 19% gave birth in stirrups DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE HOSPITAL ONLY HAS A 10% ASSISTED DELIVERY RATE! How shocking is that?

As for care on the postnatal ward - I agree that postnatal care is sometimes poor and breastfeeding support is dire. over half of all bf babies at Mayday are being supplemented with formula within 12 hours of birth - and that can't be right.

HOWEVER.......

The new birth centre is absolutely FANTASTIC and so far I've had nothing but positive reports from parents using it. And when I say positive I mean 'glowing'. The staff who work there are superb and the environment is lovely. I personally think that you cannot do better than the birth centre at Mayday.

Personally if I was a low risk mum having to make this choice again, I'd still book for Mayday (I had 2 of my 3 babies there, and one at home) if I wasn't having a homebirth. However, I would take a doula or supportive friend in with me to help me achieve an active birth if I ended up on the labour ward, and I'd get out as fast as possible afterwards (6 hours). I'd also book an experienced doula to help me out for the first 48 hours at home.

All you need to do is ask your midwife about having the baby at a different hospital and they can sort it out for you. I did this last time - Lewisham Hosp is about 2.5 miles away, whereas the Princess Royal (bromley borough's main hosp, and technically where I should go) is about 5.5 miles. I don't even know where it is! The care you get totally depends on how many women are in labour at the same time on the day you go in, in my experience - it's all down to luck, sadly. Second time round I ended up having to sleep with the baby on the delivery bed all night as there was no space on the ward. Lew Hosp was very apologetic. They didn't even have a plastic fishtank for the baby so she slept next to me. Not exactly in hospital or health and safety guidelines!