My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Childbirth

Queen Elizabeth , Woolwich

1 reply

Londonbumpagain · 07/01/2013 22:11

I wanted to take the time to share my experience of the QE.

Two years ago I had my 1st DC at the hospital and had a horrible, long labour. It was progressing normally/ as expected until a midwife made a mistake and told me to push too early. This delayed the birth by a long time, I was knackered when my dc arrived and hated the whole experience.

However, changes have been made & lessons appear to have been learnt and I can report back 2years on. I decided to have my 2nd child there as I'd had good care in both pregnancies & I figured that everyone makes mistakes & the main issue was human error. The care was excellent during the pregnancy and the labour and delivery care was much better. They now have a triage room to assess your level of need first before you are transferred to the correct place. This has taken the pressure off labour & delivery & means this time you don't go there unless you need too. The staff there were quick & efficient & both times I went there i was was very happy with the care & professionalism.

My midwife (Hayley) was fantastic, listened to me, was hands off, encouraging and followed my wishes & lead. I could not have wished for a better midwife or birth experience. She left the cord until it stopped pulsing & treated the 3rd stage with dignity & respect. My baby was straight on my chest & fed quickly. I was left in the delivery room happily cuddling & feeding my baby for 2.5-3 hrs until she was weighed & measured - when I was ready. I was not rushed out of the delivery room & ended up being there for 6 hours before being transferred to the ward. This meant I could use the shower & clean up etc at my own pace. On the ward the loos & showers were spotless & obviously cleaned regularly (2 years ago they were disguising, blood stained & dirty - so much so I took anti bac wipes & sanitiser this time!!! I didn't need it) i was in a 4 bedded bay but only 3 were occupied. Baby was checked regularly and I was checked but not overly bothered. I was discharged 16 hours after birth and would have been earlier but they were busy.

Overall a very positive experience in jan 2013. It was like a different place and I would recommend it. I felt I post as it is not often people bother to share their positive stories & it might help some of you considering it, especially after its recent bad press.

OP posts:
Report
zoodle · 11/01/2013 00:11

Thank you for posting this. I too had a horrible experience at QE 3 years ago and am terrified that if they close Lewisham I'll have to go there again. You've made me feel better.

Can I ask if it was a different time of year? I gave birth in September, apparently one of the busiest months.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.