Anyone given birth at the Royal Berks recently - experiences??

[rainbowface]

Hi there, am 31 weeks and due to give birth at Royal Berks hosp just wondered if anyone had given birth there lately and what their experiences were??

[huskygirl]

hi there, i havent given birth there recently but i did 2 and a half years ago. I found them very good actually. I had eclampsia and was induced and i had a lot of physical problems during the birth and after and found that they looked after me very well. I was on Iffley post natal ward which is high risk so i hope you dont have to go there but if you do its very nice - the beds all have an arm which swings over with a television and telephone which is nice. It was clean when i was there but like i say not sure about now. Only trouble was limited car parking spaces. hope this helps a bit and good luck!

[RFCMummy]

I have had 2 babies at the Royal Berks, both were c-sections. I had the last one 12 weeks ago and it was amazing, very professional and no pain at all!

Post natal wards are very short staffed and I ended up going home the next day as there was no point me being there as my partner was doing all the caring for me. The staff that they do have are very good though

[Pennypops]

Due to give birth at Royal Berks in a couple of weeks but I was admitted at 24 weeks with bleeding (cervical erosion as it turned out but they wanted to keep an eye on me for 24 hours) and I have to say they were great. They were evidently short staffed and had to prioritise but the actual interaction I had was regular and helpful given I was only there for observation. The whole experience actually made me worry a lot less about the birth. I was on Iffley like Huskygirl and it all seemed very clean which is my personal number one obsession.

Stories all seem to be the same - the post natal care is a bit patchy but the actual birth experiences seem generally really positive.

[PrettyCandles]

I was on Marsh Ward 10m ago. The care I received was excellent and the place seemed clean. The food was of course dire.

[rainbowface]

Its good to hear that people think it clean as thats also one of my little worries! Has anyone had any experience of the MMLU there, which is meant to be more akin to a home enviornment?

[Glimmer]

I have no experience with the birthing wards but was appealed by their care on the Sonning Ward after a missed miscarriage. I had two unsuccesful ERPCs, one leading to a cervical stenosis (i.e. scaring of the cervix to such a degree that it grows shut). I had no post-surgery care and I am only alive because I went private after 5 months of ongoing symptoms
that were not investigated. Having said so, I have a high opinion of one of the obstetric's consultants, so one can never generalise.

[PrettyCandles]

I had ds2 in the birthing pool, which, although it is in the high-tech labour ward, is actually part of the MMLU and staffed by them. The midwife who looked after me had been on duty for 24h, but she was lovely. Unrushed, hands-off except when I wanted her to get involved, didn't make a big deal when I was unco-operative and wanted to do things my way instead of her way.

My one criticism is that there is no bed in the pool room. Instead there is a futon arrangement with pillows and beanbags on the floor, and when I got out of the pool to deliver the placenta on it I found it uncomfortable. Also, I was very cold at that point, and was not happy to be waiting naked for a blanket. Also rather undignified.

OTOH, the other room in the pool suite has a double bed - so wonderful for dh to lie down with me and both of us get to know ds2 that way...