To think it is very insensitive to site the gynae unit in plain view of the antenatal clinic?

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

I'm here for fairly straightforward reasons, but for someone with with serious problems which could affect their fertility, or who have to have a hysterectomy at a young age, like the woman who I was sitting next to on my last visit, it must be torture to sit in a waiting room full of happy expectant mothers.

I agree but I expect they have to share staff and equipment

ours is the same. You have to walk past the infertility clinic on the way to your ultrasound
it's all just upstairs from ante-natal

i think this every single time i've had to go for a scan. imagine sitting there in a dingy hospital room, knowing you are struggling to have a baby, watching a line of pregnant women file by

I also had to sit in a waiting room full of smiling pregnant women whilst waiting for a scan to confirm that I'd lost my baby:(

A friend had a hysterectomy a couple of years ago and one of the ladies who was in at the same time as her was sent to the maternity ward afterwards as there were no beds anywhere else

At our hospital gynae is the door before maternity, and EPU is next to the labour ward. So if you have a miscarriage you come out of the door, straight into labouring Mum's coming in, and Mum's who have just given birth coming out with their new babies.... not the most sensitive....

YABabitU because it's probably purely down to resources.

Sadly it's fairly normal. I attended the same unit to be told I was expecting twins, after the scan said one had died, for check ups regarding ds2 (surviving twin)and to be told I had cervical cancer

I then had to go back for check ups post radical hysterectomy for years. I never want to set foot in the place again!

YANBU.

I had fertility investigations done at local hospital IN the ante-natal department. I found it upsetting waiting alongside excited mums to be waiting for their scans.

When I got referred to the Ferility Clinic it was in the maternity building but not actually near any department where you'd be waiting alongside people with bumps so not as bad, but still a bit of a kick in the teeth.

You think that's bad??? At City Hospital, the erectile dysfunction unit is on the first floor- and the maternity unit is on the ground floor [shocked]

Ours is the same - I had to go for my recurrent miscarriage appointment and wait in the same area as women who were going for their 20 week scan. They even have the fucking baby tv advertising screen in there!

And, to make matters worse, the Early Pregnancy Unit shares an entrance and a waiting area with the Late Pregnancy Assessment unit (where women with massive bumps go for monitoring if required). Just what you want to see when you are in for a scan to tell you your baby is gone.

It's some sort of "lets lump all wimminz shiz together" policy.

They don't have to share equipment. There is another ultrasound department in the main hospital building where the gynae scans could be done.

It's just awful for people who can't have children to have to have gynae treatment in the maternity wing. So insensitive.

I had to wait over an hour in a scanning waiting room full of happy looking women while waiting for heart breaking scan. Just couldn't cope in end and went to reception desk and broke down. Taken to little side room until my scan,
It is awful.

This is a common complaint of women with fertility issues or who have suffered miscarriages. For my appointment at the subfertility clinic, I had to go to the women's health reception and wait there surrounded by all the ladies with beautiful bumps waiting for their antenatal appointments. As far as I could see, there wasn't any equipment being shared by the subfertility and other clinics and there wasn't any admin reason for it as there was a separate subfertility reception to go to once you had got past the women's health one. It was on a different floor so I don't see why they just can't send us there in the first place.

our local hospital when we lived in the UK had women who were having miscarriages sit waiting for a scan with hugely pregnant women. We thought DS#1 was an ectopic pregnancy and I was in so much pain and so upset and had to sit next to women who were having successful pgs. It was heartbreaking.

its a bit insensitive but normal. At our hospital the mums with babies dying in NICU are on the same ward as the happy mums with their babies.
I'm guessing its all down to budget.

When my mum gave birth to her twins (1 stillborn the other died hours later ) she was put on the post natal ward with all the new mums and babies. To be fair this was over 49 years ago.

The last two cases are a bit different. The women involved still need postnatal care, as they are in fact postnatal and would require the attention of midwives. However one would think they would be offered private side rooms.

Not on PN ward (fortunately) after my stillbirth, but having to share a room with mother of newborn twins after one of my twins had died was pretty insensitive. Resources though.

Presumably a lot of doctors work in both so far more efficient to have them close by else you are constantly wasting time as they walk between.

Or that one section of the postnatal ward would be a 4 bedded area set aside for women whose babies are in intensive care.

When I went to the tongue tie clinic we were asked not to get there too early as the abortion support group met just before.

It's terrible, isn't it.

Even when hospital staff do seem to have put careful thought into placing patients, things still get buggered up.

And it says a lot, that the most sensitive place available for women who've had, say, a baby born prematurely, who's still in SCBU, seems to be... antenatal. I mean, looking at other women's bumps may be better than being faced with babies, but it isn't perfect, is it?

This is why I urge people to support both SANDS and Bliss. Donations from SANDS provided the lovely separate bedroom that DH and I shared (with a garden!) for a week after DD died. Sadly it was needed the week after. :(

It was truly the more horrific experience ever, made a tiny bit more bearable by having DH near me and a little privacy to do things like cry, bleed, pump, meet my dead daughter and generally fall apart.

:( :( :(

Im in 2 minds about all this. Yes I hated being on postnatal with all those babies while dd was lying still in NICU with tubes everywhere. But then I hated going outside and seeing babies in prams too.
More support/counselling etc might be worthwhile.
Actually, what am I saying any support/counselling might be good!

See I think my hospital is really good in this regards. The early pregnancy unit is in the arse end of nowhere a good distance from the maternity unit. And there is a separate gynae unit which is near the scanning department/EPU but not near the maternity unit precisely so that awkward/upsetting situations don't happen.