Anyone give birth at Lewisham Hosp

[hopingforanother]

with IV antibiotics due to being a GBS carrier?

I had a GBS infection a couple of weeks after my daughter was born - she wasn't affected. I'm now pg again. I haven't been tested this pg but have been advised to have IV AB's during labour which I will do.

I'm booked in at Lewisham again to have my second baby in a few weeks time and want to hear about people's experiences of having IV AB's at Lewisham, so I know what to expect.

I'm looking for info about their policy around being admitted, getting the AB's and whether we'll be in for obs for a day or so afterwards. DD was born after 8 hours of labour and my waters broke an hour before she was born, I didn't feel the need to go to hosp until my waters broke as I found the pain ok, so I do have a concern we may not arrive in time for a decent dose of ABs - I just didn't realise how far along in to things we were. I'll be asking my midwife at our next appt - but want info from people who have patient experience as there is a great deal of conflicting advice from midwives, doctors and the host of GBS info sources out there which does confuse things a bit!

I'd also be interested to know what side effects did you experience from the ABs? Did you and/or your baby get thrush? Did you feel poorly etc? Did you have any BF problems?

I'm not considering going without the AB's - just want to be prepared...! Thanks so much to anyone able to answer my questions!

Anyone at all?... I have info about GBS in general, but wanted some Lewisham hospital experiences if any exist! :)

hi,
can't comment about IV AB's but we did have our son at lewisham hospital - found the staffing levels to be extremely low with little or no monitoring.

so would advise you to go as early as possible and demand the treatment you require especially if it is late at night.

lots of luck and best wishes

Hi rosecottage - thanks for your reply. I had dd there in 2006 and though the delivery was ok we had to stay in for 4 days afterwards and I found it extremely unpleasant, particularly having to deal with the staff. I paid for a private room to get away from the general horribleness of the place last time and I really hope I can do the same this time...

I am a little concerned since there are always conflicting opinions from healthcare people even when there is clearly a policy in place, so am hoping to be well informed in advance. And I noted the low staffing levels last time too, I was almost expecting them to tell me to cross my legs whilst waiting for an 'available midwife' last time and that was the middle of the day.

Sounds like you had a less than perfect experience too - did your ds arrive recently? :)

hi
ds arrived in 2007 - so not too recently. hopefully things have changed there by now. at least you know what to expect this time.

we also paid for a private room as due to an emergency c-section staying in the hospital was unavoidable - although i would have walked across broken glass to get out of there at times!

sounds like you had a very similar experience to us,

best of luck, i'm sure it will be better this time!

Thanks. I hope it will too! At least I'm more prepared - I'm going to be taking some antibacterial cleaning wipes with me for a start!!

Yes, I would have walked across broken glass too - it can only have got better surely... I just hope they still have those private rooms and that one is free, because I think I'll have to stay in a day or two for observation.

I need to get more info on the antibiotics policy to avoid getting in to a row with any flaky staff too!

A little update on this - my MW says go in when contractions are 15 minutes apart at the most and make sure I go on and on about the ABs to make sure there's no confusion. She also said provided there are no early problems, we're likely to be allowed homw after 24 hours, which is lovely!

She also said if I'm an hour or more away from the hospital, to just go to the nearest maternity unit with notes in hand!