Positive hospital birth stories

[PipPipPip]

Hi ladies,

I'm 28 years old and 33 weeks pregnant with my first child. I've had an optimistic, uncomplicated pregnancy. I've generally felt very 'chilled out' about my upcoming hospital birth, but have recently been reading a few unsettling stories that have made me nervous.

I'd like to hear a few "good news" stories about NHS care and uncomplicated births. Or perhaps complicated births that were handled well.

Can anyone share an honest, positive birth experience?

Check out the Natal Hypnotherapy website where there are loads of positive hospital birth stories www.natalhypnotherapy.co.uk/53.html

Had both DDs in a NHS midwife led unit.

Found it absolutely fantastic. Had waterbirths with both, gas and air.

Lovely midwives, they sat down and took a long time reading my birth plan, took on board everything I'd mentioned in it.

They also took good care of DH, supplying him with regular tea and biscuits during my labour and birth.

After both the births, I had my own room, en suite with double bed. DH could stay with me.

They offered me regular pain relief after the birth for after pains.

Great breastfeeding support, very patient and sat with me for a long time, especially with DD2 who had problems feeding.

They made sure I was well fed, and even brought DH a sandwich or two.

Checked in on me every hour or so to sure I was OK, brought vases for any flowers visitors had bought me, helped me pack my stuff up when it was time to go home, helped bath DDs, just fantastic.

All in all, I was pretty gutted to go home

Remember for every bad story you hear, there's a good one too

Its a well known fact that for every bad story there are 10 good oness, people just don't talk about them as much.

I had 2 good experiences with normal NHS hospitals. A bit understaffed, but thats not their fault.

you'll be fine.

I had DS in an NHS hospital, I was shown straight to the delivery room, introduced to my midwife, got gas and air straight off then an epidural. I was allowed to move around on the bed as much as I wanted with the epidural and was also allowed to stand up beside the bed.

My contractions stopped after the transition phase so syntocinon was put up and kept on having to be increased. In the end I had a kiwi cup delivery as I'd been pushing for 4 hours and getting nowhere and DS was starting to tire on the bloods. All options were discussed with me and DH thoroughly and we were given a chance to ask any questions that we wanted and we were never left on our own. We went through 3 shift changes of midwives and each time handover was given in front of us so we knew what was going on.

After DS was born I was given sandwiches, then later on in the night tea and toast and a bath and then left to sleep with DH and DS. We did think that the paediatrician took a long time to come and check DS after he was born though.

The reason why became clear when DH went to get the carseat - 4 inches of snow had fallen overnight and the hospital had not been able to transfer out any patients!! Essentially Armageddon had broken out and we had absolutely no idea!

First class care from the NHS, couldn't fault it and wouldn't hesitate to have a hospital birth next time. Oh and the midwife who came to visit us at home did all her visits on foot as all the roads were blocked. Superb care :-) Best of luck, it will go fabulously. xxx

DS3 was born in hospital 4 weeks ago and it was lovely. I had one to one care from a midwife who was there when I needed her but stayed in the background when I didn't need her. Nobody batted an eyelid about my slightly insane requests (I wanted to give birth in the same room as ds2 was born in and I wanted to have the cord clamp in advance and bring it to the hospital with me)

Ah, thanks so much people!

I realise that there are good stories for every bad story - I just want to hear the nice ones too.

Thanks :)

I was induced and had epidural and forceps. Had planned to be at home but they wanted to induce on her due date as much of her fluid had disappeared.

It was great. Midwife told consultant to go away and not bother thinking cx for another 30 mins. Same midwife stayed unpaid 3 hours over the end of her shift to see Dd born. She was in her early 50s and it was so reassuring to have an older mother figure there who could both be a bit strict when needed and also very caring. I was on the verge of collapse after 3 hours of pushing and she said "now you listen to me Bumps! Do you want to have this baby now and go home in morning? Or do you want surgery and a 6 week recovery when you've got a tiny baby too? Yes, of course you want this baby now. Well bloody hell love come on and PUSH!" it was just what I needed!

This thread is lovely, more stories please!

I had a really good positive experience but i guess a lot of that was to do with the fact i had a straightforward, quick delivery. Admitted 5.30 in evening - mw stayed with me throughout, was calm, encouraging, didn't interfere - when i said 'I don't know what to do' she rightly told me to listen to my body and do what feels natural and right. At 6.57 DD was born. I was told i could 'come again'!
Couldn't fault care or attention - felt well supported and looked after - wasn't rushed to be discharged and this is a very busy inner city general hospital.
I even enjoyed the hospital food!!!!

You have gone past the stage i had my DS but i shall still add as think people will always be scared - for the right reasons!- of a prem birth.
I had DS at 30 weeks vaginally. It started Monday at work but i didn't realise until early evening and was admitted to Kingston, i was not made to feel stupid and they were very concerned. Once the doctor said i was correct and in labour (5cm) drugs were given for the baby's lungs to mature, blood and urine samples collected and a drip was set up to slow labour. As it was i gave birth on wednesday. The labour was active - i was allowed to walk around in the beginning and only confined to a labour room once things progressed further. I was allowed to stay standing and moving despite being monitored with a strap round my belly. When the push stage i got frightened but the doctor was very good and got me pushing - had to be in pap position as the baby had to be "watched"; it took 10 minutes! Quite impressed myself. DS was screaming when born (had a score of 9) but due to gestation could only see and not hold.
It was positive if scary and i look back with no terror and would do it again IF they could tell me 100% the next will not be early too.

Good luck

I had DD at 28 too . Also had an uncomplicated pregnancy.(DD's now 2).

Delivered in a midwife-led ward attached to a general NHS hospital. No complaints about the care whatsoever. Arrived at 11am, was seen by the senior midwife (I think they weren't very busy), went straight to a room, laboured until 2:15pm when DD was born. Midwife kept popping in and out of the room initially but this wasn't a problem at all as I didn't need her (and she was only just outside). Stayed in the same room for another 6 hours or so, had a shower in the clean, private ensuite attached to the room I delivered in. Ate a great quantity of toast and was given the option of having dinner. Went home! All fine!

Actually, out of my 7 antenatal group mums everyone apart from 1 delivered in an NHS hospital (the other one had a homebirth) and I don't think anyone had any concerns or complaints about their care, and as a group we had everything (premature delivery, epidural, cesearean, induction, water birth etc).

Good luck! Do you have any specific worries?

DD was born 6 weeks ago and I couldn't fault the level of care, both during labour and after. I had my own delivery room, a lovely midwife, and an ensuite room for afterwards. I was helped with breast feeding straight away and shown how to change a nappy and "top and tail" her. All the midwives seemed happy to answer any questions, and that continued after I went home - I was told to call the birth centre anytime if I had any concerns and when I did this I was told to come in and see them. A lovely midwife then checked her over, checked her latch, gave me loads of good advice and reassurance and generally couldn't have been nicer or more helpful.I had several midwives for the home visits and they were all really nice and helpful and the HV has been great too.
There are some horror stories out there but people seem to relish telling you these - especially when you're pregnant for some reason so you hear far more about these than the nice, normal births that I'm sure are far more common.

I had a long build up to my labour and ended up going in to be checked three times before anything actually happened! First time I had to have a scan to check DS wasn't breech as MW wasn't entirely sure - he wasn't - second time was because I thought my waters had gone - they hadn't - third time was because I was having contractions and wanted to check if I was dilating - I wasn't lol!! This was over a period of weeks, although the last check happened two hours before I was in full blown labour. Every time I was treated very kindly and with great consideration despite the fact that effectively I was wasting the MWs time. I was told to always come in if I had any worries and I felt very supported.

When I finally went in I was 5 cms dilated (went from nothing to 5cms in two hours!)and contractions were coming hard and fast. My BP was high so I couldn't stay in the MLU and had to go downstairs to the labour ward. They were very apologetic and kind about this but I really didn't mind as I had gone off the idea of a water birth which was why I was in the MLU in the first place. The only thing that helped the pain at that point was moving around so I ran down to the labour ward like an utter loony with the poor MW trying to keep up with me and laughing her head off! Got to labour ward where they deliberately gave me the room that was designed to be more like the MLU (had no bed) and was transferred over to an absolute angel of a midwife, a lovely German lady, who knew exactly when to chat and when to keep quiet. She wasn't at all interfering and allowed me to storm around the room to my heart's content. I felt such a huge boost when another midwife came in asked how it was going and my midwife said "She's doing fantastically, she knows her body really well and is doing all the right things" - It's amazing what a few kind and encouraging words can do!

I found the gas and air really really effective, so much so that when I had it I relaxed a huge amount and found the labour so much easier than I had done up to that point. Because my MW was so supportive I was able to to really get into the labour and just go with it. There was some concern about DS's heartbeat and the one negative thing was that I had to push him out on the bed as they needed to monitor him but TBH at that point I was so knackered I didn't really mind. 6 hours after I arrived in the hospital DS was born, a tiny tear and a couple of stitches being the only damage!

How long have you got?! I'll keep it short and sweet, partly as I have work to do!

I'm expecting my 4th in 5 wks and all 3 of my children's birth were completely positive experiences. And all 3 were different. With the first I was in for 10 days - 5 days before birth (preeclampsia) and 5 after (jaundiced baby and I needed ultra sound treatment for heavy bruising. I was gutted to leave i was so well cared for!

My 2nd was straightforward and the care great. My 3rd - well, that was scary as I started bleeding when labour started. Docs and a midwife and a mobile scanning machine were with me before you could blink - but ruptured placenta was ruled out. Basically,i had cysts at the neck of my cervix and contractions were making the cysts and currounding capilliaries burst so every contraction blood flowed making me dehydrated and sick and weak. On top of that the baby's heartrate kept dropping but the monitoring was kept tight. And my wonderful midwife did not leave me for hours. Only when I had an epidural and i was more stable with fluids and coping better with the whole thing did she leave me - and assured me she was off for a snack and would be straight back - and she was gone for about 10 mins.

I could go into them all a lot more but there's no need. My NHS care was second to none.

That said, I'm definitely more apprehensive this time as there is a much greater shortage of midwives now than my last birth 3 yrs ago. I'm hoping to go into labour on a weekend when it's quieter......!

Hi ladies,

thanks so much for these stories. It is great to hear anecdotes of good care, kind midwives etc.

Wigeon I don't have any specific worries. In fact, I'm pretty optimistic about the whole thing (based on a healthy pregnancy and great NHS care so far) but freaked myself out by reading some negative threads on mumsnet.

Thanks so much for cheering me up, everyone :)

Thanks for all the positive stories! I'm five days over my due date and really appreciate these tales.

Adding to this - I had my DD in hospital. Fantastic care in the run up - fluid levels started to drop, she suddenly stopped moving and growing, so was scanned three times from 36wks until she was born at 41 wks. Also went in every other day for heart monitoring and movement traces on the baby - they took my concerns that she had stopped fidgeting very seriously. I was offered earlier interventions but they talked through the ups and downs and left it to me to decide. Gently prodded me in the direction of induction at 41 wks while 'baby is still strong and healthy' but I felt under no pressure to go with that - although I chose to, as I was fed up with prodding the bump desperate to get some movement!
Birth itself - had wanted a waterbirth and the freedom to move. When it actually happened and they came to get me for the waterbirth, having set it all up, I changed my mind and lay curled up in the middle of a bed not wanting to move even a finger. They didn't bat an eyelid! The room had a TV, dh watched movies while I drifted away on gas and air. The birth itself - not so good but that's because dd got stuck with one hand over her head and the cord wedged round her neck so it all got a bit chaotic at the end. But afterwards, they brought me and dh tea and toast, and left us alone in the delivery room with the baby for over an hour. Then they ran me a bath and took me off for some TLC, gently helping me in and out, dry off, etc etc. The ward wasn't great-it was full so lots of sleepless mummies and babies, but I loved being cooked for and they would even take the babies for a bit if you were desperate for sleep. Two nights after having her I was shattered and she wasn't feeding well so in the early hours I stumbled up to the nursery to sit away from everyone else who had successfully nursed their babies back to sleep. A midwife spotted me, and appeared with a plate of biscuits and a mug of tea which he (yes, no typo) said he could swap for a hot chocolate if I preferred. He then just chatted to me for a bit, and when dd began to grizzle he picked her up and cuddled her, saying 'I don't know why you need to make that noise. You've got a wonderful mummy, haven't you? You just don't realise it yet. Your mummy is brilliant - she's got you into the world and you're perfect' and then he handed her back. Sounds cheesy now, but I was almost weeping with gratitude (and tiredness, and the baby blues!). And I wasn't rushed out - they waited for us to ask about going home on the theory that if we weren't asking, we weren't ready to leave yet! If it wasn't for dh wanting to bring his baby home, I might be there still, being fed and cleaned up after!!!

To add my positive story....

I was induced on due date, due to obstetric cholestasis. Waters broken, contractions not doing anything after a few hours, not dilating at any great speed, had drip to make contractions more effective. Had G&A didn't like it (puke) had meptid injections, had epidural in the end. Wanted a waterbirth initially!
Whole process 18 hours from start to finish, hurt like mad apart from the bliss of an epidural.
Sounds not so good I know, BUT I had three of the most amazing midwives, my room had a en suite so no trailing down the corridor like on last nights OBEM! Beautiful bambino at the end of it and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.
It was hard but the midwives and my DH made it so much easier, we had what felt like hours in the delivery room afterwards admiring our little bundle.
Wonderful!

Both my labours in NHS hospitals were blissful!

I'd also recommend a book called "Stand and Deliver" - really positive stories about every type of birth imaginable. It saw me through the last weeks when I was pregnant with DS1 and panicking about the birth.

Hiya,
I only have good things to say about my hospital care too.
Although I did not have a straight forward birth (fetal distress/induction/EMCS in the end)the care was fantastic. I had 2 midwives with me the whole time who were really friendly,always explaining what was going on. When I felt stupid asking for an epidural at only 4cm(I had been up for 30 hours) they made me feel assured that I was not being a wimp. Although they were disappointed i had to have an EMCS in the end everyone was fantastic during the whole process.
Just don't expect too much in the after care though, you're better off at home if all ok cause they're just too busy in the post natal wards to do anything. Good luck !

I had a very complicated first birth ending in a crash section so won't go into the details of that, but also found that NHS care was fantastic, both during the labour / birth and afterwards, and I really could never thank them enough for getting DS out safely. They looked after DS and I so well medically and in terms of the "softer" side, DS was in SCBU for a few days but they really helped us to establish breastfeeding anyway, I felt that they had so much time for us. The midwives were great at talking through the birth experience with me in hospital (I also saw my consultant after we'd gone home, and he was v helpful too). We were in for 8 nights in the end, and I cried when it was time to go home as they'd all been so fab. The food was actually quite good too . I'm going back to the same hospital in a couple of months to have DC2 and am in an odd sort of way quite looking forward to it.

Oh thanks, these are wonderful stories :)

I had a great VBAC in an NHS consultant led unit. I was very high risk as I also had pre-eclampsia (first time round had emcs due to severe pre-eclampsia) so it was pretty medicalised, CFM, cannula, ARM to speed things up, was asked to go in very early in labour.

I had a lovely mw who stayed with me all the way through (I was there for 12 hrs, so must have just covered her shift!). She had lots of helpful suggestions but managed to be really unobtrustive at the same time.

Great post-natal care despite the fact the mws were obviously really busy. They always seemed to have time for you and were very kind. I was on the same ward as I had been the first time round, when I was in for 4 weeks, and it was like a home from home -lots of mws remembered me and asked after my ds. They were all fabulous.