Darent Valley Hospital

[Beepazoid]

Good morning girls,

I'm due on Monday, so naturally all thoughts have turned to labour and every little twinge and ache and pain...so i thought i'd ask the font of all knowledge baby-fied and ask for any opinions on the above hospital, please.

I'm epileptic, so i'll give birth in the delivery suite (with just obs and no mw), not that that bothers me, but i just thought i'd give plenty of information.

Danke Schoen in advance...:)

I had DS at Darenth Valley in January & they were fantastic. I did start out at the midwife led unit but was taken to the delivery suite when my contractions almost stopped. All the staff were really lovely, kept me informed of what was going on & made sure I was happy with everything.

They have a great breast feeding counciler if you need help, she spent loads of time with me & offered to do a follow up home visit if I needed it. I was a bit emotional the first night I was in (in for 2 nights)& the midwife bought me a cup of tea & took the time to sit with me for 10mins while I had a blub.

The only thing I could fault it on would be the food, my DP bought me food in after 1 meal there as the only edible thing was the cereal at breakfast.

Hope everything goes well for you & congratulations in advance for you LO.

I'll follow this thread with interest, as we're currently booked in at another hospital nearby, but thinking of changing to Darent Valley. I've heard from people in the area that although it's not meant to be the greatest in other areas, it's good for childbirth.

Good luck for next week (let's hope it is next week...), and do come back and tell what your experiences were like!

Thank you so much Smiling

And thank you for your kind wishes Northern...but it's Tuesday afternoon and there's no sign of him making preps to vacate at the mo. :)

He's obviously cosy, bless him...but ideally i'd like him to hang on until Thursday, so i'm not too fussed at the mo.

I had both of mine at DV hospital and liked it. (The hosp not the labour ;-))

The only problem i did have was with my DS in March, i had GBS so midwife said go in straight away when i got pain, yet when i was in labour and rung the hospital they said stay at home until your contractions are 1 min apart and lasting 45 secs!!

It got to every 3 mins and 45 secs apart and was unbareable so i went in and was 4-5cms...

To cut a long story short when i returned home and the midwife came to see me she was VERY shocked that i had been told this and if i had waited i would have prob had him in the car. She did tell me to write a letter to the hospital bringing it to their attention but i never did get round to it.

Apart from that id recommend it .

I'll be having mine at death valley had some rather unsavoury experiences with other parts of the hospital but understand their labour/baby unit is the best around.

The food is inedible though so if you have to stay in, get DH/DP to bring you something in!

agree with that one MissRee...dont go for the maccaroni cheese and potatoes :-&

Just checking in to see if anything had happened beepazoid? And if so, how did it go?

Thanks to the rest for your comments too; interesting that you have experienced what we'd heard MissRee, namely avoid for most things but the maternity unit is great...and thanks for the tip re. the food, I dread to think about the maccaroni cheese!

clarebear1 - i lived off their macaroni cheese and potatoes for a whole week!!