Which hospital? Royal or dundonald?

[MrsKNB]

Pregnant with 2nd baby and cuz son wasnt straight forward cant have this one in my local hospital and have to go to royal or dundonald. Does anyone know anything about either of them that could help me make my mind up? Have to tell them my answer on friday at scan! Xx

Hi MrsKNB.
I have had both my DCs in the UHD. And am currently expecting No.3, which will be UHD also.
I am sure there will be plenty of people on soon to tell you that the Royal is the best option, but in my opinion it isn't. A girl I know did her midwifery mostly in UHD. Near the end she did a placement in the Royal. She said it was awful. Routine episiotomies, stirrups...just no incentive to promote an active birth at all. Anyone I know who has given birth there has had stitches and lots of intervention.
Now this is just my opinion. I'm sure loads of people have positive experiences of the Royal. People also like it because of the large baby unit, but the UHD is well equipped-as a trauma centre- to deal with any unwell babies, although some very serious cases may need to be transferred. There is a SCBU in the UHD.
I'm a nurse myself, and never rated the Royal very highly.
My GP practically insisted that I went to the UHD. He was a fabulous GP, now retired, and I got the feeling he thought there was too much intervention in the Royal also.
Whatever you decide, I hope it all goes well!

Thanks so much for your reply! I was swaying towards dundonald as apparently parking at the royal can take up to one hour and if i go early baby could come in july and didnt fancy being in belfast city centre during silly season either, also my friend said go to dundonald cuz there is a mcdonalds right across the road from dundonald should the hospital food be bad! She made me laugh! X

I'd say that Mcdonalds sways more people than we know, ! Plus the UHD has a lovely new maternity wing.
Keep an eye on this thread over the next week, more people will respond probably. And tell me how wrong I am!

I had mine in the Ulster - the day obstetric unit can often be busy/long wait if you need something checked out but my delivery experience was excellent. The ulster has a number of birthing pools in the home from hone section - I stayed in one of those rooms the night after I have birth and it was really lovely. No epidurals allowed or heavy duty painkillers there tho so there were some pretty awful noises! (Not a problem when the door was closed). I gave birth in delivery suite, also v nice but more "medical" than HFH. There you can have a pain relief called remifentanyl - it was brilliant! Helped me have a very stress free birth. The royal does not offer this afaik.

I have a close friend who is a midwife of 15+ years, she has worked in both hospitals. Before she knew I was pregnant I asked her where she would give birth given the choice. She thought quite hard about it then said ulster. Her reasoning was similar to the poster above, ulster are very pro active/natural birth and minimising surgical procedures if possible. Royal can sometimes be very quick to get you into theatre if they are busy and things aren't going fast enough.

Hi, just popping on to say basically what everyone else said!

I'm booked for the midwifery led unit in the Downe, but will be going to the Ulster if there's any complications x

I had DS in UHD and thought it was pretty good (not that I have anything to compare it to!). I didn't quite get the HFH waterbirth that I wanted, but managed to have a reasonably active birth in the delivery ward even with a syntocin drip. This was definitely aided by my midwife being happy to run off and get me a birthing ball and understanding why I didn't want to be on my back. Having really really not wanted to be induced all the staff there helped make it in to a pretty good experience.

I've just found out I'm pregnant again and have absolutely no hesitation in going back.

Oh and DH definitely appreciated the McDonalds as did I because the food is indeed terrible there is also an Asda just up the road where you can get slightly healthier food options & other useful supplies should you need to.

Oh, I thought everyone would be going for the Royal!? Pleased to see the UHD is so well thought of.
I was there for my booking in the other day. The new wing wasn't open when I had my last one. It is all lovely and new. Looking forward to seeing the wards etc.Are they all new too?
Sorry for hijacking! I wonder if anyone will come on about their experience in the RVH...interesting to hear someone else's experience.

Yes it's all new. The maternity ward and HFH are on the first floor and then delivery rooms and theatres on the second floor of the same building as the antenatal clinics. They don't do tours, but they'll give you a DVD at your 20 week scan appointment, and if you sign up for the active birth workshop (details should be in the front of your notes) it takes place in one of the HFH rooms so you can have a nose round then.