Southampton Maternity Hospitals

[datingthedevil]

Hi all,

Have any of you had experience with the Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton or the New Forest Birthing Centre?

I'm about to move and think I can choose between the two. So far everything has been ok with the pregnancy and it's my first and think i'd prefer the more relaxed New Forest Birthing Centre.

Any advice / experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Char x

I had DS in the Princess Anne. The facilities were good although the antenatal ward afterwards was a bit depressing - very very hot, dodgy food, and not a staff member to be seen. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual hospital crapness. My care when having DS was fine, a little overcautious and interfering but it all went well in the end so no real complaints.

A friend of mine had her DS in the New Forest. She ended up having to be transferred while fully dilated to have a forceps delivery in the Princess Anne, so she had a long and quite scary ambulance journey. The New Forest is a lovely centre, I've heard fabulous things about it, but its main disadvantage is its distance from the city.

I had DS in the Princess Anne. The facilities were good although the antenatal ward afterwards was a bit depressing - very very hot, dodgy food, and not a staff member to be seen. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual hospital crapness. My care when having DS was fine, a little overcautious and interfering but it all went well in the end so no real complaints.

A friend of mine laboured in the New Forest. She ended up having to be transferred while fully dilated to have a forceps delivery in the Princess Anne, so she had a long and quite scary ambulance journey. The New Forest is a lovely centre, I've heard fabulous things about it, but its main disadvantage is its distance from the city.

Oops sorry for posting twice!

I gave birth in the PA. It was fine. as the previous poster said the post natal ward is a bit depressing in decor, but both times I only had to stay in 1 night so it wasn't a problem. The bathrooms were quite disgusting both times I was in though. Learnt my lesson after ds1's birth and had a shower with flip flops on after ds2.

Have heard lovely things about the New Forest birthing centre, but it is a bit of a distance to have to travel in an emergency to the PA. What area are you about to move to. If you are going to be driving past the PA to the New Forest Centre I think I'd probably just go to the PA. At one point you could give birth at the PA but then transfer out to the New Forest Centre to recouperate for a few days. Maybe that would be an option.

Thank you.

I really want to give birth there. I think i'd prefer it to be honest.

Also, the princess anne is just over the road from where dad died in May and that would really depress me if I had to lie in a bed overlooking that place :(

I also want to go home as soon as possible so i can rest properly

I had DS at PAH in May, I'd wanted to go to the birth centre but he had other ideas (meconium, dodgy heart rate etc). I cannot fault the labour ward (though my community midwife was my delivery midwife, which helped) but post natal care - we were in for several nights, because he had low blood sugar- was rubbish. In particular breast feeding support felt non existent, it took two days for a midwife to suggest going downstairs to the breastfeeding drop in which runs out of Broadlands (the MLU based in the hospital). If you need it, that's open 10-1 weekdays. They looked after my little boy, but I felt very neglected and some of the staff were downright rude (although some were lovely). It felt massively understaffed.

I transferred to the birth centre for one night which really felt like my 'recovery', and I finally felt looked after, and the food there is amazing. I went into birth centre 90% formula, came out 90% breast feeding and have breast fed exclusively since.

I'd still do what I did again - drove past PAH to birth centre - but the transfer could be dramatic. The bitty centre does tours every Weekend (ring up to book) and they give very helpful information for you to make up your mind.

As said above you can do both. I had dd on broadlands (the midwife-led ward at pah) - well had to transfer to theatre at the very end (so was glad I chose pah) but until then was happily waterbirthing with minimal intervention from great staff.

Then tranferred to ashurst and stayed 3 days. Was invaluable for my recovery and getting bf established. I would highly recommend both places, Would do the same again, but sadly moved out of the area now!

Hi there, I had DS at Princess Anne 19 months ago and am due back there in December for DC2. The care in labour was ok, although not outstanding (not one to one until I hit transition) and most of the MWs were lovely (although leave it to me to find what must have been one of the few appalling ones who managed to cast a bit of a cloud over the whole thing). I had a very long labour, and was mostly in the pool on Broadlands which was nice and calm although like PP I had to transfer to theatre at the end. I was considering Ashurst or a homebirth this time but due to issues with GBS I have been strongly advised to go back to Princess Anne.

Agree though that postnatal care at Princess Anne is pretty awful and BF support was at best inconsistent, and at worst non-existent. The drop-in on Broadlands ward was better but that involved leaving the ward I was on when I was meant to be waiting for doctors, hearing tests etc. I transferred to Ashurst after 2 nights at Princess Anne and it was amazing, really supportive environment and much nicer facilities. I felt like a new woman after the first night. You can also watch the ponies out of the window

I would recommend Ashurst, just keep in mind that you may need to transfer to Princess Anne at any stage in your labour if the MWs have any concerns or if you want an epidural.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Ashurst (ds has ectopic hb, will have to be hospital if he doesn't grow out of it) I'll let you know sometime in early December :o

My community care has been absolutely amazing, based at Lymington.

Assume you can't go to Winchester? Had both my DDs there - very different, one VB and one EMCS (breech) and both really positive. Post natal care was great as well, although I was lucky it wasn't overly busy (one day was busy and level of care did reduce).

Having DD3 there soon (33.5 weeks now).

I think in your situation I would do what others have suggested and give birth at PAH and transfer to ashurst afterwards. IMO it is too far, even in an ambulance, to risk it-it's at least 20 minutes in clear traffic. My experience of PAH is pretty similar to other posters - great care, fantastic midwife but a bit depressing after. I was so desperate to go home that I decided not to persevere with breastfeeding (tbf we hadn't managed a single success in 3days) but I regret not going to ashurst for a few days afterwards. Hth