Aberdeen or Elgin Maternity Unit Feedback

[frogem366]

I have been given the choice of either Aberdeen Maternity Hospital or Dr Grays (Elgin) Maternity Unit.

This is my first child (due feb 2012) and all seems a little overwhelming, and I had no idea I had a choice until recently.

Does anybody have any feed back of either hospitals good or bad they wish to share. My midwife is keen on Elgin due to the volume of births at AMH.

Any feedback would be greatfully appreciated - thank you in advance for your time :o)

Thanks

I think Elgin may lack 24 hour epidural service and if you needed help e.g. forceps or ventouse to deliver the baby at night time and I have heard up to two thirds of first timers having a vaginal delivery do....you may want the option of an epidural for this. Or if labour was long or you were induced etc etc etc you may want the option of an epidural. I may be out of date though and perhaps Elgin now have that 24 hour cover.

I think Elgin still don't have the 24 hour epidural service, but if you are under midwife care there you get a dating scan at around 36 weeks where in Aberdeen you only get 16 then 20 weeks scans iirc.

DoFliesHaveKnees - I am not based in Elgin, and only just moved from Aberdeen city to country so up until a few weeks ago my care was all as per Aberdeen Policy, will be interestinging to see if I opt for Elgin they send me for a scan at 36 weeks...... as already had 12 & 20week at AMH.

Thank you all for replies

Hi, you must live near me, I've had the same choice of hospitals. In the last 16 months I've given birth at both. Elgin doesn't offer epidural at all (or didn't 16 months ago) but I've found the staff lovely. They let partners in from 8am to 8pm if I recall. I chose AMH for my elective section a few weeks ago, as they were concerned my son would need special care and there were times of day no partners were allowed, 12-2 then 4-5 roughly I think. We live a couple hours drive away so it was quite inconvenient for my partner to hang about those times and the midwives there were a bit more pressed for time. I suffered 3rd degree tears with my 1st 2 kids and the 1st was during the night - a surgeon had to be called in from home to repair me. They had called him in to perform section but he never made it on time, tearing was in no way the hospitals fault though! Almost everyone where I live goes to Elgin as its closer and I've never heard them complain about it. If I was to have another I would likely choose Elgin but only for convenience! Also some local birthing units offer home birth or you can birth at the small units with 2 hour discharge but bear in mind the transfer time to hospital if needed. Good luck, if you have any specific questions I can try and help.

1st child was born at Elgin, sorry that wasn't very clear! That was 4 years ago though.

I think the 36 week scan is not a dating scan, but a presentation scan. Elgin is much smaller so they don't have the experience doing undiagnosed breech deliveries that they do in Aberdeen. I had a 36 week scan because I was booking a home birth (not in Aberdeen or Elgin) to ensure the baby wasn't breech with DS.

Visit them both. See what you think. I had four at AMH, most recently 2.5 years ago. Only good things to say about my experiences there esp with the staff.

I had both my dc's in Elgin, admittedly the youngest is 12 now but I'm pg again and I had such a lovely time having him there that if I thought I could make it up there in labour I'd head there like a shot

No Huntly has not been mentioned so I would assume its not an option as it would be the closest.

Im in insch - thank you for your post its a great help. As are them all. I think a visit is needed to really decide.

Hi,

I had my little girl in AMH in August and have nothing but good things to say about the staff and my stay. I had planned using the midwife led unit but went into labour at 34+5 so ended up in labour ward.

I was the only person in labour ward at the time, 10am - 3pm and had a lovely midwife and a student midwife, the student never left the room so I had someone with me all the time. I didn't have an epidural so can't comment on that side of things.

My dd spent one night in neonatal due to her age and the staff there were great, we then spent a week in the Ashgrove ward. We were lucky and given a private room (not sure I could have spent a week on a ward), I was given help with feeding, expressing, pumping, and anything that I could have asked for. Baby was monotored every day, weight, temp ect and they kept a close eye on her jaundice. All the nurses, midwifes and auxilliaries were lovely, very polite and my expereince was very positive. I wouldn't have any reservations about going back there for my next one!

There are times of day when no visitors are allowed but it was nice to get the peace and quiet. Even though it means your dh can't be there for an hour or so, it also means that all the other dhs aren't traipsing around too.