Experiences of Southmead hospital

[flowers1]

Hi, I am due to have my first baby in Southmead hospital in November. I wondered if anyone who has been there before could tell me a bit about their experience of the hospital. What's good about it? What's not so good? What's the food like? Any tips for things to pack? Thank you in advance for any information you can provide.

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I gave birth in Southmead. Cos both ds and me were ill we were in for 5 days.

Giving birth was fine - it wasn't straightforward and I feel they handled it very well.

After care was not very good at all. They were obviously short staffed and this caused problems. Including high stress levels in staff.

I won't go into specifics unless you want to know. I'm still very upset at what happened when ds was in the NICU.

I had my DS there and the labour experience was fine, had lovely midwives etc.

Had similarly lovely midwives on the ward but my DS also went to NICU and I had a similar experience to ilovecaboose. Won't go into that cos probably not relevant.

Yes, you will definitely need some sort of antibacterial bathroom cleaning spray and jeye clothes. At times it was minging. I went for a bath and there were used maternity pads left on the sides and pubes galore!

The food was typical hospital food, take cereal bars and fruit with you!

Definately take food - I was bedridden (several drips, cathater etc) and I wasn't allowed any cos it had to be eaten in dining room and I couldn't get there - my dad brought me in some instead. They complained that your not supposed to do that, but didn't care by that point.

I had my son there five years ago and the experience was crap. The midwife was very unhelpfull. I ended up with a c-section and the after care was terrible. The day after I could not pick my son up out of the cot and I was told off for asking for help and was told our other c- section mothers can do it so you will have to. One of the other mothers on the ward ended up helping me. I had to wait 2 hours for my tablets and altough the breast feeding was going well, I was told I looked tired in the night and they took him off to the nursery and later told me that they had tried him with a sip of formula. I phoned dp as soon as I could and went home that day. My second son 3 years ago was another c- section there. This time after care was better as i had my own room and I got painkillers on time otherwisw I was left in peace which was bliss. I also had a cot attatched to the bed so I could get to my son without help. Third,a daughter born at home 11 weeks ago as I could not face another hospital experience. Others have been happy with their care there though.

I had ds there, the staff were very pushed as it was so busy and I had 5 midwives over the course of a 9 hour labour all very nice but no continuity. There is a new nice midwife led unit which I didn't use last time but looks nice. The food is terrible but waitrose is just down the road so get your dh/dp to go out for snacks. I'm hoping for a homebirth this time, so fingers crossed I won't be back.