East Surrey Birthing Unit

[nikijm]

Hiya,

Has anyone had a baby here? or at East Surrey Hospital? What were your experiences? I've found midwife care so far pretty haphazard. It's my second birth. My DS is 9 his birth was straightforward but very long and i didn't cope too well. I'm pretty scared. 35 weeks at mo. I'm still weighing the pros and cons of an epidural...

Thanks in advance :)

Both mine were born at East surrey and the care was very good when needed. However they are very busy and if everything is going well you are ignored and they tend to focus on those who need it (which is how it should be when there are limited resources imo).

The food however is awful and trying to leave the place takes hours. Any more questions let me know.

Never made it to the midwife led unit so cannot comment on that.

Thank you

My sister just had her little boy at East Surrey. As previous poster has said if your doing fine & can be left to get on with it then that's what they do my sister although worried at the time actually said she felt more in control & like she was doing the right thing if they were happy for her to crack on!!

Thanks,

I must admit I've found the midwife care so far pretty hands off. Might be best I guess!! Eeeeekkk

:)

I had my son there and it was fabulous. The midwives were lovely, I ended up needing a vontuese but the care was brilliant.

I had loads of help post natatly to.

Ds1 born there in 2012. Induction was horrible (women all labouring together on very busy ward) but birth and post natal were fine, it was just so so busy. Did a proper tour of midwife led unit and was adamant I wanted to forgo epidural and give birth there for DS2 earlier this year but was told it was unlikely as high risk due to thyroid condition. Few weeks before due date, I met with wonderful head of midwives (Lizzy) who worked with consultants to make sure I would be accepted on MLU when I eventually did go into labour. She also explained that if it came to it, induction process is different to how it used to be and she put my mind at rest on that front so I was no longer afraid of it (they even have birth pool on delivery suite now for induction/high risk). None of that mattered in the end as I had DS2 at home on living room floor after 25min labour and 999 on speaker phone advising DH what to do! Was admitted to delivery suite for retained placenta and stitching (9lb 4oz DS with no pain relief or midwife assistance for pushing meant rather large tear) and midwives did fabulous job. They also bent over backwards to get me discharged first the next day as it was my birthday. Very positive experience for brief amount of time I was in there. If you plan on BF then ask for the infant feeding coordinator to come and see you after your baby is born. They take their time with you and much less harassed than midwives. Also, if you don't end up on MLU then worth paying for private room on post natal ward if available. Good luck.