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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

anyone given birth at the royal berkshire?? or other hospitals near henley??

19 replies

Tutter · 14/11/2006 13:05

am moving in 3 weeks. just found i'm pg and was wondering about which hospitals will be options for me.

the new house is just in berkshire, and reading is the closest big town, so i'm guessing the royal berkshire is the most obvious option, but wondered what others - over the borders in oxfordshire/south bucks - there are.

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Tutter · 14/11/2006 13:12

bump

a search on archives gives me no results

surely someone has given birth there???? or is it called something else...?

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bagpussmice · 14/11/2006 13:15

had both dd's at the Royal berks in the last 5 years and found the maternity unit/care to be excellent.. no complaints from me. A friend recently checked out hospitals in both Readnig and Oxford as she lived on the border to both and much preferred Royal Berks....

scatterbrain · 14/11/2006 13:19

I had my dd at Royal Berks too - it was fine ! Has been recently refurbished and has some very nice delivery suites now.

Trying to think if there were any bad points - traffic can be a pig at rush hour so you should plan your route and time it. Parking there isn't great - but there is a short maternity drop off zone so dh can get you in and into safe hands before having to go off and park properly ! The security is excellent - so much so that h's usually complain about having to wait ages to be let in !

Ummm - not sure what else - it's a great hospital I think so don't worry !

zephyrcat · 14/11/2006 13:27

Hiya I had dd1 at Royal Berks and it wasn't too bad... I had ds and dd2 at different hospitals and found those to be much nicer if I'm honest! I did have dd1 on Xmas day though which might explain why none of the staff seemed to want to be there or work!

Ellbell · 14/11/2006 13:28

Congratulations, Tutter.

I had a fab experience of the Royal Berks. At least, the experience itself wasn't fab, but the people there made it so in the end. I had placenta praevia with dd1 and was admitted, bleeding quite a lot, at 27 weeks. To cut a lo-o-o-o-ong (and boring and repetitive) story short, I was there for 10 weeks. After a bit they found me a private room (at no cost) and I was really well looked after. The staff were wonderful, and I also had excellent treatment from midwifery students from Thames Valley University. (It was so good, I wrote to the Head of Department when I got out to congratulate her and say what a good impression her students had made.) The food was OK - not 'good' exactly, but acceptable. Breakfast is DIY (most exciting moment was when someone burnt the toast and the firemen arrived - happened approx. once a week!) but I quite liked that.

I also went on to have dd2 (VBAC) there. Again, I had excellent treatment. They were sympathetic to my birthplan (apart from one bitch midwife, who commented loudly and in my hearing that my plan was 'very demanding', but she only admitted me - everyone else who dealt with me was wonderful) and didn't automatically strap me to a monitor, etc. I'd have been allowed to use the pool too (unusually for a VBAC) if only there wasn't someone already in there. With dd2 I was in and out the same day (compensating for first time round!) so didn't particularly have the full 'hospital experience', but I did find them very good. They also have a breastfeeding advisor who visited me at home with dd2 for a week or two (when I needed her - which was A LOT!) and a drop-in bf clinic. There was a lot of building work going on in my day (I was there in 2000 and again briefly in 2002) which is probably completed by now (I've moved away from Reading since...).

Hope this helps. I am willing to name names (best consultant, if relevant, loveliest midwives) but not on a public forum. CAT me if you want the low-down...!

Good luck with the pregnancy and the move. Are you going to be near Henley? I did pregnancy yoga in Wallingford with dd1. If you are there, I'd guess that the Radcliffe in Oxford is a possibility too. It's a big teaching hospital so should be good, but I have no personal experience. Actually, come to think of it... I think there may also be a small midwife-led unit in Wallingford, which may be worth exploring if you are likely to have an unproblematic delivery and don't want an epidural or whatever...

HTH.

kama · 14/11/2006 13:35

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scatterbrain · 14/11/2006 13:39

Have just remembered that my friend lives in Henley and she was offered Royal Berks, Wexham Park in Slough and the John Radcliffe in Oxford. She chose RB as it was quickest to get to - twice and was very pleased with it both times - 2 sections.

kama · 14/11/2006 13:42

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Ellbell · 14/11/2006 13:46

Second what Scatterbrain says about traffic and parking, and also about security.

Ellbell · 14/11/2006 13:54

You can ask to use the bedroom off the waterbirth room, even if you don't want to use the pool, IIRC. I really wanted to go in there (though when it came to it with dd2 I'd have given birth in the carpark if necessary - I didn't really know where I was!).

Forgot to say that dd1 was obviously a c-section. All very calm and un-threatening. I held her straight away and they were very accommodating. She was a bit cold (she was small - only 4lb 12oz) and needed to be wrapped up (and eventually put on a heated pad for a while), but they'd have let me go skin-to-skin if I wanted to. Aftercare was good too. DD1 was kept in for a couple of weeks. I could only stay for a week, but they let me keep her in my room while I was there and showed me how to tube-feed her myself, rather than relying on someone else to do it. They also readmitted me for a couple of days in order to try to establish breastfeeding before I took her home.

Oh, the memories are coming flooding back now....

Tutter · 14/11/2006 16:23

thanks everyone

i shall suss out john radcliffe as well then - we'll be just outside henley, on the reading side

with ds i was in a MLU in a regular hospital, which was ideal - would love to replicate if at all poss

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BumMum · 14/11/2006 16:30

I had mine at the RBH as well... although that 8 years ago now.. its all changed and V modern. Is townlands still open or have they closed it for maternity...

Congratulations by the way..

Where are you moving to, I'm in Reading.

Ellbell · 14/11/2006 19:19

According to this site, the midwife-led unit in Wallingford is dependent on the John Radcliffe, so if you wanted to go to Wallingford, your fallback position might need to be Oxford. However, according to the NCT website the Wallingford unit is under threat of closure.

Good luck.

JennyWren · 14/11/2006 19:45

Hi Tutter - welcome to the area! I live in Wallingford, and gave birth at the JR in Oxford, although it was supposed to be Wallingford. I found both to be excellent. Unfortunately, my dd's birth wasn't textbook - I had an extremely long second stage and although the midwives at Wallingford were great, and really tried all the tricks in the book to help me have the birth I wanted, I had to be transferred up to the JR for a drip and quite possibly a caesarian (although I didn't in the end need that). If you are having a low-risk pregnancy then I would definitely recommend Wallingford. If you need to be transferred in labour, that is smooth and easy - I certainly didn't find it at all traumatic. Like all the cottage hospitals in Oxfordshire, Wallingford is under review, and the proposal is that the maternity unit may be moved to Didcot. However, this is not going to happen in the next 9 months - it's been rumbling on for years! Wallingford is small - only 4 beds, so there is a tiny risk that they will be full and you'll have to go to Oxford anyway, but that risk is tiny, and I have never heard of it happening. The smallness is very much what makes the unit appealing - the team of midwives are great and you will see the same people again and again, and even overnight there is never less than 1 member of staff for 4 women (plus the midwives specifically for a woman in labour)- great if you need extra support, as I did. Even if you deliver at the JR, you can be transferred back to Wallingford before you go home, as long as they have space (priority for the beds is given to women in labour coming in to give birth) - that is fantastic.
Having said that, the JR was good too. The delivery team were great - even though I was going in for intervention, they went through my birth plan and tried to do as much as they could as I had asked, and where they couldn't, they explained why and explained what they wanted to do instead, and why, and let me give the OK. When I wasn't sure about something, they gave me time to think about it and chat with my dh, and in the end I said yes, but it felt like my decision. I had a PPH after the birth, and was sent to the Observation ward, which was also excellent. I have to say though, that once I got up to the general postnatal ward, it was ok, but not a patch on Wallingford, where I went next (yes, I spent nearly a week in hospital, so I had a fair bite of all the pies! ). The staff were very well-meaning, but there are many more mothers per member of staff, so the one-on-one time is much reduced. I suspect you'll find exactly the same at the Royal Berks though.
The best thing for you to do would probably be to visit all three places - you can go into Wallingford any time, by appointment, I think and the JR has tours every Monday and Thursday evening - I don't know about the Royal Berks, but I'm sure someone else can help. I would say though, that even if you go for Wallingford, please look at the JR too, just so that if the worst happens and you go there instead, you know where everything is and what to expect - it made all the difference to me.
Most of all - enjoy your pregnancy!

JennyWren · 14/11/2006 19:47

Well, I tried to keep it brief, but failed - even leaving out exra stuff! If you want to know more though, just ask - I'll try to check back later.
Jen

Tutter · 14/11/2006 19:52

thanks all - this is really helpful info

i'm only 4w3d so i have plenty of time to do more research (and pretty please keep your fingers crossed for me)

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PrettyCandles · 14/11/2006 20:01

I had ds2 at Royal Berks - not by choice, was meant to have a home birth but ther e were no midwives available to send to me, so had to go to hospital. However, to try and make it up to me for having lost my HB, they filled the birthing pool and had it ready for me when I arrived, and called a midwife from the low tech unit to look after me. It was an excellent birth, and the care was lovely. Every midwife I had dealings with throughout the pg was great. Post-natal ward was very nice, food was better than I expected (except for breakfast).

Re parking: if you are in active labour you can get a voucher for free parking when you arrive.

I transfered my care to this HA at about 22w (moved house) so don't know anything about the early care, scans etc. I think nuchal is not available on NHS here.

PrettyCandles · 14/11/2006 20:06

Toilets on Marsh Ward at RB were always either clean or being cleaned, and had bidets. Didn't use bathroom, so can't comment, but seemed clean in passing by.

The 'bedroom' in the pool suite is fantastic - it has a double bed! So utterly blissful to all lie down together in bed, me, dh and new LO, for a little while. . Only drawback is that there is no hospital bed in the pool room, only a futon-sort of arrangement which is not so comfortable I think.

pollypeachum · 14/11/2006 20:11

i had both births at Royal Berks and i was very happy each time. second was planned section for twins and it was fantastic. care on ward afterwards great. i think too that its a safe hospital - competent staff etc etc. i would recommend it.

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