UCH - recent experiences?

[Heidi122]

Hi!

I'm pregnant with my 2nd and I think I have decided to register at UHC. Can anyone share their recent birthing experiences there (both birthing centre and labour ward) particularly those who had epidurals. How easy was it to get an epidural and did you have to fight for it? Also love to hear ppls experiences in the post natal ward and those who paid for a private room.

Thanks

I've had 2 DC there. The first was a water birth in the birth centre and we went home the next day. The second was an EMCS after induction so on the labour ward. I had an epidural before being induced and the anaesthetist arrived about 5 mins after I'd requested it so absolutely no problem at all. That said, if you start in the birth centre it might not be so quick as you'd be moved to the labour ward.

I felt that I and my babies received great care both times. Care on the post natal ward was absolutely fine. It was noisy though, with people in neighbouring beds watching TV until the early hours so I can see the attraction of a private room. The rooms looked nice a spacious but I wonder if I might have felt slightly isolated in one - I took comfort from knowing that there were staff around me all the time. Also, I ended up staying on the ward for over a week so a private room would have been costly.

Good luck!

I had ds 3 weeks ago at uch by emcs after a 2 day induction for being very overdue. My care was great, particularly on the labour ward (only slightly crappy part was on the ante natal ward where the night shift of midwives weren't great). They recommended I had an epidural before starting the hormone drip, although it did take a couple of hours to get the anaesthetist as they were stuck in theatre with a tricky c section. Later on when I started getting rib pain due to ds trying to turn, they turned up really quickly and did some jiggery pokery to make the area numb even though I said it was bearable!

My actual section was quick but calm, everyone was lovely and the midwife made sure we had skin to skin and started breastfeeding within the hour. I've had no issues since and it's all healing really well.

I was expecting the post natal ward to be a hell hole and asked for a private room but there weren't any available. In actual fact it was absolutely fine even though it was quite busy. It was a bit noisy at times but I did manage to get a decent amount of sleep, and again the staff were lovely and looked after us really well.

Thanks so much both of you - really appreciate your feedback

I am booked in with UCH, all my antenatal experiences have been fantastic (currently 33 weeks).
Have a friend who have birth there about 3 weeks ago who said her labour ward experiences were equally great. The one thing she did say was that she tried to pay for a private room on the day but was told that they have changed the policy and you now need to book them in advance!? No idea how that one works and haven't investigated further so don't know if it's definite...

Thanks! Wow that's good to know I'll make sure I make some investigations (although who knows what the policy will be in another 8 months time!!))