Has anybody given birth at Yeovil hospital?

[Chri89]

First pregnancy and planning to give birth at Yeovil. I wanted to see if anyone here has given birth there? I 100% want an epidural but I recently read some horror stories online of midwifes refusing epidurals etc, so I wanted to make sure that this isn’t the case at Yeovil? Have you had an epidural there? Also what was your general experience at Yeovil like?

Hi, I had my first in Yeovil in 2018 and due to have my second there in a couple of months. I honestly couldn't fault the care I received at all. I can't comment on epidurals as I didn't ever ask for one but I've never heard that it's the case they are refused (unless it's perhaps too late to have one). It's a really quiet maternity unit, the staff are brilliant and I was able to stay as long as I wanted. I decided to stay for an extra night so that I had the extra help with breastfeeding as I had no idea what I was doing! If there's anything else I might be able to help with, let me know or message me x

Thanks so much for getting back to me! That’s great to hear! Are partners allowed to be with you from the beginning when you go in and are they allowed to stay overnight with you? x

Partners are allowed to stay with you throughout labour. I'm not quite sure what the situation is with staying due to Covid. When I had my first daughter, partners couldn't stay overnight once you were on the ward. My husband stayed after I had had her as I was able to stay in the labour room overnight, before going onto the ward the following morning. To be honest, even though I had been terrified about spending any time in hospital, no partners overnight was a blessing. It made for such a quiet, calm atmosphere and the midwives/HCA's were there at the press of a button if I needed any help. It also gives your partner a chance to go home for a proper nights sleep, there's nothing worse than you both being exhausted. I'm not sure what visiting hours are though currently as, like everywhere, they will be quite restricted. Yeovil have been allowing partners for both 12 and 20 week scans for months, whereas I know some other local hospitals still aren't. Have you seen your midwife yet? She'll be able to confirm everything x

I see. That’s what I thought. That they can be there during the labor but probably not in the ward. Thanks for explaining! No, I haven’t seen a midwife yet as I’m still early in my pregnancy. I self referred to Yeovil a while ago but I was also considering Salisbury hospital as I’m located pretty much in the middle of the two.

Hi I had mine in Yeovil in 2017 I was induced and they were ok. I had a few issues that I wished I had spoken up about. The epidural I was told I was to early but I kept on as it was awful they didn’t check me and finally agreed to give it to me as I have epilepsy and didn’t want me having a fit. It they checked they would have seen I was further Along as I had son about 40 mins later. The after care was good.

I would say make sure you speak up don’t be fobbed off . They were good when they listened so just make sure you are heard. Good luck

Thanks @Buzlightyear1! I’m just really scared of the idea of not having an epidural. I get horrible periods where I throw up and poop uncontrollably while I’m in extreme pain. My temperature raises and I spend most of the “attack” immobilised from the pain on my bathroom floor in absolute agony. Some times I even faint. So I can’t even imagine giving birth like that. It’s terrifying! I want to make sure that I will get the pain relief that I need. I’ll definitely speak up! Thanks again!

That’s horrible to go through. What I would do is also make sure that you put that I. Your birth plan when you make one . As they are more likely to listen and give one earlier if you faint whilst in extreme pain. I was really annoyed as I was being sick from the pain and one midwife looked at me and kind of ran away🤦‍♀️ I was relieved when my midwife who I had been seeing through the pregnancy turned up it happened to be the night I had little one and she was brilliant as she understood everything I had gone through. It’s so awful that we still have to fight for pain relief but I definitely found the louder you are the more help they get🤣 I don’t want to scare you as they were amazing to they saved my little son one