I had my first baby at Whipps Cross in November 2010. Sorry to disappoint ladies who are going there for the birth...but my experience was awful. Maybe partially it is explained by my labour starting on Sunday morning and the hospital was very under-staffed and overcrowded on that day. We couldn?t get a room for hours. Eventually we were given a recovery room not the delivery room for my labour. I can?t say anything nice about that room, quite run down. I also was dying for epidural, but it was only about 6/7 hours later that I finally got it (I started asking for it when I was about 5 cm dilated and the labour started slowing down from that point onwards). I think if not my midwife who was asking me to scream to get noticed for epidural I probably would get it much much later. So at the end when I started getting too exhausted I was screaming in between contractions as per my midwife advice - I couldn?t scream during the contractions because the pain was too overwhelming and I didn?t have strength to make any noise. Even though I was in labour I couldn?t not notice how frustrated my midwife was with the hospital, she was constantly shaking her head in disbelief! So ladies if you feel that you need an epidural start screaming early on, there is a chance you might get it just when you need it!
I had 3 midwifes with me over my labouring stage. Two of which were very nice, very supporting and I can?t really fault them in any way. But the last midwife who I got towards the end was unknowledgeable, unprofessional and simply awful. I was told by a doc that my baby was in an awkward position and they were waiting for her to turn around a bit. So when this midwife arrived I started questioning her about my baby?s position, she said that everything was fine. Some time later doctor arrived and said that the baby is still in the same awkward position... To cut the long story short I had forceps delivery and when I was wheeled into the theatre accompanied by that midwife someone made a comment to her ? is it you again?- I swear it was said with a bit of a sarcasm and it?s not my imagination. When the time came to push this midwife needed to tell the doctor when contractions started ? she couldn?t even do that, so someone else had to put their hand on my tummy and tell them when it starts, my midwife was basically pushed aside. She didn?t talk to me during the delivery, didn?t make any comments just was standing there watching.
After my daughter was delivered no one even said congratulations? The whole experience was very clinical and unpleasant.
On the other hand post natal care was ok, I got a private room so this was comfortable. I agree that no one explains how to handle a baby, how to breast feed etc, you basically have to chase nurses around if you want any assistance. My experience in relation to nurses was also mixed, some are nice and hardworking and some are very unapproachable and can't be bothered.