Any more experiences of Queen Elizabeth hospital?

[Sal22]

Hi. I've read some good/ok and some very bad reviews of experiences of giving birth in QEII. I'm 6 months now so too late to try changing anyway I guess, and just wondered - any suggestions at all? Anything spesific to request / demand (???) if it looks as if something goes wrong, or just cross your fingers, pray and hope for the best?? Thanks everyone.

Hi

I posted a reply to the Kings/QEH email. I gave birth to my first at QEH. The care for labour I found fantastic from the midwives but I wasn't as impressed with the aftercare on the ward since you did have to fend for yourselves a bit. But visiting hours for partners have improved- when I was there no visitors until 2pm which was hard work.

Be demanding and go through your wants with your birth partner and make sure that they will enforce your views if you are in too much pain to do it yourself. Once you feel confident after you've given birth then leave! Don't stay in hospital for longer than you feel necessary since it is being on the ward that I found hard work.

To be on the safe side know the routes to the other local hospitals- lewisham and st marys in sidcup since they get busy at qeh and do close the ward quite frequently. You dont' want to be finding the other hospital you are being sent to while in labour.

Try not to worry about the labour- the care is still good. It's just such a busy hospital that once you are on the ward it can be a bit hard work. The more demanding you are though the more you get!

Good luck- you'll be fine

Thanks very much ANR. I'll make sure we make a test run to st mary's - have been to lewisham hosp before, so at least know that one.
S.

Hi Sal

I just wanted to let you know my experience. I was booked into the QEH to have my baby but was re-directed to Queen Mary's in Sidcup as they were full in the QEH the day I went into labour.

I had never been to the hospital before but I had a very good experience there and an excellent midwife delivered my baby.

Similarly I found the aftercare on the post-natal ward disappointing and I got very little rest that night. However I think that was because they were taking the overflow from the QEH and weren't geared up for the numbers.
Hopefully you won't have the same problem but I would recommend Sidcup over Lewisham.

Best of luck

hi joh75. thanks for the posting - i know absolutely nothing about Queen Mary's and was wondering between that and Lewisham in case of an overflow. We still need to do the "test run" anyway - just so that we know the journey by heart in case we have to go there. We really have to get this done now, i keep thinking we've got enough time, but time seems to fly lately! Will try this weekend.

Good plan-Thank God for streetmap.co.uk or my baby would've been born on the A2!
Don't be worrying too much in any case and try to stay at home as long as you can if you can cope with the pain etc. You are better off in your own surroundings for as long as poss!

Hi Sal22, I have given birth in QEH twice, most recently in Oct 2006. Both times the care I received during labour was wonderful, reassuring, attentive, respectful of me etc etc. I was allowed to labour as I wanted and was over a birthing ball for most of my labour in 2006 (it was my third labour so I was feeling bolder about trying things). Care on the wards afterwards is a bit hit and miss, you are left to get on with it. Hospital beds are just not designed for comfort for feeding mums and babies which is why it's nice just to get home as soon as you can as long as all is well with you and your baby. Wow, it's such an exciting time, good luck!!xxx

Sorry, you asked about if things go wrong. Well I did have complications with my first labour there where my cervix tore badly and I lost a lot of blood and needed a doctor to stitch me up. They were brilliant, as soon as it became apparent I was in trouble the Doctor was there immediately and set to work. They prepped the theatre for me but luckily they managed to do the procedure there in the delivery room. It was very frightening actually but the midwife literally held my hand throughout the stitching up (it took about 1hr) DH was holding baby BTW, he hadn't just buggered off! Cervical Tears are extremely rare so please don't think this will happen to you!

no, thanks for the good as well, always lovely to hear good stories, bighug. but it's good to hear about the good care if it does go wrong! i've actually started looking forward to having little one now, think i'm over my initial panic.

despite my reservations I actually received good service from QEH when I had my baby 12 days ago. I was in labour for 48 hours and phoned them numerous times for advice and they were extremely helpful. However when I finally got to ther delivery suite, my midwife was not all that keen on modern midwifing. She wanted me to lie on my back, was a bit bossy, although very calm and friendly, . As i was so tired by then, I actually didn't want an active birth and all that I thought I would, I just wanted gas and air and to lie on my side abnd be told what to do. One word of warnig though, she cut me without permission and then told me I had torn. My dh saw her do it. You may think 'Oh my God!' but to be honest I had to do loads of pushes, was in quite alot of pain, and if she had asked me I might have panicked and not known what to say, so all in all she probably did the right thing. But I think this might be something you should point out and get straight early on in the labour ward. Post natal care was good, I found the nurses helpful and facilities were fine. So glad I didn't have to go all the way to kings.

Thanks for everyone's advise and experiences over the last couple of weeks/months (can't believe how fast time flies lately!) Due to a medical problem that arose, my plans have changed slightly and I'm now having a caesarean.

My health insurance covers this, so in the end I opted to go private - but for a silly reason really - just for the afercare as I thought I could do with the help (first timer, mom only coming a week later due to prebooked flights - relating to the change of due date... - longer visiting hours by DH etc) If however baby decides to come earlier, I'll still go to QE - your posts have set me at ease completely, and if all goes well (and we have another - although now I'm not so sure ) I'll try QE next time - have only had good service until this point.

I'm babbling - cosima - congratulations on your baby! Good night all.

Hello there, if you are not comfortable with QE hospital, go and have a look at Darent Valley hospital. They have a lovely midwife led centre that is situated right next to the more 'medicalised' delivery suite, so you get the best of both worlds. The midwife led centre has birth pools etc with the focus being on a natural birth.

The centre is fairly new so is very clean and modern. It's located very close to Bluewater which is a 15-20 min drive from where we are in Greenwich.

The most important thing is that it is not to late to change your mind. We changed ours at approx 7 months and it was no problem to register with Darent Valley. You have a right to do this if you're not 100% about your nearest hospital.

Hope this helps!

MDM

I had both my babies at QE and loved it both times. The midwives were really lovely and the same one stayed with me throughout the entire 18 hours for my first one. The second baby was a caesarian and they couldn't have treated me better and I got moved into quite a nice private room after the first night.

I have heard that they forget all about you in the room but they were lovely and kept popping in and were very relaxed about the number of visitors I had.

If I were to have a third I wouldn't hesitate to go back there....

all i can say is keep your phone on you. in my case i was in a bed having been induced earlier that day, it was clear that things were progressing yet they sent my mum (who was my birth partner)home, twice as it was outside visiting hours. had i not had my phone in my hand and been able to call her in between screaming through the contractions whilst being wheeled to delivery suite i would have been giving birth with only the midwives. the midwives in delivery suite were great though really lovely and not trying to force all sorts of interventions on me. when i said no i don't want my waters broken they didn't mention it again. some of the midwives on the ward were terrible they really didn't care i saw so many different ones just once saying things like they'd get me a birthing ball then i never saw them again or the birthing ball. then there was this one woman who offered me pethidine like five times i do not exaggerate and didn't bother to show me how to use the gas and air correctly which i myself had to ask for after turning down the pethidine for the umpteenth time. grrr. so yeah until i got to delivery suite i didn't have any pain relief. i was also left alone a lot. i'd call for the midwife as i felt i needed to push, she'd want to examine me, i'd go into a contraction then come round and she'd be gone. this happened many times. i was sick and left on my own... i was not checked on when i spent ages in the toilet...

oops just noticed the date of your question!

Oh not to worry, I'm sure someone else will need the information later! Thanks anyway.

Hi, I had my delivery in QEH few months ago. I was quite concerned as I had only read terrible reviews online. I was pleasantly surprised by the care I received - no complications or anything. Also even though I was in very early stage labour when I went to the hospital - they did not turn me back as I had been warned by most people.

All in all, I would say that if it is not a complicated delivery, then should be in safe hands.