Help choosing a hospital

[Jaynei]

Having recently discovered that we are pregnant our first task according to the Dcotor is to choose a maternity hospital.. We have the option of The Princess Alexandra in Harlow, St Johns in Chelmsford or The Rosie in Cambridge, all are equidistant from our home. Just wondered if anyone had any feed back that they could give about their experiences at these hospitals? A few things to consider; We conceived with IVF so there is a distinct possibility of twins this will be our first time and I am an older Mum (39).

Rosie is a good hospital, high C-section rate BUT that is mainly because alot of complicated pregnancies from smaller hospitals in the area get sent there.
They have alot of experience of dealing with multiple pregnancies.

However, I would guess that if you have had IVF and if you aren't sure that you are having twins or not then you have time to decide
I am sure there will be others with more detailed opinions.

Congratulations!

I gave birth at the Rosie in Dec 2006. We had considered the midwife led unit but when it came to it, it was closed (which it often seems to be).

The midwife I had for delivery was great.

We had the pool room which was nice and big and clean. (I laboured in water but actually delivered on the bed which was nice, low and almost couch like).

The delivery rooms for more complicated deliveries (epidurals etc) are more clinical with the usual hospital style bed.

Care afterwards was mixed. In hindsight the breastfeeding advice was not great, they were happy to support but of the "shove her on and hope" school. Personally I had no complaints about the post natal care but I was able to move about etc - some of the c-section mums seemed to have to wait a fair bit before getting the assistance they need.

Addenbrookes is a big teaching hospital which would re-assure me personally re consultant care etc but we do read lots of headlines as to how oversubsribed the materniyt services are in Cambridge.

HTH.

I had the same choices, and went with the Rosie - it's got a good reputation, and I'm keen on using a teaching hospital, as they tend to have slightly better doctors. Am only 29 weeks now, but so far they have been excellent in looking after me - was able to go into the foetal assessment centre on tuesday, as I was worried about baby - and they could not have been better (oh, and baby is fine). One thing I have found so far is that I am one of the youngest women I've seen there (I'm 27), and when even the midwives comment on my age, it makes me think they have a lot of older mothers there! (as 27 really isn't THAT young!)

I have no idea what the actual birth facilities are like, so hopefully someone else will have more info!

BPOG () - funny to see you here. I realised the other day that our paths have crossed IRL.

Don't panic, I don't "know" you as such. Let me know if you want me to say more.

Hmm now getting paranoid..

please spill all!

Jaynei, there is a thread here discussing the Rosie, which might be helpful to you.

I have had 3 DDs at the Rosie and cannot fault the medical care. MWs on the wards are often overworked though, so as Barbara says, immobile mothers can wait some time for help. I am an older mum (34, 36 and 38 when I had my 3) and had a complicated obstetric history. Though the Rosie has a high rate of sections, it also is very pro-VBAC, which to me suggests that they are not doing sections without good reason, IYSWIM.

Good luck!

I have spent multiple weeks in the Rosie...due to mcs/pregnancy issues/actual birth..and I cannot fault it.

Quick hijack, sorry!

OOOh eerie,
How did you know it was me?

You have your photo on your profile

Was nosing at some cakes on a thread a while ago. TBH I'm rubbish with faces it was the waterbirth, the dates of your sons' births plus your location that made something click.

Hopefully I've made you feel a bit less stalked

didn't feel stalked but I do talk alot on here about things that I don't talk about in RL.

If you ever need a cake you know where I am

The cakes are brilliant. Far better than the slightly squashed hedgehog I managed for DD's 2nd birthday.

No worries, that was why I was so keen to stress that we didn't really "know" each other. Don't want you suspiciously eyeing up all the mums at toddler group .

I work as a doula in your area and have lots of experience of all 3 hospitals, I'd be very happy to discuss this with you if you email me off forum, but not on here - you can contact me via here: www.birthfriendly.co.uk/contact.htm

No experience of labour at the Rosie, but I've had 3 csections there - a planned cs, an emergency cs, and a crash cs under GA. So I can tell you that there operating theatre is lovely .

And their NICU is very very good. You might want to think about where you want to be if things go wrong as well as if they go to plan.
(I refused to think about anything other than a homebirth until the day before dd was born, when they convinced me that I would need a section!).

LeninGrad, just seen this. My planned cs was my first one, when I didn't have a clue about what I could ask for. So it was bright lights, and baby whisked off, cleaned, wrapped up and handed to dh! They did help me to bf in the recovery room though. That was in 2002.

Dh asked if he could take a photo in the op theatre of ds1 soon after he was born (he asked a few weeks before, when we first realised I'd need another cs and thought it would be a planned one). They said no, no cameras in there.

I guess it will all depend why you need the cs, how the baby is, and which consultant you get! With ds1 and ds2 they were too concerned with getting us both out alive. The midwives did walk the long way around the room so that they took ds1 past my head, and I got to see him for 2 seconds, before he was put in the incubator and whisked off to nicu though.

Good luck, I hope it is all straightforward.

LOL! I've just read your thread, sounds fab. Well done!

And they let you take photos in theatre! Hey ho, I'm not having any more ...