"Excellent care"

I gave birth to my daughter at the RAH Maternity and had a wonderful experience!!

I received amazing care antenatally from my midwife Sharon who looked after us so well and always made my husband feel included at appointments! Sharon visited us after our daughter was born which was lovely to have the continuity postnatally! Sharon is a fantastic midwife who really cares about her patients and goes the extra mile!

My consultant Dr Hutchison took great care of us, especially towards late pregnancy when I was becoming quite anxious regarding delivery! She took the time to reassure me and discuss options and again made sure my husband understood what was going on also which he really appreciated! Dr Hutchison also gave me a magic sweep which helped bring our baby girl here!

The labour ward team were absolutely incredible!

Charge midwife Julie brought me through to labour ward and reassured me when I was feeling sore and worried. She also checked in with us regularly to make sure we were okay during the labour and helped with keeping me calm as labour progressed and I was losing it!

When we got through to labour ward from triage, midwife Heather looked after us during the dayshift. Heather went above and beyond to make me as comfortable as possible, made the room lovely with lights and encouraged my husband to put our own music on which was lovely as I had forgotten in amongst the contractions etc!

Heather broke my waters, encouraged me throughout labour, advised position changes and arranged an epidural when I needed it (and helped me sit still to be able to get one!!).

She is a fantastic midwife and I am so glad she looked after us during our labour!

Gillian took over on the nightshift and was absolutely amazing too. Her confidence and calm manner kept me and my husband relaxed and reassured during our labour and birth. She delivered our baby girl safely into the world and made it feel super special for us!

Charge Midwife Kat was also at our delivery and provided reassurance and support to myself and my husband which added to the lovely chilled vibe we had going in the room when she entered! Both Gillian and Kat worked together so well and we cannot thank them enough for keeping us both safe whilst also making it such a lovely, calm experience!

The Anaesthetist Dr Imogen and Anaesthetic Nurse Isobelle were so kind and patient with me and I had a great working epidural getting me through thanks to them! I had been worried about the epidural but felt nothing during and it was so quick and effective once in (thankfully!!).

We spent some time on ward 31 and again had such a positive experience with everyone: domestic, support , MCAs, Midwives and medical staff.

We were looked after by midwives Annie, Laura and Lesley who were all amazing and so kind and attentive to us! MCAs Jane, Jackie and Amanda also looked after us and especially so when our baby had to go on phototherapy lights and required observations and temperature checks!

All of the staff looking after us kept baby safe, but also always checked in with how I was doing whilst in our room for checks and had lots of lovely chats during the long nights etc which helped massively to keep me going!

We have recovered really well at home and thank the team so much for this as every single person made a huge difference to our experience and we cannot stop talking about how amazingly lucky we are to have these people and this service!

As someone who works within the NHS I know how stretched services are and how demanding shifts can be currently with staffing issues etc . This team go above and beyond despite being busy and stretched. You can see they have all patients well-being at the fore front of everything they do and really care about their patients so much!

Thank you team RAH!!!