"Excellent Maternity Care"

My journey through the maternity unit for my son's delivery was a drawn-out process as he was stubborn and apparently too comfy inside but the treatment I received from staff was second to none.

Starting at Induction Bay where we were met by midwife Rachel at 4am.  She immediately made me feel at ease and joined us in our excitement at meeting our first baby.  She admitted me and made sure my husband and I were both settled and comfortable for the process to start.  She ended up seeing me over 2 separate shifts and it was a real joy to see her coming back to care for us again the second night.  Furthermore, when you son struggled with feeding and we ended up having to stay in Maternity Ward for a second night Rachel came down to see us.  She had checked the system to see how we had got on and when she saw we were still in she wanted to come down to make sure we were ok.  It was so lovely to see a familiar and such a friendly face and she provided great advice and a listening ear that night when both I and my husband needed it most.  She really is an angel!

During the initial stages of my labour on Labour Ward we were looked after by Megan.  Megan was an absolute delight.  Again, she made us feel so safe and welcome and we really felt like she was as excited as us for us to meet our baby.  Megan was a huge advocate for me during my birth.  She saw when I was in excruciating pain and brought in Drs to discuss pain relief options (and the discussion of a c-section) without us even having to ask.  We were still on Labour Ward after the birth when Megan came back on shift again the next day and she was our midwife again before we were transferred down to Maternity Ward.  She really made us feel like we were the most important patients on the ward.  Anything we asked of her was never too much bother and she was always happy to help from getting ice, entertaining me while my husband went to get food or even providing that lovely post-birth bed-bath!

Our midwife for the actual birth was Kayleigh.  From the minute Kayleigh walked into the room I felt at ease.  She was bubbly and friendly and no sooner had she completed her handover than she left the room to reappear 2 minutes later with a tote bag bursting with fairy lights and a diffuser.  She heard that I wanted to birth in the Home from Home unit but couldn't due to the induction so she was determined to make the experience as close as possible to it as she could.  There were a couple of times during the active labour stage that it looked possible that we might have to go for an emergency section due to the baby's heart rate dropping.  Kayleigh took the utmost care to ensure I knew what was happening and put me at ease.  Even though there was a risk to the baby and the possibility of surgery I never once panicked or stressed - I knew that Kayleigh and the rest of the team had full control over the situation and we were her number one priority.

Dr Dadebo ultimately delivered our son with the help of a kiwi.  We had met him previously at one of our antenatal growth scan appointments and he really put us at ease and helped us feel heard following a previous appointment where another Dr had done the complete opposite.  When I was in labour and heard that Dr Dadebo was the Dr on duty that night we, again, immediately felt at ease knowing that we were in great hands.

Dr Sproule was the anesthetist who administered my epidural and he was lovely.  Very kind and considerate - he recognised the pain I was in and I felt confident that when he was in the room I was his only priority even though it was a weekend and he was undoubtedly in demand in other parts of the hospital too.  

When we were on Maternity Ward we were cared for by Katie.  Katie was excellent at really listening to me as a worried first-time Mum and helping to ease my fears.  She was empathetic to our situation and made sure that I had all the relevant information I needed to make any decisions about our care.  No request or question was too much for her and she made a difficult situation so much easier for us.