"I couldn’t fault the care I receivedz"

I got pregnant after 8yrs of secondary infertility and after years of poor care from other departments I was dreading my maternity care. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

From my very first antenatal appointment to the birth of my baby and beyond I felt really well looked after. The first midwife I saw was fantastic. She planned all my care, including mental health support, there and then. All my appointments were booked so I didn’t have to keep waiting for letters and there was no confusion.

Every time I saw someone my next steps were planned and I knew exactly what was going on all the way along. I suffered with anxiety about my pregnancy and birth and I was so well supported. I saw a wonderful psychologist and I saw a specialist midwife in a birth options clinic. I had been considering a c section but they helped me to believe I could cope with a natural birth. With the support of the specialist midwife I had a natural delivery in the MLU. She even managed to be at the birth which made all the difference to my state of mind at the time. I am extremely grateful to all the staff at The Hillingdon hospital maternity department and Midwife Led Unit. I was able to enjoy the pregnancy that took me so long to conceive and my Labour was the very best it could have been thanks to the support I received. I would definitely recommend this department. The waiting rooms can get very busy and be slightly off putting but the department is well organised and I didn’t feel like my care suffered as a result of the amount of patients.