"Pregnancy and birth"

We were under the excellent care of the local Lochgilphead midwifery team once again during the pregnancy of our second child. Brenda was our named midwife and we could not fault our time with her. Brenda was very encouraging and supportive. Listening to our concerns due to our previous pregnancy and birth and gave us ideas to help this time round. At times, this pregnancy got a little difficult and again Brenda supported us, as well as telling us how it is, so we were prepared for all outcomes of which we appreciated. Brenda is a huge asset to the team in Lochgilphead and is well thought of by many here. 

After birth, 10 day check up of myself and baby were done by others midwifes. We could not fault the majority of midwives who we seen during this time. Very supportive of us, and genuinely caring about how we were feeling etc. Especially Karen and Donna. Who helped make these first couple of weeks a positive time with their encouragement and support. 

For the birth, I was induced in RAH Paisley. Following a bad experience 6 years ago with my first pregnancy , my husband and I were both dreading having to go there (unsupportive team, repeatedly telling me I had c section written all over me etc and small mistakes happening during labour). 

However, this time we could not fault the treatment we got. My husband was unable to find a hotel after we had been advised to travel down one night to be induced. And was going to sleep in his car. However, triage staff were adamant this wouldn’t happen and were able to get me a private room so he could stay with me for the night. He was then able to stay with me the entire time, even after birth. The midwives went out their way to try and accommodate him and this made a HUGE difference to our birth story for both of us. You can’t underestimate the benefit of having your birthing partner their for the entire experience. 

We were on ward 31a and all staff there were incredible. Induction process took a little longer than expected to get going. But the positivity of the staff kept us going. And after birth, they made the effort to come and see us even though they weren’t covering our part of the ward. Which was a nice follow up, which we appreciated. 

Our midwife in labour was great, and fairly new. She listened to our concerns and experience from last time. And put me more at ease. She recognised changes in my quick labour and acted efficiently while doing so and helped us, along with her colleague to bring our beautiful baby into the world. A middle of the night return to the ward, and I prepared to say goodbye to my husband as he wouldn’t be allowed to go in... staff once again made arrangements so he was able to stay with us. 

Overall great experience from both hospitals this time round. I know not all families get the experience of having husband there throughout due to his busy the ward is etc and we were very lucky. However, this should be considered when patients travel so far to attend nearest hospital, perhaps and area for those birthing partners to go to for sleep/freshen up, when unable to be on the ward.