"I had pre-eclampsia, which meant ..."

What I liked

I had pre-eclampsia, which meant a 3 week stay in LGH & LRI before early premature delivery of my baby (at 33 weeks). Baby Ben was in the NICUs at LRI, then LGH for 9 days. (He's fine now by the way.)

During my stay in Ward 30 and Ben's stay in NICU, I was impressed by cleanliness of the hospital. The ward and NICU were thouroughly cleaned and the bed sheets changed every day. My long stay in hospital could have been very depressing, but the staff were brilliant - very friendly and made me feel ok about being in there for so long. Dare I say the food wasn't too bad either!

I was monitored for changes in my condition. I noticed a few patterns concerning my blood pressure relative to time of day and timing of medication. I felt that the doctors were very open to listening to what I had to say, and took this information into consideration.

The NICU staff were brilliant. They were instrumental in establishing breastfeeding, positive, encouraging, even though my son was only 34 weeks at the time! They instilled in me the confidence to continue, and general confidence in mothering my tiny baby, and once he could feed he was allowed home. I will always be thankful for this. We left the hospital with many very special memories.

What could be improved

The government needs to employ more midwives! Yes, they are being trained, but for many there are not midwifery posts available after training. The staff on the ward did an excellent job, despite their being overworked and not enough staff on some shifts.

Student midwives seemed to be most careful when taking blood samples, but some of the doctors need to remember that it can hurt if not done carefully, and it doesn't need to!

However, knowing that I may get pre-eclampsia in subsequent pregnancies, my experience at LGH means that I won't be totally horrified at the prospect of another hospital stay. (Just a bit horrified!)