"Great care and competent midwives"

I received fantastic care in the Rushey Ward as well as in the Delivery Ward where I finally gave birth (NVD) after about 48 hours. The whole experience was a roller coaster kind of journey for my husband and me as the first stage of labour took a very long time and I was being transferred from the Rushey Ward to the Delivery Suite, then back to Rushey when I started to make progress and finally back to the Delivery Ward as I still was not dilated enough, however, I was adamant to give birth naturally. I am very grateful that the midwives and doctors gave me the time I needed to give birth and did not pressure me into an assisted delivery. We were also given a room in the Delivery Ward where the staff kept checking on my progress and offering me pain relief and the birthing pool. (I eventually opted for Entonox and Diamorphine but nothing else.) All the midwives involved did their absolute best especially the ones who assisted with the delivery and cared for me when our daughter was born. I will forever be grateful for their help and commitment. Unfortunately, the experience we had in the Postnatal Ward (Marsh Ward) was not very pleasant at all. My husband and I were both absolutely shattered after the delivery and when I was transferred to the Marsh Ward at around 3 am my husband was asked to leave and come back after 9 am. We both were not prepared for this and he ended up sleeping in the car as he was too exhausted to drive. I shared the room with 5 or 6 other mums and babies. The staff left the door open and kept running in and out, chatting to their colleagues and other mums throughout the night so that I did not get any rest whatsoever. In the morning sales people (Bounty etc.) were allowed to barge in and disturb us mums while we were trying to breastfeed our babies. When my husband was allowed back in we just wanted to go home, sleep and enjoy our newborn so I asked to be discharged but this took another six hours and none of the staff seemed to understand why we were so desperate to leave.