"Maternity and postnatal care when my daughter was born"

My daughter was born at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in March of 2014 (before it was QEUH - still the Southern General then I think).

I had heard some scary stories about maternity and postnatal care in different NHS hospitals. I'd had a tough pregnancy and hadn't always felt well supported or listened to by community midwives, and I was worried about birth as it was, so I was really quite nervous about the prospect of having a bad experience in hospital.

I am very happy to say that this was not the case.

The birth itself was complicated and difficult, ending in an emergency c-section. I still have missing memories of some parts of the birth (a midwife I spoke to after thought this might be a side-effect of some of the drugs, I don't know), but I have strong and clear memories of feeling supported, cared for and heard from the time I was admitted to labour ward to the time me and my daughter were discharged. The staff were careful to treat me like a person as well as a patient - nobody touched me without asking my permission, nobody carried out any procedures without explaining what and why to me first.

When I was taken to theatre for the caesarean, it was clearly done in quite a hurry. However, all the staff stayed calm and calming throughout, and they explained everything to me carefully in a clear and reassuring way. I still remember the anaesthetist joking with me about music, and the surgeon and a student midwife asking me to guess if the baby would be a boy or a girl. I can't comment about the details of the surgery itself (although all seemed fine from my perspective! ), but it is an impressive thing in itself that the staff were so able to help me feel happy about my daughter's birth too, despite the medical symptoms and complications and urgency they were managing at the time.

The staff on the postnatal ward were also lovely. I felt truly supported and cared for during my two days' stay. I wish the maternity ward could have been quieter during visiting hours - it was very hard to rest - but I very much appreciate the care I was given by the midwives and assistants throughout. It is such a strange and vulnerable time, and I am very glad that the staff were able to help me when I needed them, talk to me like an adult, and encourage me in learning to care for my daughter,

My daughter is now two and a half, and I'm sorry that I don't remember the names of any of the staff. I meant to give some feedback on this shortly after she was born, but time flies! Hearing some other people's stories of bad birth and postnatal care experiences recently made me remember that I wanted to pass this on, to thank the Southern/QEUH staff for proving that there is excellent care out there.