"Sons birth April 2016"

After a traumatic labour and birth with my first child at Basingstoke I seriously considered not having my second child here. I requested an elective c section, although medically they didn't think I needed in they eventually listened to my needs and refered me to the consultant midwife. The consultant midwife is so amazing and supportive and completely understood why I wanted an elective c section and helped me put my case forward so eventually the consultants booked me in. I went into labour 2 days before my booked date and the midwives on the ward made sure they still listened to my needs and made sure the consultants were still ready and prepared to carry out my c section. It turned into an "emergency" purely because I was in labor sooner but myself and baby we're both fine. It was calm and tranquil and everything I had expected. The theatre staff were amazing I particularly remember one of the aneastatists. My husband was even allowed in whilst I had my spinal block which was a great support. My son was born and all was perfect I had skin to skin contact and kept him on me until I was wheeled into recovery. My husband and I requested a private room which was sorted once I'd come out of recovery as we knew from experience how loud being on the ward could be. Dads are also allowed to stay with the mums for the first night which is a great help. The private room we agreed to pay for did have no blinds so when I was kept in for the second night my husband had to bring travel blinds we had for our toddler which helped. It was also next to the hospital loading bay so got quite noisy really early. When I submitted a complaint the hospital agreed it was substandard and refunded the payment we had made for the room. So we were happy with the service received. The midwives on the postnatal ward are always very busy but the healthcare assistants were a great help.