"I liked the privacy of my own ..."

What I liked

I liked the privacy of my own room and the comfortable surroundings including the dining area. The bathroom and toilets were clean and modern.The staff helped by taking my baby so I could get some sleep.

What could be improved

During my labour the midwife raised her eyes with a sarcastic look on several occasions at my husband and birthing partner when I wasn't active enough because of the intense pain I was feeling and because I was complaining about the pain. After giving birth to a healthy girl weighing 9 pounds and 6 ounces with a second degree tear and lots of bleeding I was then told I deserved a medal for pushing out a such a big baby. I could have done with this sort of encouragement during the first stage of labour.

During my stay another two midwifes dealt with two separate incidents un-professionally. The first incident involved my husband reading a part of the Gina Ford contended baby book out to me which was a routine for newborn's and was laughing with me about shutting the curtains at 11am etc. The midwife that was in my room at the time subsequently took my mother to one side and asked her if I was alright. This frightened my mum as I had just given birth and she asked her what she meant, the midwife said that she was worried that my husband was abusing me as he seemed controlling. This deeply upset me as my husband had just been the most supporting and loving birth partner a few hours previously and I thought her concerns were totally unjustifiable. The second incident was on my second night's stay and I had a panic attack when my milk was coming in and due to the breast feeding demands my baby was making through the night, as I was totally exhausted. The midwife who came and sat with me did not offer any reassurance apart from a recollection of her feelings during a depression she had after her child was born. The story she told me horrified me and did not help the anxiety and panic.