"Mixed opinion of maternity services"

Anything else?

I gave birth at the birth suite at Burnley General in Feb'13 and mine was a mixed experience. I arrived in the early hours of the Friday morning after speaking to a fab midwife several times, I had been having contractions since early Thursday morning, I eventually had my son at 7.15pm on the Fri evening so I was absolutely exhausted having been awake for 36 hours at this point. The care I recieved during labour was fantastic and I felt very safe in their hands even though mine ended up being a far from straight forward labour, and the facilities were fantastic as well as being exceptionally clean.

The problem arose when at 1.50 am Sat morning a midwife came in to tell us I had to move to the post-natal ward and my partner would have to leave, bearing in mind I had been awake now for 43 hours continuous and having gone through a gruelling labour and delivery this didnt go down well with either of us! My son and I were moved to the post-natal ward and off my partner went reluctantly, I cant fault the midwife and nursing staff as they tried to offer as much support as they could on this ward but were very stretched and there is nothing like your partner for support.

The first hours after your childs birth should be a very special time and crucial for bonding and this was ruined for myself and my partner by this policy of having to move at a ridiculous time, I am a first time mum with no experience with newborns and I was left alone in a hospital cubicle in oppressive heat, exhausted and emotional and left to guess what to do with my newborn, if everybody was allowed to have their partner/ birthing partner stay with them I cant see why there would be a problem.

As I mentioned the nursing and midwifery staff were great, however the doctor in charge of my care was very lacking, she wasnt very thorough in her explainations and seemed in no great rush to see me even though I had expressed a great desire to be discharged as soon as possible as by now I had been awake for approx 60 hours and just wanted to go home. The info I was given by the doctor was different from what the midwife said and I found that information wasnt communicated effectively between them and I had more trust in the midwife than the doctor. My partner eventually had to get quite irrate to get the doctor to come and see me and I was eventually discharged at 5.30pm on Sat eve after being told at 11am that I should be able to go home soon by the midwife.

In summary my immediate post delivery care was almost as traumatic as the delivery and the hospital policy of moving to post-natal asap after delivery seems cruel and could easily affect the bonding process for both mum and dad, also had I not have had a very supportive network at home I could have very easily felt unable to cope due to my exhaustion and immediate post-natal experience.