"Good maternity care at Russells Hall"

I recently had a baby (in April 2013) at Russells Hall Hospital and had a great experience both during my pregnancy and when having my baby.

Firstly my midwife was a wonderful support during my pregnancy. She was knowledgeable, informative and always listened to any concerns I had. I was able to trust her completely and felt secure and safe in her care.

I had a complicated pregnancy with quite a few issues arising during it. I had to visit the day assessment unit many times for monitoring and once again was impressed by all the staff based there. At times they were extremely busy but they always dealt with me as quickly as they could in a thorough manner and maintaining high standards of care.

My baby was born via elective C section. On the day he was born I was guided through the process by a midwife who was informative and answered any questions I had.

I had my first baby 7 years ago via emergency C section and was quite nervous about going through a section again as the first time had been quite traumatic. The team who did the C section this time were fantastic and gave me a running commentary of every thing that was happening and fully supported me.

My experience this time around was very different to the birth of my first child and I am extremely grateful for the care I received. I was asked about how I wanted to see my baby, hold my baby and the things I wasn't able to do with my first child (such as skin to skin) were offered to and given to me which made this birth experience so much better.

Once I had my baby and returned to the ward I once again found the care to be exceptional. I was regularly checked on and monitored.

The only improvement I would suggest though is for the staff to offer more support during the night time. I was only 10 hours post op when visiting time ended and had not long got out of bed and started moving around. I was informed by day staff that I would have help feeding my baby (as I was bottle feeding so would need to get formula from the milk kitchen) - but when I rang for help during the night and said I needed to feed my baby I was told "I'll show you where the kitchen is" and then left to do this myself. I did find it quite difficult to move around so would suggest that this may be an area that may need some improvement.

Once I came home I had had visits from the midwife time and once again have found their care to be of a high standard.

Overall I had an excellent pregnancy and birth experience at Russells Hall and would like to pass on my compliments to all Staff involved.