Rotunda Vs Holles Street??

LegacyUser

Hey guys....myself and the wife are having a disagreement about which hospital to go to for our first which is due in Feb.

I feel very strongly about going to Holles Street as a Private patient,whereas my wife wants to go to the Rotunda also private.

The reason for Holles street is that it close to both our works,espeically my wifes,my whole family was born there.

My wife wants to chose the Rotunda because all her family was born there.

I knowit sounds very petty and I know ultimitly it is what ever my wife feels most comfortable with but can anyone out there gives us some feedback on thier own experiance of both hospitals( both good and bad)

Wishbone Ash

Easier to get parking at the Rotunda.

Dreamer 7

Had both of mine in Rotunda and couldnt fault them at all!

Wishbone Ash

The Rotunda was supposed to have a Protestant ethos and the National Maternity Hospital (Holles street) a Catholic one. Years ago, people use to say that in a crisis situation, the Rotunda's priority would be to save the mother first, while the NMH would save the child first.

There used to be a door at the rear of the Rotunda which read "All deliveries through this entrance only".

Conar

My partner had both our kids in the Rotunda and the level of care was excellent.

Debracd

I had all 3 of mine in the Rotuna, they were great! Though I've never been to NMH so I wouldn't be able to compare the 2, they could be just as good! Apparantly the Coombe was the cleanest maternity hospital in Dublin(heard from someone else so don't take that as gospel!) last year though, so there's another option for you

Deb

Wishbone Ash

The poll can only be valid for parents who have used both hospitals. I can't vote because Mrs Wishbone Ash has never been to the NMH and therefore we cannot compare it to the Rotunda.

Debracd

I didn't vote either for that reason Wishbone Ash

delly

Sister-in-law recently had a baby in the Rotunda going private. She was booked in to be induced from the previous week and on the first night after having the baby no private rooms were available so she had to stay in the public ward. The second night she spent in a semiprivate room and for the last night eventually got a private room.

She couldn't fault the care she got, but obviously wasn't to happy about being moved around etc.

I'm undecided myself about going to Drogheda or Dublin when the big day comes, but thats a future thread in the making .

MyBaby

I was born in Holles Street, and I had my baby in Holles Street last September. I cant say a bad thing about Holles Street. I lived about 2 mins drive from Rotunda at the time of being pregnant but was my choice to go over to NMH.

Have never had a baby in the Rotunda but have heard a few bad things about it from when a friend of mine was in there. Tat was in public, so maybe private might be a bit better.

dame

Had baby in Rotunda. It's personal choice, all Irish maternity are a very high standard in my opinion. However it'll be your wife who'll be actually staying there for a few days so if one of you needs to compromise, let her choose.

RIRI

Hi kaiser1
First of all congrats on the iminent arrival.
I had my little lad in Holles St and my other half was non too impressed at spending over €75 on parking (I had the lonngest labour ever!) so if parking's better in Rotunda I'll be going there next time lol. Joking aside the level of care in irish maternity hospitals is excellent throughout so which ever is handiest to get to is the one I'd go for.
HTH

samo

Have had 3 babies in Holles Street and personally found them great, parking is a bit of a hassle though. Only other thing I would say is that all maternity hospitals are extremely busy of late and there's no guarantee that if you go private you'll be in a private ward, I was public and next to approx 4 women in a room of 8 who were all private or semi private.

Congratulations to both of you as well.

LegacyUser

hi guys

thanks for the replys....good stuff there. I rally didnt want to come across as a "snob" as such but one of my reasons for kinda not chosing the Rotunda was basically the state of the place. Only last week I went to vist my Sister in Law who had a baby public. While we waited in the lobby for 6.30 to roll around I went to use the toilet and low and behold what awaited my arrival on the floor of the bathroom was a very disgusting combination of what at one time originated in a "persons nose and mouth!!!.....Totally viel!!

In the ward therre was a family of junkies in the bed beside my sis in law...I know this because sister in laws partner overheard the girl being given out to by one of the nurse for being stoned.


I was kinda thinking that no where could be worse than that....but it seems that posters seem to favour the rotunda.

TempestSabre

I have to agree with the last poster. The Rotunda and Holles St seem very run down, grubby and in a shocking state of disrepair. They seem to be badly resourced in both staff, equipment and facilities. You do meet some lovely staff of all nationalities in both places, but we were very frustrated by the lack of basic english by a high % of staff. Theres a definate sense of the conveyor belt in both places. I wouldn't say either places reflect our booming economy in anyway.

Victor

TempestSabre wrote:

I wouldn't say either places reflect our booming economy in anyway.

I hear production is up.

Leax

Have you considered going private in Mount Carmel? Excellent obstetricians and midwives, very clean, lovely hospital etc

TempestSabre

Victor wrote:

I hear production is up.

You really see the scale of immigration there too. Not just in the staff but in arrival's. I feel for the staff, they are kept very busy. Amazing people.

samo

I've started wording this a few different ways but not sure how it will come across but looking back to the different experiences I've had in Holles Street, the first birth there was quite alot of intervention involved and as I was not particulary clued up, I wasnt really in a position to question this - they do push the process along quite a bit such as breaking the waters and administering oxytocin to speed up contractions etc.

In retrospect I dont know if this was a good thing or not as it made the labour quite intense and rushed - from talking to alot of the first time mothers the last time I was there, this would still be the norm.

What I would be wanting if it were me and it was my first birth, would be a hospital that would not have epic waiting times for appointments, that would have good standards of cleanliness and in terms of the actual birth itself, would try and allow the birth to proceed without excessive intervention as the likes of epesiotimies (sp!) use of forceps, epidurals etc can make it tougher going when recovering etc afterwards.

Also to try and assist the mother as much as possible if she's going to breastfeed (Holles st are very much pro breastfeeding but the public ward it is difficult as they are so busy for midwives to be on hand as much as possible to help with this)

Mount Carmel would certainly be the plushest of the hospitals but I believe if there any complications they will in some circumstances transfer to Holles street anyway.

Not sure how much help that is in making a decision but looking back on it, those would be the things that to me would be the most important to consider as opposed to the accommodation itself! I was back home from Holles Street approx 8 hours after having my last baby and they very much left me to my own devices during the birth itself but this suited me down to the ground - personally I wouldbt be leaning towards the rotunda from experiences related to me by other mothers I know but they would all be based on the public wards.

I'd maybe get reccomendations of the obstertricians and see how your wife feels about them more so than the hospital itself. Anyway best of luck with the decision.

Leax

Samo makes important points. Holles street is associated with active management of labour, which is of particular relevance to first time mums as their labours tend to need more management to stay within hospital policy guidelines.
if you google holles street and active birth management you will get some material on the perspectives and issues.
That said, i have no idea what the rotunda's policies are, could be the same in terms of early intervention and active management.
re mount carmel, if you go into labour before 30 weeks (or 28?, can't remember) you are referred to holles st or coombe instead of going to MC in the first place. there is often talk that MC have no special care unit for babies which is absolutely not true, they have a great one and an adult icu which none of the others have if the mother required intensive care. as far as i know if your baby has serious isses not manageable in a special care unit all of the maternity hospitals will transfer the baby to crumlim hospital .

RainyDay

My wife spent a total of 20 nights in NMH spread over 4-5 different stretches during her pregnancy. We couldn't fault the care she recieved, or the care our little girl recieved for 3.5 weeks in Unit 8 there.

I was amazed at the number of ladies sharing the semi-private ward with her prior to the birth who had been shipped in from Mt Carmel as 'difficult cases'.