Your views on Waterford Maternity Hospital

Sparky100

I am just wondering from mothers who had babies in Waterford Maternity or Mums to Be what has been your there. I am considering having my baby delivered there and was interested to know about the level of support and service.

Thanks again

euromillions

Hi Sparky,

I had my 1st baby in Waterford 6 months ago & I couldn't speak more highly of the staff.
I was in hospital for 4 weeks before birth & all the midwives, doctors, catering staff etc were all really nice.
My baby was then in Special care for 10days when she was born & the nurses & doctors there were brilliant also they make you feel like you're the only person in the world that has ever had a baby.
The only down side was going to the clinic for the scans where the wait was approx 2 hours.
It's a thumbs up from me anyway.
Good luck

Sparky100

Thanks for that euromillions, that is reassuring to know and puts my mind at rest.

Thanks again

wmpdd3

Oh my god, why were you in hospital for 4 weeks before the birth?

I have the 1st appointment tommorrow and the thought of 2hrs out there is killing me.

No way could I handle 4 weeks!!

euromillions

My baby wasn't growing properly from 28 weeks so had to finish work up early to go on bed rest & then they thought it best to admit me to hospital for the last 4 weeks!! Consultant wouldn't let me go home as he said if baby stopped growing I would need an immediate emergency section.

I was induced at 37 weeks as growth had slowed alot so he thought it best she be born. I had a natural birth just had alot of extra monitoring. Baby was 4lbs but perfectly healthy but had to stay in for 10 days till she gained weight.

Yes I nearly CRACKED up in hospital it was tough going as I myself wasn't sick. But it was well worth it in the end:)

Princessa

I had my first baby in Waterord Regional 5 months ago.
I couldnt speak more highly of the midwives there.
I had to be induced at 41weeks 3days, and even at that stage the little rascal didnt want to come out.
I had complications during the labour and the widwife allowed both my mother and my partner to come in for the birth which is completly unheard of.
She was incredible, you truly fee you are the most important person and the only one that has EVER had a baby.
After she was out, another widwife came in and was full of praise and "oh my god, where were you hiding a 8lbs 4oz baby in that bump that you had".
The midwives are fantastic and a doctor is only called incase of an emergency.

2SWEET

I can give you both a postive and a negative opinion.I have 3 babies in WRH, the first was at the regular clinic 10 years ago and was treated terribly my midwife was appalling and the nurses on the wards was so happy to get out of there!

My second thankfully was a dream, no problems at all .went with Domino midwives and they were fantastic for my first appointment all the way to my last home visit which is why on my third i decided to go with the midwives again( anyone not wanting to hear the bad stuff she stop reading now), not so good this time, my care during the pregnancy was great however the night i went in to labour it all turned so horrible, the midwife on call, the nicest way i could describe her would be scatty. She did nothing right from the second i walked in till the second my care was handed over to the hospital midwives thankfully for me there was another lady a little furthur gone than me and she had to see to her.

First off she gave me an antibotic for an infection i didn't have, secondly she never bother to write that on my chart! she came back after a while to check on me asked how i was so i told her i was only feeling a little pressure so off she goes and brings in everything she needs to deliver the baby( there was no labour suite free) I asked what she was doing and she tell me i said i was ready to push!! Tell her i no where near ready so off she goes again.

As the pain progress i decided it was time for gas and air, when i asked her for it she told me she had none and i have to wait:eek:. oNe of they hospital midwife passed by so i asked her and she brought it to me straight away!
After a while the pain was getting a bit much so i asked for pethidine, she did an internal, told me i was 7cm so i couldn't have!:eek:
I did my best without it, but it got too much for me and i asked the other midwife who had given me the gas earlier for it, she again gave it to me without a problem!

It was shortly after this she had to leave and i was never so happy! the midwife that took over was fantastic and thankfully so as i had a lot of problems in the last stage and truly believe i wouldn't have gotten through it as well as i did had i continued in the care of the Dominos.

In Dominos defence in general they are great but that one midwife is letting them down big time! thankfully she didn't do any of the home visit because i can tell you now i wouldn't have let her in my house! the midwife that did the home visits was the complete opposite, she was so sweet, sne even rang a couple of times on my first day home as well as her regular visit!:)

Sorry for the long reply and i hope i haven't put anyone off but is it not best to hear the bad as well as good?

wmpdd3

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Oh my god, why were you in hospital for 4 weeks before the birth?

I have the 1st appointment tommorrow and the thought of 2hrs out there is killing me.

No way could I handle 4 weeks!!

Well I survived 2 1/2 hours in there this morning, went fine though I was dizzy after the midwife / doctor / scan / bloods / make new appointment.

Fine now as I'm just tired and sick, wouldn't like to be carrying a bump too!

I contacted Dominos what I was about 8 weeks an I was too late for Oct as they were booked up!

So next time call them before you climb into bed if you want them too look after you!

cowhands

Had my daughter there 15months ago...and I too have postive and negative comments to say.
During the routine scans and appointments I didnt feel very cared for. There was one midwife in particular who was just so horrid she made me cry for days afterwards.
The next visit I had an absolutely lovely midwife would couldnt do enough for me and answered all my questions and more.

I was due mid Jan but on a routine check up complained about itchy hands and feet and the midwife sent me for blood tests, this was the 23rd of Dec (I was due to finish up work that day too). The midwife asked me to call the office later in the day to get my results back, I did just that and was told I was fine, not 10 mins later I was rang back and told to come in with my bag that I had to be induced (37 weeks) because I had "itchy moms syndrom". sp some difference there :mad:

I asked as many questions as I could about the blood disorder and I dont think I was given a straight answer by anyone.
I was given the gel twice and left for 3 days in the early stages of labour - all over Christmas too
The finally decided to break my waters on St Stephens day. The midwife was lovely and very helpful, she made sure I had all the drugs, gas and air I wanted. I was on the drip and constantly monitored during labour.

12 hours into my hard labour baby got into trouble and they had to put a needle into babies head to get a heart beat. The doctor were called ...one minute there was me, the other half and midwife in the room the next minute there was about 8 other people there too.:eek:

Doctor had to manually turn baby inside me -a horrible experience. But things were still not going well. They tried a vacuum to get her out but that didnt work. They then tried a forcepts but that wasnt getting the job done either. They then decided to cut me in the lady garden even though I screamed, begged, pleaded and demanded them not to cut me. They did anyway.

I was disappointed with the care I got after delivery too. Very little pain relief was given, very little guidance on breast feeding given in the ward (my first child so hadnt a clue). I couldnt wait to get out of there.

They never followed up with a blood test for me after having a blood disorder. Even advised me to go on the pill which is not recommended for women with "Itchy Moms". I was never given any useful information about "itchy Moms" and everything I have found out is from the internet. For example I would have a 90% of getting it again in the next pregnancy - that is something that I would really have liked to know as regards planning for futher babies like.

This is getting very long so Ill just say I wasnt overly impressed with the level of care in Waterford but having said that there are a few really nice and really helpful midwifes and staff that do make the difference and go the extra mile for you.

Sparky100

Thank for replies - so hard to decide what to do. I am within travelling distance of both Dublin and Waterford both little over hr from Carlow (and with new road etc)

Just with first baby, you want best care been clueless and you want as much one-to-one with mid-wifes, dr etc and that they have time to explain things,

Thanks again

Jinxi

Anyone with experience to compare WRH and Kilkenny???

racso1975

we went waterford on our 1st! 110% positive experience. Due ours next in 5 days and never had to wait 2 hours to be seen

Sparky100

Thanks racso1975. Hope you have your new bundle of joy home now. Best of luck

caprilicious

Jinxi wrote: »

Anyone with experience to compare WRH and Kilkenny???

I don't have experience of WRH but had my little girl in Kilkenny 7 weeks ago.
Reading the descriptions given above of WRH they all seem to be the same really.

I think the current 'baby boom' has all of the hospitals stretched to capacity.
I found when I was in the labour suite it was like I was the only patient in the hospital, they were absolutely fantastic just could not be nicer.

When I went out onto the ward after delivery it was a production line and I was just another one on it. Very little support with breastfeeding despite me having problems and asking for help (had to give up breastfeeding after a week due to excruciating pain ).

I checked this thread out as I was thinking of going to wrh next time but there doesn't seem to be much of a difference.

Actually the bit that pi$$ed me off most about KK hospital was going in for a 9:30am appointment, not getting seen to til 12:30pm, but seeing plenty of women that arrived hours after me get seen to first because my file had been put to the end of the pile & people that came in after me had there's put on top of mine/got seen to first :mad:
This happened for every single appointment I had, including my finally one's when I was heavily pregnant and had to spend most of the waiting time on my feet because the waiting room was full >:(
That said I have a friend pregnant in Cavan and attending the hospital there, seems to be the same problem there too!

Just out of curiosity, wmpdd3 do you have to be living in Waterford to avail of the Domino scheme?
I'm in South Kilkenny just wondering if I could use it next time? reading comments from women that used the Domino Scheme in Dublin its supposed to be fantastic.

wmpdd3

No there's no real limit to how far away you can live as long as your combined care is with WRH, my friend was from dungarvan which was fine. You call the hospital when your in labour and the Domino's midwife on that night will meet you and take it from there.

But as I said I called at 8 weeks for a delivery in October, and they were full up so call them before you get into bed!!

caprilicious

wmpdd3 wrote: »

But as I said I called at 8 weeks for a delivery in October, and they were full up so call them before you get into bed!!

Thanks wmpdd3, I'll know to book in the minute the deed is done :D

wmpdd3

Quick question relating to the first visit.
I had mine on 29th of March and they did bloods.

I haven't gotten any results, should they have been sent to my GP, I saw her last Wednesday and I forgot to ask her.

She had done her own blood test and she had the results of that. Should I ring the hospital?

caprilicious

Hi wmpdd3,

I don't think they contact you with blood test results unless there's anything of concern.
They never contacted me about any of mine and the feckers took pints of it over the 9 or so months!
If you're concerned it'd be no harm to give your GP a call as the hospital would most likely pass info to your doc if there was something of concern there.

LegacyUser

Hi all-

Just reading this thread about other people's experience of Waterford Regional during pregnancy because I had my first appointment there recently...

Had my booking appt and my anomaly scan and was so disappointed with the staff/care in the outpatients clinic that I wish I had asked my GP to refer me elsewhere!

I have an excellent GP that I only registered with when I found out that I was pregnant- he has been really good regarding how the pregnancy has been for me etc and did my early dating scan... was really happy with everything- then I went to WRH and really feel like I don't want to go back to them!

The staff were so unprofessional- no one introduced themselves to me- when I was leaving someone said, 'you've seen the doctor'- and I had to admit that I didn't know whether I had or not because no one had told me their name or their role or why I was in with them... I was just shuttled from one room into another!

No one asked anything about how the pregnancy was going or gave me an opportunity to ask questions... and as I said, I saw a doctor without even realising it! I actually thought that the doctor was an admin person taking background info from us for the forms!

I work in a similar area and I can't ever imagine someone who uses our service being treated like this- no introductions, explanations or basic manners really!

My GP spent longer doing the scan and talked my partner and I through it, whereas the person who did the scan in WRH talked over me to the other person in the room and didn't really go through what she saw, or how it looked... all I wanted was a quick, there it is and it looks fine!

i thought it would be a really nice experience for my partner and I, but I just came home and cried (haven't been this hormonal at all so far!) and I really don't want to have to go back there for another appointment... would love to just go through my GP for my ante natal care instead! I actually started thinking that I wished I wasn't pregnant at all, which made me feel worse (

Everyone says that a good midwife makes all the difference when you are in labour- I wouldn't want any of these people near me when I'm having my baby! (Although again I must admit, I don't know if any of them were actually midwives as they did not say!)

I really pity anyone who has to go to these people when they aren't having a straight forward pregnancy... starting to wonder whether I have other options or do I just need to put up with this until I have the baby?


mum2be2011

caprilicious

Sorry to hear you had such a negative experience mum2be2011
If its any consolation, I went to Kilkenny hospital for my last pregnancy. The initial few appointments were much like you described below, but I took it to be because they were so busy.

The clinic was absolutely jammers each time I attended & it looked like they were under pressure.
I found myself coming away sometimes with unanswered questions that I thought would've been dealt with as a matter of course during my appointments.
That said, when it counted they were absolutely fantastic & I couldn't really fault the hospital/the staff.

Try not feel down about it, you're on an exciting journey & it will be worth it in the end

Would you try maybe to get onto the Domino scheme in WRH? Its a midwife lead care & they give a lot more time to each patient, its supposed to be excellent

wmpdd3

caprilicious wrote: »

Sorry to hear you had such a negative experience mum2be2011
If its any consolation, I went to Kilkenny hospital for my last pregnancy. The initial few appointments were much like you described below, but I took it to be because they were so busy.

The clinic was absolutely jammers each time I attended & it looked like they were under pressure.
I found myself coming away sometimes with unanswered questions that I thought would've been dealt with as a matter of course during my appointments.
That said, when it counted they were absolutely fantastic & I couldn't really fault the hospital/the staff.

Try not feel down about it, you're on an exciting journey & it will be worth it in the end

Would you try maybe to get onto the Domino scheme in WRH? Its a midwife lead care & they give a lot more time to each patient, its supposed to be excellent

I agree about the dominos bt i rang at 8 weeks and i was too late! True you are on a convayer belt but when they do see something odd, you are given to best attention and everything is explained. I always asked questions and asked who people were, nobody seemed to mind. My midwife knew i wanted dominos so she took the aproach that i was just being monitored as apposed to treated for pregnancy! i was just happy when i only had to que for 2 hrs at a time because i needed a packed linch for longer!

LegacyUser

thanks for the posts ladies!!

We had a long think about it and decided that we're not going to go through WRH for any more of our ante natal care, luckily because of our location and financial position, we had a few options ... and we had a private scan last week which was really nice (dealing with people who were so much more professional, for a start!)

looking forward to the little fella's arrival now!

thanks again, mum2be2011