World Class Maternity Services?

pwurple

Jeez guys, this is a disturbing thread.

I found CUMH in cork excellent, for both my births. I had two issues during prenatal care...one where i foolishly agreed to do the external clinic, which took about 8 hours and they kept me on a monitor for ages because my blood pressure was low. I have naturally low BP, and it was noted on every single other log entry in the file, but they monitored me for the day anyway. Switched back to normal clinic after that.

The other issue was with a miscarriage. I had just been told the baby had no heartbeat during a routine scan, my husband was not there, and I was brought into a room with a doctor who demanded to know whether I wanted surgery or tablets to clear out the uterus. I told him I couldn't make that decision as my head wasn't clear about it. He was really obnoxious.


Other than that, i found the number of scans on public very good. Got anomoly scans, plus a scan i think every visit. I've got loads of those little printouts. My husband was allowed stay in the labour ward at night, for both births. I got all the pain relief I asked for, and found the midwives very supportive. My room afterwards for both births was 2 bed room, and i had it to myself for a while. the food was ok. There is a massive shopping center across the road anyway, so anything i wanted extra, visitors brought.


I have heard horrendous stories in person too, mostly about dublin hospitals.. Last one I heard was from a friend who recently had her baby in Dublin, can't recall which one. She was put on a bed to labour in, which had blood from the previous occupant on it, and a bloody show was on the bathroom floor. The person in the bed beside her was handcuffed to it.

January

pwurple wrote: »

Jeez guys, this is a disturbing thread.

I found CUMH in cork excellent, for both my births. I had two issues during prenatal care...one where i foolishly agreed to do the external clinic, which took about 8 hours and they kept me on a monitor for ages because my blood pressure was low. I have naturally low BP, and it was noted on every single other log entry in the file, but they monitored me for the day anyway. Switched back to normal clinic after that.

The other issue was with a miscarriage. I had just been told the baby had no heartbeat during a routine scan, my husband was not there, and I was brought into a room with a doctor who demanded to know whether I wanted surgery or tablets to clear out the uterus. I told him I couldn't make that decision as my head wasn't clear about it. He was really obnoxious.


Other than that, i found the number of scans on public very good. Got anomoly scans, plus a scan i think every visit. I've got loads of those little printouts. My husband was allowed stay in the labour ward at night, for both births. I got all the pain relief I asked for, and found the midwives very supportive. My room afterwards for both births was 2 bed room, and i had it to myself for a while. the food was ok. There is a massive shopping center across the road anyway, so anything i wanted extra, visitors brought.


I have heard horrendous stories in person too, mostly about dublin hospitals.. Last one I heard was from a friend who recently had her baby in Dublin, can't recall which one. She was put on a bed to labour in, which had blood from the previous occupant on it, and a bloody show was on the bathroom floor. The person in the bed beside her was handcuffed to it.

That'd be the rotunda so. The female prison is quite nearby so if any pregnant women were in the prison they'd birth there.

Roesy

pwurple wrote: »

Jeez guys, this is a disturbing thread.

I found CUMH in cork excellent, for both my births. I had two issues during prenatal care...one where i foolishly agreed to do the external clinic, which took about 8 hours and they kept me on a monitor for ages because my blood pressure was low. I have naturally low BP, and it was noted on every single other log entry in the file, but they monitored me for the day anyway. Switched back to normal clinic after that.

The other issue was with a miscarriage. I had just been told the baby had no heartbeat during a routine scan, my husband was not there, and I was brought into a room with a doctor who demanded to know whether I wanted surgery or tablets to clear out the uterus. I told him I couldn't make that decision as my head wasn't clear about it. He was really obnoxious.


Other than that, i found the number of scans on public very good. Got anomoly scans, plus a scan i think every visit. I've got loads of those little printouts. My husband was allowed stay in the labour ward at night, for both births. I got all the pain relief I asked for, and found the midwives very supportive. My room afterwards for both births was 2 bed room, and i had it to myself for a while. the food was ok. There is a massive shopping center across the road anyway, so anything i wanted extra, visitors brought.


I have heard horrendous stories in person too, mostly about dublin hospitals.. Last one I heard was from a friend who recently had her baby in Dublin, can't recall which one. She was put on a bed to labour in, which had blood from the previous occupant on it, and a bloody show was on the bathroom floor. The person in the bed beside her was handcuffed to it.

My main issue with CUMH was due to treatment during a miscarriage too. I presented in the emergency room with bleeding and cramping and they took bloods and told me to present to the early pregnancy suite the following day. In my heart I felt the baby was gone but they gave me hope telling me that my dates could just be wrong etc. I presented in the EPU the following day and when we were called in to the appointment the person didn't even introduce herself, just looked at my notes and asked 'why are you here, there'll be nothing to see with these numbers'. I was super upset and crying, at this stage another male staff member gave a brief knock and walked in, again didn't introduce himself or say what his role was and stood there awkwardly for the couple of minutes where I was told she'd scan me if I wanted but it would be messy and uncomfortable and then I was sent home with little to no follow up instructions. A lovely midwife rang later with my lab results and talked me through everything when I asked her. I still ended up having to be referred for an ultrasound later on due to bleeding and what I was passing in the following weeks. It was enough to make me want to go privately for the rest of my pregnancies. I was admitted overnight at the start of this pregnancy as a public patient with a suspected ectopic or miscarriage with retained product. Thankfully baby was okay and my treatment was good.

pwurple

January wrote: »

That'd be the rotunda so. The female prison is quite nearby so if any pregnant women were in the prison they'd birth there.

I found that pretty bad. How dangerous could a woman in labour possibly be? I mean come on.. Could they not have a prison officer with her. It's subuman.

January

A woman in labour could be pretty dangerous and I'm pretty sure they would have a prison officer with her, they usually have to accompany prisoners when they're out, she/he probably would have been outside the door though.

lazygal

There was a very disturbing programme on RTE2 recently about babies born addicted to drugs because women had taken drugs during pregnancy so I can see many reasons why a woman has to be detained during labour, suppose she made a break for it and the labour went badly wrong or a baby needed immediate treatment after birth?
The only thing about Dublin is that if you've a bad experience in one hospital at least you can choose another for the next pregnancy. I'd hate to live somewhere with no choice whatsoever. I don't sing the praises of Holles Street but I'll probably go back if we have more children. I've heard horror stories from all the Dublin hospitals though.

Ms2011

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I was public in the Combe recently, baby is now 18 months. I had quite a few issues in pregnancy with several admissions and I have to say I was very very happy with the care prenatal. Having said that I was very involved and paid close attention to my chart and clearly knew exactly what was going on. Birth was incredibly short and fairly traumatic (recorded delivery of 1hr and I was an inpatient) but again I had no issues.

Post natal however was a complete joke. Totally understaffed. No instruction for parents. First bath for first time parents only given by a trainee midwife and no opportunity for parents to be supervised bathing. No reminders for anyone else. Plus because some gob****e lady second time mum kicked up a fuss they delayed mine and my husband wasn't there because they had kicked him out for meal time. I still do all the baths because he's terrified of them. Meds were constantly late and I had to request them the whole time. Ridiculous rules such as dinner at the table even though there wasn't enough chairs or table space for the six on the ward. Nothing on your bed table allowed even though there was no space for anything and if you had brought everything on the hospital checklist I think you'd have had to hang things off the ceiling. Being given out to because we didn't fill in the food/nappy chart even though no one had told us to and I had kept the record on an app anyways for myself. Exceptionally patronising and rude talk about sexual health. Little to no help for breast feeding mothers and zero instruction for bottle feeding parents (I had to do bottles due to meds). Nobody checked my stitches after the first 12hrs and I include my GP in that. And the absolute worst is the lack of food between 4pm and 8am. I have never been so hungry and that was even though I had brought cereal bars! I have no idea how anyone breastfeeding didnt keel over. Honestly if I go again I will be looking for release ASAP just to get out of that.

How's crazy different experiences can be in the same hospital.
I was public in the Coombe 16 months ago and while I didn't get any lessons on bathing (not a big deal in my case as I had bathed a newborn before) my stitches were checked regularly over my 3 day stay, I got frequent pain meds & iron tablets (even woken up to take them) & I often ate my meals on my bed with nothing being said.

There were some down sides to being on a public ward like one women who snored like a hibernating bear & who's baby screamed in agony as he had a suction deliver & the nurses advised he might have headache like pain for a while but his mother keep bouncing him to 'soothe him' but God love him his cries were heart breaking:( Thankfully that was my last night there.

detoxkid

I went midwife in Uchg and I'd consider the antenatal service and delivery to be world class. I'd agree with the previous posters that postnatal wasn't great and there could be some definate improvements made to it.

borderlinemeath

I can't fault OLOL in Drogheda for my daughters birth last year. OLOL tend to hit hit the headlines for overcrowding and trolleys in A&E but I couldn't fault the maternity department whatsoever. I went public as I was considered too old for their MLU service (which gets great reviews), for all my visits there was only one where I was waiting more than half an hour, most times I was in and out fairly quickly. I got plenty of scans, (extra as I was considered geriatric), including the anomaly scan. The only pain in the backside was having to do the GD test as it's mandatory for over 40s. I was given a couple of leg scans as I had one swollen foot/leg and they were afraid it might be a clot.

I went in for induction on my due date on what seemed the quietest day ever on the labour ward. I had a 4 bed labour ward to myself and then when I went into labour I managed to get the only delivery suite in the department with a pool, so I laboured in water which IMO was brilliant for pain relief. Most of the time I had 2 midwives with me, unless one was on a short break. I never felt I needed or wanted an epidural, but there was an anaesthetist on standby as he came in and asked was he needed! Eventually I needed an episiotomy as she was getting distressed when she was almost out so quick as a flash there were 2 docs, a paediatrician and at that point there were 4 midwives as their shift had changed but the pair who had been with me all day stayed as they wanted to see the birth through.

Post natal care was pretty good, I'd read so many horror stories here and elsewhere but there seemed to be plenty of staff, docs rounds were prompt, ward was kept clean, and it was always half empty, so only 3 of us sharing a bathroom which was strictly for us - there was a big sign on it stating no visitors allowed. Another woman who I had met on the initial induction ward was in the ward next door and it was just her and one other. I'm assuming as it was so quiet, the staff weren't under pressure so I just got lucky. I was due to be discharged 2 days after I gave birth but I opted to stay an extra night as I had run out of adrenaline and was so tired. Visiting hours were fairly well adhered to as well. Anybody coming into the post natal department has to be buzzed in so they simply weren't let in outside of hours unless they were a husband/partner.

Just to add, this was my first ever stay in hospital at almost 42 years of age! So I was fairly anxious about it, hearing horror stories, listening to friends experiences (most gave birth in Dublin hospitals) and I was pleasantly surprised at how unstressful it actually turned out to be.

arroxo2

Anomaly Scan + blood test (which detects Downs test) is performed in Cork Maternity Hospital for 150eu in the early born babies flat.Today we received a leaflet after asking for it (otherwise no info is provided)