"Excellent first birth experience"

Anything else?

I am extremely late writing this review as I have only just realised that such a function existed... I chose Russell's Hall for the birth of my first baby despite it being 30 mins drive away, as I had heard good things about the maternity ward (and, unfortunately, bad things about my more local hospitals) and I am happy to say I wasn't disappointed. The care I received from every person who I came into contact with was excellent and made me feel important, well informed and cared for at all times. As a first time mother with anxiety issues I was beyond frightened when I went into labour, especially when problems with my heart rate and blood pressure meant I couldn't have the serene water birth I had planned. But I was reassured and encouraged during the 12 hours leading up to the birth of my son. I ended up having an emergency instrumental delivery in theatre due to my son being in distress and had an episiotomy, which was sutured afterwards. My community midwife (I live in a different area) commented afterwards about how it was one of the neatest cleanest jobs she'd seen! (this may sound trivial, as I'm hardly going to be showing it aroud! - but I know people who have suffered awful infections afterwards, or even been stitched up incorrectly). I also found the care I received after my baby was born to be way more than I had expected. From helping me out in the middle of the night when I couldn't work out why he was crying (I am embarrassed to say he needed his nappy changing - but I wasn't made to feel silly for this at all), to the numerous amounts of times I was given assistance establishing breast feeding - I really appreciated this as it was so important to me to breastfeed and it was harder than I thought to start with. I am happy to say I am still breastfeeding my son at 16 months and am thankful for the helping hand I was given at the start. I can honestly say, from the midwives to the cleaners, to the Physiotherapist I saw during my pregnancy for SPD - everyone I spoke to was brilliant and knew their stuff. I am now pregnant with my second baby and won't hesitate to come back to Russells Hall... Fingers crossed, I might get that water birth this time! Thank you all so much X