"Mixed experiences of childbirth"

I had both my children at Warrington as it was the most easily accessible for appointments as I needed to use public transport. The pre-natal care was good, always seen on time and communication was clear.

With my first child on the labour ward I had a great nurse looking after me, and the labour went well - it was just post labour that it goes wrong here (both children). I needed stitches first time round and the nurse that came to do them made it clear that she was in a rush and wanted to go home, this has led to me needing to have an operation to have them re-done.

I found the maternity ward where you take your newborn to be a complete let down. I had difficulty breastfeeding my first child, and found out 2 weeks later this was due to him being tongue tied - something that the doctors and nurses at Warrington never picked up! I was given little support, apart from by a trainee who was the only person to come and sit with me, one other nurse actually said, if you don't get it soon I'll give him a bottle, if someone had said this to me now I would have been very cross and complained immediately, however after your first child you are quite nervous. No nurses checked on me in the night as I was in a room with other ladies who had not yet given birth, either they were being induced or had problems.

With my second child I was fine feeding and asked for little help but we had to ask to go several times as we had my son to get back to. The nurses kept saying I couldn't go without a letter but no-one seemed able to press print on the computer as they were too busy chatting. My husband stood near the desk for five minutes while they ignored him and talked about their weekend. Eventually it took someone 2 minutes to print the letter, it would have been nice if they had done that 5 hours earlier so we could get home to my boy!