"Maternity Unit"

I was due to give birth at Bath RUH but was sent here when my waters broke for assessment. I had never been given the option of opting to give birth here, Im not sure why it isnt promoted enough as its a lovely small quiet hospital. After my assessment I asked if it would be okay to come back here once in established labour and was told yes it would be okay as long as I didnt need to be induced if nothing happened within 48 hours of my waters breaking. I didnt need to wait, 2 hours later and I was back in there fully dilated! It was such a quiet and calm place to give birth, as long as you are fine knowing there are not doctors present and in an emergency you would need to be transferred. Also, if you are wanting an epidural this cannot be administrered here. I was fine on the gas and air and gave birth in the pool, it was such a great calm experience. The aftercare on the ward was slightly less great - I was checked on quite a bit but nobody showed me how to change a nappy and there were only two of us staying on the ward! Luckily the other new mum had been transferred from Bath for respite and showed me. I perhaps shouldve rang the bell more often but there seemed to be a lot of staff not doing much! I also would've like to stay more than one night, but was told by a rather stern midwife that I ought to go home, so I did as I was told and packed up the next day, only to be asked by a different MW that I could stay as long as I wanted! So perhaps I was just unlucky. I would definitely recommend Paulton to give birth if you know you will probably have no complications, or even to go and stay after the RUH which a lot of women do.