"Excellent care received, highly recommended!"

After having my heart set on giving birth at a midwife led unit the whole pregnancy, I was transferred from Stroud early on to Gloucester Royal due to high blood pressure. After a brief monitoring period in triage, I was sent to the delivery suite where I would later deliver our beautiful baby daughter. During our stay on the delivery suite, our midwives (2 shift changes and a lovely student midwife) and our doctor were friendly, professional and extremely supportive. Despite nothing going 'to plan', I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience and would definitely forego the midwife led units for future pregnancies and opt to go straight to the delivery suite. Unfortunately, due to both myself and my daughter being on antibiotics for infection the next 5 days were spent on the maternity ward. Despite this being the last place I wanted to be, the staff were again extremely helpful, professional and supportive and made the stay bearable. It ended up being a positive stay as I had breastfeeding support and newborn baby advice on hand literally 24/7. I do not think I would still be breastfeeding now if it weren't for their help & guidance during those first few days. I cannot, however, just praise the midwives on the maternity ward - every person I came across were willing to do all they could to help from the doctors to the paediatricians to the cleaners to the amazing maternity assistants who were always on hand for advice and a shoulder to cry on (especially in the early hours when partners were not allowed onto the ward). A huge thank you to all the staff who went above and beyond expectation during my stay and made my transition into motherhood as smooth a journey as was possible given the circumstances. I would highly recommend you as a birthing unit to any expectant mum, and urge any new mum dreading a stay on the ward post-labour to think of the positives and take all you can from it - the help and advice will prove invaluable.