"Multiple stays on Lexden ward and baby in..."

During a rather difficult pregnancy when I was ill an awful lot, I stayed numerous times on Lexden ward-mainly for one or two nights but just before having my beautiful baby boy and for the days that followed, for 10 nights. During my stays on both the antenatal and postnatal bays of Lexden ward both my partner and I felt that staff on the ward were absolutely brilliant!! Midwives, support staff and hospitality staff were lovely and couldn't have done much more to make all of my stays comfortable and as easy as possible. People were so friendly and would often go out of their way-the care given was great. I also found the care given by the diabetic team throughout to be fantastic!

There were a few complications during my elective c section but all in the operating room remained so calm I was completely unaware of these issues until a midwife informed me my baby was being taken to the Neonatal unit for help. The anaesthetists did a great job of keeping me calm and even stroked my arm whilst I was being sewn up! Whilst in recovery and suffering with high blood pressure I was monitored closely and the same midwife returned several times with updates on my baby and to check how I was doing.

My son stayed for 5 days in total in the Neonatal unit and during his time there we found the care given to be amazing. Once again, all the staff were lovely and the nurses were always on hand to support with feeding times and to answer any questions and reassure me on my sons progress, it was here that a particular nurse spent a considerable amount of time teaching me how to breastfeed my baby as they could see I was getting frustrated. During daily rounds, doctors would discuss with me how my baby was doing, answer any questions I had and explain further action-the time they and the nurses took to do this was greatly appreciated.

Whilst my baby boy was down on the Neonatal unit one midwife in particular sat with me on more than one occasion and helped me to express colostrum before my milk came in... It took ages but they were so patient. Other midwives were great when I called them for silly things like helping me to put clean knickers on when I couldn't bend too well after my c section and nothing ever seemed like too much trouble-even helping me walk down to the see my son in the first few days when I was un steady on my feet.

As feeding times for my baby sometimes coincided with my meal times, the lovely hostess/hospitality staff offered to keep my food for me until after their own break when they returned to serve me a hot meal-this was obviously going above and beyond but it was constant acts of kindness like this from all members of staff that were so touching and showed just how great the level of care given was. The same hospitality staff also did a super job of keeping the ward clean!

After having my daughter at a different hospital and receiving shocking care in comparison, I can not recommend Colchester General Hospital highly enough to expectant mums!!