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I could not imagine a better birthing experience if I tried

Posted By Leos Mummy

"I could not imagine a better birthing experience if I tried"

About: Vale of Leven General Hospital / Maternity care

(as the patient),

I had my first born at the Vale of Leven CMU in December 2013, he was a water birth. I was nervous at first of having my baby so far away from the hospital in Paisley incase of emergencies, but the staff were amazing.

I had the CMU to myself that night with two brilliant midwives who never left my side, Jane & Noreen.

I arrived pretty frightened and upset but they helped put my mind at ease and offered great advice for getting through the contractions (advice my husband kept repeating when we had our second "remember what Jane said...").

After my son was born I was given great after care making sure I was okay, had a bath ran for me straight away (which sounds funny coming from a water birth but it makes you feel a bit more human again) and I was brought honestly the best toast I've ever had, I was given so much support feeding him that I was confident in my ability to do so when we left the next morning.

The staff at the CMU are all brilliant, we had additional scanning so we were there about twice a month and became familiar with a few of the midwives who came to meet my son when he was born.

Even my husband was looked after!

I have often said, for somebody who is honestly quite scared of childbirth, that I could not imagine a better birthing experience if I tried. Well I had my second at a Midwife unit attached to a busy city hospital as we had moved by that point and I can now say with certainty that VoL CMU as a stand alone unit is the far better option.

I'm now expecting my 3rd and if I could go back to VoL I would in a heart beat! I read that there are plans to withdraw the birthing service here (perhaps they already have? ) and that makes me a bit sad actually, so I know my experience won't be useful to help somebody decide to birth here or not but I'd like it to serve the purpose of thanking these amazing women for all of their help and support. When you go to VoL CMU you really feel like you are being cared for, like you matter.

Thank you all and especially to Jane & Noreen for putting up with all of my silly worries and bringing my beautiful boy safely into the world, Noreen you were right...it clearly didn't traumatise me too much as here I am on number 3! !

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Responses

Response from Lorna Fairlie, Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 7 years ago
Lorna Fairlie
Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

I work in a small team in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which seeks to involve patients and carers in the work of the NHS. The biggest part of my role is in managing feedback projects across the Board area, one of which is Patient Opinion. It is my job to give our patients and carers the opportunity to give us feedback, and to make sure that this is passed to the right people to help us improve the services we provide.

Submitted on 21/02/2017 at 08:36
Published on Care Opinion at 09:28

Thank you so much for the lovely feedback regarding the birth of your baby in 2013. I have shared this with the midwives at the VoL and they are delighted that you had such a positive birth experience. We would like to reassure you that women are still giving birth in the VoL CMU although the numbers are dropping each year. The Board have been consulting on the provision of the birthing services at the VoL CMU and no decisions have been taken as we wish to ensure any changes are in line with the recent national publication on Maternity and Neonatal Services in Scotland.

Best Wishes,

Dorothy Finlay,

Lead Midwife, Clyde

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