"I am very happy with the experience - thank you to..."

What I liked

The staff were wonderful - very kind and helpful and they made the experience easy to cope with. Apart from an initial bad experience when I arrived for examination in delivery it was brilliant. Initially I was admitted to ward 32 and the staff were kind and helpful and often great fun. I was generally left alone but could call for assistance whenever I needed it. I was never made to feel as if anything was any trouble. In delivery I had a lovely midwife and student midwife. The anaesthetist was calm and caring and explained everything clearly. Unfortunately my baby then decided to yank the cord around his neck and went into distress - the team responding that rushed me to surgery did a marvellous job, they dealt with everything calmly and efficiently and even managed to track down my partner who I had sent away to get some dinner and got him back in time for the surgery! After surgery and recovery we were transferred back to ward 32 where the nurses looked after us exceptionally well and it was as good a hospital stay as it could have been. I cannot fault them or the team who dealt with my emergency delivery.

What could be improved

One negative, when I arrived at the delivery suite at midnight after 16 hours of contractions at home I was examined by a midwife. She got me codeine tablets for the pain. When I took them I gagged and threw the pills up which landed on the floor in the vomit. She made a comment about how she had had to get them signed for. She the PICKED THEM UP OFF OF THE FLOOR RAN THEM UNDER THE TAP AND GAVE THEM BACK TO ME TO TAKE! If I hadn't been so exhausted and desperate for something for the pain I might have refused them. In hindsite I think this was a disgusting act and that she took advantage of an exhausted and desperate woman.

Anything else?

My birth plan consisted of one line - 'I want to leave the hospital feeling that having a baby is something I could do again' - I was terrified beforehand that it would be such a bad experience that I wouldn't want to get pregnant again but my experience has made me happy to do it again.