"mixed service"

Anything else?

I gave birth in the hospital last September in a very busy period. The birth itself was a good experience and the care received by the midwives in the delivery room was was fantastic. I could not have hoped for better care.

Sadly this did not continue onto the ward where I felt somewhat ignored. My daughter was checked by the paediatricians and referred down to get her heart monitored as they suspected SVT during pregnancy. Again the care received by the doctors and nurses in this unit was fantastic.

Where I felt let down was in the support I received after having given birth. This was my first child and as such I needed some help getting her to latch on. The first check I received was at midday when they commented that my blood pressure was high and that it should be rechecked in an hour's time. The next time it was checked was 2am.

was in some pain but was not offered any medication. It was only on talking to the mum next to me that I found out you had to ask for medication. Having been told we could leave at 3pm by the doctors it was not until midnight that the midwife told us we could leave but by then my partner had left as visiting hours finished at 10pm.

During the night I was told by one midwife that I needed to put more effort into feeding my daughter as "I didn't want her to starve". I was trying my best buy she found it hard to latch on and I was a novice. This wrecked any confidence I did have sitting on my own in the middle of the night absolutely shattered!

Thankfully there was also a wonderful midwife present who took the time to sit with us and show us different feeding techniques which helped so much my baby latched on much more easily.

The service was so mixed some truly excellent and caring medical staff and some who really didn't seem to understand how overwhelming becoming a new mother is in spite of the fact that they must meet new mothers every working day!