Have any of you given birth at East Surrey Hospital

[Mrs Doddy]

Hi

Im looking for ladies that have given birth at East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, Surrey recently

Did you have a good experience or a bad one (that you don't mind talking about) about the hospital or staff or procedures

I read on an nhs site that they don't do epidurals - is this true

Are there any tips for a 1st timer that you can give i.e things they don't supply that I might need

thanks in advance

 

[xpinkness87x]

hey!
I gave birth in east surrey hospital.

The staff were lovely! Well the midwives on the delivery bit were. I was induced so i had to go in a side ward to start with. All i was annoyed about was they made me walk from the ward to the last delivery suite about 5 minute walk lol. and i was having contractions every minute, had the urge to push and had leaky waters lol i thought it was a bit wrong to make me walk but the midwife got a scare when i had a contraction in the corridor.

The ward i was on... "Rusper Ward" was really nice, but the first midwife that was there when i first arrived was really rude to me and wouldnt listen ... My body had gone into shock from the quick delivery and i was sort of floating in the room but couldnt work out where or why i was there. Then the shifts changed and a lovely team came on there was a really nice lady called Rosie she helped me with Oliver because i didnt have a clue what to do with him. and she chatted to me and made sure i was ok when she went home in the morning.

Epidurals... i was in the queue for one? had the canular put in my hand for it... just didnt get it because i went from 7cm to 10cm in 15/20 minutes.

Be carefull tho the seem to offer pethadine as if it is a everyday pain killer. i had to argue with them to tell them i DIDNT want it... they looked at me as if i was mental! i saw 2 ladies that had it on my ward... one was VERY sick after about 10 minutes and couldnt move. And the other was fine... just turned grumpy lol.

Make sure you take pads and stuff, when you get transfered from delivery to the ward you will be given hospital ones but they dont hand them out. I dont know when you are actually due but they did say something about stopping having the pre made bottles of milk if you are FF. But you would have to ask about that when you go on your tour.
Apart from that they dont really give you anything... so make sure you are over prepared xx

 

[JJ1]

Hi there

Yes I had my daughter at East Surrey 6 weeks ago. I had a bit of a traumatic birth with a failed induction and my daughter being born with pneumonia but on the whole the staff were brilliant.

Before I went in for induction I was very nervous as I had heard mixed things about East Surrey. The midwives who looked after me (lots of them as I was in for 8 days) were mostly lovely and they have a thing called 'fresh eyes' during the birth where they have another midwife check how things are going for safety reasons.

I had a few issues with one consultant but was that just one moody person and I was moved around a lot because I was in for so long but generally I can't complain. My baby was looked after well in special care and the traumatic birth was not the fault of the staff.

They definitely do epidurals because I was persuaded to have one so you have no worries there. If you have any other questions, let me know.

When are you due?

 

[Mrs Doddy]

Thank you, not due until sept but have read some bad things about the hospital (which im sure theres a side to everything) and although taking it with a pinch of salt thought I would check it out while I have time to change if I need too

 

[JJ1]

Yep I think there are always people who have bad experiences - and you could have bad luck with a particular midwife or doctor anywhere but I wouldn't worry about choosing East Surrey - I was pleasantly surprised!

Good luck with everything.

 

[xpinkness87x]

I was really suprised with the care they gave me actually. And the food isnt too bad either

Alsooo... i just rememered when you can go on your tour you will be suprised! It is all quite new and there are some rooms for low risk births etc. and the wards are spotless.

JJ1- i didnt know about the fresh eyes thing? what is it lol? i had another midwife that came to have alook for about 2 minutes then i had 6 or 7 people around me... I lost all dignaty speshly when you have a women on a stool at the end of you hahaha!

 

[JJ1]

Hi

Apparently 'fresh eyes' is a newish thing - I was told by the counsellor after the traumatic birth (I think they brought it in because east surrey had to improve the servics because of the bad reputation.) They call another midwife into the room at important points to check they are making right decisions and look with 'fresh eyes'. I guess it will vary how many times you have this depending on how the births going but it seems like a good idea!

You are so right about the dignity thing - completely out of the window! - Nothing left to be embarrased about!

 

[xpinkness87x]

that would explan why a midwife was called into help turn me on my side... then next thing i knew i was on stirups and being vontoused lol!!

was the counciler you saw Mavis? I am going to see her in april because i cant remember all of the birth xxx

 

[special_kala]

River was born at east surrey and i cant praise them enough.

My MW was lovely and really supportive, our labour room was big and had a bathroom attached and it was all really clean.

I found every staff member to be excellent. I had a epidural so they are allowed.

When things started going a bit wrong there was no hestitation for a c section but even as they were setting up the theatre i was encouraged by the MW's to push and thankfully she was born before the csection was needed.

We were in left alone in the delivery room for 4 hours just the 3 of us after she was born which was lovely.

They provided all her bottles and had spares of things like pads ect.

The dads visiting hours are from 11-8 so really good and long.

Im hoping for a home birth next time but I would defiantly have another baby at east surrey

 

[xpinkness87x]

i forgot to add we were left for 5 and half hours in the delivery room on our own before we got taken up to the ward lol x

 

[JJ1]

Yes the counsellor was Mavis - she was lovely and she basically just read through the delivery notes and anwered any questions. It's worth going if there are things you can't remember as it will help make things clear in your mind. She then writes up the notes and sends them to you and I think you can contact her again if you need to.

I also had the ventouse - lovely eh!

 

[Mrs Doddy]

thank you everyone - def not as bad as what I had been reading but obviously every experience is going to be different depending on staff and circumstances, I will def book the tour later on and see what I think of the facilities - I am hoping to use the birthing pool if its availiable at the time x

 

[xpinkness87x]

Yes the counsellor was Mavis - she was lovely and she basically just read through the delivery notes and anwered any questions. It's worth going if there are things you can't remember as it will help make things clear in your mind. She then writes up the notes and sends them to you and I think you can contact her again if you need to.

I also had the ventouse - lovely eh!

Urmmm yeah lovely But they were soo good with OH and talked him through what was going on, even if i didnt know! So he knew things would be ok. My MW (emma) was such a nice lady she came up to check i was ok when she finished her shift as i had such a quick birth (2hours 30 mins i was in the delivery room 24 minutes before i had him) she was in a bit of shock too.

thank you everyone - def not as bad as what I had been reading but obviously every experience is going to be different depending on staff and circumstances, I will def book the tour later on and see what I think of the facilities - I am hoping to use the birthing pool if its availiable at the time x

I dont think the birthing pool gets used that much... i was there 2 days and it wasnt used. Its quite a big room as well. But i couldnt use it as i was induced.

Wait till you see the low risk room... they have bars on the wall and the bean bags and stuff look like big brother! x

 

[Mrs Doddy]

Yes the counsellor was Mavis - she was lovely and she basically just read through the delivery notes and anwered any questions. It's worth going if there are things you can't remember as it will help make things clear in your mind. She then writes up the notes and sends them to you and I think you can contact her again if you need to.

I also had the ventouse - lovely eh!

Urmmm yeah lovely But they were soo good with OH and talked him through what was going on, even if i didnt know! So he knew things would be ok. My MW (emma) was such a nice lady she came up to check i was ok when she finished her shift as i had such a quick birth (2hours 30 mins i was in the delivery room 24 minutes before i had him) she was in a bit of shock too.

thank you everyone - def not as bad as what I had been reading but obviously every experience is going to be different depending on staff and circumstances, I will def book the tour later on and see what I think of the facilities - I am hoping to use the birthing pool if its availiable at the time x

I dont think the birthing pool gets used that much... i was there 2 days and it wasnt used. Its quite a big room as well. But i couldnt use it as i was induced.

Wait till you see the low risk room... they have bars on the wall and the bean bags and stuff look like big brother! x

ooh really !!! thats good to know but I bet that when I need it it will be in use !!! we will have to wait and see !!!

 

[Belle30]

Hello
I had my baby at the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath, not East Surrey, but thought I'd chip in with something my health visitor said in case you want to bear it in mind.

I had a bit of a difficult start with breastfeeding, but the staff at PRH were amazing and got me on the right track eventually. I don't know if you're planning to breastfeed, but after I came home my health visitor said to me "I can tell you that you would not be breastfeeding now if you had given birth at East Surrey as there's absolutely no support there for breastfeeding".

I don't know how true this is, and I'm sure there are ladies out there with a different experience, but then again I guess the HV must have had some reason for saying this to me. I don't know if you're planning to breastfeed or how much you already know about it, but many ladies have trouble to start with and can need A LOT of support to make it work. So maybe something to bear in mind if you really want to bf. As I say I don't have first hand experience of East Surrey, but it may be that you need to be very vocal in asking for help with bf as part of your aftercare if it's what you want.

Best of luck! xx

 

[xpinkness87x]

Hello
I had my baby at the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath, not East Surrey, but thought I'd chip in with something my health visitor said in case you want to bear it in mind.

I had a bit of a difficult start with breastfeeding, but the staff at PRH were amazing and got me on the right track eventually. I don't know if you're planning to breastfeed, but after I came home my health visitor said to me "I can tell you that you would not be breastfeeding now if you had given birth at East Surrey as there's absolutely no support there for breastfeeding".

I don't know how true this is, and I'm sure there are ladies out there with a different experience, but then again I guess the HV must have had some reason for saying this to me. I don't know if you're planning to breastfeed or how much you already know about it, but many ladies have trouble to start with and can need A LOT of support to make it work. So maybe something to bear in mind if you really want to bf. As I say I don't have first hand experience of East Surrey, but it may be that you need to be very vocal in asking for help with bf as part of your aftercare if it's what you want.

Best of luck! xx

From what i saw i think your HV might be making it out to be worse than it is. When i was in the hospital there were people that helped ladies trying to breast feed. And the midwives did as well.
There was a lady there that was having real problems and the baby did nothing but cry for hours and hours on end and the HCA sat with her for hours showing her different positions and really trying to help her out.
Also every person that was breast feeding got a breastfeeding counciler come round to them in the morning to take to them and give advise x

 

[sarahlou1988]

Hi everyone,

I am due to have a baby in 3 weeks time (7th Feb), what i would like to know is, do they provide the milk and what milk do they provide?

I haven't been for a tour and dont think i will now, as i think it will just make me really scared, im at that stage now as it is!

I just want to know so then i can go and buy some now, as im not breast feeding!

P.S. I am a first time mummy to a little girl called Lily who will be here soon.

Thank you everyone.

Sarah.xxxx

 

[Mrs Doddy]

Yes they provide aptimal, sma and cow and gate I think, it's ok there xx

 

[sarahlou1988]

Thank you very much. Just because i want to buy some milk lol!xx

 

[MrsQ]

Has anyone else had any experiences at Esh? Xx