Maternity Hospital

Shelli

Hi All,

(Apologies if this is in the wrong area)

I've just found out that I'm pregnant and have been to see my GP, this week I'll need to make my appointment for my first anti-natal visit. I was just wondering do any of you consider any of the Dublin maternity hospitals to be better than the rest?

Anyone have any experiences that would lead them to believe that one is better than the rest? Or are they all pretty much the same these days?

I know that when I was born (1982), Holles St was considered to the best, is it still the same?

Nevyn

I would look into what thier birthing plans are like and what is on offer,
get referal from family and consider the ammount of time it could take you to get to the hospital.

The Hill Billy

Shelli - Firstly, my heartiest congratulations!

As for which hospital is the best - it is six of one & a half dozen of the other I'm afraid. Each hospital has its own fans & detractors. My son was born in Holles Street & we will be back there in February for our second. My wife & I found the place to be fine. My sister & mother on the other hand swear by the Rotunda.

Do you have any family or friends who can tell you of their experiences?

Sorry that I haven't been able to give you a definitive answer, maybe some of the others have stronger opinions that you can draw on for inspiration.

Best of luck!

Shelli

not really, the last baby born in our family was a cousin of mine and that was 12 years ago. I'm the first of my friends to have a baby. I guess the closest one would make more sense.

Nevyn

Ring them up and ask for a tour, seriously ask can you make an appointment to have a tour of the faclilties as you are condiering booking with them to have your baby.

NextSteps

Thaedydal wrote:

Ring them up and ask for a tour, seriously ask can you make an appointment to have a tour of the faclilties as you are condiering booking with them to have your baby.

...And let us know what you find out!!

ArthurDent

there are loads of topics on this on both rollercoaster.ie and magicmum.com - you migt want to look. but you need to take it all with a pinch of salt - you'll find good and bad stories about all hospitals.

you could ask your gp for recommendation or if you know of a consultant you want to use you could go with the hospital they prcatise in.

I've gone private and semi private in coombe - all 3 experiences good, latest visit 9 weeks ago it was so much busier than 6 years ago. from the point if view of care I really don't think it matters going public, private or semi private - its just if you want a more comfortable room you're paying for.

all the best

crosstownk

Mrs crosstownk attended The Coombe for her last pregancy/birth and is attending again for the current pregnancy (due 26th Dec). She thinks The Coombe is great - as do I. Not the most modern to look at, but quite modern in facilities.

I'd have to recommend the hospital based on our experiences to date.

dame

OP, Congratulations!

There will always be positive and negatives stories from people about whichever hospital they attended but my advice would be to choose the hospital that is the most accessible to you. Remember you'll be trekking over there regularly for the next year nearly (including out-patient check-ups afterwards if you need them). With the way the traffic is nowadays this is very important and a large bump does not make for very comfortable travelling. Also, your family will be coming to visit and wouldn't it be nice to be as near as possible so they can pop in easier.

Best of luck!

Love2love

Congrats!!!!

You can go online and check out the hospital's policies and decide yourself which better suits you. I was in Holles Street to have my son 7 wks ago and they have a visiting policy that only allows visitors in the evening for 2 hours and only 2 people at a time (apart from 1 nominated person, usually the father that can come and go as they please) but believe me this really works because you are so tired - you don't want to see anyone and you want your lickle baby all to yourself!
Alternatively, the have a early transfer home programme if you live in certain area of Dublin. I decided to do this and left the hospital the day after the birth. The midwives come to your home on a daily basis to check you and the baby are doing ok.
As for the actual birth, I fould the midwives amazing. Not like I imagined, but the main reason I chose Holles Street was because I was born there.

dame

Rotunda also have the same rules for visitors. I'd say all the hospitals probably have. They have the early going home thing too.

daiixi

A friend of mine had a baby at Holles Street about a month ago and the staff completely ignored the 2 hours and 2 people at a time rule. She had about six people in with her at one time at one stage and people there for longer than the 2 hours.

MrPudding

We had our second child in the coombe and the third in mount carmel. We also had a child in the north. If we were having another the gf would want it to be in Mount Carmel. She says the support she received from the staff was amazing.

MrP

Shelli

Well after a lot of thought and really and eenie meenie miney mo...lol...we decided to go with Holles St. Where my mother had me & my brother.

They gave me an appointment for 20th Feb, i'll be just about 16 weeks by then, is this very late? I thought the first appiontment should be around 12 weeks?

MrPudding

Shelli wrote:

Well after a lot of thought and really and eenie meenie miney mo...lol...we decided to go with Holles St. Where my mother had me & my brother.

They gave me an appointment for 20th Feb, i'll be just about 16 weeks by then, is this very late? I thought the first appiontment should be around 12 weeks?

Is there a chance that that is somply the first slot they have available? I always thought there was a least one check before 16 weeks.

MrP

Nevyn

16 weeks is actually around about when most women are having thier fist appointment unless there is a history of miscarriage or twins or fertility treatments were used.

Shelli are you haveing all your prenatal check ups with the hospital or are you going to have some done with your gp ?

lil-buttons

Yeah, I was the same , I had my 1st appointment last week in Holles street and at that point I was 20 weeks! But all the same the GP is crap she explained nothing to me, it was when I went in to Holles St they went mad but they are sayin that all the maternity hospitals are jammers at the minute.

My friend is in America and she's pregnant 2 she's been in and out of hospital form day 1 for check-ups and stuff she's had to scans and I havnt had 1 yet - But I will have it on the 27th of this month so happy enough...
but how I was lookin at it was what if something was wrong with the baby and I didn know(being a 1st time mammy) isnt 16-20wks a bit late to pick this up.

Anyways - yes all the hospitals are over-stretching themselves at the minute but I really liked the doctor and the nurses I met last week so best of luck.

Shelli

Thaedydal wrote:

16 weeks is actually around about when most women are having thier fist appointment unless there is a history of miscarriage or twins or fertility treatments were used.

Shelli are you haveing all your prenatal check ups with the hospital or are you going to have some done with your gp ?

Eh, shared care with my GP, I didnt know there was a choice, at least my GP didn't say anything. She's not really that great to be honest, but she's been treating me since I was born, and is also the GP for my whole family, so I've been reluctant to change.

Julietta

Hi Shelli

I am currently attending the semi-private clinic in Holles St, am 28 weeks - my first appt was at 14 weeks which was the booking in appt, met my consultant for the first time, had my bloods taken and gave a medical history. I was scanned on this occasion but it was on a mini scanner in the consultants office, you don't get your "big scan" until 20/21 weeks. I queried this as I thought it was a bit late to detect any potential problems but was totally assured that this is the norm and that as long as your medical history doesn't indicate otherwise, there's just no point in having a scan any earlier as they won't be able to get as much info from it - wasn't 100% convinced myself but didn't argue with them!

I am also doing combined care with my GP and it's great as he's near my job so don't have to go into town, he's also a wonderful GP with so much time for me.....the consultants in Holles St are fine but kinda gruff If I have any queries, I ask the midwives who are fantastic or my GP - I understand your reluctance to change from your family GP but if there is one time in your life that you need a really good, well informed GP, believe me pregnancy is it! So many various aches and pains that are all perfectly normal but may scare you a little.

Personally, I love going into Holles St for my appts, I like being around the other pregnant women and you always get chatting with them, bring some sandwiches in case the queue is long and you're laughing

Julietta

MrPudding

Julietta wrote:

I was scanned on this occasion but it was on a mini scanner in the consultants office, you don't get your "big scan" until 20/21 weeks. I queried this as I thought it was a bit late to detect any potential problems but was totally assured that this is the norm and that as long as your medical history doesn't indicate otherwise, there's just no point in having a scan any earlier as they won't be able to get as much info from it

I was surprised at the lack of scans you get down here compared to NI. When my GF was scanned in the Coombe she was told that there was no point in having early or numerous scans as even if there was something wrong there wasn't anything you could do anyway.

MrP

Nevyn

This would be a reflection of the fact terminations are illegal in this country and that a pergancy would be let go to full term even if the child due to an abormality would not survive outside of the womb never mind if there was an issue that may give peoeple pause to consider.

Ireland has a high rate of children and young people compared to other countrys as the test for it is oftern not considered or the issue caought in scans and even if it were a termination for the most part is not an option and there for not presented as such and it is illegal.

Julietta

Hi there

Have to say, Thaedydal's reasoning is what I thought at the time too, they said something about not having the resources to scan expectant Mums earlier than 20 weeks and while I do believe the hospitals are stretched, I suspect there is more to it than that.

I will be 35 when my baby is born - I know this is far from ancient (at least I keep telling myself that) but I was keen to have any tests available to detect abnormalities provided they weren't invasive i.e. not an amnio - I had to talk my way into the hospital to get this done, they are just not keen on them at all although once I was there, they were very kind and informative. These tests are carried out in the UK and Europe as a matter of course for all expectant Mums aged 35 or over, again Thaedydal's reasoning may come into play here?

Julietta

Nevyn

We don't have the same level of in utero intervention in this country that others do, ( assistance and in utero proceedures aiming to help the child ) it seems to be a case of if everything seems ok a 20 weeks at which stage they look for tells of possible abnormalitues it is a case of just gestating and seeing how things turn out.

In fairness if there was a concern at 20 weeks there would be futher scans and follow ups.

LegacyUser

hey guys...Mrs Kaiser is now 29 weeks and we are private in the Rotunda. I remember starting a Poll on thisvery topic and it came back exactly even for both Hospitals,so it is very much a matter of which hospital is your own personal prefrance.

Thaedydal comments regarding amniocentises are correct as far as my consultant explained to us. During the feotal assessment scan ,if the midwife sees anything of even the slightest concern she would refer back to the consultant...and from there its his/her call on further tests....but in ireland Amnios are not done as standard,because they are invasive and do carry a risk.

So far everything has been textbook for us(thankgod)...but we have still had 3 scans so far,and another one now next Tuesday....dont know why so many.We also got the 3D scan done aswell....so right now we have more pics of babog in our house than we have of us on our wedding day!!!:D

Jotter

I would recommend the domino scheme in the rotunda particularly if youd like a natural birth. Its a midwife led scheme, I only saw my gp once even though I was doing combined care as I felt the midwives are the experts in this field and it worked out really well for me. You can avail of the service if you are considered low risk pregnancy, live in the required catchment area, cabra, phibs glasnevin i think are the current areas but I live in blanch and they still let me join. all your check ups are done in privacy of your home or if youre outside catchement you can go to community clinic, this means little or no Qing. You can also avail of early release once all is well, the only problem is its public scheme so if you are kept in its on public ward, nightmare no matter which hospital, could be made better if idiots would turn mobiles to silent:mad:
All in all I found the rotunda great, had major comlication during birth it was dealt with very quickly and calmly, baby was delivered safely and I had no idea how big a deal it was until later so cant praise the staff enough, not to mention how nice they all are!!

Fyi holles st to the best of my knowledge have the highest level of intervention so if natural birth is what youre aiming for Id steer clear - I would also highly recommend a birthing workshop, sounds hippyish but was really relaxing and surprisingly enjoyable, it also helped to know whats happening at each stage of labour, kept the scaryness at bay and I actually enjoyed the experience!! best of luck with your choice and enjoy your pregnancy!

Talliesin

Jotter wrote:

Fyi holles st to the best of my knowledge have the highest level of intervention so if natural birth is what youre aiming for Id steer clear

In some ways it's unfair to judge Holles St. by intervention levels alone since it handles some obstetric cases that would be transfered to there from other places throughout the country. Hence those high levels of intervention include a large number of cases where it is particularly obvious that intervention is needed while this also reduces the statistics for other practices.

That said, it is true that Holles St. had lost its baby-friendly status the last time I had any business there. It also seemed to be less good than I had previously experienced it in a few ways, though I can't compare the labours very well (the last labour I was present at there being a premature twin delivery with one of the twins breech and needing considerable intervention followed by intensive care compared to a home birth and a domino birth through the community midwives scheme run out of Holles St. and hence being very different experiences).