Positive & Negative on Coombe + Rotunda

Sparky100

Hi All,

Would I be right in thinking that the best Maternity Hospital is HOLLES St. From reading other threads there are rarely a negative comment re: Holles St.

I would like hear opinions on The Coombe and The Rotunda. Did people find support good, mid-wives etc Was there overcrowding etc

Would love to hear your experiences, Thanks

elsy

i'm pregnant on no2 and am a returning patient to the coombe and cant fault it. one big plus it gets from me is u get your first scan at 12 weeks holler st not till around 20 weeks

January

Having attended both the Rotunda and the Coombe I cannot rate the Coombe highly enough.

Had a failed induction in the Rotunda in 2008 and had an emergency c section, during the labour the midwives barely spoke to me, not even to tell me my baby was in distress or anything. The rooms were over crowded (10 people on the ward), midwives rarely had time to help with anything (breast feeding), took them hours to get me pain relief on the second day. Rotunda has the highest c section rate of the Dublin maternity hospitals (not including Mount Carmel as it's a private hospital). Was always waiting at least 2+ hours in the Rotunda to be seen at visits.

The Coombe was fantastic, never waited more than an hour to be seen by the consultants (was public). I had a VBAC which they were very supportive of, even though I was begging them for a c section during the labour they just kept telling me I could do it naturally. The midwives were fantastic during labour talking me through it, even during the pushing stage, babies heart rate dropped and the explained that we needed to get baby out and talked me through what they were going to do. The ward I was on only had four beds and was a public ward. Midwives spent ages with me trying to get me to breastfeed and even in the night time if you needed help they had no bother in helping you.

cch

Sparky100 wrote: »

Hi All,

Would I be right in thinking that the best Maternity Hospital is HOLLES St. From reading other threads there are rarely a negative comment re: Holles St.

You can't say one is the best, they all have their positives and negatives which you'll have to decide on yourself from listening to other people's experience and your own research, try www.cuidiu-ict.ie for some info. One thing about Holles Street I've heard is that they seem to have a very active management of labour policy - if you're not moving fast enough they intervene and progress it. One woman might love this idea, another would hate it.

The comments on Holles Street might be more of a reflection of the demographics of Dublin-based, pregnant, female Boards.ie users rather than anything else though!

_michelle_

I had both my lil lads in the rotunda and couldnt recommend it enough, my first is now 3 and i went the full 14 days over which was horrible but i have to say i went in on a wed and had him thur evening/fri morning and i was relaxed the whole time was explained everything step by step & was assured all was going to plan (well apart from the fact he didnt want to come out :rolleyes:) i was scaned at 12 weeks and again at 20. 32 and 36 weeks (im not sure if this is the norm or not) yes you did have to wait to see a consultant at the clinics but i always found them to be very helpful and will to adress any queries i had. however the only problem i had was they wouldnt allow my partner to stay with me when i was on the ward waiting for the induction to take effect (this was at night so at 9pm he had to leave but was called back at 3am when i was moved to delivery suite) all in all i would rate the hospital 9/10. my second lil fella came in a bit of a rush arrived at 4pm was crawling up the walls and examined straight away was 7cm gone so brought up to delivery suite & told no epidural however i didnt dilate further for the next hour so i was given epidural & then all of a sudden i went to 10cm. i couldnt fault the midwives on anything was so nice and pleasant, even met her weeks later and she remembered me and asked how baby was getting on.
everyone will have there own experiences and so on, only you know what type of care you feel you would want or need.

Sparky100

I know I am a worrier and just nervous as to pick one where I will be talked through everything and given good support as been a first timer I will be so so green.....

Thanks for all those replies. I know there are negatives and positives with them all.

guess hear so much that Holles st is so good but given my first would like to consider Coombe or Rotunda too.

Classact

Is it hard to get an appointment in any of these hospitals in order to have your baby there?

It's good to be able to read reviews on people's experiences of different hospitals though. If anyone else has any to share I'd love if ye could share your view...

Thanks

January

Not hard at all, but just ring up the minute you find out your pregnant! Even if you book into the three hospitals and decide before the appointments which one you will attend if you haven't decided which one you would like to attend, just remember to cancel the other appointments if you do this so the slot can be given away!

leah24

The Coombe is a great hospital, although I had my two in the Rotunda and ended having two bloody emergency sections. I plan on having a vaginal birth after c-section on my next one and no one will tell me different. The biggest public room in the Coombe has 6 beds whereas the rotunda has like 14 on their florence nightinggale ward its ridiculous!!Good luck with your hospital choice,everyone has different experiences of different hospitals!

beachbabe

I went private to the coombe, for a high risk pregnancy, and was in and out A LOT, every 2nd or 3rd day towards the end. I only met 1 member of staff who was unpleasent, and I met a lot of staff!
Can not reccomend it highly enough.

January

leah24 wrote: »

The Coombe is a great hospital, although I had my two in the Rotunda and ended having two bloody emergency sections. I plan on having a vaginal birth after c-section on my next one and no one will tell me different. The biggest public room in the Coombe has 6 beds whereas the rotunda has like 14 on their florence nightinggale ward its ridiculous!!Good luck with your hospital choice,everyone has different experiences of different hospitals!

You're really going to have a hard time finding someone to give you a vaginal birth after c-section... do your research and know what you're talking about and you'll probably just give the consultants enough belief to give you a trial labour, although at the first signs of distress they'll try talk to you into a section.

Sorry Thaedydal, realised you edited my post because of the abbreviation! forgot all about it... a VBA2C basically is a vaginal birth after two c sections, which is virtually uncommon in Ireland, not a lot of consultants will over a vaginal birth after 1 c section let alone after 2 of 2 of them, hence the reason why I mentioned it, not many of the consultants have the experience for it.

leah24

Hi January
The coombe are being very suportive of my choice. I am a student midwife and i have been in contact with the woman who set up caesarean.org.uk. the doctor in the coombe gave me a 70% chance. Doctors in this country just dont work on evidence based practice, RCOG recommendations say that women should not be discouraged from having a vbac2 and the rupture rate really isnt that different to the rate of rupture after 1 c-section. This country makes me so angry with their active management making women labour against the clock!!!the rotunda however tried to scare the hell out of my partner and treated me like i was mad!!so much for informed choice

Dean3y

I attended the Coombe ( public) and had few complications in my pregnancy. They get the thumbs up from me. They put me at ease all the time. I was treated brilliantly. I have no experience of any other hospital though. They have a small carpark too- unlike Holles St.

January

leah24 wrote: »

Hi January
The coombe are being very suportive of my choice. I am a student midwife and i have been in contact with the woman who set up caesarean.org.uk. the doctor in the coombe gave me a 70% chance. Doctors in this country just dont work on evidence based practice, RCOG recommendations say that women should not be discouraged from having a vbac2 and the rupture rate really isnt that different to the rate of rupture after 1 c-section. This country makes me so angry with their active management making women labour against the clock!!!the rotunda however tried to scare the hell out of my partner and treated me like i was mad!!so much for informed choice

That's great to hear

Dean3y, the carpark is pretty expensive though!!

Dean3y

When my husband was visiting me for a few hours at a time, it only cost approx €4- €5
But I guess it also cost that if I just had to go in for a quick visit.. So yes, it can be quite pricey