Review of my stay at Postnatal Maternity Ward in Canberra Hospital

Babies need tough love to learn to sleep on their own. Parents (mums) need rest too and who can sleep with a baby in bed with you? It’s way to freaky.

Oh and congratulations, glad you’re both well and Tabitha is a very sweet name.

Hey Granny I think the only way a man will ever understand how it goes is, if they start having the babies in much the same way, haven’t we always said.

Then it would be luxury all round to rest with plenty of good home-style cooking I’m sure 😉

Oh well, lucky us gals are about to keep taking one (or multiple) for the team!

We used to joke that you had to book in before you got pregnant to get into the birth centre.

Despite that both my daughters were lucky enough to be accepted, although one had to deliver in the delivery suite for various reasons.

It’s a great model, basically a compromise between a homebirth and a hospital birth.

Birth Centre – they did offer to put me on a waiting list, but I didn’t want to have indefinite plans. And the whole benefit is continuity of care, which you don’t get if you can only get in there at 25 weeks or whatever.

As far as babies that come early, I think they won’t let you give birth at the Birth Centre more than 4 weeks early.

In any case – I believe the future of the birth centre is in doubt in the new Woden Hospital renovations. Despite being so popular it is continually booked out.

I love sleeping with my kids, but I love not sleeping with them too. We do a mix of both.

Birth Centre – tried to book in about about 3 weeks pregnant – already booked up.

sepi, this perturbed me – how many women even know they are pregnant at 3 weeks – how small is this place? what do they do when 8-month-ago bookings arrive, how shall we say, early?

great thread, btw – and echo all the other congrats, feathergirl! i hope you’ve not been watching that awful series on bringing up babies on the abc – at least not listening to the oldest-fashioned cow!

when will tabitha be posting here, telling us her side?? ; )

someone i know did that and they are still sharing the bed at the age of 6, almost 7. i was insistent that my daughter was to have her own bed. when she was first born, it was a bassinette beside the bed. at about 3 months she moved into her own room. i do not regret it. She is now 3 and prefers her own bed to ours, which doesnt mean she doesnt come in for cuddles!

i had my daughter also at the birthing suite at TCH, but ended up upstairs as a precaution because i was a high risk pregnancy. had my own room and stayed essentially 2 nights (she was born 2am, so technically one night, plus an extra night) Would go back there in a flash. it was great, even if i didnt get to enjoy the suite itself, the midwives were awesome.

Bed sharing with a baby is safe as long as you make it safe.

The major rules for bed sharing with a baby are:

The parents are not drunk or drugged.

The baby has it’s own bedding – put the baby on top of your bedding, give the baby their own bed covering and keep the baby well away from any pillows.

Don’t smoke. The smoke clings to your hair and clothing.

I have safely attachment parented 2 children. My first child died because the Dr.s screwed up so I took no chances with the live ones we, eventually, got.

I breastfed and co-slept with my toddler through my pregnancy. Then I co-slept and tandem breastfed a newborn and a toddler. I made sure our bedding was safe. I was never drunk or drugged.

Bed sharing is, in my opinion, the easiest way to ensure breastfeeding continues – just roll over and feed and then everyone goes back to sleep.

It took me a while to warm to the concept of attachment parenting, co-sleeping and extended breastfeeding. However, it worked for us and our children.

The private experience at Calvary sounds fantastic!

With my last child I went into hospital had lunch, had the baby, and went home for dinner that night – not because I wanted to but because I hate the public system so much now I would rather be home.

Either way, being at home or in the public maternity ward is exhausting for me these days so of the two I choose to be at home.

I don’t think my partner really realises how huge it is to give birth, physically, emotionally and hormonally.

You know, just because I’m walking around and I look ok, doesn’t mean I feel ok.

He’d put me on the phone to speak to everybody who called, visitors would come and stay all day.

I love these people, but I found it completely exhausting and I really wasn’t up to it.

I couldn’t make him understand, because I looked alright and I’m by nature fairly cheery and bubbly.

I honestly think the lack of post-partum rest that new mums often get these days is a major factor in developing post-natal depression. I can’t prove it, but!

Calvary Private for me was a wonderful experience for both my births, so much so that I get a warm, fuzzy, nurtured feeling whenever I drive by now! Double bed in own big room, good food (and lots of it too including a late night supper and also sandwiches and breakfast gear always in the kitchen for partners, who were also encouraged to stay), stay as long as you like, fantastic midwives always on call, etc.

Really the variety of responses here highlights more that having a choice is more important than trying to have one system that suits everybody. I couldn’t have dealt with Granny’s experience of 4 in a room (my own room was priority no.1) nor with being shunted out the day after. It was nice being able to consult a midwife in the middle of the 3rd night about the strange gooiness in my baby’s stumpy bit, those midwives on call were great, especially when the milk starts to come in and the happy hormones go down; and going home to a house that needs cleaning and meals prepared? Not for me – I didn’t really want to leave the hospital!
But then that’s my right to choose.

Sounds beautiful, Mrs Special G!

I also favour minimal intervention which was one reason for choosing a homebirth with my fifth child. My daughter also had a very positive experience with the birth centre when her son was born two years ago.

: )

From Mrs G –

Congratulations to everyone who shared bub/hospital stories. Every woman, birth and baby are different and so will our experiences with post-natal care…

We had our daughter (almost 2 and a half) and son (9 months) both through the Birth Centre at the Canberra Hospital and would strongly recommend it to anyone who wants continuity of care with a midwife (midwives look after ‘normal’ pregnancies, ob/gyn’s are specialist doctors usually only needed if there are problems); a ‘home like’ environment to labour, birth and stay in (double bed, baby crib, ensuite, couch, table and chairs, lounge room and kitchen); if you want to go home soon after birth (usually within 24 hours) with post natal care from your midwife at home for 10 days after birth; minimal or no use of drugs; support networks with the ante-natal groups organised into ‘share’ sessions where new mums and expectant mums meet to talk about ACTUAL experiences in a casual environment; and so much more…

Our experiences had us “up in delivery suite” with our daughter with our midwife plus an ob/gyn, registrar and a pediatric specialist as I had a sucessful natural delivery of a breech (bottom first) baby (no drugs), where we then moved to a room in the birth centre for an o’night stay. If we needed a nurse we could call the nurses ‘up stairs’. We got chinese take away for dinner (hospital dinner service had finished) and had all the regular checks and services the next day – newborn health check by a dr, newborn hearing test, physio check, etc. We were home around 24 hours after our gorgeous girl was born and saw our primary or secondary midwife everyday for 10 day, and they were always just a phone call away.

Our son’s birth was even more low-key. He turned from the breech position a few weeks before birth so he was in the bath in the birth centre with just me, my hubby (Special G), our midwife and a registrar (only because she wanted to see an intervention free birth and promised to sit quietly in the corner), also no drugs. We had take away indian for dinner, checks etc in the morning and were home 17 hours after our handsome little boy was born. We had 7 days of at home post-natal care from our primary and secondary midwives before discharge.

We had wonderful birthing experiences at the birthing centre through the Canberra Midwifery Program and can not sing it’s praises enough. We still keep in contact with our midwives (they also have a birth Centre Christmas party every year) and have made wonderful friends with our ante-natal class. We were supported with the choices we made, even by the ob/gyn when we wanted a natural breech birth. No regrets and it was perfect for us.

I know it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, infact I’m sure some people would be horrified with the idea of not having an ob/gyn there (if you need it you’ll get a Dr), drug free (gas or pethadine at most before you go ‘up stairs’), natural birthing (they don’t take on people who want an elective caesarean), strict visiting times, a nursery to put the babies in, etc. but that’s why there are so many options available to us.

Research and think about what’s important to you for ante- and post-natal care for you, your partner and you baby and go with it.

If you want to go with the birth centre/Canberra Midwifery Program book early!!! We were fortunate and got in straight away, no waiting lists, but other friends have not been so lucky – take one of those ‘early’ tests and call the Birth Centre as soon as it shows positive 🙂

Mrs Special G

Hey Feathergirl, congratulations on the birth of your bub. I went through the Canberra Hospital 4 months ago with the birth of my first baby. I found them to be absolutely fantastic and feel that we have quite a good public health system in Canberra. I had quite a long labour that ended in an emergency cesarean and the care i got was great. They even wanted me to stay longer but i asked to go home because i felt i would be more comfortable there. Very different from what everyone told me in that they want to kick you out straight away! And the follow up care was just as good.

Word of warning though…which you probably already have worked out…every midwife tells you something different! And they all tell you what you should do but at the end of the day you need to do what works for you and what your baby wants. And don’t read too many baby books because they are the same, they tell you what you should do based on the average baby…what the hell is the average baby?! 😛

They were certainly taking a risk with the colicky ones!

Feathergirl said :

They also didn’t let you take the baby home till you paid the bill .

How many new mums took advantage of that service I wonder … See you tomorrow! I’ll come back and pay after a night’s rest! Come to think of it, I’ll just call in for the day tomorrow, and come back and collect the day after! 🙂

Hahahaha too true.

Igglepiggle said :

I keep trying to work out who you are Gun street girl- you clearly work in the same place as I do…

It’s a big place, full of disgruntled punters. I daresay that makes me fairly generic!!

I love the name you’ve chose for your little girl, Feathergirl. It’s one of my favourites!

Glad everything is going so well for you and bub.

: )

I’m shocked to hear about your mum’s experience in the US. I would think they would end up with an alarming number of Caesarian sections that way.

Royal Canberra was wonderful.

I’ve had three kids with drugs and three without. Never had an epidural though. Gas and pethidine were the drugs commonly used. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that they were routinely offered back then whereas you have to ask for them now. That’s a lot better, I think.

At Royal Canberra the wards slept four, but they were quite spacious. It was nice to chat with the other mums through the day as we cared for our babies, which were beside us in their little cribs.

The food was a lot better than the hospital food I’ve had since. After my first baby they gave me a whopping great plate of corned beef and white sauce and I don’t think I ever enjoyed a meal so much. The food was good enough that I enjoyed making the menu choices and looked forward to them arriving. That had worn a little thin by the end though.

We stayed in for a lot longer – 5-7 days which gave you plenty of chance to focus on your baby, establish breastfeeding and recuperate from the birth. Also if jaundice developed you were right there on the spot for them to go under the ultraviolet lamps.

At night they babysat them for us in the nursery until they needed a feed, then a nurse would tiptoe in with a torch and gently wake the mother who went in to the nursery which was warm and brightly lit and friendly. You’d exchange smiles and joke around with the staff while you saw to the baby, and they were right there on the spot to help you out with the feeding.

Afterwards you could have milo and bickies and a bit of a chat with other mums or staff and crawl back into your nice cosy bed for another three to four hours of uninterrupted sleep.

In the morning the curtains were drawn back and the babies wheeled in while you sat up and ate breakfast in bed.

Our beds were made for us daily, although we were free to help ourselves to anything we needed from the supplies at any time.

They had physio classes every morning that you were encouraged to attend, although it wasn’t compulsory, but the physios were able to help you feel the gap in the abdominal wall and show you how to do the exercises correctly.

There was one night you got to choose where the staff minded your baby while you went out to dinner with your partner, which was really special. With the electronic pump onsite it was easy to express enough milk for the baby while you were out.

They also had fantastic salt baths you could take in the shower with you to help heal and soothe any sore, bruised or stitched bits down below and heat lamps were available as well.

I’ve tried a few systems and that was my favourite, mainly because it was so restful and friendly and supportive. I know that it’s not ideal for every woman, but I loved it.

I keep trying to work out who you are Gun street girl- you clearly work in the same place as I do…

“The doctors are rare as hens teeth”

I’m glad you found this feathergirl, as it means you didn’t have any/many complications and didn’t need them! Congratulations, and welcome to Tabitha.

Feathergirl said :

I watch too many episodes of Scrubs I guess.

…Wouldn’t that lead you to expect less, not more? 😉 Congrats on your new bubby.

Thanks for the comments, congratulations and stories, I wondered what the whole birth experience would be like in different hospitals.

I-filed – I had a girl we’ve named Tabitha, she was 3035g at birth and everything about her is healthy and tip-top. She’s actually 5 weeks now, but I haven’t had much time to get online to type up the review… other mums told me how busy/exhausted I’d be after a baby, but I didn’t believe them. How naieve I was. I laugh at old me and my ‘I’ll get SO much done when I’m at home with the baby’ attitude.

Slightly off topic, but Granny’s comment on giving birth in the 80s reminded me of this – my mum had my little sister in the USA in the early 80s it she HAD to have a epidural, they made every mum have one and you had no choice. Mum was known as the ‘lady who had a natural birth for her first child’ (I was born in AUS) and people were really shocked she had had no drugs at all. They also didn’t let you take the baby home till you paid the bill and back then it was a couple of thousand dollars for a couple of nights stay. I’d hate to think of the cost now.

Your reviews of your stays in Calvery is a bit shocking Danman & Sepi – as someone who had never been to hospital before I thought that I’d be, well, yeah, have help with washing, have my sheets changed, be shown how to look after the baby more etc but you do get left alone a lot and have to rely on family for any ‘caring’ care. I watch too many episodes of Scrubs I guess.

I could tell you what we used to get in Canberra, but you’d all hate me.

Birth Centre – tried to book in about about 3 weeks pregnant – already booked up.

Calvary Public – hideous experience from start to finish.

Sent home while in labour.
Shared room of 4 people – at least one will be an out and out nutter.
TV is free, but with four tvs arranged back to back, hanging from the centre of the room, all going in one small room you can’t actually hear it.
No contact with staff for about the first 12 hours after birth.
Baby seriously ill – told not to worry.
After 24 hours, baby has still not fed and stops breathing.
Staff finally whisk baby away to intensive care.
Basically ignored on the maternity ward for the next week, as baby is the patient and baby is elsewhere.

John James Private – much better.

Put in a small room and ignored while in labour.
Own private room with tiny tv (like 15cm).
Single bed – manually adjustable.
Partner can stay on matt on the floor.
Paediatrician visits each baby every morning for 5 minutes.
Nurses visit each room regularly.
Own bathroom, no fridge or kettle.
Chair for breastfeeding.

I’ve had babies through both the public and private system, all at Calvary. Private is nicer, but you pay for it. The private rooms are like hotel rooms, including bar fridge, toaster, kettle and little bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Great for entertaining visitors and getting used to breastfeeding. Also, your husband can stay which is lovely and makes night feeds so much easier if you’re bedridden for some reason (it’s hard to manage if your baby’s crying, you can’t get out of bed and it take 20 minutes for the midwives to respond to the buzzer).

I definitely think the continuity of care offered by the Birth Centre is something Calvary could and should provide.

On the subject of hospitals, I just got discharged from Calvary 2 weeks ago as a public patient. I had 5 ear nose and throat complications cleared up.

Normally each operation is day surgery, but the fact that I aspirated blood (read inhaled blood) whilst unconscious and bled a lot, had essentially 5 day surgeries at once, I had to stay 2 nights.

My first night was on the ICU because of the blood aspiration – they were pretty knowledgeable, knew all my history and what needed to be don, what diabetic drugs had to be administered as well as pain relief.

My pre op anastesia was 20mg endone (4 tablets of 5mg oxycodone, an opiate derivative) and 3x 500mg panadene forte, then the usual in theatre anastaesia.

As a result, one eye was looking up and the other down for 16 to 20 hours post op – needing a wardsman and my wife to walk me the 15 or so meters to the toilet.

Met 2 coppers while in ICU, escorting a nice fellow I never met but saw past my room a few times.

Hospitals are places where you leave your dignity at the door.

My wife had to shower me, and the nurse came in a few times and saw everything, but at such a stage I didnt really care I was that stoned.

When I went up to the surgical ward, once I was no longer needing ICU, that is where the dramas started.

Each nurse that came on shift I or Mrs Danman had to explain what surgeries I had done, what anti diabetic drugs I am on and my pain relief schedule. Each shift. Nurses aremeant to do hand over, essentially the outgoing shift nurse tells the incoming their patient load, and what each patient needs in regards to care. This happened few times.

On the surgical ward I was sharing a roomwith an old fella who had a septoplasty.

He was catheterised and had a cannula in but persisted in trying to get out of bed because “This isn’t right” and “we’re not meant to be here” and getting very anxious. This was a result of post op anastesia wearing off. His paranoia escalated when he saw my novelty Las Vegas county jail shirt I was wearing.

Anyway, I pretty much spent my whole 2ndnight listening to this guy panicking and kept having to buzz for a nurse/running out to the nurses station to find someone to calm him down. This ended up in him getting right out of bed and across the room, pulling out his catheter and cannula in the process, all the while, I was running to the nurses station again.

That and a lady in another room who kept screaming all night randomly saw that I was very much on edge and felt more like a psyche ward than a surgical ward.

In all it was a public hospital so what did I expect. They were competent, but there is room for improvement. I cant stress enough though that nurses are underpaid for a lot of Sh_it that they have to deal with and I sympathise with them.

I will end it with this… There is no lonelier place than lying in a hospital bed at 0530, valentines day, watching the first rosey blush in the oncoming morning sky over the bush in Bruce, listening to a manic lady scream randomly and a guy theorising about conspiracies while you know that your other half is in bed waiting for you just as lonely.

Well, I’ve had two births at Royal Canberra, two at Calvary, a homebirth and the last one was born in the maternity suite at TCH. I was also present for the birth of two of my grandsons – one in the delivery suite at TCH and one in the birthing centre there.

There are pros and cons with all of them, but by far the most overwhelmingly positive experiences were with the system they had at Royal Canberra in the 80s. To me it was the perfect balance and made the whole experience so much more special.

The environment really does make a difference to the experience in my opinion.

Congrat’s Feathergirl!

Wife and I had our Son and Daughter at John James 6.5 and 5 years ago respectively. Can’t speak highly enough about the place.

And Whatsup @ post #2 +1.

A work colleague has just posted in to Australia from the US an is seeking advice on this stuff. I’ll point her towards RA.

Congratulations Feathergirl! Can you tell us a little about the bub too? 🙂 I can’t report from personal experience but a relative gave birth at JJ recently – in all honesty, I think it’s all about the baby and the relationships with the staff, not the room or services. The parents would have been as happy in a mudbrick ward in a hospital in a developing country. Their room did have nice soft light though, and the surroundings were quiet.

(vg was clearly reminded that he isn’t getting any!)

i don’t know why people bother complaining about hospital food. it’s not a restaurant, it’s a hospital. so long as it doesn’t make you actually sick (ie food poisoning) then you should be more focussed on the medical care you’re getting.

Congratulations Feathergirl!
Seems some things never change. I too found the variety of advice from the midwives, especially regarding breastfeeding, frustrating.

We had our son through the Birth Cantre at the Canberra Hospital (under the Canberra Midwifery program) and it was a great experience. Would recommend to anyone – can be hard to get onto the program unless you book on straight away.

A much homier environment – you only share the room with your husband and baby. Fast turnover, as you are encouraged to go home a day after giving birth, but we didn’t have a problem with that. If you’d rather not go home, you transfer to the main ward upstairs.

The midwives are magnificent, and because you’ve seen the same one all the way through your pregnancy (and they’re there at the birth) you have built a solid relationship and understanding. I really think this should be the norm for having babies, not the underpublicised niche program that it is.

I’m having a good chuckle here at the first comment. Is it puzzlement, I wonder, or exasperation?

As for aeroplane food, I flew back on Premium Economy and the food was pretty darn good, especially the brekkie fritatta thing with a vast pile of bacon next to it. Qantas coffee is still stewed though. I don’t know why hospital food is so dreadful, but it mostly is.

Congratulations Feathergirl. Sounds like the Maternity Ward’s facilities helped you get the job done. Sounds pretty standard to me I’ve done public and private (a long time ago and in a different city), the food’s better in private but at the time it cost a fortune on top of the insured costs – there wasn’t that much difference. Enjoy your baby.

Thanks for the review on a topic no so often covered. A change from the restaurant or cafe critique that we are used to.

Hope you and bub do well. Take care.

WTF?