Births @ Birthcare

hi all,

i am looking into giving birth at birthcare in parnell as i understand husbands can stay overnight with you, among other reasons.
is anyone willing to share their positives and negatives on their birth at birthcare? is it quite 'hospital like' or more 'hotel like'? i have had mixed views so far from friends.

I laboured there and had planned to waterbirth there but my daughter turned posterior and I had to transfer to hospital for an epidural after labour went on too long.
I loved the labour rooms there, they are large and have all sorts of comforts like swiss ball, bean bag, big shower comfy chairs for the support people, adjustable lighting...
And the birthing pools are really big and comfy too.
My hubby stayed with me in the private room afterwards for $50 a night. They provided a trundle bed for him.
It was great having him there with us 24/7 and it was where he wanted to be, he would have been really sad to have to leave us every night.
ETA: The $50 didn't include food for hubby. The labour rooms are more hospital-y as the have all the equipment in there but definitely nicer than most hospitals. The rooms where you stay after are more hotel-y. Basic and not large but very comfortable.

Edited by caraMel

I birthed there and stayed there after and it was awesome. The rooms are nice and big, and I was in a pool for part of my labour, on a birthing stool and then on the bed.

I think many (especially first time) mothers are too scared to birth there, but we found it great. And I did have a slight issue after my boy was born (tearing), but that would have happened whether I was at birthcare or the hospital.

It was touch and go as to whether my midwife was happy for me to deliver there, cos I was measuring so big (she was worried he would be too big and would get stuck). My boy was born on the Tuesday, we were going to go for another growth scan the following Thursday, so he came just in time! The actual labour was really good, there is gas there but I didn't use it --- DH did acupressure which I'm sure helped in making it a drug-free birth. If you think you'll want an epidural, you'd have to be at the hospital for that. Birthcare only has gas or pethidine.

After my boy was born, I had to be transferred to Auck Hospital cos I tore badly. It wasn't rushed, they just lifted me onto the stretcher etc, and DH and bubs came in the ambulance with me. It was really well managed, and I had surgery once I got to the hospital. Because I had to have a spinal block because of the surgery, I stayed at Auck hospital that first night and went to Birthcare the following morning. So I had 1 night at the hospital and then 3 nights at Birthcare.

I was really impressed with "Hotel Birthcare"... the midwives were really lovely. One or two of them were a bit pushy, but really I just did what I wanted. DH stayed over every night and that was sooooo good. Cos I was quite sore, it was hard to get in and out of bed, and so he could bring the boy to me so I could feed him. I felt much more comfortable with this - when I stayed the night at the hospital, he couldn't stay, and I felt like such a pain in the butt having to ring the buzzer to get the nurses to help me everytime I wanted my baby. I found on the 2nd and 3rd nights I was reeeaaallly exhausted, and Harry just wanted to keep feeding all night when I just needed to sleep - so DH took him for a few hours so I could sleep. I REALLY appreciated having him there to look after me and our baby. Honestly it was the thing that made the most difference to me in those first few days.

As for 'hospital' or 'hotel' like, it's like a hospital in that everything is clean and hygenic, and they have all the equipment in the labour room. It's like a hotel cos the food is good and it's decorated in a more hotel like way, and it doesn't smell like a hospital.

One thing I would say about the food - your DH can buy their meals but to be honest it's totally not worth it. I think it was something like $20 for lunch, and it wasn't worth $20. In the private rooms there's a fridge, DH just got a whole heap of microwave meals, snacks etc, and heated them up somewhere by the midwives station. I could also have hot/cold milos whenever I wanted and I think toasted sandwiches too (I never needed them though cos the meals filled me up).

We delivered at Auckland, but transferred out to Birthcare as soon as the epidural had worn off enough for me to move! It was about 11.30pm when we got there, and we had booked a private room with the thought that DH would prob stay the first night, but when we ended up in a private room with a double bed, he stayed with me the whole time. It was fantastic, as I had real problems with b/f and having him there helped me keep the emotions under control!

I have to say that the "hotel" type services (room, ensuite, food, supplies etc) were fantastic....but we found the m/w's a bit hit n miss. Some were lovely, but then they would change shifts and you would end up with a complete flake or someone really pushy and old school. We had one m/w at 3am (after Oli had been crying for hours...) tell us that we should start co-sleeping with him, which isnt something that we wanted to do. Also because of my problems with b/f....we were made to feel quite uncomfortable about asking for formula, even though the pediatrician had recommended it as Oli was dehydrated. They made it difficult for us - like they wouldnt give us a bottle, only a medicine cup....just made it even harder for us. I never got an offer of a lactation consultant until a week after we had left and that was from my own m/w. I still think that its an awesome place though!

 

I found the m/w hit and miss too, the first night when we arrived I got a bit feisty with the one that was looking after me coz she was really bossy, but she ended up being on the first three nights and was actually OK. She even brought me a whole heap of breast pad samples on the second night when my milk was gushing everywhere even tho I had brought my own. But the last night when Chiara was under the bili lights the m/w I had was awful, Chiara was really unsettled coz she wasn't swaddled and the eye cover kept coming off her eyes and I spent 4 hours feeding her non stop and when I asked for some help she was like "all you can do is feed her" even tho by that stage she had a sore belly from overfeeding and wind. Then at 6am she came and yanked her out from under the lights coz she decided she didn't *need* them anymore even tho the paed had ordered it, and he wasn't happy when he came back later that day and found out she'd been taken out of them coz her bili levels didn't drop like they should have.

Definitely! One of the things in my MMH plan was that if baby was unsettled and I was stressed/tired they would take her away so I could rest coz that was a big trigger with the gremlins, they screamed the whole time we were at Birthcare but no one would give me a break and I went home shattered. But when we arrived after I had Chiara the m/w was like "we don't have a nursery so we can't take baby." I got a bit stroppy and pretty much said "if I tell you to take her you'll bloody take her!" In the end she was really good and settled so it wasn't an issue but there was no need for her to be so pushy about it when I'd only just arrived.

When I was there with Maya they took her for an hour or so when she wouldn't settle. I think they've just gone a bit anal on the whole rooming in thing.

I wish they had taken the gremlins away for an hour (or six!). They were so unsettled and I'd just get one down and the other would start screaming and they wouldn't feed so I was expressing colostrum onto a syringe. *shudder* it was awful!

The respite carer I had last night said she sometimes gets rostered on to Akl Hospital to the postnatal wards to take unsettled babies so their mum's can rest, I think that is such a good idea. I mean, no mother wants their baby taken away from them, but when you get soooo tired a bit of a break can make all the difference to your coping.

Hi

To be honest - I didn't like my stay at Birthcare. The rooms are nice, the food was good, but some of the mws leave a lot to be desired. The day we arrived, they were extremely busy. Had to wait in reception for 30mins until a private room was free. I was OK with that. But they also had a number of mw's at a course that day and they were under staffed. I had complete strangers walking into my room grabbing my breast without even introducing themselves and putting the baby onto feed.

I was having major issues with bf and wanted their assistance on how to latch properly and they just weren't interested. I told one of them it was hurting and she said well it will for about 6 weeks and walked off. Never once did they offer the lactation consultant on site. On leaving with blistered, cracked and bleeding nipples, they had given me an A rating on my discharge papers. If my breasts were an A, I would hate to see those with an F.

The other main issue was they wouldn't take the drip needle out of the back of my hand after numerous requests. It was bloody sore and kept getting caught on things. Mws said they needed to leave it there in case I need an injection. Turn out, I did need an injection but the grumpy old mw that gave it to me injected me in the leg anyway. This was after I pointed out I still had a drip needle in the back on my hand and thought that was why it was still there.

Anyway on saying this, number 2 is due in 4 mths time and will be going back to stay for at least 1 night. This time I won't accept the bad service and will be letting them know what is acceptable in my book and what isn't.

One last word - they need to get over the bf vs ff thing. Drives me nuts. If bf is not working, you have very little options left other then tough it out or start ff to give you aching boobs a break...

Cheers

If you have a private room Shirena visiting hours are 8m to 8pm altho I had visitors that stayed after 8pm and they never threw them out. In a shared room it's either 11am-8pm or 2pm-8pm, I can't remember which one, but fathers, siblings and grandparents can visit outside those hours.