Need advice about giving birth in Kapiti

Hi there I would like to hear from other mums who have had their baby/babies in the Paraparaumu maternity ward, Keneperu hospital, or have made the long drive during labour to Wellington or the Hutt.

I am due to have my first baby in March and live in Paraparaumu.  I've heard that its a bad idea to travel to Wellington hospital because of the potential risk of being caught in a traffic jam during labour.  When it comes to the Paraparaumu or Keneperu hospitals though I am not happy that an epidural isn't available if needed/wanted nor any emergency services.  I'm not really comforted at being told that an ambulance is available for such a situation.  A friend of mine has suggested that I travel to the Hutt or Wellington during early labour but I'm worried that it's a long way to go if it happens to be a false alarm.

Any advice from other women who have been in the same situation would be much appreciated thanks!

Edited by Sharlene28

Thanks Nic, I think the possibility of going to the Hutt might be a good one.  I've also heard that they aren't as much of a conveyor belt hospital as Wellington.  I'd much prefer to just go down the road really though as Pram Hospital is about 5 mins drive but I'm just so paranoid about the birth not being straight forward.  After hearing about your MIL being told that there was a possibility of having a C-section in the ambulance I'm really put off, I guess I should talk to my midwife but we haven't really got to the 'birth plan' part of our meetings.

I can't comment on down there but I had a similar situation up here. I gave birth in Taupo which has similar facilities (or lack of) and was initally really uptight about it. It meant that if I needed any interventions etc it was a 60 minute trip to Rotorua. Same with the no epidural - the only pain relief offered were either gas or pethidine. And there was the knowledge that 1 out of 3 first time mums got transfered.

But it worked really well. But talk to the midwife about your concerns, organise tours and make sure you're happy with your decision. In the end I wasn't worried as I was confident in my midwife knowing early enough if I'd need that transfer. You have to be confident in your decision.

Nic - I know you didn't mean to put me off, it was a good knowing that a kind of situation like that can arise, being a first time mum I have really no idea of what to expect.

Thanks for the tour idea Nic and Bec, I think I might try that.  I've seen the Pram birthing room already because I had to be checked out when I started having extreme cramps, it was quite nice and I think if I remember correctly the room had its own seperate bathroom and birthing tub.

Babe - thanks for letting me know about the false alarm thing, I was just concerned that if I turned up too early they'd either send me home or try to get me to agree to an induction, so I feel a bit better about that now.

 

 

I have birthed at both Paraparaumu and Wellington.

By far preferred Paraparaumu! I had pretty straight forward births, the only reason they wanted me to go into Wellington was because of my height. Luckily I went into Labour in the early hours of the morning so had no issues with traffic. I was checked before I left so no need to worry about a false alarm and also she tried to check to make sure that baby wasn't going to arrive before we would make it. We ended up only just making it with me pushing minutes after we arrived (the longest drive in my life!). Because it was so fast I had no time to even think about epi's or anything, I guess if you have long enough to need them you would have enough time to get right in.
After she was born I was immediately transferred back to Paraparaumu which was really good.

Second time around ended up a little more complicated. A week before I was due we found out I had extreemly low iron and the Paraparaumu were not willing to take me because of the risks of me bleeding and not having the right equipment to sort it out. The problem with that was after a very quick labour with the first one it became too dangerous for me to even attempt driving in and end up giving birth on the side of the road. Fortunately No 2 was late enough for me to get it all ok again. Did make it very tricky and made me wish I lived closer.

Personally as long as everything seems to be going pretty straight forward I would just go to Paraparaumu. If you do decide to go all the way into town, your midwife should know what to do, when to go as chances are they have had to deal with the same situation many times before.

The other thing to consider is where your MW is licensed to operate. She may not have access to both the Hutt and Wellies?

Personally I'd go with Pram in your case too, but then, I was going to have a home birth before I became *high risk* (and I found out I was high risk at 32 weeks, so plenty of time to organise getting to hospital instead )

LOL! And I would be that friend who is a wuss and wants an epidural this time LOL!

But that is because with DD I did want to try natural, with gas as an option if I needed pain relief, but after being fully induced(as in gel, then waters broken by m.w and then the drip) the gas and breathing techniques just wasn't enough pain relief wise, so therefore I decided to get an epidural.

So yeah, now I'm a wuss and wouldn't mind having the epidural. But that is based on a bad experience of labour and the pain.

Good on everyone who can do it without. My feeling is, all good to go natural or with the gas, but don't be afraid to ask for an epidural if you just can't cope, as you're not a wuss or a failure if you have an epidural.

Yeah I think Pram maternity unit would be good aye. I'm still trying to decide whether to go to Lower Hutt or Wellington. LOL And being the wuss that I am these days, I'm just going with either of them simply because they have an the epidural as an option if I want one.

I really don't like how Wellington Hospital don't give much in the way of support and after-care. Especially for 1st time Mums.

By the way Sharlene, you can just call me by my first name LOL! It feels a bit funny being referred to by my username by my best friend.

I hope you can manage to give birth naturally. It's nice if you can I think. It'd just be annoying if you need assistance and have to be transferred. As I don't think people need the stress of being transferred during labour.

You'll learn all about breathing techniques and massage at antenatal classes, so hopefully you can use those methods to work through your labour.

Hello, offering my two cents worth, I had my first baby in paraparaumu birthing clinic, it was good and bad for probably all the reasons you are concerned about.

I wanted to go there as its close to where we live, it was great no traffic, dh could come and go really easily and that was lovely, it was less great because I had no pain relief and I am a wuss and would have probably have opted out of natural when it came to it..........having said that, my friend went to welly and wanted one and nobody was able to give her one so that was useless.

Its really good to start in paraparam cos even if you have to go to welly they bring you back, its small, very quiet and peacefull and they really look after you.

I think the key part is what do you want, and talk to your midwife and have confidence in her, they are really onto it and at the slightest fear its not going ok you are in welly before you know it.

Sorry had gas, but I wouldn't really say that gas is pain relief, others may disagree but gas made me feel drunk but I was still in heaps of pain.

I think you can have pethadine, but it was never offered and I didn't have great rapport with my midwife so i didn't ask, first time mum and I was a bit unsure of the whole process.