Northern Hospital - Epping (Vic)

[sandj]

Hello, I am new on here. Can anyone give me advice on this hospital? It's public but just wanting to know if anyone has had their birth at this hospital and if they are recommended?
thanks so much.

[MissBrightside]

Hi I had both my boys at the northern. I didnt have any problems with them there. The staff are all pretty friendly. They come and check on you make sure you and bubs are ok during the day and night to check you out and make sure you dont need any pain medication. They answer any questions you may have. So I would recommend them. I remember with my first son, the lady who had her first bubby in the bed next to mine stayed an extra couple of days cos she didnt feel comfortable leaving and they let her stay a bit longer.
That was the labour part though. The monthly and so on obs checks were a nightmare had to wait up to 2 hours to have a 5 minute checkup. So I would suggest shared care with your Gp if you they do it. I did shared care with my first and it was great. I dont know why I didnt for my 2nd though. Wish I had of, lots of wasted time.

[flo]

Well when i was preggers with no 2 (which resulted in a miscarry). I was booked in at the Northern and the treatment I got was dreadful. Would not get seen even though it was confirmed I miscarried and I therefore got an infection cos of it. I also know of friends who had babies there but they dont seem to have had any probs apart from waiting for hours to get seen in the ante natal clinic!!

[sandj]

thank you so much for both of your replies i appreciate it!

I have heard from someone else too that she had nightmares with the appointments but the birth and stay was fine.

Im not pregnant yet, but just trying to find as much info as I can until this exciting time happens for me :-)

thanks again all.

[Notchalk]

I did my Midwifery Graduate Year there, and really enjoyed it!

It is a baby-friendly hopital, and the language used in the birth suite was becoming more woman-friendly ie not 'delivery suite' anymore, etc.

The midwives were lovely, especially the one I remember who did the antenatal classes at the time. I felt supported and respected, and if the hospital was here in Perth, I would have stayed working there, but we ended up moving to Perth after that year.

If it hasn't changed much since then (4 years ago) then I recommend it!

Jo

[kayjay]

Hi,
I am new to this site, and to introduce myself I am married with DD 2y/o, working full time and 13 1/2 wks pg with no. 2. Nice to talk with you!
I had DD at the Northern and my experience wasn't that positive. I was booked in to be induced at 42 wks, but after feeling crook 5 days before, we took ourself into the hosp - who admitted me a little early as by BP was high. I had 2 prostoglandins that night, and after 2 other women in my room gave birth and were brought back to my room with their new bubs, the nurses were yelling at me for being awake at 2am. The Dr wasn't able to break my water in the morning, as bub was still too high. The Dr that tried to break my water was just horrible, and I felt really violated after the internal examination! The midwife told me that I could refuse any more intervention (but what was that supposed to mean??). x2 days and 4 more prostoglandins, and I was finally in labour. Got the drip and epidural, but after 14 hours of being induced I was still only 2cms. Into surgery for a C-section. The surgeon nicked a vein and I lost a lot of blood. On the day I was sent home had a high fever and the stitches wouldn't come out, but they still sent me home. At midnight the wound opened up and gushed everywhere, so back into the hosp, but no room in the mat ward so was sent to the kids ward, where no one new anything about looking after a new born. They sent me home after a few days with the wound still open and oozing, without any care at home organised. Not happy Jan!

[sandj]

Kayjay - OMG that is terrible i am sorry to hear what you went thru! thanks for sharing with me.
Where will u be having your next baby? (and congratulations by the way :) )

I am now considering Heidelberg, Public Hospital (or Mercy it may be called?) I am not pregnant yet, so still have some time to do some research. So will look into them ASAP.

Northern is still of interest, but after hearing your story it has put me off. Its terrible you had to go through that, did u end up going to another hospital or just recover at home? you poor thing. what is happening to our public hospital system?!

[shniks]

I went to the Northern Hospital and had a wonderful experience. The midwives are so lovely and helpful and funny! its not the busiest maternity ward so they have a lot of time to spend with you, they really look after you, and teach you so much. I even got my own room, which is great since I am a public patient. I had a ceasarian and no problems at all with the operation or the scar. The only thing I didnt like was the fact that I ended up with a ceasarian, they did try to let me go natural but my baby wasnt coping well with labour so they did what was best for the baby.
I would recommend it!

[megie shane]

I had my daughter at the northern 4 years ago and mind you I had 3weeks of pre-labour contractions and each time I went in you can get ur nice ladies and then their are some mean ones. One women told my mum to tell me what pregnancy was all about but we ignored her. Because the thing is the women I had in the preg area were really nice and i am going back there again for number 2.

[Two Little Buggalugs]

Hi Sandje,

I don't have any experience with the Northern, but I had my bub at Mercy Hospital in Heidelberg and I can't heap enough praise on them. They are a tertiary level 3 (or something like that) training hospital, so have specialised staff and units especially for mums and bubs. ie. other bubs will be transferred to this hospital if they are sick.

My bub was born by emerg c/s and was in NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) for 6 days. She is fine and thriving now (ie. a budha!), but at the time having her in the same hospital and being able to visit her any time was fab.

Also the hospital is private and public. I went in as a private patient with a private ob operating from the hospital, but I was only one of two women in the antenatal that went in private. The rest of the women were public and had great experiences with the midwives there, and some of them had complicated pregnancies. I almost switched to public but found out it wouldn't cost me extra as private there because of the set up. If there are spare private rooms, public patients get put in those too.

Although some of the nurses had gentler hands than others (when trying to help me hand express!), they were all nice. One morning I was sobbing in tears as I hadn't been able to express hardly anything and my bub was refusing my breast. This nurse came in and was an angel. I'll never forget her.

Very happy and will definitely go there again as public or private.