wollongong hosp or shellharbour?

[jen0023]

hi girls just wondering which hosp is the best to have your baby?
good points and bad? any help would be great

[missie_mack]

To the best of my knowledge the only options in the Illawarra to birth babies is Wollongong (public) and Figtree (private) and it has been this way since the mid 90s. However if you live in the Southern areas like Shellharbour or Kiama they will transfer you there from Wollongong after giving birth.

I personally am not keen on Shellharbour because unless you get a private room you could be stuck in a room of up to 8 other mothers (from memory)

[katiana]

hi there, im from the area and come from a large family of recent mothers, and its a official, shellharbour doesnt have the facilities to look after u or baby if something happens, so wollongong and then transfer to shellharbour after delivery.

[lunawolfspirit]

shellharbour closed down a few years ago after the nurses where busted for getting high gas
you can get transfered from wollongong to shellharbour but i would just stay at wollongong because i know after hours they have more dr on the wards and in er then they do at shellharbour
there are also more staff like rns and the people who run the place at night ADONS, who are all trained and more then capable of dealing with 2 am emergency, unlike shellharbour who only run on minimal staff at night

but from what i hear so does figtree privet
one RN to be in charge of hdu icu and the rest of the hospital and the dr is only on call

[jen0023]

at wollongong hospital do the have a midwife group where you can go see midwifes for check ups? iv just found out im pregnant.

[missie_mack]

Nah Wollongong nurses were the ones busted getting high on gas- Shellharbour just cant get the OBs out there. They are looking at having (one day some day :rolleyes:) a midwife only delivery unit last I heard (that was 2 years ago when I was pregnant) I do know of people who birthed at Shellharbour but officially they are only allowed to birth 1 baby a week.

If your going public you have the options of the antenatal clinic using midwifes, shared care with the midwifes and your GP, group base midwifes, your own OB or the public OBs. If you make your appointment with the clinic they will run you through your options :)

If you decide to go private you will need to obtain your own OB

Congrats on your pregnancy :yelclap:

[lunawolfspirit]

at wollongong hospital do the have a midwife group where you can go see midwifes for check ups? iv just found out im pregnant.


Congratulations to you

im not sure about a mid wife group
maybe call this number 42534256
that is the number they gave me to book in to hospital, i go to the hospital on the 18th of this month.

antenatal classes number is 42534256 (oh its the same number as above)
(shellharbour) 42 952416
cost is about $150 i think or free if you are under the age of 21 or 25 im not sure I've been told a few different things

maybe they can provide you with more information.

let us know how you go

[kd2005]

im pretty sure shellharbour has been reopened for births. i think they done that a few days after i gave birth at wollongong. i dont know much about how shellharbour would be for birth ect but i did meet my midwife there on occasions because it was easier than going all the way to wollongong (i live in Kiama).
i Know that wollongong is great with the lead up to the birth and the birth itself. i chose to go with the midwifery group practice. it was great..if you choose this ask if you can get leanne, she was absolutely GREAT! With this i got her mobile number so i could ring her personally if i had any questions or problems and of course when i was in labour. She stayed with me for the whole labour and birth. Now the only problem thatt i had with wollongong was that they had too many patients and not enough beds. i was kept in the birthing room for 2 hours and then they were taking me to a room in the post natal ward. i got up there and the room wasnt vacant yet. They put me in the VERY public tv room, where they were having a lesson on breast feeding (i was bottle feeding). i had only givin birth 2 hours ago and i was expected to sit there with no problems. I was soooo tired and needed sleep. i wanted to lay down and relax but i couldnt. i needed to feed my baby and had no one around to show me where anything was. Then i found someone and told them i needed to feed my baby and they told me they would just go get the bottle ect and be right back...1/2hour later they returned. After this i just wanted to go home. i went home the next day because of this even though i now wish i would of stayed because i came home and threw myself back into everything, a 4 yr old step son, a 2 yr old daughter and a newborn. and df returned to work. i didnt handle it too well.
But Wollongong was good for everything else, i absolutley loved it there and only had the bad experience of not having a room which just made me even more emotional than would of been expected for just having a baby. Good luck with everything :)

[lunawolfspirit]

oh wow thats scary
i know when i was working on the wards we would not let anyone be sent up for the bed unless it was vacant cleaned and ready to go, even in the busy months of winter. i guess each ward is ran differently and you have to meet demands some how i bet u were not even near a buzzer while you were in that tv class room type thing so you couldn't even remind the staff that hey my baby needs feeding

as you can gather i am a nurse, i think i am going to make a bad patient :rolleyes:

[Diddles]

When I had my son 22 months ago now, I birthed him at Wollongong and then was transferred later that day to Shellharbour. I had the most relaxing quiet stay at Shellharbour, nurses were awesome, meals delivered to me - it was like a holiday (especially since I got a break of looking after DS1). Last year they stopped transferring for a while because of some problem, think they needed beds for other patients - but think it is up and running again.

Check Shellharbour out as it is much quieter than Wollongong - quiet is nice when you are warn out after labour with a new born to look after :)
I had DS1 at RHW in Randwick - now that was like trying to get sleep in a night club it was so noisy!!

[lunawolfspirit]

Wollongong hospital is noisy
the air conditioner come on at around 3 am
so u will get cold around that time
the floor cleaner polisher guy cleans the maternity ward around 5 to 6 am
i used to work on c3 and he got there about 6 and we asked him why does he start on the wards so early and he told us that if our patients think they have it bad he goes to the maternity ward before he reaches us
the machine is very loud and will wake you up

fresh linen come around that time as well

breakfast anytime between 7 and 8:30 am morning tea around 10- 1030 i think

it has been a while since i have been on the wards but im sure not much has changed
i remember shellhabour had carpet i dont know if they still do so you may not get the loud cleaning man coming

oh and the other cleaners who sweep the floors and empty the bin bags start at 6 but im not sure what time they would get to the maternity ward

[Mel W-C]

although not in there for having a baby i was in the maternity ward of wollongong hospital in august last year and i found it to be very quite(compared to other hospitals that i have stayed in).
Meals are a buffet style thing that you go and collect yourself( if you cant get up they do bring it to you) and you get whatever you want from the buffet so that was a good thing and the ward is also locked down about 8pm i think it was from memory so there isnt strange people coming in at night.