South Eastern Private?

[aardvark]

Has anyone recently had a baby at South Eastern Private?

It's where I'm supposed to be having my baby in February, and I didn't like it when I looked at it when having #2, who was born at The Valley, but since The Valley no longer has Maternity, there's not much choice left around here now.

[JanetF]

Hard choice for you!

You could contact the Maternity Coalition and ask for advice. They are the national consumer group and you can find them here. Click on the Vic pages to find women to call. They're keen to help!
http://www.maternitycoalition.org.au

And there's also the perinatal data which gives you all the relevant stats for every hospital in Victoria so you can investigate which ones have the safest and best practices to suit you.
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/perinatal/downloads/annrep0102.pdf

Good luck! PM me if you want any other info :D

[aardvark]

I went and had a look through South Eastern.

I'm still not 100% happy with the idea of going there.

I'm idealogically opposed to pethidine in labour after it sent me on a bad trip in labour with #1, and was given so late because the midwife had no idea what was going on, that baby had to be revived. There's no way anyone is going to convince me to have an epidural. Last time I was fine on just gas. This time I was hoping to make use of the large spa bath they have in the birth suites - but it is "out of order" - apparently there is some OH&S reason it can't be used, it's working just fine. What a load of rubbish.

At the Valley, baby's weigh-in and first bath was all done in the delivery suite, and the older kids were able to be present. At South Eastern, the baby is taken to the nursery and weighed and bathed, no kids allowed. Assuming all of that wasn't taking place in the middle of the night, the older sisters will be missing out. It seems like a trip back into the dark ages.

And to top it off, the new obstetrician I saw for the first time yesterday has written in big red letters across the top of my file "Quick Labour", and warned me I need to stick close to home in the last weeks (like I need to be told), and not have to travel too far to give birth.

[JanetF]

Maybe a home birth would be close enough to home? The MC site has a list of independant MWs to talk to ;)
Hi, by the way :D