Birralee at Box Hill

[stellaj]

Hi everyone- i was wondering if anyone has had experience with Birralee at Box Hill. I'm not sure if i should have gone there or the other option is Monash Clayton. I am having a friend come who is a doula so that increases my chances of getting what i want whereever i am. Can anyone tell me what they think of Birralee pls?

[mummycloud]

Hi,

I had my first at Monash, which is great. They have a birth centre there too.
Had my third at Biralee and they were ****. I've also worked there and wouldn't recommend my worst enemy to go there.

Have you thought about Angliss? That's another great hospital with a brith centre that Biralee doesn't have.

[Mamaduke]

I went to Birralee to have my first baby - I thought they were fantastic! The midwives (well the ones I dealt with anyway) were lovely. My baby was in the Special Care Nursery for 21 days and I couldn't fault them on the loving care they provided to me and Jesse. The doctors are another thing - can't really remember them (emergency c/s) and the doctor in charge of the SCN was a little gruff but as for the midwives I was really impressed. Had my second son at Mitcham Private and alot of those midwives could have learnt a thing or two about bedside manner from the Birralee chicks! We (Jesse and I) went back for his first birthday and had a photo with my fave midwife in front of the SCN! They were wonderful!
Carly

[TwoBlue]

i used Monash for both my births... brilliant, cant fault them
my SIL used BoxHill for all 3 of hers and she was always happy with them

either way you could have a good or bad experience... other peoples good experiences wont really guarantee that you will have a good one too... just go with who you want and hope for the best

good luck :)

[stellaj]

gee, that was quick. thanks for your opinions! I'll keep thinking about it.

[Worm'sMum]

Hi, I had my DD at Birralee and they were wonderful! I guess it does depend on the indivdual situation but I had no problems at all. And the night that I had her I even managed to get the birthing suite for the whole night and next day! - All the other rooms were full up, gee what a shame! Seriously though, the midwives were wonderful and the whole experience was great.

[mummycloud]

Hmpf...you guys were lucky. When I had Skye at Biralee, the midwife told me I had hours to go while I was in transiton. Because of the agony I was in and taking her at her word, I asked for an epidural. She said that I would have to wait a couple of hours because the doctor on call was busy and that I should have taken the offer of one hours ago (before I was even in pain :mad: ).
When you're in transition, you need to be told you are nearly there and doing well, not, you have hours to go and we won't give you anything for the pain :mad:
Then to top it off, she left the room and I delivered Skye minutes later, on my own and she got stuck at the shoulders because the cord was around her neck and nearly killed her. THEN, the doctor came in after DH ran out sceaming for help, and she yelled at me for pushing her head out! :eek: WTF!!!!
My friend had her baby there too and they kept her labouring for 15 hours without dilating or pain meds because they didn't want to wake up the doctor! They waited till 8am when the doctor came on call and he rushed her for an emergancy c-section. They had to bag her baby and the midwife popped his lung, so he was transferred to the childrens hospital where he spent 3 weeks in the NICU.

IMO they are incompitant fools at that place :mad:

[mummycloud]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I had Skye at midnight and they moved me into a shared ward room within an hour even though there wasn't anyone else labouring at the time.

I was crying my eyes out from the traumatic birth and a midwife came in and said, stop your whining and get some sleep, you have a newborn now so get your act together :eek:

[Mamaduke]

So I take it you don't like Birralee :rolleyes:
I'm sorry you had such a bad time there, but maybe stories of "popping baby's lungs", or (complete misquote - admin) aren't the sort of things Mel needs to hear right now. You didn't mention any of them in your first post - obviously after seeing how many ladies were happy with Birralee you thought you'd post again - probably not very tactful.
I had Skye at midnight and they moved me into a shared ward room within an hour even though there wasn't anyone else labouring at the time.
That's the public system sweetie!
I went to Mitcham Private for my second son and was in a shared ward for 2 days after his birth - sometimes you don't even get what you pay for!
Maybe Mel would have got the point after your first post - wouldn't recommend my worst enemy to go there. not much more needed to be said.
Mel, good luck with your decision - by the sounds of it you know what you want from your birth (bringing your friend) and remember that the staff working at these hospitals are concerned for yours and bub's welfare and that sometimes there are personality clashes and accidents but that's what happens when you deal with humans!!!!
Carly

Calm it down, please Carly. That "quote" that you included wasn't actually accurate, so deleted.

[mummycloud]

I suppose if I had a wonderful story to tell it would be ok then :rolleyes:

It's a bad place, and too risky IMO (as I mentioned before In My Opinion).
I don't feel bad about warning Mel of what sort of things happen there. Those 3 things happened in a 6 month period, too many in a short space of time. bad things happen in every hospital, but that many in 6 months!!!

As I also mentioned, Monash and Angliss are great AND public!

I also, would appreciate if you wouldn't be so judgmental :mad: (edit by admin)
If someone where to basically tell YOU to shut your mouth after posting about YOUR birth story, you'd be a tad pi$$ed I'm sure!

[Mamaduke]

mummycloud,
I don't think that there's any reason to start calling names.
Never once in my post did I tell you to 'shut your mouth' and I said I was sorry for what happened to you there. (delete - admin) The point I was trying to make that maybe it was a little insensitive to put forward cases of baby's getting hurt or dying to a prospective mum who is wondering what the best thing is for her and her baby.
If you have serious issues with Birralee then you should write a formal letter of complaint and speak to your local member about your treatment - and you could suggest your friends do the same.
stop your whining and get some sleep, you have a newborn now so get your act together
gee, I can't imagine why the midwife would say this to you.
Merry Christmas
P.S My apologies to Mel, this thread has sort of taken a detour - back to the topic!

[mummycloud]

you know there IS a PM button.

I DID realise that is was not something anyone expecting a baby wants to hear. I WAS going to remove it when you thought you would give your opinion on my post.

As for writing in a letter to the hospital, I DID!

If you think that I deserved to be treated that way after the trauma I went through an hour before hand, then you are obviously as cold hearted as the midwife herself :mad:

[Mamaduke]

Okay, you can have the final say because you obviously need closure.
Back to helping Mel now!

[whatwasithinking]

Mel,

I had both my DDs at Birralee and whilst there maybe was 1 or 2 midwives who I didn't like the way they treated me most of the other midwifes were really nice.

Both times I had my favourite midwives.

You get the good with the bad in anything I believe in my opinion only.

I'm not having any more children but if I did I would still have the third at Birralee (we have private insurance but I felt Birralee was good enough not to bother private).

Good luck with whatever hospital decision you make.

[stellaj]

thank you for your opinions, obviously a bit of disagreement on what people think ;) Thats ok and i will be keeping an open mind, i had my son at TRaralgon Hospital and it was brand new when he was born it was great. The difference down there is that there were no choice of hospy where you went to have the baby- that was it or at home. I am happy to hear any other opinions......Merry Christmas everyone!

[dna13]

Hi Mel,

First of all, Congratulations on your pregnancy!!
I had DS at Box Hill and i was utterly amazed at how wonderful ALL the midwives were that i dealt with. I arrived at the hospital at about 8.30pm and from the moment i arrived, i was greeted by the most pleasant trainee midwife (who BTW was so professional i didn't know she was a trainee!!) and made to feel really comfortable. I also got to spend 2 nights in the birthing suite and DH got to stay with me. I eventually went into a shared ward but the two ladies that were in there, left later that day so i had the room to myself. :)

I would recommend Box Hill to you. I will definitely be having my next baby there.

Good Luck with it all and i hope you are happy with your decision.

Merry Christmas.

[bubhub]

Please keep it calm - birth stories are very emotional things and we all understand that, but I'm sure you wouldn't speak like this face-to-face so please keep the insults and misquotes off the forum

Thx

[JanetF]

The problem with personal experiences of hospitals is that they are just that - personal experiences. They are totally dependant on which staff you get, shift changes, who you have with you and countless other uncontrollable variables in the hospital environment. To get information on any hospital you can get all the info you need from the Victorian government perinatal data statistics as each hospital has to report it's levels of intevention and outcomes to the govt. That way you get EVERYONE'S experience without all the variables and can judge the likelihood of stuff happening that you may want to protect yourself against. For example, if you know that 1 in 3 first time mothers are having caesareans (instead of the less than 10% recommended by the World Health Organisation) then you should either choose a better hospital, or make sure you take a doula and only turn up in strong labour.

http://www.health.vic.gov.au/perinatal/index.htm