Mater Mothers Private. is it good?

[littlepickle]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone out there has anything to say about Mater Mothers Private Hospital in Brisbane in regards to the staff, facilities, good/bad experiences, things that make it special, that sort of thing..
It is the closest hospital to me as I just live around the corner from it, but I just wanted to get an idea of what it is like from other mums

Any information would be great! Thanks

[sopolicha]

Hello,

I had my first bub at the Mater Mother's Private in August 2001. I had a week in hospital prior to my bub being born by emergency caesar at 34 weeks, which meant that she then spent 3 weeks in the special care nursery there.

I am sorry but I am not able to recommend it all. I had terrific doctors, and one outstanding midwife, but that is about it. I would not go back. EVER.

That is only my experience, other's have probably had more positive experiences.
The Mater Private at Redlands is a completely different story. I had my second child there in Jan 03 and am going back for my third in September.

Good Luck.

[drewid]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone out there has anything to say about Mater Mothers Private Hospital in Brisbane in regards to the staff, facilities, good/bad experiences, things that make it special, that sort of thing..
It is the closest hospital to me as I just live around the corner from it, but I just wanted to get an idea of what it is like from other mums

Any information would be great! Thanks

Hello

I had my baby at MMP in February this year. Having only had 1 baby, its hard to say what the hospital was like, as i had nothing to compare it to! But I shall try, cos I Have been thinking it over a bit lately, wondering whether i'd go back for my 2nd.

Staff - This is a dubious one. There were a gazillion midwives. I had one in particular on the night i laboured upstairs in my room and she was fabulous, very helpful and friendly. The midwife i had in the birthing room was fantastic, very supportive and helpful and motivating. SHe is the only midwife (out of the 15 or so i met!) whose name I remember, so she made an impression. What annoyed me was the turnover in staff upstairs though - over a 3 day stay, i saw soooo many different ones and it got really hard. Some of them were not very nice or helpful, which was stressful as i was having trouble breastfeeding, and some of them couldn't offer any real assistance. Having said that, there were one or two that were great. But it does get on your nerves seeing a different one every time the door opens! One thing i DO have to say about the staff though, is that most of them assume that you already know what to do with the baby. And as it was my first baby, i really didn't have a clue!! My hubby and I didn't even know how to bath the baby and we had to ask several times for someone to help us the first time and i think it was about the 3rd day before Andrew got to have his first bath! Plus, no one told us we had to fill in the forms on his chart every time we changed his nappy or fed him - we had no idea!!! They really need a bit of an orientation for the parents when they come up to their room after giving birth i think.

Facilities - The birthing room was just what i expected one to be. They all have an ensuite in them, which was great, as i spent a good hour in there pushing on the loo! (very interesting that). They had all the bits in the room, the birthing ball and stool and cushiosn and pillows so you could try different positions. But none of that interested me anyway, i was just leaning over some cushions on the bed most of the time. The rooms upstairs were ok - we had a private room, but it only had a single bed and a recliner which was a pain in the butt! My husband stayed over every night and had to sleep on the recliner which wasn't the most comfy, or squish into the single bed with me. Plus, the single bed wasn't made for short people!!!! It was too high, even on its lowest level, for me to get in and out of comfortably, and that was majorly painful in the first day or so, cos i had stitches and it just seriously wasn't worth the effort to get out of bed! But other than that, the room was fine - an ensuite, tv and a window with a decent view!


One thing that is nice, is that they offer you the option to put your bub in the nursery at night time if you need a break and they bring it back to you when it needs a feed. Nice, but we didn't use it, cos we figured we were going to be doing it alone at home, and sleepless nights would be part and package of the deal!!

Not sure if this has been helpful at all, but if you want to ask me anything specific you can PM me and i'll be happy to help )

Sorry i can't really say whether i liked it or not - it just was what it was!! I didn't have a bad experience, but there are things that could be improved. I guess if i'd had a difficult birth i might feel differently, but all went smoothly so no real complaints!

Good luck making your decision (sorry for the length of my post!!!)

[draught]

I had my first daughter in Canberra and loved the hospital - I gave gifts to everyone when we left I loved them that much. I had my second at MMPH in Brisbane and I am not a fan.

I went in to be induced - it took over an hour before they worked out who was responsible for putting the gel on. Then we were taken up to a room and left there. No one checked on us for over two hours and we were miles away from anyone, in a single room with no ensuite, with empty rooms around us. When the midwife eventually did show up I had just started labour and she wouldn't believe me that my contractions were 1 1/2 minutes apart - I had to insist that she took me down to the delivery room. The midwife in the delivery room was okay - can't remember her name but have no complaints. The room was well equipped although they don't have baths which I really missed. My labour was incredibly quick so I didn't really care in the end.

Back upstairs we did get a double bed and ensuite. The midwife who checked me in basically told me that she wouldn't be checking on me - it was up to me to ask for help. That sort of set the scenario for the next 5 days - I felt that I was inconveniencing them when I asked for assistance. It took two days before anyone would believe me that I was having trouble feeding my daughter, and another two days before someone finally organised the lactation consultant they had been promising. It only happened when I finally snapped and took it out on the poor woman who had just started her shift and had no idea of the bad advice I had been having.

To add insult to injury my toilet stopped flushing on the first day and it took over 24 hours of me asking every three hours or so before someone turned up to fix it. They would all deny knowledge of it and treated me like an idiot who didn't know how to flush a loo!!??!!

Each new midwife would not only contradict the advice of the one on the previous shift but would also criticise the person from the earlier shift - really unprofessional.

Having said all of that - if I had a third child I would probably go there again as my doctor only delivers there and I really like him, it is close to my home, and from what I hear, there are problems with all of the alternatives in my area anyway.

What I would say is that you should remember that you are paying for it. After I left I realised that if I was in a hotel that cost $500 a night there is no way I would accept treatment like that, so I have no idea why I was as forgiving of them as I was!

[littlepickle]

Hi guys,

Thanks for taking the time to tell me of your experiences at Mater Mothers, to be honest, your experiences do mirror the bad reports I have heard from another person. I am seriously considering going elsewhere, although I live in West End which is why mater mothers would have been the ideal choice :-(
I think it is terrible that you can be kind of left to beel that you being there is an imposition on the staff! You are completely right about the fact that you are paying for it! You would be straight to reception kicking up a real stink if it was a hotel that was treating you in that manner!!

Thanks Nicole for your honest opinion, I really appreciate it as I wanted to be as informed as possible before making a choice. Its probably one of the only times most of us can ever "plan" to be in hospital so I think it makes sense to do a bit of homework
I havent heard much about the Wesley, thats not too far away I guess, I have als been told that RWH will take private patients also
Might have to do a bit more research..

Thanks again

[sopolicha]

I am glad that other people did not have positive experiences with the MMPH. I am sorry that I was not more specific.

Although it sounds like you making your mind up, my close girlfriend had her first child there - naturally - and they did not bother to clean the bubby up afterwards until the next day, so she had caked on blood etc stuck to her head for a couple of days, not nice, just lazy.

I have had a couple of friends use the Wesley and they have had no complaints (not for thier first child mind you).

[xkwzit]

Hi All
I don't have direct expereince with the Mater, but had one friend who delivered there with no complaints (but maybe their standards are low ) and another who (in her words) was put in a storage room to labour and had to get a bit psycho before they would take her to the delivery room.

Unfortunately, I think that you'll hear horror stories about every hospital. I had problems at the Wesley first time around, lots of different midwives all doing everything different ways, taking AGES to org a lactation consultant, clean the room, all sorts of people barging in every 5 minutes without any regard to your privacy, not being given presrcibed medication and requested painkillers, me being told I would be leaving on a certain day, me refusing to leave on that day until I had seen both my OB and PAED.

The second time around it was much better, I met a lovely Irish midwife, who was very chatty and helpful (but I did have to DEMAND that they regularly check my newborns temp - paed had requested it in our notes, as I had a group B strep infection at the time of delivery - still can't wrap my head around that issue ). On the plus side, the Wesley does have a nursery that you can use when you need a break. However, if cord blood donation is important to you, that is not an option at the Wesley (but it is at the Mater).

I think that wherever you go the secret is to know what you want and DEMAND help when you need it and DO NOT feel that you are inconveniencing the midwives or hospital (that's their job!) - if your wait quietly for your turn, unfortunately in our hospital system you DO NOT GET anything. Know what's in your notes so that you can remind the midwives about medication and checking temperatures, ask them for help or clarification if you don't know what's going on. Don't let them tell you when you'll be leaving, that decision is made by you, your OB and the baby's paed - not hospital policy.

Please don't get worried about this advice, I really don't want to stress you - just be prepared and you'll have a much better outcome.

[littlepickle]

Hi,

I have just read in one of my books that you can hire a private midwife to be with you throughout the birth and the lead up to it. Apparently, if you have your own midwife, they will act as a spokesperson for you in regards to the hospital and kind of make sure that you are comfortable. This sounds like a good idea, I dont know if this is expensive though, I guess it would be. Has anyone used a private midwife or doula?

I am sorry to hear or the bad experiences that people have had, but thank you so much for sharing them with me and helping me to make a more informed decision. The best recommendation in my boks is always word of mouth, it counts for so much more than a fancy website or advertizing campaign

Thank you

[claire&declan]

Hi girls,

Its unfortunate that a few of you had bad experiences there, as for me I had my son in May 2003. I was induced 2 weeks early due to the large size of bub. I found everyone of the midwives who helped out to be just wonderful. I had a difficult birth and ended up with 3rd degree tears, therefore spending a full week in hospital recovering. I had the utmost help from every staff member and have booked back in there in Jan for bub #2. I think with everthing in life there is good and bad in everything, I can say I was very happy first time round. PS. the reason why they dont bath newborns straight away is it changes their temp to quickly after the birth. My son was cleaned but just with a cloth, we then bathed him ourselves on day 2.