Sandringham Hospital Maternity Experiences??!!

[Kirst33]

Hi Everyone--

I have just found out that Royal Women's is now zoned and that living in ST Kilda I will be zoned to Sandringham. I know nothing about it and was hoping some could share their experiences and what they thought of it? There are not many recent reviews and a lot of negative ones so I am starting to feel quite nervous!

[Alexander Beetle]

I gave birth at The Sandy, as did most of my friends. I loved it, the middies were lovely, they respected my wishes. There is only two to a room afterwards, and if they arent busy you get the room to yourself (I did, it was great). Have you been for a tour yet? That made me feel a lot better, and I did midwife care for my appointments, so I felt really comfortable. This was four years ago though, but honestly, I lived Elwood/St Kilda way for most of my life and practuically everyone I know birthed there.

[fionaalice]

I also found it to be great. Go check it out. It's small and the midwives are great.

[Kirst33]

Thanks guys! (But would love to hear about more experiences tho).

Fionaalice: Since you were there so recently could you tell me a bit more about your experience? Do the birthing suites have a bath? Did you do midwife care, shared care, etc? Did you find they respected your birth preferences? Did you end up having your own room?

I am a doula, so have actually been to quite a few hospitals around Melbourne but never to Sandringham. I had my heart set on the birth center at Mercy in Heidelberg but was just told that because I have had depression in the past I am not allowed to birth there. I got over the disappointment of that and used to the idea of Royal Women's which I have been to a few times and thought was fine but today just found out they are now zoned. Sandringham doesn't have many recent reviews that I could find and quite a mixture of negative and a little positive so I have started to get nervous! Being a doula doesn't help with the nerves of a first time pregnancy!

[fionaalice]

I did midwives care. I was pretty unfussed about the where or how, as long as all was well with my bubba. It is very small and not very modern, but obviously they have all the equipment. The 'suites' are just a simple room with bed and equipment. Nothing fancy at all. They have a seperate bath and shower room. I had to be monitored thoughout my labour so unfortunately didn't get to have an active birth as planned. Therefore didn't use the bath or anything else! The middies popped in, offered suggestions were supportive but generally left us alone during labour other than making sure all was well. Once bubba was there they were great, offered support, advice etc. The middies there are very pro natural organic birthing. So yes they would respect your choices. First night I had my own room, the next two nights were shared.
Sharing a room was no problem at all, however there is always a baby crying somewhere in another room so sleep was pretty limited, but this may have been the case anyway with having a new baby by my side.
I was happy with the care there, that said I am a very easy going person and was very open to it all being 'whatever happens' ... I had no expectations or requirements really.
In brief, hospital a little old and tired, staff care amazing.
best bet would be to go visit.
goodluck

[mrsdj1234]

My 2 hospital births were at Sandy. They were great, but hospitals aren't my thing. If I needed to birth in hospital I wouldn't hesitate going there again.

[angelini]

I live just 'round the corner from Sandy Hospital but haven't been in yet. A friend is going to Sandy, went to the Royal Women's last time but it's now zoned, and she said it's a bit tired and she's really annoyed that there is no shower in the room - you have to walk down the hall. But she likes the middies!

[Giggle]

I have my first child at sandy last year and would highly recommend it. I elected for midwifery care so saw midwives for all appointments with the exception of one OB app at 40 weeks to review my blood work as I had low platelet levels (board line low ended up resolving prior to birth at 40 + 3)

I had a spontaneous labour with minimal interventions, gas and air and pethidine for pain relief and stayed in hospital for around 40 hours.

Best things I liked about sandraingham were that their philosophy seems to be very evidence based, natural birth and low intervention friendly. Everything that I would want to specify in a birth plan was already done eg. Minimal exams, intermittent monitoring, encouraged to be mobile durning labour, skin to skin right away and they were very good at making sure that everything done was with informed consent.

The ward was a little hot, cramped and noisy but I didn't really expect to get much rest in a public hospital so just concentrated on my baby and getting the hang of feeding.

Sandringham is an old hospital, not much to look at and very small but the midwives are excellent. I had a great experience and would go there again for number two.


PS: I should add that I had a textbook pregnancy, labour and delivery. it would be good to gain insight into how they manage things when intervention are needed or there are complications just in case.

[Kirst33]

I thought I would update this for anyone that looks for Sandringham reviews in the future.

We unfortunately lost our baby girl at 20 weeks in December. My experience with Sandringham during this awful time was really good, if you can have a good experience at a time like this.

I was in the clinic (where you go for the ante-natal appointments) when it was discovered (just by chance, it was a normal scheduled appointment that I was attending) that our baby had died. The care from that moment on was amazing. I was taken straight to the social worker who sat with me with one of the midwives until my husband arrived. They were very gentle and lovely to me and I still to this day deal with this first midwife, I have her email and a direct line to call her on for any of the many questions I've had. She also dealt with all my referrals and subsequent doctors appointments in the months to come when we had appts with various specialists at Monash and Mercy.

The midwives I had when I was on the labor ward were so lovely to us. At the time, the delivery rooms didn't have ensuites (they have been renovated since and now have ensuites). We were put in the room furthest away (a little hard because Sandringham is tiny) and they made sure we were the only ones using the bathroom next to my room so that I didn't run into any other laboring women. While I waited for my labor to start and while I was in labor the midwives were so kind and comforting to my husband and I.

Afterwards the midwives handled Monash and the pathologist for us, continually calling them when we had a question we needed answered.

We've dealt with Dr. Steele (the head OB) and he has always been willing to contact me and answer my questions and arrange appointments (along with the midwife listed above) with specialists. He even spoke with one dr personally on my behalf to get me an appointment.

Sandringham is a tiny hospital and its not much to look at but the people are amazing and go above and beyond. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hospital to anyone in the area that is thinking of going public (or private patient/public hospital).

[fionaalice]

Kirst,
I'm so sorry, that must have been such a tough time, I'm glad they cared for you so well.