Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney

[Karina]

Hi Sharon, They wont let anyone book into birth centre or team midwives anymore as they are getting rid of those two programs and mushing them into one some time around november this year. They also said they might be getting rid of the birth centre rooms and converting them into rooms like the other rooms (i have no idea what the other rooms are like, but i think they are smaller, only have single beds, and no spa baths). They also told me they do not do water birth which is a bummer.
Oh well, these things happen. What they did tell me though is that with the new program, you get loooked after by 2 midwives throgh pregnancy (they work 12 hr shifts) and one of those 2 will be there at the birth. I cant really understand how this is possible though as surely they wouldnt be working 12hrs a day 7 days a week, but anyway..

Hello everyone

Just after some advise as a first time mum-to-be
I have just booked into Royal North Shore today - I am 10 weeks pregnant. I have had a big drama securing a place- I originally wanted to go to Westmead and did all the right things, had my doctor fax a referral letter etc... but something went wrong and the clinic did not receive my referral , and told me they are not accepting bookings for April - I am too late! So, I have booked in with RNS - but as I phoned late, my first appointment is not for 3 weeks away (I will be 13 weeks) and they lady who booked me in said that I might not get into the program I want, but I will have to wait and see on the day of my appointment. Do you think I will have a problem booking into team care (which is what I want) - I am worried the Midwife clinic will be the only option left for me, this is all so stressful

Has anyone birthed with the Midwife clinic - what was your experience like?

Thanks

Jess

[Karina]

Hi Jess, I wasnt able to get into Team Care for March - I'm on a waiting list, and that was when I booked in 2 months ago!! So I think I am booked in for the antenatal clinic at the moment. I've only been to my booking in appointment at 10 weeks and they told me not to come back till I was 20 weeks as they reckon I'm low risk, so i still am not 100% sure who I am seeing - the clinic or team..

Re booking into Team: when you go to the appointment, the midwife assesses your eligibilty to be in the Team care program, and if your medical history is ok and they have vacancies, then you might be able to go with them, so thats probably why they cant tell you until you have your appointment. I have no idea what sorts of medical issues would prevent you being in the Team care though. My medical history was fine, but they already had March booked out, so I missed out.

Did you talk to the booking in person called Ann? She said to me that she is unable to book anyone into Team anymore. see my other message above. Also, have you called the Team Midwives, they might be able to give you more info. I have their number somewhere if you dont have it. Let me know if you need?

I havent birthed there as this is my first bub so cant give you any feedback on that one.

Hope you can book into the care you want. I was so disappointed about not getting in.

Hi Karina

It is nice to talk to someone in the same situation as me. I would be really intersted to hear your experiences of the clinic - it is all quite stressful isn't it! Yes, I spoke with Ann who made my booking - I think I will phone back just to confirm what she told me, it is hard to take in over the phone. This is my first bub as well - so there is a whole fear of the unknown going on.

Are you seeing a local GP for your care in between appointments? I want to change GP's as I don't have any confidence in my current one.

Well, good luck with everything and thank you for your advice :-)

Jess

[yvonne]

Hi there,

I thought I should put my experiences up. I'm a first time mum and due in early Jan. I've been reading this post with interest as there aren't many other posts on forums about RNS. I'm booked in with clinic 9 at RNS as I was too late for Team Midwife.

I had a scare earlier this week and had to go to Delivery Suite, then stayed a night overnight in the maternity ward. All the midwives I met in Delivery and the ward were lovely and friendly and I felt really comfortable. The rooms were quite nice and as it was quiet I had a 2 bed room to myself with a view over the park.

I go to clinic 9 for my appointments and had to wait a while for the first Doctor appointment I had, but for the midwife apptments I go to, I get the last apptment of the day (3pm) and never have to wait. I'm not doing Shared care with my GP even though she's lovely as I just wanted to go to the one place for my care and not have to worry about multiple people having records about me and keeping track of records. At least at the hospital they have everything about me in the one folder.

I am on the waiting list for Team but I don't see that I'll be getting in. The midwives told me I can still have an active birth even if I go to Delivery Suite (rather than Birth Centre) and that I can still have the birth that I want. There is also talk about opening the Birth Centre up to everyone (rather than people who are going Team?) Its all very confusing and no one seems to know when anything is going to happen but I have been happy with RNS Clinic 9 and the care I have received so far. I'm now 26 weeks.

Hope this helps!

Yvonne

Hi Yvonne

Thanks for your message - It is so nice to hear other peoples stories. I am very glad that you think highly of Clinic 9. Today I had an appointment with an accredited GP for share care with RNSH in my local area (who was amazing, what a relief) and she said that she always recommends ladies to RNSH as she believes they are the best in our area. I am considering shared care with my GP - but I guess I will wait to see what clinic 9 is like. It is nice to have a few options.

Sorry to hear about your scare - I hope everything is OK. Good luck :-)

Jess

[Karina]

Jess, I got told that they didnt want to see me again until 20 weeks, and I was told to go to the Clinic 9 for that. I think I might go see my GP for some of the visits too as he does the shared care thingo, but I am waiting for Ann to get back to me on that. From my understanding, the hospital gets a bit narky if you just go see whoever for your appointments.

Yvonne, I'm glad you think the clinic 9 is good, its comforting to hear some good feedback from someone who has been there. I hope everything is ok for you now, and there are no more scares for you. Its great that all the midwives were friendly and caring. I really liked the midwife I saw when I had my booking in appointment.
Also, with the Clinic 9, do you see a midwife or a doctor each time, or is it just whoever is available to see you?

[yvonne]

Jess, a friend of mine went with shared care with her GP and had her baby at RPA. She was happy with that as it gave her the 'continuity of care' ie her doctor could notice if she had more swelling/retention etc later on in preg whereas if you are seeing someone different each time you won't really get that. For myself, I am quite aware of my body and how it feels (mostly!!) so I haven't had any issues with that yet.

Karina, I had my first apptment at RNS at 10 weeks. That was with a midwife. Then I had a hospital doctor apptment at at 16 weeks, since then I have been back twice (20 weeks and 24 weeks) and they have both been midwife appointments. I go every 4 weeks to the hospital and they have some schedule where you see the midwife every time except a few times through your care where you see the hospital doctor at certain weeks (not sure when these are). The apptments for the doctor are the ones that take aaages as they have to do their rounds and see you in between so we had to wait about an hour and a half when we saw the Dr. I think its good to get a morning apptment but I get the a/noon ones as I get to leave work early!

Everything is fine now re Monday's scare - just had a strange pain around my belly button which I wasn't sure about and a spot of blood (TMI?!) so they kept me in as a precaution - which in the end was more reassuring for me than if I'd just been sent home. They were all saying 'Your baby is precious' which I thought was really nice and caring!

[Karina]

Yvonne, I wonder why you had an appointment at 16 weeks with the doctor? I was told I didnt get one of those appointments. I was worried because there is a space of 10 weeks where they said I ddint have to come in at all. I keep thinking I'm missing out or they forgot about me or something silly like that. Is everyone meant to have the same number and frequency of appointments, or is it something to do with your history, do you know?

Actually, I'm going in for a scan in 2 weeks, which I'm really excited about!

Glad to see that all is good now re your scare earlier.

[yvonne]

Hey Karina, I don't know why I saw the doctor at 16 weeks. I just go to the appointments and when I'm in, they tell me when to schedule the next one and who with! My pregnancy is low risk as far as I know. Maybe you should call them up for peace of mind and just double check. At the first apptment, the midwife wrote down the weeks that I would go for appointments. If I can find it I'll let you know what it says. At some point I'll go every 2 weeks but I can't remember when that starts.

Is that the morphology scan that you're going for? When I went for mine, I drank heaps of water and had to go to the toilet twice while they were doing the scan but I still had to keep some in. Very difficult! Are you having it at the hospital? I had mine downstairs on Level 2 at the hospital but they didn't have a monitor for me to watch so I had a little sleep I was so tired! Husband got to watch it all but couldn't figure out what was what as they zoom right in.

Hi Karina and Yvonne

Thanks for your advise. Unfortunately, I have had a quicker experience with RNSH than I had hoped, 2 days ago I woke with heavy bleeding and they told me to come straight to Emergency.. unfortunately there was nothing that could be done and I lost the baby. They were so great, all of the doctors and nurses were so attentive and friendly.. just bad luck I guess. I wish you both the best of health and happiness.. and hopefully I will join you soon into the world of motherhood. I wont give up.

Jess

[Karina]

Jessie I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. What an awful thing to happen. Its just not fair is it? I really hope everything works out well for you in future. Dont give up, you'll get there.


Yvonne, when I went to my booking in appointment at 10 weeks, the midwife I saw, Corrine, told me I should come back for my next appointment at 20 weeks with a midwife, but said nothing of an appointment with a doctor. I have no idea.
Yes, I am going to morphology scan on 11th of this month, at the place on level 2. No fair that theres no monitor for me to look at. I want to see! Did they give you a photo?

HI Karina

When I spoke with Ann for a booking in appointment she said that sometimes the doctors review your file only and do not need to see you as you are rated very low risk.. so I guess that is what happened with you. Which is great news. Good luck with your scan.

Jess

[yvonne]

Jess, I was so sad to hear your news. I hope that you are getting lots of love and support from your partner and family.

Karina, good luck with your scan. There really isn't that much to see but they'll show you the exciting parts at the start and the end. Mostly its all zoomed in so that you can't even tell what you're looking at. We actually got a CD of images which was cool (but again, mostly couldn't tell what we were looking at!!)

[porkbackribs]

My DD was born at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) earlier this week.

My DW was part of the midwifery program that they run there - she had the same midwife follow her the whole way through which was really nice as we built up a relationship with her and felt really comfortable with the way she did everything.

We booked in as soon as we found out DW was PG and I have heard that if people leave it too long the program usually fills up first.

The birthing rooms are quite new and comfortable enough - the facilities were more than I had expected from the public system and in my view only a touch less than what the private hospital we were looking at (North Shore) were offering. The main difference for us was that DH could not stay overnight and the visiting hours are pretty strict however saying that it was good for DW to be able to get some decent rest and time with DD without having to deal with mass visitors the whole time.

The maternity ward is also fairly new and had some good features like a fridge in each room.

The staff were all fantastic, I can not say anything bad about any of the midwifes or doctors that we dealt with throughout.

We had some additional requirements as I have a genetic condition that may have been past on to DD and they were all really helpful making sure all the required tests we done and extra monitoring was done of DD.

Couldn't get a better hospital to deliver a baby at - from the midwife appointments the whole way through to discharge.

[me83]

Hi

My DS was also born at RNSH. I actually went through the caseload program at Ryde and had the same midwife for all my appts. I was supposed to have the baby at Ryde, but because he was overdue I was booked in to have him at RNSH and be induced. I was in labour when I arrived at RNSH for the induction, so avoided too much intervention (which was my plan).

The staff were all fantastic, as were the birthing rooms. There were huge baths which were great for pain relief, unfortunately I wasn't allowed to give birth in the bath. The only thing that was not so good was the food, but that was the least of my concerns. I would definitely go back there for the next one.

Hope everything goes well with your births.