Basingstoke or Winchester?!

Hello my lovelies,

FTM here, I’m moving to Whitchurch in a couple of weeks, and need to find the best hospital to have my little boy in and just wanted some opinions on the above hospitals.

Tia x

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Winchester is the best by far that’s where I had my daughter x

I’ve had 2 babies, one at each hospital. One was in Covid 2020 and the other 2024 and couldn’t fault either hospital at all!

I’d go with the one closest to you - we lived in Basingstoke town centre in 2020 and were sent to Winchester as Basingstoke was full. The 25 mins to drive to Winchester at 2am was not fun when having contractions every 3 minutes 😂 the less time in the car, the better!

Basingstoke is amazing!! I had my first at Winchester (shocking) and second was absolutely fantastic but unfortunately I do think it’s luck of the draw really! I work in Whitchurch (live in longparish just down the road!) lovely village!

Hi!! We’re moving to Whitchurch at the end of April, we have 1 boy 14 months and due a little girl in May.
My boy was in Basingstoke and I’d definitely be choosing Basingstoke again 😌 xx

Hi, I had both my babies in Basingstoke. My first during Covid restriction times and my second last year and couldn’t fault it xx

Thank you my beauties for all the advice! Ahh im so nervous about everything, im also going for an elective c section so I didn’t know if that changed any of your opinions?! Xx

I recently had an elective c section at Winchester. Care was good, midwives were lovely and parters are allowed to stay in 24/7 x

Hi, I had an elective c-section at Winchester. Care before & after was amazing. During the section we had our own music playing and it was so calm. Honestly it was a wonderful experience!

I would say being on the ward (I saw your previous comment - we were not in our own room) was tricky, there wasn't much space. But my husband was with us the entire time and my mum was with us most of the day after too.

Took a while to get discharged but I found out later it was a very busy day for them so I think the staff were rushed off their feet. I had problems feeding at the beginning so that was another reason it took longer as they wanted to make sure I was totally happy before I left.

Hope that helps! Xx

I was due an elective c section, but it ended up being emergency due to going into labour early, at Basingstoke. The obstetrician was lovely (and actually a lot nicer than the one I was due to have for the elective). Literally everyone working at the hospital was lovely. We stayed a few extra days to get breastfeeding established, which was super helpful. I was able to get a side room and requested the cot bed for my birth partner too, which was great.

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I’ve been throwing up and taking a shit all night!!! I just hope that it’s not what I think it is

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What movement did people start to introduce? I won’t do anything too vigorous until I’ve seen the pelvic physio as I don’t want to compromise anything that may have been extremely weakened through pregnancy! But just wondering what types of classes/movement people started off with?

Induction experience

I just wanted to share my experience with being induced as I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought it may help others.

I opted for the foley balloon which was inserted at 8am Saturday morning, I had to stay in hospital due to hypertension and protein urine however usually you can just go home once this has been done. The insertion of the balloon was not painful, was slightly uncomfortable as there was slight pressure. I actually found having the cervix checked prior to be worse (again not painful at this point just uncomfortable) The balloon had little effect and after having it removed I was still only 1cm. Removal also was pain free and hardly even noticeable.

I then had my first dose of the gel and definitely noticed a difference, I started experiencing period like cramps almost immediately however they were light and manageable. After 6 hours I had another cervix check and although my cervix was soft it was still only 1cm and was only open at the front. I had another dose of the gel and felt an increase in pressure and more intense cramping where I now required pain relief (codeine). After another 6 hours I had another cervix check and I had now dilated to 2-3cm however was still quite difficult to get all the way through so a third gel was recommended which I agreed to.

Almost immediately I noticed the difference and was in considerable pain, I had paracetamol and codeine however the contractions had now become intense and a lot closer together (around 3 minutes apart). After a couple of hours I had my last cervix check and was 4cm and taken down to the Labour ward to have my waters broken and an epidural.

I had been in my room for approx 20minutes when my waters broke by themselves and I was now 10cm and actively pushing…. There was no time for the epidural and my beautiful girl arrived into the world within 2 minutes of pushing.

All in all I would say the cramps/contractions were manageable up until the third gel where it became pretty unbearable however it was for a very short time a gas and air helped take the edge off. The worst part about any of it was actually the later cervix checks where after stimulating the cervix my contractions were at their most painful.

If I had to be induced again I would skip the balloon and opt for the gels immediately as thy had a quicker effect and I would have been out a lot sooner if I had done this to begin with.

One more thing, I’ve never believed when people say “you forget the pain once they’re here” but I can honestly say this is true. It’s been 4 days and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Gave birth (vagina) 5 days ago and yesterday morning and this morning getting lot of pain in my right bottom side and lower back