St Heller Hospital

I ended up having a planned c section at St Helier. My care throughout pregnancy was very up and down. Mostly good but completely depended on who I saw. I had an absolutely fantastic radiographer who was incredibly thorough and reassuring at 20 weeks, I was also so impressed with the MAU unit and had some amazing nurses. Sarah the manager of the birth centre was amazing. She was understanding, reassuring and filled me with confidence. Negatives: I was given additional scans that were reorganised as they couldn’t fit me in then all of a sudden I was told no more scans and clinical decision is to induce within 24 hours, over the phone on my way to a scan totally unexpected. I refused I was then seen by a horrendous clinician who basically forced me to sign papers and told me it was medical negligence to refuse induction. I refused unless they could provide a reason other than ‘my baby being large’ and asked to be monitored to assess if there was any genuine reason’ TBC in next comment

I ended up on MAU for monitoring and refused induction 6 times. The nurses encouraged me to meet with another clinician and we decided on a planned c section with hopes that I would go into labour prior. Sadly, I didn’t. When I turned up for the planned c section after being told delivery was essential they didn’t even have me down to arrive when organised. Despite this the surgery went well and the aftercare I received I will say was fantastic. I would go to St Helier again however and I’d love to utilise the birthing centre should we be fortunate to have another baby. My only advice would be to be as strong as you can, advocate for yourself and trust your gut. Take somebody with you if able for support and always ask for a second opinion.