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Anyone having or had their baby at St Richards in Chichester
Hi everyone,
We've just moved to Chichester and i'll be having my baby at ST Richards Hospital.
Just wondered if anyone else is or if you've already had your baby there and what your experiences were. Good or bad!!
Thank you xxx
We've just moved to Chichester and i'll be having my baby at ST Richards Hospital.
Just wondered if anyone else is or if you've already had your baby there and what your experiences were. Good or bad!!
Thank you xxx
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Replies
Did you already have an appointment in chichester? How did you like it?
Thats great especially if your father in law says so!
I am 26 weeks so went to there for my 12 week nuchal screening scan and again for my 20 week anomoly scan. I had to go back a week after my anomoly scan as they couldnt see my babies hand properly as she was laying on it so I guess they are pretty thorough!
They also scanned me at 8 weeks just to see how far pregnant I was.
I had a scan at 16 weeks too as I had a bleed. I went into a+e as couldnt get hold of my midwife. It was awful. They thought I was having a miscarriage and one of the nurses was telling me how they would take my baby out and everything. I had to stay in and wait till the next day for my scan, the whole time thinking i had lost my baby. It was so awful. I dont think its St Richards fault, probably just NHS in general as they had noone to operate the ultrasound thingy.
Let me know how you get on!
Oh and i'm going for a 4d scan on Saturday, its in Cosham so really close to us! Its only ??65 too so a real bargain, something to think about it you like that sort of thing!
When are you due?
I'm due 22nd Feb xxx
How long have you been in chichester? I hope you are settling in well? It's a lovely area to live in - I absolutely love the countryside here.
Only due on June 6th - so still a long while to go. Where in Cosham is the 4D scan? I know there is a place in Fareham where they do them (First View) which is apparently very good. This is also the place i should have gone if i had stayed with Portsmouth to pay ??190 for the nuchal scan + blood test. Portsmouth only do the dating scan at 16 weeks, which is also strange...the midwife said that lots of women in the Petersfield/Waterlooville/Havant area go to St Richards because the scans are so much better.
I am sure that the nurse didn't really mean to upset you. i guess they just want to prepare you for the worst rather than giving you false hope. one of my friends went through a similar situation at 15 weeks, but was also perfectly fine afterwards. I haven't (luckily) had such a scare (yet) myself, but i find the whole thing quite scary and worrying anyway. i think i'll be very happy to have a scan (had nothing as yet and dr. still didn't send the referral letter - sooo frustrating)
I'm not too sure where the scan place is, all I know is its in Cosham, its called Baby Scan Company. I'll let you know how I get on!
We moved to Chichester in March, its so beautiful around here and our families love coming to visit! We haven't really done much since we've been here, as all our free time is spent going back to see our family who live in Crawley and Tonbridge. I hope to do lots more soon though and hopefully join some mother and baby groups!
I'm glad things are going well for you! Pregnancy is worrying enough without having extra complications on top!
Keep onto them about the referrel, the doctors are a bit pants sometimes! I didn't see a midwife till 16 weeks as they kept losing my info and forgot about me!
Is this your first baby? Its my first and everything seems a bit alien and other than getting quite uncomfortable i'm loving being pregnant! We found out that we're having a little girl too so over the moon! xxx
I am from Portsmouth and am due in March. I have heard that Chichester has a good reputation for maternity care in the past. I however will be using Portsmouth as I live in Southsea. I do have to say the care I have been receiving has been fantastic and I have a wonderful midwife.
I had a nuchal fold scan at First View, Fareham. They were lovely there. I had my nuchal fold scan free as i am over 32. That is the cut off point for Portsmouth. I thought it was only ??100 pound at first view for nuchal scan.
I am surprised though that Portsmouth only offer a scan at 16 weeks to the majority of people.
I had a scan at 7 weeks because of spotting, nuchal scan, 16 week scan, one at 20 weeks over at Southampton featal medicine department, due to hole in the hearts in my family. I am also having a growth scan at 28 weeks (New Years eve) and one at 34 weeks due to low lying placenta. So as you can see I have been having thorough care at Portsmouth.
Good Luck for your pregnancies,
Mary xx
I finally got booked in! So having the nuchal scan in a week.
i'd really like to know how the 4D scan goes in Cosham. The First view one is ??125, so that is double the price...
Let me know how you get on.
I'm so excited about the 4d scan. I'm worse than a kid waiting for christmas!
Its 12.15 tomorrow so if i get a really early night it will be here quicker! xx
Hi Dizzyizzy!
I don't have much experience with Portsmouth Hospital but from what yogihorse has said the care is a bit better at Chichester. Also they tell you the sex!!
I'm sure Portsmouth is great in other ways though like FairyMary says.
You need to think about how long it will take you to get to Chichester when you're in labour too I guess! Let us know how you get on!! xxxxxxxxxx
I've been away on a course, so couldn't reply. Great to hear the 4D went so well - i think we will probably have it too, but lateron, so we can really see a bigger baby. My colleague had 4D done and the photos she had looked exactly like the 'finished product'!
I had the first scan (12 weeks - nuchal, dating) in St. Richards yesterday. It was very exciting!! it's amazing to see 'it' move and bounce around. We got to watch a bit longer as they couldn't take a measurement of the fluid for the nuchal fold while junior was bouncing about and then seemed to have a bout of hiccups. They were really nice and showed us all the little bits (heart, nose, brains, arms, stomach,...)
The choice between Portsmouth and Chichester is quite difficult and I have heard very good things about both. We chose chichester for a number of reasons (which may give different answers for you as you are living in Gosport)
a) from Petersfield Chichester is cross country 20 mins ALWAYS. St. Mary's is really hit and miss depending on the time of day (traffic and luck)
b) We found 195 for the nuchal fold + blood test a bit over the top if they do it for free in Chichester (portsmouth do a dating scan + blood test at 16 weeks, but as our midwife said - that's 4 weeks to get more detached to the little thing growing inside you...if anything ends up being horribly wrong). However as FairyMary said - nuchal fold in portsmouth is free if you are over 32.
c) Chichester also do a 20 week abnormality scan, which they don't always do in portsmouth (i think only if you have a higher risk pregnancy)
d) Chichester is a shared unit, so you can have a water birth or epidural without being moved floors up/down
We also got 5 photos at chichester 'free' (small donation - your own choice) while a friend said in portsmouth it is ??3 per photo (but am not sure if this is true)
And Chichester do sexing - but i think we will ask not to have that done...
On the other hand Portsmouth has a lot of positives too! It's your area, so home birth, local birthing centres etc are available. Even if you have the baby in hospital they can apparently move you nearer to home for the next few days. I also find the different areas and who does what a bit confusing. (need to have a chat with them again)
Chichester does not have a neo-natal intensive care unit like portsmouth, so any really premature babies will need to be moved (friends had their baby prematurely in portsmouth and the care was absolutely fantastic!!)
Portsmouth is bigger - so busier, but it also means that there are probably more specialists at hand in case of emergency
I had a look at www.drfoster.co.uk for stats on the 2 hospitals and they are very very similar (although midwife mentioned that portsmouth have more natural births - but i didn't find the stats for that)
Hope this helps...