"Princess Alexandra Hospital Harlow Maternity"

My daughter booked to deliver in Harlow and we were impressed that they got outstanding from the CQC! Unfortunately, her baby was breech and could not be turned, so she had an elective caesarian section at term.

The operation was carried out under a spinal and the baby was delivered safely in the morning.  We visited in the afternoon. We found that the staff on the postnatal wards were busy, but efficient and caring.  Someone always came when we pressed the buzzer and  help was available for breast feeding.

Because there was another family in the bed next to my daughter, she got very little rest, and eventually asked to move to a private room (there was a charge for this) which was much better, and had a folding bed which her husband could use.  However, the private room was rather too hot (>22deg C), and there were some delays when she needed pain relief during the night, even though she was only having paracetamol and ibuprofen every 6-8 hours.

My daughter was discharged the next day (about 32 hours after the operation).

She was visited by a midwife at her home the next day. Unfortunately, she then developed a severe headache and could not sit up for three days, due to a complication of the spinal, and was requiring co-codamol regularly to control the pain.  The midwife continued to support her with her breast feeding, which became difficult.

We were impressed that she was able to talk directly to an anaesthetist daily over the weekend, and that we could eventually return to the labour ward for a further procedure to stop the leakage of CSF. This was successful ,and she went home again the same day (day 5).  The medical staff and midwives were very sympathetic and professional.

We were able to cope as a family, because with a medical background, we had planned to stay as long as we were needed at our daughter's house.  In the end, we stayed 10 days.  I could not help wondering if she should have stayed in hospital a little longer after the caesarian, but she was certainly much more comfortable to be at home postoperativley if at all possible. She was unlucky to have this rare complication.

Overall, a stressful experience, which turned out as well as we could have expected in the end, for both parents and baby!