"Antenatal, birth, postnatal and surgical care"

Despite working in health and social care, it's only recently I've had to avail of these services for myself and my growing family.

Antenatally I attended both Whiteabbey and Antrim booking and consultant led clinics. Everybody was professional and I received a good standard of care, from midwives, healthcare assistants, medical trainees and consultants. The clinics, particularly Whiteabbey, were busy with a lot of pressure on staff. Giving water to pregnant patients on hot days was a definite plus.

People that particularly stood out were Nick and Sunneva - obstetric trainees who were thorough and professional. I appreciated the frequent contact with the service. Shona (midwife consultant) and Dr Barclay in Antrim were also valuable members of my care, with Shona visiting me on the ward both in an antenatal and postnatal admissions being a pleasant bonus.

After my anomaly scan I was referred to Belfast Trust for foetal medicine input as my baby has an abnormal kidney. Here Dr Mone looked after us well. What was particularly impressive about this was after her recommending the NIPT test to check for trisomies and emailing my midwifery team, the same afternoon I was contacted by midwifery in Antrim offering me the blood test in the hospital the following day, so all I would have to pay was the lab fee. This saved me researching, attending and paying private clinics.

When it came time to giving birth I experienced the induction bay, delivery suite for labour and theatre for an emergency section. Throughout my partner and I were kept informed and not unduly worried. The midwives that stood out here were Laura, Amy and Abby, although that's because I spent more time with them - everybody involved in my care was excellent. Although when pain relief was requested anaesthetics were busy in ED, an alternative was considered and got me through.

Postnatal care in C2 was again good. The food is good in Antrim and the place clean and tidy - the domestics and assistants are brilliant. The obstetric trainee and anaesthetist checking in on how I had found my experience was appreciated. I did find it emotionally challenging being in a bay with antenatal patients however. As I've worked in neonatal care I think this was very close to home for me. However I appreciated the ward was busy as delivery suite was full the night before my baby was born. The initial learning to breastfeed was challenging but well supported by the staff and has enabled me to keep going.

Community care with midwives (particularly Emma) and health visitor Michaela has also been very helpful.

After being at home I then encountered mastitis which developed into a breast abscess, requiring ED attendance twice, surgical input, an inpatient stay on C3 and attendance at breast clinic.

Here the care was good and relatively prompt, despite a very busy ED department. The paediatric seating area was greatly valued to protect my daughter. For admission to C3 they managed to find me a side room to protect my unvaccinated infant and let my partner stay to help me care for her, and a pump was obtained from neonatal, all of which vastly helped my care and was greatly appreciated. EMSU for dressing changes after discharge was efficient and I appreciated the drop in nature of this, as life is tricky to plan with a newborn.

There were a couple of issues around these attendances, such as the surgical SHO not introducing theirself and their grade, the paracetamol overdose I received (although this was picked up quickly and well dealt with) and the lack of comfortable provisions for my partner to sleep, but the good care thankfully far outweighed these and I am now well on my road to recovery.

Overall my encounters with the Northern HSCT has been positive and I hope this will be shared with all relevant departments/people. This means that even though I had a relatively challenging birth and postpartum period at times, my family and I have coped well with the support provided.

Many thanks