Are you pregnant? NHS maternity services in East Sussex are still here for you every step of the way

The safety of pregnant people and their babies at this time, as at any other time, is very important.

There is no evidence to support or suggest that you are more likely to become seriously ill if you contract coronavirus compared to any other healthy adult.

It remains really important to contact your midwife if you have any worries or concerns, such as your baby isn’t moving as much as you think it should, or you are not feeling yourself at the moment.

If you have just become pregnant, please remember to register at a maternity unit closest to you. This will help set all the parts of your pregnancy in motion to make sure you get the best possible experience for you and your baby from the clinical experts in maternity.

Post-natal care and support will continue to be available to you when you get home with your baby and, if you should need to see your midwife, GP or health visitor, please get in touch as this appointment may need to take place by phone or digitally.

It is important to remember that if you are self-isolating because either you or someone in your family has coronavirus symptoms ,you must let your midwife know so that arrangements can be made with you for your care.

Allison Cannon, Chief Nursing Officer, Sussex NHS Commissioners, says: “Every effort is being made by all our midwives in Sussex to give you the best possible birthing experience during a very difficult time.

“They are also working really hard to make sure that the environment you choose to have your baby in is safe for you and your baby but also safe for your midwife.”

How to personalise your care

This is a very special time and creating a keep-sake personal care and support plan is a great way of recording your thoughts, helping you to make informed choices and to support your personalised care as your pregnancy progresses and during your labour. Things you may wish to include might be:

Health and wellbeing during pregnancy

Your birthing preferences

What happens after your baby is born

Reflecting on your birthing experiences

“My Pregnancy and Birth Choices” https://www.seshealthandcare.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CS50743-Personalised-Care-and-Support-Plan-for-Sussex-and-East-Surrey-Local-Maternity-System.v5.pdf, which is in use in Sussex, can help you with this.

Services provided by East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

Emma Chambers, Assistant Director of Midwifery at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, says: “We are looking forward to meeting you and your baby at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings to help you during this very exciting but challenging time due to coronavirus.

“You may already be aware that we have made the difficult decision, based on health and safety and infection control concerns, to continue with the suspension of our homebirth service.

“We remain concerned about the risk of infection to families and our midwifery staff, as well as concerns about staff working for long periods in homes in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

“We also currently have difficulties with available workforce to cover a home birth service. This decision is under constant review as we understand the importance of home birth to women and their families.

“We are urgently working towards finding an alternative venue to provide midwifery-led unit care while we cannot use Eastbourne Midwifery Unit due to its location within the hospital and will update you as soon as we have any new information.”

In East Sussex maternity services are currently provided from the Conquest and those receiving midwife-led care are being cared for in a “home from home” setting to make sure people feel comfortable and at ease when they come in to have their baby.

The Conquest has its own dedicated entrance and this makes it more secure to enter the maternity unit. The Murray ward, our antenatal ward, has a separate midwife-led birthing room and birthing balls making sure that individual choices can still be met as far as possible.

The Maternity Day assessment unit is also run from the Murray ward, seeing people throughout the day with appointments that can be referred in by the triage midwife, community midwife or GP.

Please check with your midwife to see which antenatal clinics are still being run during the coronavirus pandemic.

If you are feeling anxious or worried, there are services available to support you and these include:

Sussex Mental Health Helpline – 0300 5000 101

Time to Talk (West Sussex) – sussexcommunity.nhs.uk/services/servicedetails.htm?directoryID=16358

Health in Mind (East Sussex) – 0300 0030130 healthinmind.org.uk/

Brighton & Hove Wellbeing Service 0300 002 0060 brightonandhovewellbeing.org/adults

‘A positive experience’

My name is Jen Arvid and I had my second baby at Princess Royal Hospital (PRH)just after coronavirus lockdown struck.

We have called her Juno, meaning “protector of women” which felt appropriate with all the incredible women who have looked after me and her.

I went into labour around 6am and used my hypnobirthing practice to manage the surges (contractions) at home for as long as possible. With my first child this took about 24 hours so I thought I’d have a while to go still.

As normal, we called the labour ward at PRH to let them know what was happening. They were really supportive and said we’d be welcome to come to the ward at any point if we wanted a check, but my husband could only stay with me when I was in active labour and therefore using the delivery suite.

My husband and I decided we’d rather stay at home for as long as possible with the hope that we could stay together once we got to hospital.

Things ramped up pretty quickly after we contacted the hospital and by 9am I knew I was ready to go in. We were met at the entrance to the ward and taken straight to a delivery room, so my husband came too.

I remember now that I’d been told that second babies can come quicker and it was certainly true for this one. Thirty minutes later our beautiful daughter was born.

During the time I was in labour we had two midwives with us all the time. They were so calm and caring but just let me do my thing. I remember asking at one point what I should be doing and was told “just go with it, you’ve got this!” I felt so totally empowered but supported too.

What I hadn’t realised at the start was they were wearing PPE, but I honestly didn’t notice it at all.

I am so grateful they let me have my husband with me all of time that I was in the delivery suite.

I was then moved to the postnatal ward and we said our goodbyes before I was moved as he couldn’t come with me. It was sad knowing my husband was going, but I was comforted by the fact he was going back to our toddler at home.

I was the lucky one because it meant that I could rest with our new baby and get to know her. I had the most incredible 24 hours of care and was really able to focus on Juno.

It also gave me a chance to ask any questions about feeding and generally looking after baby.

I was lucky enough to be able to face-time with my husband a lot during my stay.

The coronavirus precautions were there all the time and I never once felt at risk of exposure. The midwives all wore PPE and changed their gloves after each examination. Loads of hand washing took place and hand sanitising too.

They distanced all the mums as best they could but we’d all been isolating prior to birth anyway so it really did feel very safe.

The view from Bolney Ward is incredible and the whole time I was there I felt peaceful. I was anxious in advance, but honestly the whole experience couldn’t have been any more positive.

Thank you very much.