Maternity Care in Swindon
Your Swindon Volunteers
Natalie - Lead
Natalie has a son & two step-daughters and lives in Swindon. During her pregnancy she ignited a passion for supporting birthing people in making informed choices around their pregnancy and birth. She would love to hear your experience of maternity services & feeding support you received in Swindon.
Julie
Julie is mum to three children and lives in Swindon. Julie believes that all women and their partners can and should have a positive pregnancy, birth and postnatal experience and is keen to hear from parents about their experience of maternity services to find out about what is working well, and to find ways in which services offered can be improved.
Email: juliecard.mvp@gmail.com
Where to give birth in Swindon
You can choose where to have your baby, there are a variety of options available in the Swindon area including
- Homebirth
- Great western hospital – White horse birth centre
- Great western hospital – Delivery Suite
Your Choice Documents (first & subsequent babies)
Home Birth
You can choose to have your baby at home. This will be a more relaxed environment for labour and birth and supports a normal childbirth philosophy. Research suggests that there is a higher likelihood of a normal birth with less intervention if you give birth at home or in a Midwife-led unit. All Community Midwives support home birth and will be happy to discuss this option with you.
Link to your local homebirth group
Great Western Hospital – Midwife Led Unit
The White Horse Birth Centre is an alongside midwifery unit led by dedicated and professional Midwives and provides a homely, comfortable and family centred environment for you to give birth. The centre offers 4 home-from-home style birthing rooms all equipped to support your labour, including slings to support alternative positions, two birthing pools and a quiet room for early labour.
Find more information here
Great Western Hospital – Labour & Delivery Suite
Labour & Delivery Suite at GWH has 12 en-suite rooms, two admission rooms and two maternity theatres which are fully equipped with modern equipment to care for both you and your baby. Each room has an electronic bed which can be adjusted to support several different positions for labour and birth. They also have a large birthing pool and all our Midwives are trained to provide safe care for labour and birth in the pool.
NEONATAL UNIT
Formally called the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU).
This unit looks after babies who need more than the usual level of care.
This includes babies:
- Born prematurely
- Who are unwell after birth
- With antenatal concerns
The unit has special care, high dependency and intensive care cots.
- It is divided into two areas:
- A room for the babies who need additional support and monitoring
- A room for babies who are learning to feed and are growing, where parents can provide most of the care to their baby (although we encourage and support parents to be active partners in their baby’s care throughout their stay in the unit, even when receiving intensive care support)
- Facilities include:
- Playroom for siblings
- Breast feeding and expressing area, with individual cubicles and storage for freezing your breast milk
- Parents’ sitting area
- Parent accommodation (two double rooms and a single room)
https://www.swneonatalnetwork.co.uk/neonatal-unit-information/bath/
Health Visiting
Health Visitors are qualified nurses or midwives with a specialist qualification in public health for children, young people and families. They work alongside families offering support and information around parenthood and early parenting, from pregnancy right through to when your child starts school. The service offers support for all parents of all children (0-5), whatever their circumstances. We’d love to hear more about your experience with health visiting in your area.
