RCH Melbourne

[Charlotte91]

Just wondering if anyone has had their little one in RCH Melbourne.

[DaintreeDream]

Hi Charlotte! Both of my girls were at RCH. DD1 for 3 months and DD2 for 2 weeks. Baby number 3 will be admitted at birth also.

[crumpet]

i havnt but a close GF has, her DS was admitted at 4hrs old and had to have surgery, she has done nothing but rave about the care they recieved!

[diva det]

yup one of my twins was in there straight after birth for a week before he was tranferred back to FPH with me
he is now a long term patient of the RCH and we still go there about 3 times a year for different appointments
we call the RCH the miracle factory- it is an amazing place staffed by amazing people
but you do have to stand up for your child and you have to make sure you are an active avocate for your child
they are very busy as you can imagine and it is easy for cases to slip past them or through the cracks

if you have private health insurance you also have the choice of going in as a private patient. you do not get any bills and there is no gap payments, but the service you get and the fact that you get to see the same doctor each time is a real bonus. also you get to see the specialists in their private consulting rooms where the waiting time is heaps less.

my DS has had 7 surgeries since his admission at birth also over the past 8 years so got to know the place pretty well. any other info you need to answer, just ask away

[Charlotte91]

Hi Charlotte! Both of my girls were at RCH. DD1 for 3 months and DD2 for 2 weeks. Baby number 3 will be admitted at birth also.

I love the fact that you've been in there so many times. DD was in for exactly a month.
What rooms were you in??

3 (4 days)
2 (3 weeks)

Then there was an influx of babies and in 3 days she went....

6 (the one riiiiight up the end that they usually use to store stuff in. She was shoved in there with another bub. They had too many babies for the unit and the Womens was full and so was Monash)
3
6
1
7

When she was in room 1 there were 4 other babies in at once. And DD was in an isolette, so very squishy.

[DaintreeDream]

We visited almost all rooms up the left over our time, starting in room 5, everywhere inbetween, up to 6? (the last on the left) after her surgery and down to 2 and home
At once stage we had 5 babies in room 2 for 2-3 days! Very tight! DD was stable and awaiting surgery. At that stage they were flying newborns interstate so we were very lucky to have a room at RCH.

DD2 was in the cardiac ward from 2 days old - 16 days old and in the genral ICU (cardiac room) as she had open heart surgery. Tummy babe will also go straight to the cardiac ward, heartbabes go straight to cardiac from birth rather than NICU unless they are prem even though they are neonates.

We have also visited the general surgey ward once DD1 was older.

We are back there tomorrow actually, seeing Maxiofacial and Respiratory... I am dreading it, big decisions to be made in relation to upcoming surgeries for DD1.

[Charlotte91]

6 was right up the end on the left, yeah.
Hannah in room 2 was on the left, next to the window for 3 weeks.
It had dora the explorer stickers on the window.

I remember that hallway so well.

The blue lifts.
Knowing that only one of them spoke to you.

The one on the right -- the 1st floor button didn't have a light.