Wye Valley NHS Trust

After your baby is born your midwife will ask whether you would like your baby to have a Vitamin K supplement. It is known that newborn babies have about 30% to 60% of the vitamin K an adult would have stored in their liver. It isn’t known why this is or if there is a reason for this. However, a very small amount of babies are born very deficient in Vitamin K and go on to develop Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (VKDB). VKDB can cause bleeding from the nose, umbilicus, mouth or into the brain which can in turn cause…

At Wye Valley NHS Trust we are able to support staff whose friends or family members would like to undertake a placement with us and are willing to arrange this independently. This option is available for work experience learners aged 14 years old plus, and it is the only option available for students aged 14 to 16 years old. In order to enable this work experience placement to take place the member of internal staff will need to complete the process and checklist available from the work experience team. Please email workexperience@wvt.nhs.uk Please note that some areas have age restrictions in…

1 in 13 babies are born prematurely (before 37 weeks) in the UK.  If you start showing signs of labour before 37 weeks you will need to ring our triage department as soon as possible and come in to be assessed.  Early labour signs can include: Your waters breaking Abdominal pain Regular tightenings Vaginal blood loss Our special care baby unit in Hereford can provide care for babies who are 32 weeks and above. Therefore if you were to go into labour before this then a transfer to an appropriate unit would be organised as a matter of urgency. Once…

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COVID-19 Osteoporasis information for public   What is Osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is the term used to describe bones when they become ‘porous’, when the struts which make up the mesh-like structure within bone start to disappear. This leads to a reduction in bone strength and an increased risk of fracture after injuries such as a low impact fall. These broken bones or ‘fragility fractures’ can occur in different parts of the body, although the wrist, hip and spine are most commonly affected. Osteoporosis is thought to affect 1 in 3 women and 1 in 7 men during their lifetime. It is…

Skin to skin Extensive research tells us the many benefits of skin to skin immediately after baby is born. It helps to regulate baby’s heartrate, breathing and temperature, reduces their stress levels, aids with their first feed, as well as enhancing your milk supply.   It has also been shown to have beneficial effects for the mother if they have experienced a traumatic birth.    A minimum of an hour skin to skin and offering baby their first feed during this time can help to realise these benefits.  However, there is no limit, as baby grows, skin to skin can…

Herefordshire Tuberculosis Service

When you have your pregnancy booking appointment your midwife will ask to take some blood samples, one of these will be to find out your blood group.  It will determine whether you are a positive or negative blood group.  If it is found that you have a negative blood group you will be offered Anti-D at different points in your pregnancy.  Anti D is derived from plasma collected from donors, it is a concentrated form of antibodies. A new test is now offered to all women who are Rhesus Negative at 16 weeks gestation.  The blood test will determine whether…

An instrumental birth refers to the use of either forceps or ventouse (suction cup). An instrumental birth happens for 1 in every 8 births.   Forceps are metal instruments which fit together around your baby’s head to speed up the process of baby being born during the pushing phase.  The doctor will pull the forceps as you also push down during a contraction. Ventouse is a suction cup which is placed on baby’s head firmly and also pulled by the doctor while you push.   The choice of instrument will depend on the situation, how many weeks pregnant you are…

Pre-eclampsia usually isn’t diagnosed until at least 20 weeks of pregnancy, but it actually starts early on.  If the blood vessels in your placenta don’t embed properly into your womb, it means the blood flow from the placenta to baby isn’t as optimal as usual.  Your body tries to compensate for this by tightening all the blood vessels in your body, in order to send more blood to your baby.  This in turn increases your blood pressure and eventually the blood vessel walls will start to become damaged, creating small holes.  These holes let some fluids from your bloodstream leak…