The AMU at the Royal Alexandra Hospital is a wonderful, new, and exciting midwifery-led birthing unit situated alongside our very popular Labour Suite. This AMU provides labouring women with enhanced birthing rooms and a wide range of labouring aids, all within a serene and tranquil setting.
Women will receive midwife-led care and have access to the hospital’s hydrotherapy pool for water births. The rooms are comfortable and spacious, with space to mobilise during labour. A birthing couch and recliner chairs are supplied for those times when our labouring women wish to rest. However, upright and active positions are encouraged during labour and birth. Aids such as peanut balls, birthing balls, and a rebozo sling with chair are available to facilitate this. Hydrotherapy pools in the rooms are a fantastic option not only for pain relief but also to aid comfort and support a weightless freedom of movement, which helps our women get their bodies into optimal positions to birth their babies. Our staff are trained to welcome your little ones into the world underwater if this is your preferred birth plan.
We encourage all our women to eat and drink throughout labour, so please remember to pack your favourite energy-boosting snacks into your bag. We have Bluetooth speakers in the rooms for your birthing playlist. The speakers also have vibrant laser lights should you wish this for your environment. We also provide oil diffusers. We can provide some aromatherapy oils to diffuse, but if you have a preferred scent, then please bring it with you. Fairy lights and battery-operated candles are in all AMU rooms.
Pain relief options within the AMU include hydrotherapy, gas and air, TENS, and morphine injections. If you wish to use hypnotherapy or meditation techniques during your labour, our staff are more than happy to support you. We encourage you to take the time to consider your plans and document them in your BadgerNotes birth plan. This way, all your care providers will know your wishes in advance.
We will listen to your baby’s heartbeat every 15 minutes in the first stage of labour and every five minutes in the second stage of labour using a pinard stethoscope and/or a handheld doptone machine. If we find your baby needs further monitoring, then a wireless CTG machine will be commenced for at least 20 minutes. If we have any concerns during your labour, fully informed discussions with you and your birthing partner will take place prior to a possible transfer to obstetric-led care, and your allocated midwife will remain with you at all times.
Once your baby is born and all is well, you may be offered the opportunity to go home that day. We encourage a minimum of six hours after birth to stay and rest in our department. During this short stay, your baby will have a hearing screen as standard, a full neonatal examination, and we will support your choice of feeding and supervise this if required. You will have some observations taken, and if all remains well, then you should be spending your first night as a family in your own home. During some very busy periods, this option is not always available, but we always aim to provide it.
If you are interested in chatting with us about our AMU at RAH, please speak with your named midwife.
Getting Here
Public Transport Advice
McColl’s Travel operate a bus service 340 between Helensburgh, Vale of Leven Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital (Paisley), via Dumbarton and Alexandria, 7 days a week. This service is jointly funded by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and SPT.