Where to give birth - hospital choice?

mows

Sorry, I should have clarified further. It is not illegal to INTENTIONALLY give bith without a suitably qualified person present...although obviously a woman intending to do this would need to give the matter careful consideration IMO!

carpool72

Hi Lemoncurd,

You could also try getting in touch with your local NCT. As part of their training, the NCT antenatal teachers have to review the lcoal maternity provision and they have a lot of contact with expectant & new pareants so it's likely that a teacher or even the booking secretary will have some knowledge of the local hospitals & maternity units. You don't have to be a member or sign up for classes to get help - one of the main aims of the charity is to support EVERY expectant & new parent.

I hope everything goes well for you this time round!

Lillibet_2

Hi Lemoncurd

Just to let you know I gave birth at St Peters 6 days ago, the labour ward was excellent, the midwives were wonderful with advice & very respectful of my wishes & birth plan and talking through various options etc. We eventually ended up in theater expecting a c-section as Spud got stuck (!) but we narrowly avoided it with a long vontuse delivery. The theater staff, anethisist (Sp?) & consultant were all excellent & I couldn't have asked for better.
We were in the high dependency unit for one night as I suffered massive blood loss, HDU was OK but there was a run of emergenices after me and staff were a bit thin on the ground, I got by with advice from experienced mums in other beds rather than actual help from the midwives at this point.

The post labour ward was very very hot, vary very noisy & the staff so over stretched that it was beyond a joke, they simply didn't have any time to help or advise. I was given the all clear to leave at 11am and we waited until 9.30pm to get offical sign off etc, in the end I announced I was leaving in 15 minutes regardless of whether they discharged us or not, the midwife in charge said a shift changeover was about to happen & I had no chance of being offically discharged in 15 mins so to leave & come back the next day! Only after kicking up a real fuss the following morning did they find my notes (they had lost them overnight), supply me with the drugs which they hadn't even noted I needed the previous day & complete the discharge paperwork!
My advice : Give birth there but try & get discharged from the labour ward, you'll be better off in your own home. The standard of care was excellent but there simply wasn't enough of it.

Lemoncurd

Congratulations Lillibet!! and thank you for replying with your experience. I've just read your story open mouthed - it sounded so similar to what happened to me last time. I hope everything is going well for you.

Thanks to everyone else for replying as well it has been so helpful.

I asked my midwife last week about the negative reports about St Peters and she thought I must have misread them (quite possible!) saying that 3 years ago they were zero rated but since then the hospital has turned around, they've received extra funding and now have the maximum rating and the maternity unit is well staffed. We've decided we will still go there when the time comes and are very happy with the decision.

Gingham_Ribbon

Lovely news, Lillibet! I hope you're feeling well and getting some sort of rest!