birth options...advice?

[becky85]

Afternoon,

I was just wondering what peoples thought/experiences are on different places to give birth. I really want a water birth and ideally would like it as natural and non-clinical as possible. The midwife led birth units look so much better to me in terms of experience but at my local hospital the transfer time from the freestanding midwife led unit to the labour ward (if there were any problems) is 11 miles/20 minutes which scares me a bit, even though I’m currently low risk.

My nearest hospital where I’m currently booked to deliver is only 2 miles away so very handy but very busy and chaotic and I generally feel quite anxious about having to go there unnecessarily.

There seems to be a couple of hospitals that do have birth centres alongside labour ward so you can do the natural thing but the labour ward/clinical team are in the same building if things do go wrong. This is my preferred option however those hospitals are 20-25 miles away and that makes me worried about travelling during labour and possibly getting sent home if not established enough or getting stuck in traffic etc en route. There are also the added issues of having the register the baby in a different area etc as well although that doesn’t bother me too much.

Anyway, what’s everyone else thinking and/or from your previous experiences what did you find were the most/least important factors?

Thanks

Becky

 

[Bethyboo87]

Hey hun, we have two hospitals to choose from here, both are 30 miles away. My preferred one in Haverfordwest (where I've been poorly and had surgery before so I know they would take care of me!) only has an MLU with no doctors, and the other (Carmarthen) has an MLU plus the doctors are there too. It's a no brainer for me, I'm going with Carmarthen. I'm hoping not to see doctor in labour and have as little intervention as possible too, but am glad they'll be there in the background just in case.

And like you I am slightly concerned about the drive there (will take us about 50 minutes, on a horrible windy back road - OH wants to make a sign for the windscreen so people hopefully will pull over for us), but not a lot I can do about it haha! I want to stay at home as long as I can, but on the other hand why make the car journey completely awful and unbearable by leaving it later on? So yeh, undecided about how long I will leave it to go in yet.

 

[El1en]

Hi

I had an awful experience and I don't think its the norm but I'll share with you.

I live 5mins from my local hospital with a midwife led unit and was really keen to go there for a water birth. The nearest major hospital is 20mins away and if the slightest thing were to go wrong Id need to be transferred

Anyway I started well in the birthing pool but after a while the pains got too bad (turns out she was back to back) and I got out of the pool to have some pethidine. I was stuck at 9cm, they broke my waters and it was full of meconium which meant I had to be blue lighted to the city. It was awful, I begged for more pethidine for the ambulance ride but I wasn't allowed any as I would have to wait another 30mins.

I got to the city and had a horrendous labour (won't go into details) with a lovely midwife, I really couldn't fault her. However I was moved up to the ward and completely abandoned. I shared a bay with a lady who spoke little English, there wasn't a bathroom in the bay so I had to walk (hard with all my episiotomy stitches) down the corridor leaving baby on her own to go to the toilet. I was given no food or help with breast feeding or anything tbh
I'd been told since the start I could transfer back to the local unit and I couldn't wait as they have an excellent reputation and felt I needed a few nights to get a little help with bf and other things.

Unfortunately the next day they had no beds so I couldn't go back to the local unit but the city hospital didn't wants either and I had to come home.

My experience of the city hospital was awful but I know it would have been completely different in the midwife led unit, they are really nice places

 

[kumber]

I was worried about this with first pg, I wanted to go to the women's unit but I was worried about distance and rush hour. I only found out afterwards that they can blue light you to your chosen hospital if needed!

 

[Allthingsgirly]

Becky where in Yorkshire are you based? I'm in West Yorkshire & just had a baby so if your from same part I'll be able to help? Just though that one persons experience can be very different to another's though sadly.

 

[buggy1]

I've got two hospitals near, both roughly 15 miles but in opposite directions.

I've been in a few maternity units/labour wards in my time. I think one of the most important things is how nice/attentive the midwives are. I've been to a couple of places where I've been ignored, been talked down to, been made to feel an inconvenience. I've also been to places (only a couple) where the midwives were warm, friendly, supportive, understanding and available!

So we've moved areas and I chose to have this baby at the hospital where I lost my second, I got special treatment there for obvious reasons. Going back in this pregnancy (due to problems) and speaking with some of them on the phone, it became quite clear that the level of care isn't very good generally and some of the midwives were just plain horrible. At about 30 weeks I decided to change to the other hospital. I've been there twice now, once for a tour and once because of a problem, and spoken to them on the phone a few times. I'm certain they're much friendlier and caring there which makes a big difference.

I had my first at a totally different hospital (other area) and it had a birthing centre and consultant led unit side by side. I ended up going over to the consultant led side because my pulse rate was high but it turned out to be fine so I went back and laboured in the pool but when baby got stuck I had to go back in to the consultant led part for an assisted delivery. I enjoyed the experience overall though, I think you're just more focused on getting the baby out when you get close to the end.

My main piece of advice would be to not get your heart set on anything too much, don't be too particular about the details. At the end of the day you don't know what is going to happen, what you might need so it's best to be open to changes, otherwise you may find yourself disappointed.

Sorry I've waffled on a bit....

 

[xjdx]

I'm lucky, my consultant has just released me back to the midwifes. I can go in the birthing unit now I'm so excited, I was lucky to have a water birth with my daughter and I want one again. Our birthing unit at hospital is a floor underneath the labour ward xx

 

[LaceyKeo]

I'm fortunate to have a hospital five mins down the road that has a birthing centre attached. If anything goes wrong, they literally wheel you down a corridor.

I had the water-birth-dream for my first.

Until I went into labour.

In all honesty, as PP said... When it actually gets down to it, all you'll really care about is getting baby out safely, however that might be xx

 

[becky85]

Thanks for sharing your experiences I'm not getting fixated on a plan but I kind of have a plan for if it all goes to plan and then if it all goes tits up then I'll just let the doctors and midwives do their thing.

Allthingsgirly I'm in wakefield so at the minute booked at Pinderfields but tempted by mlu at pontefract. The nearest ones with mlu attached to labour ward are bradford and Calderdale which I think might be a bit far - where did you go?

X

 

[Allthingsgirly]

I transferred my care at 38 weeks & I went to Huddersfield birthing unit but because I went overdue by a couple of weeks I had to be induced so decided to go to Calderdale.

Just something to bear in mind you probably may already know but to go to either Bradford or Calderdale you have to transfer your care as they are in a different trust to pinderfields/pontefract. I had to go visit the birthing unit as they can't access your records on the computer as there different trusts, they then have to go threw it all again & put it all onto their systems

 

[becky85]

Ahh yes I hadn't thought of that. I thought it might have implications postnatally in terms of health visitor/midwife appts but didn't think about the issue of accessing notes because we have our paper notes. I think i'm going to stay with Mid Yorks because it is local and convenient and I'm sure it will be fine and speak to midwife about booking in to pontefract. It does make me slightly anxious about the idea of needing to be transferred but i trust them to know the right thing to do in the situation and to make a decision in plenty of time if needed. And as others have said....it might not go to plan anyways and I might end up in pinderfields due to needing to be induced or complications....

I used to work in the womens dept at calderdale so spent some time in the maternity unit there and I really liked it although heard hudds was better from a birth unit perspective but it's the same issue in terms of needing a transfer...but if you need it, you need it don't you.

Thanks x

 

[Willowburn]

I had a superb experience with our mlu birthing centre which is located in the hospital. Did manage to get in the pool at the v end for delivery by the time the room was sorted! It was fab and would recommend it to anyone. Would love to have been in it sooner. I literally managed to get in for the pushing bit and even then it relaxed me! X

 

[Glitter2707]

For the birth of my little girl, i ummed and aahed about whether to go to the midwife led unit - it is about 20mins away from hospital but it was just lovely. Looked so homely.
Anyway, hubby convinced me that I should go to local hospital (closer to our house) just in case. My experience there was fine, birth went well & was as 'straight forward' as can be with no complications, but once on the ward the midwives just had no time to help with anything. I was unable to breastfeed and I truly believe if I had received a little more input in the early days we would've been fine and I would've avoided exclusively pumping for nearly 7 moths!
I am currently pregnant with our second and will definitely go to the MLU as long as I continue to be low risk. Hope that helped!

 

[becky85]

That's really good to know thanks Glitter. I’m still a bit anxious of the MLU and the ‘what if’ but I would hope that if there was even the slightest concern then I’d be transferred to the hospital anyway. I’d be a little bit worried about having a bleed or something afterwards but…it is still a hospital – you’d hope that they will have things in place to manage these risks…and I’ve never been aware of any really scary things happening at MLU apart from people having to be transferred which I could cope with if needed. And you’re right, whilst the birth is the main bit some of the supportive stuff around breastfeeding etc in those first few hours/days I imagine can make all the difference. Also I really like the home from home environment and things I think if it all went ok then it would be such a nice experience (apart from the lack of drugs)

 

[AmeliaM27]

If your hospital is only 2 miles away I'd be inclined to think about a homebirth - that way you have the chance to have a lovely natural calm labour but with the knowledge that if you had to be transferred you could get there very quickly.

I had a homebirth with a pool with my first and it went very well, unfortunately I had to go in to hospital after as I had a retained placenta but the birth itself was so much better than an of my NCT friends' hospital experiences.

I'm planning another homebirth with my second due any day now - fingers crossed I don't need to go in to hospital at all this time!