Kings, Brierley or Oakwood

[megan]

Hi I would love to have some advice from other mums with experience of homebirth with Brierley or Oakwood, also those ones who ended up having a hospital birth at kings after planning a homebirth. I am trying to take a decision between hospital birth and homebirth. I am really an advocate of homebirth as for me it is really important to know the midwife who is going to be with you in labour, but also the hospital and all the equipment in case of emergency is something to take into account too.

I remember talking to people registered with the Albany midwives that were going to have a hospital birth but they already met their midwive. I think that Oakwood also supports that (although I am not completely sure) empowering women to have the birth they want (wherever they want with someone they trust).

After long thinking I have decided to have a homebirth, although it is very early stages I am trying to decide whether to register with Oakwood or Brierley, but a lot of people also told me that through different stages of pregnancy you feel differently so I am wondering if I meet my midwife and I feel is the right person, what would happen if in the last month or last minute I just "freak out" about homebirth and suddenly decide to go to the hospital, would the woman desert me because of "chickening out" or would she support me and stay with me all the way to the end and deliver my baby?

I have this ideal image of how wonderful a homebirth would be but I would also hate the idea that if in the last minute (or late pregnancy I feel scared) they would just leave me suddenly on my own. Has anyone got recent experience with Brierley or Oakwood?

[skip]

Register now and decide later. You will miss out on a place and not have the option of deciding. Brierly only take a certain number/month, and you have to register very early.

I don't believe any mid-wife from the practices you mention would 'desert you'.

I was with Brierly, started a home birth, got rushed to Kings due to unexptected complications and my mid-wife stayed with me throughout. They are good to have with you to assist in pushing back against intervention which you may not want/or that may not be necessary.

Goodluck.

[KBN]

The Brierley are great. I was with them and had a hospital birth (always planned that). They don't push home births though are very supportive of them. If you changed your mind and want to go to hospital,they stay with you, though they give the caveat that if one of their other women goes into labour at the same time as you, and it is unavoidable, they might have to leave you in King's midwifery care as there are laws about no of midwives at homebirths etc. They stayed with me all the way through (even had two of them at the actual birth!).

[Smiler]

Get registered with one of them quickly, or you may not have a choice. There is also the Lanes (based at Dulwich Medical Centre), who do home and hospital births.

[Vickster]

I might be wrong, but I think you need to be registered with Forest Hill Road GPs to be able to use Oakwood, the GP refers you to them. Not sure about Brierley, I had Oakwood for my labour and birth and they were absolutely outstanding (planned home birth that required transfer into hospital and they were with me throughout over the course of at least 24 hours) but this was nearly 2 years ago so others might have more recent experience.

[Sanne Panne]

I had a planned hospital birth turn into an unplanned (but amazing) home birth with Oakwood. They were great. They had never treated me any differently for originally preferring a hospital birth. I'm not sure to what extent they can still support planned hospital births (or even some hospital transfers) though as they are really tight on resources and may have to let go of some bits of their otherwise fully comprehensive care. Don't quote me on this but it would be worth finding out. I'm registered with them again for my second child (planned home birth this time) and very happy with that.

About getting to know the midwife who will help you deliver your baby - they have two teams and if one or two of the midwives in your team is not available when you go into labour, you may have one or two midwives from the other team (who you may not know) be present at your baby's birth. This was my case (my main midwife was there but the other two midwives were from the other team) but since I knew they were from the same practice (sharing the same philosophy etc) I didn't feel uncomfortable in any way.

Can't say whether their "offering" is better or worse than Brierly as I don't know anything about Brierly.

Good luck with your decision, you should make it very soon though and for Oakwood you will need to register with the Forest Hill group practice first!

[darlin']

Just to say I am with Oakwood and am NOT registered at the Forest HIll group practice. I don't even live near to it. I just called them up at about 8 weeks and asked to join their waiting list. I was lucky and was accepted at 12 weeks.

[malcol]

I had my third with Brierley and they were wonderful. They do prefer people to decide that a home birth is what they are hoping for however, my understanding is that if, for whatever reason that decision needs to change then they will continue supporting you. The service they offer is great and very professional. I had several conversations with them over the phone and then with my husband before we were booked in with them.

I can't actually comment on their skills during birth as unfortunately I misjudged my labour and didn't call them until the baby was quite literally on the way! They arrived 25 mins after the call was made and my baby was born 23 mins after the call! As I say that was my fault so that shouldn't be a worry for most people. The immediate after care was amazing both for me and my husband (who was a little traumatised) and made me very pleased that we chose them.

If this is your first child don't be afraid of just phoning different teams up and chatting to them, most midwives I saw before and after always had time to chat and reassure me about any anxieties I had.

Good luck with your decisions

[Emski]

Also a vote of full confidence for the Brierly. My midwife was lovely, and am still in touch with her 8 months on. She wasn't on call when I went into labour, but I'd already met the midwife who did attend a few times, and was equally happy with her. It was a really busy night so they weren't able to have a second midwife attending, but as it happened I ended up having to transfer to Kings anyway due to failure to progress. Having been up with me since the previous evening, my Brierly midwife waited til I'd been assessed, was happy with the plan of attack (!) and had had the epidural before handing me over to the Kings midwife. I think she knew the hospital midwife and knew I'd be OK with her, which I was.

I guess some women might prefer more continuity of care, but since I'd been having contractions for 3 days it probably wasn't reasonable to have the same midwife with me the whole time! I'd really wanted a home birth mainly due to fears of the hospital being horrible and feeling I wasn't in control of the experience, but it was all much better than I'd expected.

Do get on the waiting list asap though - you can change your mind about where you want to have the baby pretty much up to the moment you're ready to push...

[RunJHC]

Another vote of confidence for the Brierley. I booked with them about 13 weeks (think I was lucky to get a place so you should contact them as early as poss), planned a home birth and it all went to plan. They also have 2 teams - the birds and the bees - each has 3 midwives. You have a named one but meet the other two ante-natally. Midwives were lovely - I met about 4 during ante-natal checks and got on with them all. Luckily our named midwife was on duty when I went into labour and ended up delivering DS at home. During the labour she was very unobstrusive but made excellent suggestions of how to keep things progressing, how to push effectively etc. A very calming presence throughout. Post-natal care was excellent as well. I'll definitely be on the phone as soon as I can if I'm lucky enough to get pregnant again!

[juliap]

I'd absolutely recommend the Brierley midwives. I had my second with them and they were simply wonderful all the way through (I ended up in hospital after considering a home birth - was not able to for medical reasons in the end).

Listen to this - was broadcast on Radio 4 today. It's all about the community midwifes who work under King's with interviews with Katie Yannousis (head of midwives at King's and a wonderful woman) and Ruth from the Brierley, who was one of my midwives. It's very informative.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qplyv/Case_Notes_Maternity/

[katyc]

I can also add my complete support for the Brierley midwives. I had my second at home with them and it was fantastic. I didn't end up with the midwife I had been allocated, as it turned out mine was on holiday for a long weekend around my due date, but had been introduced to the other midwives (who were also lovely) prior to going into labour.

[iaineasy]

I vote Oakwood!!

[megan]

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I think I will definetely contact them. For me it is really important to know who will be with me, (wherever I end up having the baby, home or hospital) but even more important to know that she will be supportive of a natural birth. I think it is a very important moment in a woman's life and the support received at that moment will make the experience unforgetable (for good or for bad).

[prdarling]

Another vote for the brilliant Oakwood. Looks like both are superb, so your best bet is to go and have a chat ASAP and go with your gut feeling. They are both VERY pro natural birth... I succeeded in 2 great births just with gas and air (but both in Kings) thanks to their excellent care - gently talking me out of an epidural which was 100% the right decision and being supportive of my wish for a hospital birth. With my 2nd baby I was discharged from the delivery suite 2.5 hours after giving birth, safe in the knowledge that the midwife who had delivered my son would be along three hours later to check on us. Just amazing.

Good luck with whatever you do!

[Bishberro]

I agree, Oakwood are brilliant. The only thing that it might be worth you being aware of, is that they're having major staffing issues at the minute and instead of 6 midwives only have 4. This is putting a lot of pressure on the remaining staff and from what I've heard from my midwife, it doesn't look like it's going to be resolved for another couple of months at least. It might not effect you if you're not due until a lot later in the year but at the mo they're struggling to attend all the births. Just something to think about.

[megan]

Still due for summer. Feeling more confident now that it is the right decision.

[BBA1]

In response to some of the comments above I wanted to clarify that Brierley Midwives are a midwifery team who specialise in two areas: Homebirth and Mental Health. They look after the following caseload:

Women who have made an informed decision to plan to have a homebirth. If during a woman's pregnancy or labour, a clinical reason indicates that a planned homebirth is no longer recommended, the Brierley continue her care and make every effort to be with her at the birth in hospital. If, however, a woman changes her mind and no longer feels a homebirth is the right option for her, the Brierley would need to transfer her care to King's antenatal midwives. The Brierley always have a long waiting list of women wanting a homebirth and would need to offer the available place.

Women who have a past or current diagnosed mental health issue. The Brierley aim to provide continuity of care for these women, whether they plan a hospital or homebirth.

[pilsbury]

Yes. Good info to know. I posted a thread a few weeks back about brierley but hadn't realised that you need to be homebirth (or mental health) to be valid for their care. The lady I spoke to there was v lovely but I was straight with her (as planning hospital) and did not want to tell fibs just to be within their care as I don't think that's fair.

Having said that, if you have already pretty much decided on homebirth then I would deffo go for brierley, they have some very verbal supporters on here : )

[hpsaucey]

Another Brierley supporter. They were absolutely wonderful when I had my second - bothr through pregnancy and birth. One of them - the lovely Vanessa has gone to The Lanes and I hear good things about them as well. Yes, they would want you to be hoping for a homebirth, but will come with you to hospital if need be and stay with you as long as possible. Also, you may a midwife on hand and I personally always felt that if there was a real problem they would have time to ring ahead to the hospital and the time taken to get an ambulance out and get to Kings would probably not be much different from waiting in the hospital for an operation room to be prepped!

THe only REAL issue is to make sure you arrange to try and plan to give birth wherever YOU feel you will be most comfortable and relaxed.