Giving birth - hospital recommendations?

[sandy_rose]

I'm hoping for some advice re which hospital to choose for the birth of our baby. I've heard terrible things about King's College so I would love to hear what hospitals you guys would recommend?

Best wishes

Sandra

[Gubodge]

I think Kings is great. There can be problems with waiting times for clinic appointments, but that is just a symptom of their being a centre of excellence for ante-natal care and people being referred to from all over the south of england, and further afield. We are also extremely lucky in this area to have so many community based midwife teams who can give you the private birth experience for free no matter where you choose to give birth. The presence of these teams also means Kings attracts an awful lot of applications for every midwife vacancy, so you'll looked after by the best.

Yes, some people have had bad experiences there, but you'd find the same for any hospital and the benefit at Kings is you couldn't be in a better place if anything were to go wrong.

[sandy_rose]

Thanks for the advice, that all makes a lot of sense. It's practically walking distance for me so would be a shame to choose another hospital!

[Moos]

I second Gubodge's comment about King's - I gave birth there in 2007, and ended up with an emergency C-section and a 3-day stay. I felt very well looked after by the midwives and surgical team, and remain very grateful to them for their expert care.

[Pickle]

I'm another happy Kings customer, having given birth there twice - Jan 2007 and June 2008. I think the thing with hospitals and birth stories is that people are more likely to tell you about their bad experiences than the good ones, so don't read too much into what you hear.

I had two complicated pregnancies and can't fault the care I was given by the team of consultants there, from when I was admitted to hospital at 30 weeks for a week long stay through to my inductions. We're very lucky to have fantastic midwives in the area too - I was under the care of the Lanes Group at Dulwich Medical Centre (not in existence first time round, Erica was the sole midwife there and is still there now, she's brilliant).

Good luck!

[sillywoman]

Another happy Kings Mum, 4 times. Twice in the hospital & twice at home with their community midwives. You'll always hear horror stories 'cause people love to tell 'em. The (many) straightforward labours have little or no drama to them (apart form the obvious - hey, a new person!!!) so people don't repeat them so often, nor with such salacious glee. Kings & their midwives are fab, & I've heard on the grapevine that they may be getting a small midwife led unit in the spring next year - something like St T's home-from-home perhaps?

[sillywoman]

Just to add, what makes the most difference to your experience is the midwives you have in labour & afterwards. As pickle & gubodge (love those names) say; The Lanes midwives are some of the best around, but also consider booking with The Albany @ Peckham Pulse (internationally admired and copied), Oakwood @ Forest Hill Practice, or The Brierly group @ ED Hospital. Any of those teams will see you right. Get in quick though.

[Moos]

I must say that I wish I had known about these midwife teams before I had my son - don't rely on your GP to tell you anything about 'available extras'. I never saw a midwife more than once, and would have loved to have had someone I knew helping me through labour.

[sandy_rose]

Thanks for all this great info. It's a minefield to say the least!

I love the sound of the Lanes midwives but apparently I'm outside their catchment area. They recommended I try Chadwick Road medical centre, which is attached to the DMC but does anyone know if I would get the same service at this surgery?

Off to look up the Albany and Brierly right now...!

[Fuschia]

Yes, book with a midwife team. If things go well and you wnat to, you can have a homebirth. if you need to go to Kings, some of those mws will go with you. But book RIGHT NOW.

Kings is good, of course it is, if you have complications. But problems seem to arise when women start to be treated according to their policies without much flexibility... many inductions seem to start in unfavourable circumstances and descend into a spiral of increasing intervention ending in an emergency CS.

I had a fantastic twin birth there, which wasn't without complications inc pre-eclampsia and a need for induction and twin II needing to be manually turned.. but by dint of much planning and discussion, and employing independent midwives who were with me as "friends" throughout, it was lovely.

When I had a DVT in my first pregnancy, I was looked after very well by Kings. They are world renowned for the Harris Birthright centre.

[Fuschia]

sandy_rose Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks for all this great info. It's a minefield

> to say the least!

>

> I love the sound of the Lanes midwives but

> apparently I'm outside their catchment area. They

> recommended I try Chadwick Road medical centre,

> which is attached to the DMC but does anyone know

> if I would get the same service at this surgery?

>

Call them.

There's also Oakwood.

Albany prioritise women in Peckham. Brierly do just home births I think.

But call them all!

[sandy_rose]

How can I book in with the Albany or Brierly - can't work it out. Do you have to be registered with a certain GP first?

[lorraineliyanage]

The Lanes are brilliant, I can't recommend them highly enough. They are based at Dulwich Medical Centre on Crystal Palace Road.

[Fuschia]

sandy_rose Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> How can I book in with the Albany or Brierly -

> can't work it out. Do you have to be registered

> with a certain GP first?

Call them direct.

[sandy_rose]

I can't get through! Have emailed them.

Thanks for all the great feedback, I feel SO much better now!

[sillywoman]

Keep trying sandy_rose, please also try Oakwood. I know of a woman who is going to be with Albany, but only because she registered with Oakwook, they didn't have space for her so passed her details to the Albany waiting list & a place came up. Don't be put off if they say they can't take you. Ask to go on waiting lists and summon up some tears if you can. that way they remember you & you may be top of their "poor lady" list when a place comes up (I'm sure there is a much fairer system than this in place, but the cynic in me also thinks that it may work that way & it can do no harm!). You may need to be politely persistent.

Good Luck.

[sandy_rose]

Good plan, that shouldn't be too difficult right now! I think I'm outside the Oakwood catchment area but will give it a go. I didn't even know these places existed until today, but now I'm feeling slightly desperate to get registered with one!

[alfie]

Just wanted to add that when I first moved to ED all I heard were horror stories about Kings and I was very reluctant to go there. Now, with the benefit of four years of meeting local mums I've heard overwhelmingly positive things, particularly re the community midwives.

Both of mine were born at Thomas' - the first one because I got pregnant in Lambeth and the second because I wanted to use the home-from-home unit for a VBAC (too scared to try it at home and didn't want to be monitored continuously etc in a consultant-led unit). But if I decided to have a third I'd go for Kings.

[Fuschia]

Despite a lot of tears and fuss, by 8w pregnant with my twins i was too late for any community mws and never got to the top of waiting lists. :-(

[Ann]

Fuschia,

Hope you're feeling better, the fact that you're posting makes me think perhaps you are!

For some reason I thought you were looked after by the Albany Midwives, I know Leona Penna is their linked Consultant. I wonder if you didn't get 'in' with them was because you were expecting twins and unlikely to deliver at home?

However you describe a very positive experience of your birth. The group practices mentioned do limit their numbers and in truth most women will have more standard care. It would be a shame for sandy_rose to feel all is lost if she doesn't get in with them as I'm sure lots of you can confirm.

Good luck Sandy, keep us posted.

[Fuschia]

Ann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Fuschia,

>

> Hope you're feeling better, the fact that you're

> posting makes me think perhaps you are!

>

> For some reason I thought you were looked after by

> the Albany Midwives, I know Leona Penna is their

> linked Consultant. I wonder if you didn't get

> 'in' with them was because you were expecting

> twins and unlikely to deliver at home?

>

> However you describe a very positive experience of

> your birth.

Albany would have liked to take me.. and support me in hospital...but they were full.. i really tried and tried to get with them, or anyone else for that matter. I had independent midwives, and lots of liaison with the head of midwives and leonie.

[Fuschia]

PS, I'm still in agony :-(

[sandy_rose]

I'll let you know if I have any luck, I hope it's not too late (I don't even know what week I'm in!) Slightly unprepared for all of this and there's already so much to do and think about.

Thanks for all the great info. I suppose the baby will come out one way or another!

[Fuschia]

Re St T vs Kings.. I was in both at various times in the twin pregnancy (had a problem with my windpipe meant i got admitted to st T, then pre-eclampsia, week in kings, then 6 days in the Evelina with twin 2 in january whe she was seriously ill)

It's not nice being too far away. If you are hospitalised at any time, or just for scans/assessment in late pg (if you go overdue you can end up having to go for a daily trace of the baby's heartbeat) when it's hard to travel far.. or if your baby ends up in SCBU for any reason, then dealing with the closest hospital is a huge advantage.

[SianandTony]

im supposed to be having my baby at the princess royal (bromley)....as this was near to where i used tolive...just looked at the Healthcare commissions report and its been a depressing read. looks like Kings maternity unit have recieved a better rating...in two minds whether to see if i can transfer as i now live in dulwich