Lindo Wing.

[Puddles1234]

Following my Mums advice I booked a while back into the Lindo Wing St Mary's to have my first baby. I was born there and my Mum can't speak anymore highly of the doctors and midwives.

I just wanted to hear some impartial views of The Lindo wing.

So please tell all.

For reference I was going to book into Portland but I just had a better vibe with Lindo.

[Bambi75]

Lindo is fantastic! Which consultant are you under? Had my little girl 7 months ago there. It was just after the Duchess of Cambridge had left and it was surprisingly quiet, I had the whole labour wing to myself with midwives and consultants at the ready. Much better option than the Portland. Good luck with the birth x

[Puddles1234]

I am with Guy Thorpe-Beeston! Lovely man. Who were you with?

That sounds good. I'm glad I choose Lindo over Portland. Something didn't feel right with Portland for me.

[Bambi75]

Karl Murphy, also absolutely wonderful.

People like to go to The Portland because of the name and they follow like sheep there, but the Lindo to me had a very strong gut feeling too. Plus it's pretty much all brand new, so facilities really are top notch.

[HBSBeeches]

I just did the tour of the lindo wing, Portland and the Westminster suite on Friday. I was originally thinking of the widwife led option at the portland, but I really, really liked the lindo wing. It just made me feel so safe, and mary (sales manager I think) answered all my questions. I also spoke to a midwife who seemed lovely and answered even more questions. But I think the consultant is just as key as the hospital and I'm still looking round. Heard good things about Karl murphy but I'm seriously considering William dennes. Any views on him would be warmly welcomed!

[ghislaine]

If you've already chosen the Lindo wing over the Portland then I'm not sure this will be much help, but I have had a baby at each and if I were to have a third, I would choose the Portland over the Lindo wing.

I don't think there's much to choose between them in terms of rooms or consultants (the Portland's are slightly bigger and have room for a fold out bed for your DH, while at the Lindo it's a reclining chair). I did gel more with my Lindo consultant but they are both highly skilled and reputable surgeons which is what mattered to me (I had EL CS both times due to gynae issues). FWIW, my c-section at the Portland was more complicated than the Lindo one but there was never an concern that it was not something they could cope with. I did ask my Portland consultant what the limit of their expertise/facilities were and his reply was 'sudden massive multiple organ failure'.

Food's better at the Portland by a long shot, the Lindo's more like upmarket cafeteria food.

The key difference for me is with the midwives. At the Lindo I found almost all of them a bit brusque and they seemed too busy to spend time with you. My meds were often late, one midwife told me I'd have to ride out the pain when my consultant had told me the specific drug I could have, and their breastfeeding help was rather perfunctory. At the Portland I had pain relief on tap and they have a dedicated lactation consultant to help out as well as the midwives. One midwife spent nearly an hour helping me get my son latched on.

I also found the Lindo Wing to be a bit sloppy - they lost my NHS notes, including my scan photos, and didn't give me my discharge notes for the community midwives so DH had go back that evening and collect them. I also ended up making a complaint about a staff member (LB) for which I received an apology from Mary, the business manager once it had been investigated.

I realise that these all pretty much first world complaints and I was very happy to be in the Lindo wing rather than the NHS, and if it's your first birth, you're unlikely to be thinking that you're missing out by going to the Lindo!