Prior home birther but new partner prefers hospital birth. I will accommodate this for him of course but wonder if I can sneak in a compromise?
I know water pools are available at the two closest hospitals which I'd love but as we all know it's pot luck whether you get one on the day, so I'm wondering if there are any hospitals with midwife-led units/ 'natural birthing centres', etc or basically anything that is going to have the emergency medical facilities that my worried partner desires, but available in a more 'home birth' style environment for me.
Whilst he's aware that I dislike hospitals, I haven't yet explained they are very close to the kind of stress levels I reach just thinking about flying, for instance, or potholing in a dead end water cave surrounded by spiders and wasps and Katie Hopkins clones.
The over management I anticipate because of my age (45), the smell of hospitals, the infection potential, the ambience, all of it sends me into panic mode, which possibly isn't going to be conducive to a straightforward labour, this confirming my partner's worries that there will be complications. So I need to find a compromise somewhere, even if it means paying private.
Do you know of any facility in the area that could meet this need? Even if it's just a general hospital where I could pre-book a room with guaranteed pool, or a room that is more ambient/sensory designed, or a unit adjacent to rather than integral to the usual maternity wing, as even the sign 'Theatre' as I walk into the maternity wing first time I gave birth was the deciding factor in me choosing home birth second time round. I think I have a slight phobia of hospitals in fact, but I'm reluctant to explain this to my partner as I think he will dismiss it as me just being a conspiracy theorist about the whole idea of managed labour, or the NHS in general. Neither of which is true, I just know from experience the hospital labour was nowhere near as enjoyable or easy for me as my home birth.
I want to have this baby in hospital for him because I am sensitive to his worries, but am I also being unreasonable to seek a quiet compromise? Is that then cheating and not allowing him full control over the issue? Hospitals scare me, and I just want a little morsel of something to get me through it! A guaranteed water birthing pool, or guaranteed ambient 'home from home' room, or less managed labour ward, that sort of thing.
I'm located in Northamptonshire so the potential radius could be wide.
Also, is it correct that many birthing centres have an age limit??
Thankyou :)
Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.
Childbirth
Recommend any East Midlands area natural birthing centres please?
Hubbubs · 17/06/2014 01:34
No personal experience but I have only heard good things about St Marys in Melton as mentioned above.
Also, have you seen the new birthing centre attached to Northampton general hospital? I've had a few friends give birth there recently and it looks wonderful!
I am 
as would have loved to go to either of these but a medical condition means they won't even consider me 
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.