What happens about hospitals if you move house in the middle of your pregnancy?

[PinkMartini]

If we move to the area I'm thinking of, I will be around 8 miles (London) from the hospital I'd like to give birth in. (currently it's 3 miles away)

Will they allow me to remain with them? Or will they suggest I choose a closer hospital?

This is my first so am a bit flummoxed by it all
I am even thinking where would we park in C London?!
TIA for your help.

[claraq]

I think you can chose where to give birth these days - although they might "suggest" otherwise. When you see your (new?) midwife tell her you would like to stick to the old hospital as you are happy with it.

[Phraedd]

i moved but as it was only 2 weeks before my due date, no one said anything. I just carried on with my original plan....i loved the hospital that i was going to and really didn't even think about changing

We moved and baby came 4 days later!

[nell12]

Moved from Portsmouth to Petersfield (about 15-20 miles up the road) when 36wks with DS. Midwife changed, but hospital stayed the same PLUS I got to transfer back to a lovely midwife unit when ds was a few hours old !

[PinkMartini]

Thanks for this - I'm probably still going to panic about it until I know what we're doing.

[yama]

Hi Pink, I chose to give birth 120 miles away from home as I wanted to be near my family. I received pregnancy care from both NHS trusts. They just catered to my needs. Remember you pay for this care through your NI contributions.

[twinsetandpearls]

I moved to the other side of London when about six months pregnant, I really struggled to get a dcotor and only managed it as we had lived in the area before and I had forgotten to de register myself. I gave birth in the new area.

[sfxmum]

i moved boroughs in London was able to give birth in same hospital but was seen by different midwife team also registered with doctor only after baby was born.
was 7m along when we moved btw

[littlerach]

We moved when I was 38 weeks gone (yes, I know!) and I kept the same mw and hospital.

[elesbells]

i think you should find out what the local hospital is like and change only if you prefer it.

ive always found central london ok for parking, lots of meters ect. but they are pricey.

[fettleandminifettle]

Hi

I've moved the latter part of both my pregnancies. The first time we moved about 300 miles, so we obviously changed hospitals!! This time, we moved later in pregancy (35 wks), but as I was under consultant-led care in a particular hospital, which is about halfway between where we used to live and where we live now, they were happy for me to stay booked in at the old hospital. I've obviously had to change GP and community MW, but all that seems relatively easy to sort out.

When asking my hospital, they said technically you can chose to give birth anywhere in the country, as long as you can get to the hospital for antenatel checks and in time for the birth, once labour starts!!

hope it all works out for you.
xxx

[barbamama]

NOthing will happen unless you want it to. i lived in London and moved to Surrey a few months before the birth but stayed at the same hospitals and community midwives. I would strongly advise switching to a nearer hospita; though as it was a nightmare towards the end when I had to go to the day assessment unit every second day (as often happens towards the end for blood pressure, sweeps possible problems, false alarms etc) which was an hours drive. Also I felt the community midwives wrote me off to a certain extent once I moved out of area as i had to meet them at the hospital rather than them coming to the house etc and they know they wouldn't be doing the community follow up (your local midwives will) so I really got the impression they lost interest in me a bit. This pg has been so much better for being only 10 mins from the hospital to go down for checkups etc - so much less stressful.

[barbamama]

I meant same hospital by the way as hospitals sounds confusing.