Hospital or CMU

[Jauralane]

Hi

I'm due for baby number one in May. Been really lucky and have had a straightforward pregnancy so far. I'm having a huge dilemma choosing where to have the baby though.

We have a freestanding community midwife unit nearby, it looks absolutely amazing and such a nice environment to bring baby into the world. I have every confidence in the midwives however there are no doctors there if something goes wrong. Then there is a big city hospital nearby which has a labour suite and an attached maternity unit, it's about a 40 minute drive from the community midwife unit, and while it's known for being really busy and overcrowded they do have doctors there.

Ideally I would like to give birth in the nearby community unit. It looks so comfortable, you have your own room as long as you like, and the midwives are so nice. BUT, if something were to go wrong I/ we would need to be blue lighted to the hospital which takes a minimum of 20 minutes. I'd never forgive myself if that time delay of getting to the hospital/ a doctor was the reason anything happened to my baby.

Phew! Sorry for the long post! Any advice would be appreciated.

I started as a home birth and because I was very overdue had to go for late scan, waters broke, they said I could go back home. I’d been in early labour for a long time and I knew it wasn’t happening. It took a long time for anything to happen in hospital and it was DP who demanded they get the doctor and do something. I guess what I’m saying is there are doctors in the hospital but sometimes you have to fight hard to get one.

I had this exact dilemma - even the times were similar. The standalone midwife unit was where my midwives were based all through pregnancy but I just couldn't bring myself to take the risk. The transfer rates for ftm mums were just so high. Especially as in my case I was 10min from the hospital (weird boundaries for antenatal/postnatal care!) so would have had to drive away from it to MLU. I did love the MLU though...

Our plan was to go for the midwife unit attached to the hospital but in the end I ended up in the labour suite for 19 hours and was close to a C-section. So, I would have had to have been transferred from the MLU.

Ive done just this OP
Infact u may be in the same place as me because it sounds like such a similar set up.
For my first i went for the midwifery unit it was a lovely experience but it was a very quick easy birth no complications we stayed in for 3 days after just because the unit wasnt busy we were the only ones, other half was able to stay the whole time there was no visiting restrictions and we were young first time parents who really liked the support in the first few days.
After this i said i would defo have a homebirth if i had anymore children or back to the midwife unit !
With my 2nd i had a slighly more risky pregnancy had suffered some miscarriages and an ectopic and these had all been dealt with by the hospital and i then had early monitoring in my pregnancy with the hospital and then some other things cropped up in early pregnancy i had surgery and had some issues so decided to just stick with the hospital. Also had a lovely experience, 2nd baby arrived premature so i couldnt have been midwifes anyways.
After her birth although fairly uncomplicated there was some issues with the birth, babies heartrate badly dropping, i haemorraged etc....now i look back and think just how badly things could have went in the midwife unit on my 1st birth. If i was to have anymore babies i would pick the hospital despite the lovely surroundings and 1:1 of the midwife unit purely because i feel more knowledgeable now of just how things can change from the normal to the unexpected in literally seconds and i wouldnt want to be more than a couple or minutes away from a team of doctors.

The compromise could be the midwife led unit in the hospital that way u are just down the corrider from help if required. The hospital i had 2nd in had a midwife led home from home unit again and although i probably wouldnt be suitable anymore for midwife led care that would be my preference midwife led in the big hospital