To not give birth through the NHS?

[HereOrThereAndAnywhere]

With all the news stories of poor NHS maternity care and not good outcomes, I'm wondering if it would be worth it to give birth in another country. Is that a bad idea? Was your birth experience (if you had one in the last couple years) ok?

For voting purposes

YABU = Maternity care is perfect and there's nothing to worry about
YANBU = Maternity care has really gone downhill so I would try to figure out another way to give birth either privately or abroad

Based on my experience I couldn’t be happier on how it went
My midwife was fantastic, and as I arrived fully dilated she didn’t leave me
Until the baby was out and I was stitched up.

I had every confidence in her and the colleagues that popped in and out ( with my permission) to assist / observe.

I gave birth in a 3rd world country.... NHS is really not that bad.... you have well trained staff who may be a little overstretched but have your best interests at heart...

If I could afford it I'd go private without a doubt. Quite fancy the Portland!

Not sure about giving birth in another country though, how would that even work? Do you have somewhere in mind?

There's a big gap between perfect (even private maternity services are not perfect) and really gone downhill!

Why don’t you just give birth privately in the uk?

My personal experience was fantastic, but I don’t speak for everyone. And you could have a horrific private birth and end up needing NHS treatment to rectify the problems anyway.

What country do you think has better maternity care?

Bagpussss

I'm not trying to say anything bad about the NHS, I'm just trying to gage people's personal experiences because of how stretched staff have reported to been.

Based on my experience you give birth through your birth canal.

If you mean (sorry for being sarcy I couldn't resist) accessing services, then yes if you have lots of money to buy amazing services privately I am sure that will be far more enjoyable.

What country do you think has better maternity care?

I was perhaps thinking of paying privately to give birth in another EU country.

The problem is it’s not just the maternity care it’s also having access to neonatal care. We’re so so lucky in this country that we have the nhs that provides this to us depending on need rather than what you can afford.
For my experience I’ve got two children. Second birth experience much better but I think that was down to me being a bit less scared and my body knowing to do so it was much quicker. Yes the room wasn’t great but the people were absolutely amazing. For both I had the paediatric reg and obstetric reg involved. I was so grateful they were there. For my first delivery they saved my life.

You can’t just go and give birth in another country. You wouldn’t get insurance to travel if you were on the verge of giving birth anyway.

I've had one birth private healthcare in Germany, and one NHS.
The NHS one was better. Things can go wrong in any system.

I’d research in to your area first. My local hospital has really good statistics and I had a great birth experience.

Agree that there needs to be a middle option of not perfect but fit for purpose.

If you can afford to go private, why not just go private over here? I hear the Lindo wing is a bit nice

What country are you considering op? Honestly if you can afford the health care costs to go abroad, rent accommodation for however long is necessary (presume you'd have to opt for a c section unless you relocate for potentially weeks) both before and after the birth, plus the costs (hospital and accommodation) if anything goes wrong and you're stuck out there for months, then I'd just pay to go priovate in the UK.

FWIW I have no concerns about a second NHS birth after thry saved my baby from dying after he was born, operated on him and basically kept him alive and got him well and continued to operate on and look after him for his first 18 months. There's nothing going private would have changed and God only knows what we'd done if I'd given birth abroad as he wouldn't have been fit to travel for months and then not by plane

Is it your first baby op? Travelling back from another country postpartum would be hell on earth imo.

I can understand wanting to go private (although I couldn't have asked for better care from the NHS during my Labour) but why another country?

You can’t just go and give birth in another country. You wouldn’t get insurance to travel if you were on the verge of giving birth anyway.

I was thinking of moving a couple months before and then paying for it myself.

I was treated fine until on the postnatal ward.

Personally if you are worried pay for a doula to accompany you and a private room.

People travel from all around the world to give birth in the NHS.
A tiny minority of cases have significant problems in both the private and NHS sectors and worldwide.
Some women do not have the birth experience that they want and that is disappointing.
Go private if you have the money (but basically that’s only in London) - that will buy you an NHS consultant working also privately usually.

I found my maternity care overall very good.

I'd say
Antenatal - good
Labour/immediate postnatal period - excellent
Postnatal - satisfactory

Where do you live, I think that will make a difference. Also do you have an EU country in mind? If you have family/ties in a specific country might make it easier. Also, different countries do things differently to an extent, for example in Poland an enema is routine, more doctor led, epidurals are very rare. It really depends what you want!

I've had 3 terrible births but I don't feel my hospital or midwives were the cause of any of it, I feel confident that they did everything they could to help me and keep us all comfortable. I've had 3 babies all stay in the NICU for different lengths of time, not to mention myself being in for weeks, and thinking how much that would have cost me privately makes my eyes water! If you can afford it and think it'll be better then go for it. I wouldn't. The most I'd do is pay for a private room.

YABU