Anyone in Croydon NOT going to Mayday hospital?

[juliegillard]

I'm only just over 7 weeks pregnant and had my first GP appointment today. She confirmed what I'd already heard - that if you live in the Croydon area you are practically forced to go to Mayday to have your baby.

Well I've already stated that under NO circumstances am I going to Mayday (I'm very keen on a home birth actually but dear husband is against it at present - I'm working on him!).

So assuming that I go to a hospital at all, it will NOT be Mayday. But to achieve this apparently I should start now with writing letters to all and sundry to try to get 'permission' to have my funding transferred elsewhere - i.e. Sutton so I can use St Helier, or Redhill.

Is anyone else in the situation? Has anyone successfully done this and got permission to go elsewhere?

Thanks
Julie

Yeah i went to one class on a sat,it was held in shirley clinic (booked thru mayday)so didnt get tour of labor ward. I think it was the pregnancy/preparation for labor class, it wasnt too exciting,just abt pain relief&stages of labor, all partners went...dont expect any breathing techniques or classes like u see on tv! I booked quite early but didnt go til i was abt 31/32 wks! also went to early preg class in the beginning one night,total waste of time. Not sure abt the nct, someone told me abt it but bit late 4 me now. The active birth class is supposed to be better so good luck with that!

hi just to let you all know i had both my babies at mayday and everything was fab, just be realistic and remember that with labour mother nature is in charge, so all the birth plans and ideas you have go right out the window!! Go with the flow and you will be fine!
dd is 4 and ds is 16 months
The matron on the post labour ward upstairs one is called Norma she is lovely, get on the right side of her and you are sorted!
Not seen the birth suite but sounds good, almost want to have another

Hi elclose, well its good to know not all experiences of mayday are bad. I suppose it all depends on the midwife and how busy the ward is when you're in labor. I'll look out for Norma! How long did u stay in?

with dd it was overnight she was born at 1.26 pm (4 hour labour) with ds about 10hours after he was born(1 hour labour), but that was because i chatted to Norma and she said i could go she was my Midwife when i was pregnant with dd and ds. she looks a bit like Pam Grier from Jackie BRown

haha lets hope i see her. Dat doesnt sound 2 bad, I dont want to stay in long but hope i wont b pushed out if im not well enough!

MY EXPERIENCE OF MAYDAY

My labor was the nitemare of all nitemares...first i started getting
contractions on thursday 15th...really strong and painful and only a
few mins apart,when i went2hosp they said i was in early labor only 1
centimetre dilated!(my waters hadnt broken but after vag exam i got a show which continued for a day or 2) but bcos my blood pressure was sky high they kept
me in foetal assessment without my hubby r mum - cos only at visiting hrs -evntho they were my brithing partners and i was in labor. I'd agonising contractions less than
3mins apart for 3 whole days but they wudnt take me to the delivery
ward cos my cervix wasnt ready, it went from one to two and just stayed there! I didnt sleep 1 second, eat 1 thing, go to
toilet or drink anything but water for almost a week! I couldnt
sit,lie,walk,shower,have a bath,talk even... they wudnt giv me pain
relief except gas and air which made me SO HIGH (wish i cud take it
home) but doesnt do much after 3days of stressful labor2me and baby. I was so sick I thought I wouldnt make it,they wouldnt even let me go home r bring anything like birthing ball in (most of the other women on the unit were there for monitoring etc but i was actually in labor)

Eventually on sat afternoon they examined me and said ok ur 3
centimetres dilated u can go to labor room,ur now in "established"
labor...so i was delighted finally it was gonna end soon...ispent
hours like that and didnt take any pain relief but entonox...then they examined me awhile later and no progress...so they broke my waters(which was SO hard4dem 2 do & there was very little - probably cos id been leaking) and discovered the baby had
pooed inside so onto monitor etc and i tried to carry on and get him out...breaking the waters
is supposd2speed up the labor but another few hrs later and my cervix
still wasnt opening...iwas on blood pressure monitors,baby heartbeat
monitor etc...so they suggested speeding it up with the drip2give me more contractions...i was like MORE?theyre already coming every
minute and SO painful but i agreed cos i wanted my baby....cos it
makes things advance rapidly and can b really painful so i said ok u
better give me an epidural then to numb the pain but the anesthist (spelt wrong)wasnt ready so i cudnt take it any more and got some pethidine...then they set up drip,cathether&ep, told me as soon as i was 10 centimetres and
near to pushing the baby out - theyd stop in order
to let me push naturally....hours later....still nothing!!!!and the
drugs were wearing off but i still thought i can do this...

Eventually at 8 a.m on sunday morn they said ok this isnt gona happen
and babys in distress we're bringin u to theatre...so off i went more
got a spinal block....then on the chopping board
lol...they cut me open(which altho u cant feel the pain ufeel
sumtn)and next thing i hear my baby cry and they pull him out, ididnt
notice them stitchin me back2gether cos i was too busy tryna catch a
glimpse of the baby which i cudnt cos i was paralysed from chest
down...it was so sad he was covered in poo and vomitted it up for
days,they didnt even clean him for me r help me with anything...but i
was SO happy it was all over...but the nitemare continued-he had had
the cord stuck around his neck3times(probably from the stress of the
long labor)so thank God he wasnt born naturally r he wudnt have
survived.

Anyway so they movd me to postnatal ward and i was so weak i lost so
much blood i had drips and injections and on so many drugs...i even
had 2 have 3 blood transfusions!The staff in Mayday hospital are PURE EVIL(except a few lovely people who go out of their way to care) especially the nite staff,that is not an exaggeration! The nite i delivered i was so disorientated and didnt know what was happening my baby was crying and he wudnt feed cos he was so sick and vomitting poo...i cudnt move and no one wud come when i pressd the bell even if they did they just said hes fine, the patient next 2me whod had her section few days early even changed his nappy4me!he was dirty,hungry,sick and all the staff said to me was "Lots of women have cesareans,he just wants his mum" It was like id died and gone to hell i wanted to help my baby so much and i cudnt i was so helpless,ihad to force my body to do stuff it couldnt to try to help him...my breastmilk never came in&they didnt help me lift him to try either..i woke up once and theyd just bottle fed him...i didnt mind tho bcos at least he was getting better and eating something...i started using breastpump but nothing happend,ieven got baby 2 latch on and suck well but no milk! So I started requesting optimal cos thats what theyd started him on..but they were so tight,ihad 2 ask over and over again for just one bottle...and try and make it last.

We finally went to leave the hosp on
tues til one doc decided the lil rash my baby had on face cud b
infection so they kept us in another 2 days and i had 2 bring my lil
angel to special care unit day and nite for antibiotics until the
results came in...he had this needle drip thing in his tiny hands it
was so cruel...i was so scared i thought God why r u doing this 2
me...finally on thursday we got the results and they were negativ he
was fine it was just a lil rash THANK GOD so i got home thursday nite
away from that horrible hospital! Sorry its so long but that really is
the short version ONE WHOLE WEEK of agony, i went in thurs nite and
came back following thurs nite! I just barely started eating again and
on thursday nite i got my first sleep of two hours on and off in
between feeding changing baby etc...im SO happy now he was worth it
all but it really was a near death experience and now the midwife is
coming to check me everyday cos it looks like my wound isnt healing
very well and they have to make sure the scar doesnt open PLUS after
all dat happend me my breastmilk hasnt come in and i have to feed him
formula until it does by which time he probly will b too used to
bottles!

I wish I could sue the hospital,so much happnd while I was there I dont even wanna remember so that realy is a brief summary. Thank God its all over and im home with my gorgeous baby boy

Oh Hanifah I am so sorry to hear about your experience of Mayday hugs how is your baby boy doing now?

I have finally got booked into the birth centre after a bit of a struggle - had to see Mr Booker king of obs/gyn and get him to issue a diktat ;) I'll have to go to labour ward first for them to listen to my heart and if all is well then off to the birth centre. FINGERS CROSSED!

hope all is well with you now

jo

hanif sorry your experience was bad....mayday can be good but it depends whos there!

steeple the birthing centre is brill! i went in at 3am with ds and he was born at 6am with 2 midwives present the whole way through, it wa sa quiet night!!! good luck!

hey Sleepless, glad to hear the birth centre is as good as it seems It seemed really quiet when we went for the tour on Monday and when I went for my booking in appointment yesterday so just have to hope it stays that way ;)

it is a shame they don't have enough staff for the number of rooms they have.

sneeple i think its quiet coz so many people arent considered low risk, i didnt even know it was there until i turned up in labour!!

Yeah my midwife did her best to arbitrarily refuse me access to the birth centre, due to an operation when I was 6 and a minor heart defect from which I have no symptoms. I just decided not to accept it without a genuine reason and they couldn't give me one. I think a lot of people will just defer to their midwife, which is a problem, particularly if they aren't particularly keen on the birth centre ethos which I suspect my midwife isn't.

I do have to be given antibiotics during labour, due to the miniscule risk of endocarditis, and even that would have ruled me out if Mr Booker hadn't said it was ok!

i hope you do get into the birth centre its lovely, i had a birthing pool in my bathroom but by the time i got there i oculdnt have got in it if i tried....also had mood lighting in the room and a proper bed, it was bliss compared to the labour suite!!! also had the same labour as i did with dd and they told me to go on all fours, he was out within 10 minutes, with dd i was pushing for 4hrs!! wish itd been there when i had her!

i insisted on kings, as my birth is a vbac, and didnt want to take any chances. u can get referred if u say that a family friend lost a baby due to negligence.. thats what i did (total bull but u do wat u have to eh)

Hey Natty,

You are on the June thread aren't you? I am pretty sure my sister in law had a VBAC at Kings and it all went fine

We'll have to meet up somewhere in lovely Croydon once the LOs arrive! (er and I work out how to actually do stuff with a baby... not had much experience since I was young helping with my sister's kids who are now 20, 15 and 14 ;)

jo

sounds good to me. when u due?

Natty, 31st May according to NHS, 4th June according to me

Dizzy, thanks for that reassurance about the labour ward I was in the foetal assessment unit after a minor car crash in March and the midwives were lovely but the obstetrician (she was a SHO/junior doctor, with a Greek name) was absolutely awful. Rough pelvic exam, didn't talk directly to me (like she thought the midwife might have to translate for me into chav language, after all I am from Croydon ;)) Just dreadful!!

yeah im 28th may by NHS and 1st june by my dates. sorry to hear about awful doc, hope your time in mayday is ok

hi
booked into st georges for due date but they've got no more places for antenatal classes
just moved to croydon can i go to the nhs community classes in mayday and still have baby in georges?

Hi, it's great to read all the advice. I'm in South Croydon and am down for Mayday. (Just 6 weeks pregnant.) But then was worried that I wasn't given any other option. The doctor just said: So you're happy to go to Mayday..?

Do you think I will be classed as high risk as I'll be 38 (due mid-July)? I was really hoping to use the Birth Centre at Mayday. tx

Hi
I just wanted to add to this as I had my twins at Kings in Sep 2006 - lived in Crystal Palace at the time so no issue. We moved to Selhurst and I fell pg again in Oct 2008. I suffered a bleed at 10 weeks and after much faffing about I finally got a scan at the inadequate Mayday EPU (one room for such a large catchment area in such a overstrethced and need area of womans medicine is disgraceful I should add) 4 days after the bleed started; apparently you can not get an emergency scan at the weekend at Mayday and you can't do self referral or walk in!!!.

Anyway I miscarried and had to have a emergency ERPC two days later after being discharged and then rushed back in to A&E in an ambulance. All in all a shocking experience that has in turn put me off Mayday forever.

I am pg again, 7+2 today and was very concerned when I went to see my GP - I did not want to go to Mayday for my antenatal and that was the end of it. She was totally understanding and immediately referred me to Kings - my first choice. No issues, no fight. I was so pleased, I did however agree to have an early scan at Mayday again as she said she had quicker access to that at Mayday than at Kings - it still took 3 days to get a date.

So for those of you who do not want to go to Mayday in Croydon and have been told you have no choice I beg to differ as I am proof that you can go where you want to. My referal was faxed to kings after my GP appointment on 16th Feb, I got my booking appointment date on the 20th and my 12 week scan on the 21st, very impressive indeed.

hope this helps someone

Hi its Hanifah (changed my log in name) So sorry I never got back to anyone on the thread. My ds1 is 2 next week and doing great. I have had another bad experience of mayday when I had a miscarriage in June and was left for hrs and hrs in a&e by uncaring staff and didnt get booked for a scan by early pregnancy unit until almost a week later...so was left unconfirmed if I had lost the baby or not.Appalling treatment! The labor ward is ok...the hope ward/foetal assessment is barbaric as is the post natal "mary ward". Just to let people know u DO have a choice..Im now 30 wks preg and was given the option to go to st.heliers but have decided not to as I dont want to be too far away from ds1 when I go into labor(esp as I will probably be in for some time) Nt lookin forward to mayday again but hoping things will be differnt this time...at least im prepared for the evil midwives..and also hoping if I can have a natural birth to stay at home thru it as long as possible and leave the same day....who knows I might just "coincidentally" be near st georges when Im in labor ...and avoid the place altogether lol

Just to let you know, you can self-refer to Kings EPU. You do not need to live in the borough and you do not need a letter from your GP. I think you do need to be experiencing pain or bleeding though - in order to get scanned.

St.Georges also have a self-referral EPU which is open on Mon-Sat. They are happy to do reassurance scans - you don't need to be suffering spotting/pain etc.

For both, you need to arrive early. I would say at least half hour before they open. Also, it is over a year since I went to the Kings EPU - so you might need to check that this info still applies. A lot of GPs are quite ignorant about EPUs and don't know what options are available. I had to wait 2 weeks for scan at Mayday, only to find out it was a blighted ovum pregnancy.

These posts about EPUs just caught my eye, and I thought it might be worth mentioning that I went to the St George's EPU last week and it was really speedy and straightforward. Maybe I was lucky, but there were only 3 or so women ahead of me, and we were in and out within an hour. It's meant to be hideously busy on Saturdays, but mid-week is quieter. I got there at about 9.40am, on a Wednesday.

I did have a referral from my GP for early dating, but you can just show up and have a scan even if you've had no worrying symptoms; they'll do it if you've merely been feeling anxious.

Yes St. Georges are fantastic. They have been my saviour in this pregnancy