LDN ladies - moving to Blackheath..which hospital to choose?x

[coco29]

Hi mums and mums2b :)

First time mum2b newbie here. We're moving to Blackheath shortly from the concreate jungle of Aldgate east and really looking forward to it. Due our first in March and wondering what hospital to choose. We're not from London and I have no mummy friends to advise on this subject. I'm currently down for the Barkentine birthing centre but if there are any complications (so far all good!) it will be the Royal hospital and I'd prefer not. Do any of the hospitals down south have these birthing centres? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks a mil. x

Not Queen Elizabeth ;-) Mistakes made in the birth of my first there caused me a post-partum infection and most likely my incompetent cervix which caused me to nearly lose my second baby and has left me unable to deliver naturally. I am not alone with awful stories of that place. I'm currently booked there (I live near Plumstead) as my community midwives are just lovely and they are local, but I'll be swapping at 34 weeks or so to somewhere else. No idea where, but not QEH.

Kings has some fairly nice labour rooms as I had DD2 there although it turned into an emergency c-section. Postnatal is dreadful though, a nightmare, however that applies to most London hospitals. If you have a natural delivery though that shouldn't matter! On the plus side Kings does have a donor milk bank should you need it.

Thanks for the info sparklies and sorry to hear about the problems you had and problems you're left with.

I was thinking about Kings alright. I have to tell my Midwife by Monday and think I will go with that.
Thanks again.

I also had DS at Kings, the quality of care is really good. Postnatal is a bit hit and miss. Didn't think that the postnatal ward was that bad but was not impressed with the breast feeding support in general. Best to have the number of a breast feeding counsellor handy!
Good luck!

My main issues with Kings were that I was stuck in an overheated ward (in November!!) with no natural light for over 3 days. Most of the midwives were absolutely lovely, but some of the night ones were basically cows. One told me to pull myself together when I was in tears from the baby blues (and a highly traumatic high risk pregnancy to boot plus the lack of natural light didn't help) and she also made mistakes that meant my baby (who had blood sugar issues) had formula instead of donor milk when I was exclusively breastfeeding and adamant about it.

Thankfully on day 3 a lovely midwife realised what a state I was in and ordered a move to another bed near a window and things were a lot better then especially as I never saw the awful midwife again!

Understaffed and under-resourced were the direct causes of 90% of the issues though. I'd hazard a guess it's no worse than anywhere else and the excellent labour/delivery care with some of the best doctors in the world should you need them, makes it a good bet.

I had my first at Lewisham,horrendous!had my 2nd at Kings which was like a 5 star hotel in comparison.
Having said that Lewisham has a plush new Birth Centre which looks amazing.

I had both mine in Lewisham, and although it isn't pretty - I couldn't criticise the level of care. And I really liked the community midwives that come to visit you at home in the weeks after the birth.

If you want to keep things active and low key, I would definitely consider the new birth centre at Lewisham Hospital. It looks very nice indeed.

I'm due to have my first baby at Lewisham next week and while I have heard mixed reviews about it, the level of care I have received to date has been excellent. Unfortunately I will not be allowed to use the birth centre as I am higher risk but it sounds great. They will only take you there thought if you have no complications at all.

I know that you have asked about hospitals but would you consider an independent midwife? My experience is that while you can always be lucky the problem of under-staffing and lack of resources seems pretty systemic in NHS hospitals in the area.

I was lucky enough to have a low-risk pregnancy and my baby was one of the first to be born at the new birth centre in Lewisham back in May. I have only good things to say about the experience I had and the care I received, so it comes highly recommended from me

If you're currently down for Barkentine and would like a birthing centre than Lewisham makes sense. I'm hoping to be using the birthing centre in March if they let me.

My midwife is lovely and the one midwife I encountered at the hospital was lovely too. I've heard wonderful things about the birth centre. Apparently Kings are trying to encourage people to go there instead if they fit the bill.

Morning :) Thanks a million for all your advice ladies, its been so useful!! I've decided if after today's appointment my Midwife is happy I'm on track for a low risk pregnancy then I'm definitly going for the Lewisham birthday centre. Sounds perfect. Muser maybe I'll see you there :)

Thanks again!!