indepenent midwives, doulas and private hospitals - are they worth the money?

[Carriel]

Really sorry to bother you guys again, but we?re in the final stages of writing our second book; mums on pregnancy, and are a bit short on some information. We wanted to hear from anyone who has either used an independent midwife or doula, during labour or had their baby at a private hospital. Please tell us about your experience. Did you think it was worth the money and would you do it again? Thanks so much for your help.

alibubbles

thank you for your reply...I think I'd like a birth doula as well as p/n but still investigating, I've had a look at the doula site thanks and have contacted acouple of them...we'll see how it goes

Hello alibubbles. I can't keep up with all the threads, but my interest has been caught by the mention that you are in St Albans. I live in St Albans, have 3 kids in primary school and expecting No. 4 in May. Are your Doula services still available, or do you know anyone who might be able to help? I thought I was looking for an `afterschool nanny', primarily to look after the 3 siblings, but someone who could potentially attend the birth and look after me too sounds a bonus! I've been let down by the nanny agency and it's getting a bit close....

YFT, I am in UAE ( near Oman) at the moment, but would love to help if I can.

Email me on [email protected] and I'll try to piuck up email in a couple of days.

The hotel I am in charges £20 a day for wireless access, as it is the only hotel with it, no internet elsewhere, it really is a very undeveloped part of the emirates, quiet and bliss. temp is 36c.

Which school do your children attend, initals would be fine, I can guess as I have lived in S/A for 20 years!

My \link{http://www.think-small.co.uk\website}

My Gynae/Obs is based at The Portland, where we intended to have all of our babies. The only negative point we found was that if there were to be a medical problem I would have been sent round to St Marys which is NHS - what's the point? Very nice hospital/staff etc BUT is it really worth £zillions if you end up not enjoying any of the 'perks' In the end, through default, I ended up in a fab NHS hospital - it was perfect. Thank God really, turned out VB was having her second baby on the same day at The Portland and it was shall we say 'rather busy'!!

I used a doula and would thoroughly recommend it. Feel free to CAT me if you like.

Absolutely - The doula I used was worth double the money I paid her. Without her it would have been a far worse experience.