Hi there
I had DS2 at The Lister in February last year. I would say my experience was mixed. DS1 was born at the Whittington in North London which was fantastic but The Lister definitely wasn't up to their standards.
Pros:
The midwife who actually delivered him was fantastic. Calm, positive, got me moving, knew what to do. We both had complete faith in her.
The new birthing unit is nice and most of the delivery rooms have en suite bathrooms with nice big baths - helps even if you don't have a pool.
Cons: (and now I'm writing it I realise the cons are a much longer list):
DS1 was 10lb 5. DS2 was measuring big all the way through. I asked for them to induce me if I got to 40 + 7. They booked me for an induction but then cancelled as they thought it wouldn't be necessary. I actually went into labour at 38 weeks and so pleased it happened then as DS2 was 10lb 7. If they'd let me go much over, I don't know if I'd have got him out!
I laboured quite quickly to 8cm and had the urge to push even though not fully dilated. My midwife at that stage clearly wanted the baby born - she kept saying 'let's get this over with before I have to go home' (which drove me mad) and she started coaching me to push at 8cm. Of course nothing happened except I got even more exhausted. My husband stopped it in the end. Then a doctor came in to check and said that they would give me 'another 2 hours' to get to 10cm. There was no medical reason for this - the baby wasn't distressed at all. I had a monitor band round my tummy and they had a scalp monitor on the baby. Contractions were regular and the baby's heartbeat was fine.
After an hour and a half, the doctor came back in, examined me and said 'well you're 9cm now and you're clearly not going to get to 10cm. The baby is stargazing and stuck and your only option is a C section.' I was very upset. The doctor said 'It's impossible that this baby will move anymore. Your only option at this stage is a section'. I signed the consent forms, they got us all ready for theatre, wheeled us down. We got to theatre and another doctor said he would give me one last VE. I was 10cm and another consultant came in, hovered over me and said 'It would be dangerous to have a section, you've got to get back to the delivery room now and push. But it's a big baby so you have to watch out for shoulder dystocia.' (to me!)
We went back to delivery, and this new (excellent) team of midwives were there. They calmed me down, gave me a rest, gave me a drink, and helped me into the position I wanted to push in. A bit of peace and quiet and my contractions got going again and I pushed him out in 10 minutes. That part was lovely. I knew what position might help deliver a large baby as they'd taught me that at the Whittington. It was my experience at the Whittington that gave me the confidence to just relax and believe I could do it. If I'd been having my first baby at The Lister I would have mightily panicked.
I tested positive with GBS prior to my pregnancy with DS2 (they tested me after a MC). I told The Lister this, but instead of testing again at 36 weeks or so, they just had me down as GBS+ on my notes and they took my baby straight away to SCBU for IV antibiotics which he had to have for 48 hours. I had no idea that would happen and it really upset me. 30 minutes after the birth I was sitting on my own in SCBU (as they'd sent my husband home), while they struggled to get a needle into my baby's vein. It was horrible.
Two days after the birth, my Mum mentioned to them that he looked jaundiced. They tested him and found he was near the transfusion line. He was taken away to SCBU to go under the lights because they didn't have room on the ward to move a lightbox in. Then they decided that his blood sugar was low. I wanted to breastfeed continuously to get my supply going and get some more milk into him. They told me that I had until the end of day one to get enough breastmilk into him before they would start tube feeding. His blood sugar was still low by the end of that day and they started tube feeding him at night on SCBU. A student midwife spent the night manually expressing me to get my supply going although she kept saying 'I shouldn't be doing this'. In retrospective, I think The Lister were trying to do the right thing medically, but they didn't explain any of it to me and they didn't tell me that of course I could sit with him in SCBU as much as I wanted and breastfeed. It sounds silly, but I didn't know I could do that. It was only after a day or so that I asked to speak to the breastfeeding coordinator and she told me I could do that. I couldn't stop crying with relief. I had kept saying to the midwives 'the more you tube feed him and take him away from me, the harder it is to establish breastfeeding', and they kept saying 'your baby's health is the most important thing'. Which it is - but all I wanted was to be told that I could go with him and breastfeed and I didn't know I could. It sounds absolutely ridiculous writing it all down now but that's honestly what I believed at the time.
Anyway, the fact that I'd breastfed my first helped me just carry on and I'm still breastfeeding DS2 now. But I would say that it is in no way down to The Lister.
Final thing - I was bleeding heavily and asked the midwives if they could change my bed. They pointed down the corridor to the linen cupboard and told me to help myself. Maybe that happens in all NHS hospitals but that made me cry too!
Sorry this is so long. I didn't actual realize a lot of this until I wrote it down. But I would be very careful about choosing The Lister, IME.