Princess royal Haywards heath vc Crowborough birthing centre

[GingerDoodle]

Hi all

Does anyone have any thoughts on Princess Royal Haywards Heath or Crowborough birthing centre?

We originally wanted to go to either but we were talked into going to East Surrey which I've never been very happy about and after even more bad press have decided to change were we are booked into.

Many thanks in advance.

Gd

I originally wanted to go to Crowbridge, but it was a bit far from here, and since dd was born very quickly, I think we might not have time to get there, especially at night when it is dark.

I have heard good things about Princess Royal too, but am going to East Surrey as it is closer.

I had a tour of East Surrey yesterday and I was impressed. It was also very quiet and seemed to have a lot of staff. I am curious though as to why you have you decided against it?

I am 37 weeks, so will let you know how it goes! Hopefully not long now.

I think Crowborough is lovely and the next best thing to a home birth. They were brilliant, almost like a hotel! PRH is ok if you need hospital though and CBC will transfer you if needed to PRH or T Wells. PM me if you want to know more.
x

I had ds1 and ds2 at Princess Royal, 15 and 13 years ago now.
I wouldnt rave about it tbh...the midwives on the delivery suite were lovely so my birthing experiences were good but the aftercare on the maternity ward i thought left a lot to be desired....so much so when i had ds2 i got dressed and came home 6 hours after. I was not staying overnight!!

When i had ds3 i had him at home.......a much better experience.

Hey all

Sorry for the late response. I have just heard some many bad things about East Surrey that I don't want the risk of having a bad experience there myself (I do hope yours is a good one Alligatorpie!)

We are going to check them all out soon so hopefully that will help us make a decision. I preferably want to be up and out as soon as possible - I absolutely hate being away from my DH overnight and so would much rather go home ASAP.

GD

I had my DS at PRH 16 months ago, and all of the staff there were brilliant. I had very serious complications immediately after the birth and was in the hospital for 5 days altogether, but everyone was so friendly and they helped my DH look after DS for the first 2 days when I was in intensive care, they even let DH stay every night in his own room in the post natal ward. If I have another baby I'll definitely go to PRH again and would definitely recommend it.
Good luck anyway :)

I had DD at Crowborough August 2010 and it was a wonderful experience. We live in Brighton so it was a 20 mile dash but at 4am so roads were very quiet. I was keen for a homebirth but as this was my first baby, I opted for a standalone birthing centre instead. Care was kind and unintrusive. There were just 2 other Mums there so it was all very quiet, no hecticness of a hospital - the pool was available I had a room to myself afterwards as well as a great big room to give birth in. I had 2 midwives at all time, as much tea and toast as I could manage and lots of help establishing breastfeeding. I would be keen to have our second baby there (due September) but we're going to go for a homebirth instead.

Good luck!

I can also recommend Crowborough Birthing Center. Had my DC there in 2010, and midwives were all really nice. I was transferred to Pembury after the birth for surgery, but went back to Crowborough in the evening (you can only do that if you've actually given birth there tough). Midwives were really helpful with breastfeeding, which I struggled with, and even took DC away for a few hours the first night so I could get some sleep, which I was very grateful for! Only one other mum there too while I was there, so had a 3-bed room to myself.

If I ever have another DC I would go to hospital, but that's because I found my birth (albeit completely intervention-free) very traumatic and would definitely want an epidural next time. Nothing to do with the care I received at Crowborough though, they were fantastic.