Giving birth at Queen Charlotte - Hammersmith

[tallulahstar]

Hi, I am new to the forum though I have been hanging around gathering a lot of useful information. I am 21w2d with my first dc and starting to get increasingly nervous about childbirth. I have been going to the Queen Charlotte in Hammersmith for all my antenatal care but I am struggling to find up to date information on what it is like to give birth at the Queen Charlotte. Any information that anyone has would be very appreciated.

I had my first there 2 years ago (so not that recent I'm afraid). Ended up in the normal labour bit as they were too busy in the Birth Centre (my first choice). Had a lovely male midwife for most of my time there, baby was born just after a shift change so had a lovely female midwife for the actual birth. I had a water birth even thought I wasn't in the Birth Centre - it was great (despite the slightly bizarre decor in the room - the walls and ceiling were painted as if you were on a desert island complete with palm trees and parrots, and there were little LED light "stars" in the ceiling - not that I cared about any of that at the time!).

I had a few stiches which were done by a doctor rather than the midwife as they were apparently in a funny place. Stitching was fine although not the nicest of experiences and I had no problems afterwards - didn't notice they were there.

They moved us downstairs to the Birth Centre after baby was born and all the tidy up stuff was done, which was nice as it meant we had a room to ourselves (with a shower and toilet) my other half could stay the night. The next day was a bit bizarre as people would randomly appear to do the usual tests over the course of the day, but I think that's probably standard. A midwife came and helped us to give baby a bath. We were offered food and cups of tea I think throughout. Baby had the BCG as well, which was offered as standard there at that time.

We went home around 5pm, so we were only there for 24 hours all in.

Afterwards they were a bit rubbish - they didn't make the necessary arrangements with the hospital providing my community midwife care, so we didn't get a visit until the day after we were supposed to - which is not what you want with a new baby! I also had some problems breast feeding and when I called them for advice they told me I shouldn't have left if feeding wasn't going well (it was going fine when we were in hospital of course) and that if baby got dehydrated we might have to come back in for baby to go on a drip - NOT what you want to hear. However, once the community midwives took over everything was fine.

My overall conclusion is that QC is not great before (in terms of being pleasant and helpful) and after, but great for the birth itself.

Hope that helps!

Thanks so much for the information, it is pretty much what I have heard from other people. I suppose so long as they are good for the birth, I should be able to tolerate everything else.

I had DS at QCCH, and despite a fairly dramatic situation, I was really happy with the treatment and support I received there.

DS was undiagnosed breech until about an hour before he was born, resulting in me having a vaginal birth in theatre, while they were prepping me for emergency cs.

Because I'd had the natural birth they got me a room in the birth centre, where DP, DS and I stayed (in a double en suite) for 2 days/nights whilst I recovered and bf established. I didn't want to go home!!

Thank you for all your advice and help. Think I am just going to stick with QC and report back on my experience