Private Midwife VS NHS (Homerton, London)

[noodlekitkat]

Hi Everyone,

I'm having my first child now at 40 and trying to decide between an NHS homebirth or a private midwife birth centre or home birth?

Grateful for any advice,

xx NKK

You can have a private midwife but still use the NHS as your fallback position. The midwife I used for both my DSs' births had done bank work in the Royal London and was (unofficially) able to help me out there.

How far into your pregnancy did you hire your midwife NotQuiteCockney?

I take it you gave birth at The Royal London?

I had two sections at the London. I wanted a home birth, each time, but life happens.

My midwife really only did home births. I don't know if she's still working. (She had a baby herself.)

You're mentioning a private midwife birth centre, I'm assuming you mean CF's lot?

You know there's a lovely website for independent midwives?

Oh, should have said, first time I hired her around 30 weeks, as I didn't know independent midwives existed before then.

Second time, I let her know once I knew I was pg.

Thanks NQC. Where is your website? Yes I am thinking about CF's centre but it is quite far away. They seem like nice people though.

I am 16 weeks so am thinking I should wait 'til I've had all my tests back before committing cash to anyone.

The Homerton midwife seemed nice but I worry about them being stretched really thin.

i had my dd (2nd child) at the homerton last year. they were fantastic (i have diabetes, & highly medicalised pregnancies/births. lucky me!). post-natal care was a bit useless, but no worse than st mary's where i had my first. the care was excellent.

CF's lot seem ok. We met with them. But we didn't like the fact we'd be obliged to pay $$ before meeting the local midwives. Also, the antenatal yoga teacher I knew at the time (who also ran a local homebirth group) didn't like one of CF's local midwives, which was a startling thing for her to say, as she (the yoga teacher) was such a gentle and positive person, otherwise.

I wouldn't worry about the tests, honestly. You're not generally expected to pay all the fees upfront, and if you did, and then had to abort, you'd get a total refund, or near enough.

(Are you having your scans privately? Or via NHS? If privately, I strongly recommend the Fetal Medicine Centre, Prof Nicolides (sp) lot.)

The midwife website is \link{http://www.independentmidwives.org.uk\here}. I also recommend finding your local homebirth group and getting guidance and support from them.

Thanks very much NQC and HC.

NQC: I had an Nuchal at Homerton which gave me a 1 to 425 result so decided to pay for a second one at FMC which was more thorough and included blood tests. They gave me 1 to 1325 which made me feel better.

I will look at the website you suggest for ideas. Where do you find a local homebirth group?

HC: Did you manage to see the same midwives for your care?

Ah, have found a local group here:

www.homebirth.org.uk/ukhb.htm

The person covering Hackney has changed, but I'm sure it's still someone lovely.

And the contact for our borough is accurate on there.

1 to 425 is pretty good for your age, I think? Are you going to the FMC for your 20-week scan? They do a great job.

i saw the same people at all my antenatal clinics, but there weren't many midwives around. whilst i was in labour i went through 4 different shifts! but they were all lovely, & the first one came back when she was next in to check on me.

HC: Good to here you had a good service at Homerton with nice midwives.

NQC: I am not sure if I will go to FMS for the 20 purely for financial reasons.. I think I will go to Homerton first and see what they say.

As to 1 in 425 - no it isn't hugely bad but I wanted as much info as possible. For instance, FMS tests could have come out with a greater risk than Homerton's in which case I may have gone for a CVS.

I saw a local midwife on www.independentmidwives.org.uk whom I may contact.

As I read other chat topics it seems that a private midwife will be helpful even in a Hospital birth just to cut down on the chaos factor which is what you were saying initially?

Did your midwife stay with you through your Caesarian and help you at the hospital afterwards?

i found the scanners at the homerton especially good nkk. do you live in hackney?

Sorry I meant FMC - Centre being spelled with a 'C', errr....

HC: yes I live off of London Fields

so do i!

Yay!

How do you find being a parent in the area? Have you found things to do?

Hi Lockets,

I'm so glad you had great treatment in this, it is very dangerous isn't it?

Did you consider having a home birth at any point? I assume a midwife could not handle dystocia? This sounds terrifying.

Was it easy to use the birthing room? Did you have to make any special requests?

How do they feel about 'active birth' generally?

I would find out what your community team is like before investing in a private midwife, frankly. I had a fantastic community team for my first birth - I had the baby, by choice, in hospital, but the midwives would have been amazing at home; and a not so brilliant team for my second baby, although I luckily ended up with two fabulous midwives turning up for the birth, at home.

I'm loving your username motherinferior LOL!

I think the midwives for the birth will not be known until they show up, also if it is a busy time I will have to go to hospital.

I meet a midwife every 6 weeks at the moment so will not probably meet many of them until the end.

we love living here. loads of stuff to do with kids, parks, the farm, broadway market. excellent childcare. we are west of l. fields, near queensbridge rd.

How did you get to meet your community team I meant to ask?