Anyone had home birth with st heliers midwives?

[leannac]

I had an awful first labour with dd at Kingston hospital & am now pregnant again. I thought I'd go for Kingston again just cos it's my closest hospital but I'm now starting to get really scared about a repeat performance so am considering a home birth. My local midwives are st helier midwives. Any experiences with them?

Not me, but lots of my friends round here have had homebirths with St Helier team and really rate them :)

I had DD at St Helier last year and the staff there were fantastic.

Good luck, hope you get the birth you want :)

Oh that's great to hear. Good also to hear you had a positive experience at st helier as despite it being where our community midwives come from my dr generally recommends either Kingston or st George's only. What kind of birth did you have?

induced at 39 weeks due to gestational diabetes - ended up being very fast when labour did start, she was out in just under an hour

i was scared about having the induction and everyone i dealt with was very reassuring, clear in their explanations and responsive to what i wanted e.g. my midwife encouraged me to move around on the bed as much as possible despite having CFM and a scalp clip.

I had a homebirth with st. helier and a doula. St helier were good but the doula made it for me as we had built on a relationship and she knew exactly what i needed!

Can I ask which doula you used? I'm thinking of hiring a doula too so am currently trying to meet a few to see if I click with any

I have had two DCs at St Helier in the last two years, both times in their midwife led birth centre. They were excellent and I would thoroughly recommend them. My first DC was born at St George's which was a different story altogether ( not positive!)

I hadn't considered using their actual midwife centre as my dr is a but against st helier - with no good explanation! - I may investigate as might be compromise between home birth being a bit scary & Kingston being rubbish!

hi leannac, just seen your post. I think St Helier used to have a bit of a bad reputation a few years ago, which is why your dr might not be recommending them for maternity. in my experience they seemed less busy than St George's which made a difference to the care they provided.
No experience of Kingston though.

i used siobhan pearce - she is based in wimbledon (i think).
you could use the birthing centre at st helier which is lovely and new

It is inappropriate of your GP to share his/her opinion of any place of birth. You should be given information on the hospitals, midwife led units and home birth and then you decide what would be best for you.

Can you do a tour of St Helier or ring and ask to speak to someone about arranging a homebirth?

I planned a homebirth with St Helier midwives 13 years ago - actually birthed in the hospital but had really excellent care from the team of midwives who did homebirths - I can still remember Deirdra and Gaby!

You can call the birth centre at St Helier for a one to one tour of the facilities on 02082962050. It's well worth a look!