which hospital?

[kdinas]

Hi, I have had two c-sections, in two different hospitals in my area. One was at Whipps Cross, and the other at King George, Redbridge. Both were horrific experiences. I am pregnant again, 10 weeks, and am petrified of going back to hospital. I have cried everytime I try to sort out which hospital to book into, and am feeling very low and quite desperate about thewhole thing.
The second delivery was a meant to be a vbac, and the interventions I suffered and the amount of bullying was awful. The midwives decided that I ws a troublemaker, and each one gave me a hard time. It ended with me almost running out of the hospital three days later, and my recovery from the c-s was prolonged.

I really want to try for a vbac again, and am thinking about all sorts of devious plans to stop them from inducing me. I'm not 'in the system' yet, and am thinking about lying about my dates, so I can go comfortably overdue without worrying about the pressure they put me under. Yes, I am weak, I know!
I still don't know which hospital to choose, since they all have bad reps in my area, apparently Whipps Cross and kinge George are the best of the lot.
Please can some one help me decide what to do?
I am desperate and clueless.

I don't even know where these hopsitals are but I could suggest that you speak (no need to hire them) doulas in your area and they can give you an idea of their experiences in local hopsitals. They might know staff and consulatnts too...
You can also hire a doula to avoid the bullying this time... up to you.
You can CAT me if you want too. I am a doula but not in your area but i do know many doulas.

Kdinas,
I am sorry your first two experiences were so traumatic. If you have the money I would strongly urge you to hire an Independent Midwife who would support you if you wanted to plan a homebirth after C-S. It sounds like they would be worth their weight in gold for you, even though at first sight you may think it too much I hired one and thought her very cheap for what she did.
The IM I hired lives in your area and used to be supervisor of midwives at Whipps cross, so if you needed to transfer she would definately be the person to have around to fight your corner. She gave excellent post natal care too - only meant to do up to 6 weeks, but for me came longer. She does reflexology too now which is a bonus.

I am pretty sure that there are web sites or yahoo groups that are dedicated to VBAC - have you found any of those? They might be able to give you lots more support.

A friend of mine lives in the Whipps Cross Hospital area, but when she visited it when pregnant she was so horrified that she decided she couldn't face going there for the birth. She visited Harlow Hospital as well, which is a lot farther away but she really liked it, so when she went into labour she got her husband to drive them to Harlow. Although officially Harlow wouldn't accept her as a patient during the antenatal stage, she reckoned that if she just turned up in the advanced stages of labour, they wouldn't turn her away.

Her devious plan worked and she had a good birth experience at Harlow. I've no idea how close you are to Harlow, but I just thought it was worth mentioning...

I wouldn't lie about your dates if I were you. Apart from the fact they will probably spot the true age of the fetus at your 12 week scan, it might put your and your baby's health at risk if you don't get the care appropriate to your stage of pregnancy. You can always refuse to be induced - not easy to stand up to doctors, I know, but they can't make you do anything.

Do you want another section? A planned one? Or do you want a VBAC? I think your options are different depending on the method of delivery you prefer. For example, just turning up in labour isn't going to work if you want to be booked in for aplanned section.

I had to fight to get into a hospital other than the one in whose catchment I reside. The first and most important thing is to refuse to book in.

How far along are you? HAve you had or do you want a nuchal test?

You might also want to check out www.birthchoice.co.uk and www.drfoster.co.uk.