I know this is a bit of a morbid topic but I need to weigh up my options....

[lunavix]

what would the worst case scenario risks be of giving birth in a midwife led unit as oppposed to a hospital?

My last labour was very long, and there was talks of an emergency ceasarean (don't get me started on why it was talked about and not done, but that's another post entirely) and eventually ds got stuck and had to be sucked out with ventouse.

Now I'm assuming there's no ventouse at a midwife led unit, and the doctors after the birth said there had been no chance of him coming out without... but having said that I'd much rather give birth somewhere friendly and accomodating. My midwife seems completely unphased by all this, she keeps trying to badger me into a home birth in fact, which I really don't want. But on the other hand, I'd like to know statistics of what could go wrong...

Morethan1- fair enough but as a doula I have experience of 2 stillbirths IN hospital.... that is NOT a guarantee ! I also know women who had more interventions than they needed because in hospital. Both hospital and midwife-led unit have their pros adn cons... one is not better than the other and MW-led units have excellent results (partly becasue you DO get one to one care!)

Sorry if someone has already said this but I havent read the whole thread. I am going to deliver in a midwife led unit and they do not have extra equipment on hand - if there are any complications at all (from ventouse to c-section) then I would be transfered by ambulance (with a midwife attending me along the way) to the nearest hospital where all further treatment would take place with Doctors.

Unless your particular midwife led unit is attached to a particular hospital it is highly unlikely that they will have a doctor on staff. My husband works for the NHS and I have just asked him about this.

Good luck!

lunavix, the most important thing during labour is that you feel comfortable and safe IMO, so the question isn't whether or not the unit is safe, but whether you would feel safe there and if you don't think you would do definitely go to the hospital.

morethan1- my dd was a 'flat baby' and is now 16 months old and fit and well. i'm not sure of the exact definition but as far as i can tell from how it was used in dd's context it means not breathing with little or no heartbeat. she was fine within a minute or so after resusitation though.

Absolutely...I'm with PinkTulips, the most important thing is to go with your feelings, where will you feel most confident and relaxed? That's the place to be.

Thank you everyone!

morningpaper - SNORT! Music? Beanbags? It was very clinical, there was I think three home-from-home rooms but they were closed for cleaning (?) no music, my actual midwife saw me and said she was going on her lunchbreak and then had paperwork so wouldn't be around, and the only thing I really wanted was ice to have a cold drink but the one ice machine was broken.

SO, no my hospital is not like that. My first labour was 31 hours, with them shouting at me for the first 10 telling me I wasn't in labour and to go home as they were too busy. Someone gave me some pethidine (to shut me up no doubt ) hit a nerve in my leg and paralysed me down that side till well after ds was born.
The next day (this was in the wee hours) someone came to examine me (she started the conversation with 'you'll have to go home and come back later anyways' ) and realised I was 5cm dilated. A while later, someone decided to attach a monitor, and realised ds heartrate was dipping severely with each contraction and there was hurried talks of an emergency ceasarean.

FIVE HOURS LATER, and no caesarean, and no midwives either to that point, I was asked if I would like any pain relief (yes f-ing please!) and was given an epidural by a rather lovely anaesthesist (sorry if sp) which was indeed the highlight of my labour. Seven hours later, ds was born by ventouse and episiotomy (which they didn't even ask if I was okay with, just went ahead and chopped away) after getting stuck amidst more talks of (imaginary?) caesareans. The midwife cleaned him and gave him to us, and left for three hours. During which I was given a sponge bath and completely mauled by two grannies who wouldn't take no for an answer.

After three hours we had to get a passing cleaner to find her, to ask about actually feeding ds, who was giving us hungry eyes and I had no idea what to do.

THe rest of the story involves 5 days in hospital and me being told if I can't keep my newborn quiet (he had problems feeding and cried a lot) they'd take him off me at nights because we were disturbing the other mothers and babies

Sorry to rant but it's still a bit of a bug up my ass. So really, I have no faith in my local hospital, other than the fact ds is alive and kicking today, but I'm still worried about the lack of facilities at a MW unit.

OMG lunavix, I'm really sorry you had such an awful experience.
I had a similar story though not as bad with my 1st as well. Second time around I had a home birth in a pool. Had 3 pages of birth plan which was adhered to and I had the birth I wanted, 6 hours from start to finish, bit of gas/air and delivered in pool lifting my son myself. Can't begin to describe the elation I felt.
I had to have my waters broken with my second and suffered a flashback from my first birth. I was back in the room in the hospital, smelled the same smells...everything. I was freaking out and crying and noone knew what had happened. Didn't stop until DH picked me up and plonked me back into the pool. Then I came to.
I'm now pg with third and will not consider going into hospital unless absolute case of life in danger. Will do this one the same as at home, touch wood.
Good luck with whatever you decide, for me home was where I felt safe and secure and in control. Btw I live 20 minutes from the hospital, but the m/w assured us that if anything was going awry then they would almost certainly get good warning of it and act accordingly. Hth.

Thanks :) I know my labour wasn't by far the worst, and I know I'm lucky to have happy and healthy ds but it makes me shudder to think of going there! I may have a chat with the midwife about it, I need to try and talk her around to letting me near this MW place (I don't know if I'm strictly in catchment)

Thanks :) I know my labour wasn't by far the worst, and I know I'm lucky to have happy and healthy ds but it makes me shudder to think of going there! I may have a chat with the midwife about it, I need to try and talk her around to letting me near this MW place (I don't know if I'm strictly in catchment)

Lunavix... reading your post i wonder to what extent it wasn't BECAUSE you were in hospital that all of this happened. You didn't happen to watch some 18(?) months ago Rowan Pelling's programme on C4 about childbirth... her 1st was born by emergency section and it wasn't until she researched the programme (she obviously spoke to many OB and MWs) that she realised (oh shock to her!) that it was very likely to be the hospital's way of managing her labour that lead to her section... a complete turn around of her views as she started by saying she always thought "thank god I was in hospital... that's what saved my baby"
Please don't read into this that hospitals are bad or necessarily create more problems but if you had a chance to have a proper look at what goes on behind the scene... if you could see how often medical professionals disagree with each other , etc you'd see how no answer is perfect!

Maybe you could read Ina May Gaskin's "Guide to childbirth"... or Sheila Kitzinger's books ? Gives you another outlook

Lunavix I am so sorry, that experience sounds awful. If I were you I would try the MW unit - they have women deliver at them safely all the time and procedures are in place for when something goes wrong.

And the one that I am delivering at is NOT in my actual catchment either but my GP let me go there as soon as I said I wanted to - I have since been told you can not be refused to give birth at the place of your choice. Dont know if that is true or not but it's worth a try.

With your history I'd personally be inclined to go for the mw unit. It sounds on the face of it as though your treatment at the hospital last time may have contributed to your problems. I think if you did have similar problems to last time while you were at the mw unit they'd be picked up quite quickly (probably long before they were identified in the hospital last time) and in plenty of time to transfer you. But you have to do what makes you feel comfortable and safe.

Hi everything, thanks for the support.

Mentioned it to midwife today, who said the two local MW Units aren't an option (even though I know someone locally who's given birth in one grrr).

However - this is the interesting bit - apparently the hospital I'm booked at has a MWled unit there! Bizarre as I had ds there and wasn't told about it lol. She did say it's usually closed as the midwives who run it run the normal ward too and are usually too busy on the normal ward, and she said if I got to give birth in it I'd probably be sharing a MW with a number of other women! When I give birth! lol

When I asked about facilities she said there's 'a pool which doesn't usually work' (?) and a few 'rooms with beds'

Hmm. Sounds like the quality of care I expect from that hospital lol.

everything??? Everyone!

Are you sure you really don't want a homebirth still?

Lunavix, if it is any consolation, I had to have my DS2 and my DS3 in the same very clinical hospital conditions (because DS1's birth was such a near-disaster) - but I managed to have pretty good, natural births second and third times around even though the surroundings were not exactly what you'd call cosy. So don't be too down about it.