I gave birth at Kings 4 months ago, here's my week-long experience - hope it does't scare you!
I went in to be induced at 41 +4, sunday morning, 10am - very excited! I was 3 centimetres dilated with a soft cervix and had been told for the past five weeks by everyone I'd seen that labour was immenent and should be quick due to his position etc, but after two weeks of long walks and bouncing on a ball, nothing! I figured at the very latest I'd be in labour by the evening and have had the baby by monday tea time-ish. I waited until 5pm on the sunday before anybody even came to check me/monitor baby to be told I was dilated enough that I didn't really need the pessary, just to have my waters broken, which needed to be done on the labour ward so I had one to one care as the labour would progress quickly and so I just needed to wait for a bed to be available. I waited for a bed on the labour ward for 3 whole days until tuesday night at 10pm and that was only because the midwife who'd just come on shift caught me crying after my partner went home to get some sleep and she literally got on the phone and yelled at the labour ward - I heard her!
In those three days on the ante natal ward, the care wasn't great, I was trying to be really understanding that it was busy, and I was low priority because I wasn't actually in labour and everything was normal but my frustration was that there was no plan B (I'm an events manager - I always have a plan B!), I simply had to wait. I also would have loved to have given birth in the new birthing centre but I passed it loads of times that week and everytime, the lights were off and door locked - I'm told its waaay understaffed. I was never actually checked down below from that first check on the sunday to going up to the labour ward and was told after the birth that actually there was no water on my second check, so at some point in waiting they broke and so baby was treated with anti-biotics for possible infection, possible other things - more of that later!
So I was told after being checked and monitored on the labour ward that I did need a pessary after all, this was inserted about 11pm and they said try and get some sleep and we'll break your waters at 6am and my partner went home to get some sleep. I awoke to contractions at 2am, felt them getting stronger by 3 and so called my partner and midwife put me on a tracing machine and contractions were every few minutes straight away and was up to 4cm by 5am so moved to delivery room. Took the first puff of gas and air when we entered the room and from that moment on I was out of it. Which was great in that my labour was only 3 hrs and I barely felt a thing apart from pushing, but I did have in my notes that I didn't really have a 'plan' but I did want to be active and the midwife I initially had didn't really help facilitate that, and I was just zonked so I think that has a lot to do with why the baby's heartrate dropped and I was set up for a vontuse after I started to feel the urge to push. The increase in the number of people in the room was enough to wake me up and pull the gas and air out of my mouth and he was out in 20 minutes. Lovely midwife who actually delivered him in the end, I saw her a few days later and she was very chatty and encouraging that I did a great job!
After getting stitched up etc, I then had a student midwife and her supervisor get me tea and toast and help me to try and breastfeed and unfortunately this is where everything went haywire! My son tried really hard to latch on, but it turns out I have flat nipples! so the student helped me to express and finger feed him the collustrum, she was lovely and transferred me downstairs after a couple of hrs back to the post natal ward, which was actually the ante natal ward because post natal was full - again still busy. Being a new mother, you have no idea how quickly a baby needs to feed before things can go wrong and although I gave him a bit more on the ward, by the time the midwives had found time to come and check on me, he hadn't had enough and his heart rate and blood sugar were getting low and he was getting floppy. The midwife gave him some formula which he promptly threw up. This was followed by a trip to the paediatrician followed by a trip to special care where he stayed for 3 days where they regulated his feeding after the first night being fed by a nose tube. Due to the aforementioned waters issue they also put him on anti-biotics and a drip and had tons of blood tests which were horrible to watch. I do really think that lovely as she was the student didn't have the experience or the time to do a proper handover with the midwife on the post natal ward and their delay in checking on us plus my inexperience was what put him in special care.
Special care is not a place I ever want to go back to (I saw a baby have a seizure, which is just one incident) BUT it is one of the best special care units in the world and they actually had several babies from abroad who were there for operations. The doctors much like on the antenatal ward are rarely seen, but the nurses are amazing, but overworked! When I went up on the first day, she seemed so stressed but was so grateful to see me as I could feed my baby and that was one feed off her hands as she had two other babies crying to be fed and was still trying to handover with the doctor on a baby that had gotten really ill and transferred to NICU. Those women are heroes and I have no idea how they do that job but I'm glad they do!
He was back down with me on the post natal ward by the friday afternoon but I had to take him back to special care over the next two days for anti-biotics in his drip and to await blood test results and the experience with the midwives on the post natal ward helping you with the baby was really hit and miss. Some really helpful and calm nurses who make you feel at ease and some really horrendous ones. I really wanted to punch the midwife i had on the last night I was there, who insisted that I woke the baby up every 3 hrs to feed him even though he'd speed-fed for hrs until 1am zonked out and so did I for the first wink of sleep in a week only for her to come in and wake me to feed him, he did not want to be woken and wasn't interested in a feed and so when I decided to go back to sleep, she came in and woke me every hour until her shift was off at 8am, towering over me and watching me feed him when he really just wanted to sleep. The midwife who took over from her in the morning said some babies do speed-feed and just want to sleep afterwards.
So my main tips are be prepared for a million different midwives who all contradict each other - above example in particular.
Be prepared to wait, Kings is always busy!
Don't get your hopes up for the birthing centre - they rave about it, but I think it's barely being used.
IF your child needs extra help - Kings is amazing for this.
Be informed about pain relief - I had one woman opposite me in post natal who was having really strong contractions but was only 3cm dialated and the midwife suggested she try some pethodine to help her sleep and then she'd be 4cm in the morning so she could go to the delivery room (after a week in hospital you get nosey!) First thing in the morning she was still only 3cm and walking up to breakfast having barely any contractions, and the midwife didnt once say to her pethodine would slow things down or that she wouldn't be able to breastfeed.
If your partner can sleep there with you in a chair, he will be a tower of strength against conflicting midwives or when things go wrong. My partner had to go back to work the day after he was born because he only had annual leave and little one was late!
You wont find any particularly 'soft' midwives like those you see on One Born Every Minute - they are all waaay too busy. The first night was touch and go and I lay in my bed crying whilst my partner had to go home to sleep before work and not one nurse or midwife checked on me.
if you have any breast-feeding issues, ask for Maria. I believe she's just a health assistant not even a nurse and works part time, but the best bit of the whole week was when she got hot cloths and a breast pump after my milk came in and baby couldn't feed to relieve them. I nick-named her Maria the magic boob lady!
A rather long essay, but it was a rather long stay! Hope this helps and hopefully you'll have a great birth!