home from home birth in S.London?

[sundizzy]

Hello Ladies -
I am 6 weeks pregnant with first child and deciding which hospital to register with in S.London. I don't really know what's going on.. Closest ones are St George's and Kings but we could also go with St Thomas' as we're in Lambeth.
I want to give birth in a midwife led unit but from what I read they are busy and you have to wait around a lot. Can anyone from S London who's given birth recently in Kings/St George's/St Thomas' share their experiences of the wards and the care?
Thanks

I gave birth in St. George's 6 weeks ago. I absolutely cannot fault the care we received. I laboured in the Carmen Suite and had a room with a pool etc. Near the end I had to be rushed from the birthing centre to the labour ward unfortunately. However, it did demonstrate how amazing the coordination was. A huge team of doctors appeared from nowhere when needed and baby was delivered safely. We got everything we could from our original birth plan and they were very respectful of this. Aftercare was also impressive.

It's an old hospital and looks shabby in places but, like I said, I couldn't have received better care throughout.

Sounds like you are very near us, St Georges and Kings are closest but St Thomas' is catchment hospital. We went for St Thomas as one to one midwife care, all antenatal appointments at home, could choose where to give birth in labour as home assessment before going in.

As it turns out I had a very complicated pregnancy and was induced at 39 weeks, had hospital midwives as such a quick labour, was on labour ward not home from home although they'd agreed I could use the pool (St Thomas' now has telemetry so can use pool even if high risk) and it was great. I can't overall fault their care at all. I think generally you get better care from your catchment hospital, worth finding out who they are. Kings also offers one to one midwifery if you live in parts of their catchment area.

Thanks, it looks like all the choices are pretty good. It's good to hear such positive experiences. Enjoy life with little one