Hello all, first time mom here
Thumbs up if the first thing you've thought about when you discovered you were pregnant was: now what? I've always panicked about child labour, I knew the day I would become pregnant I would stress out and this is one of the things that stresses me the most. Now to add up, I live in London and I don't trust the NHS.... I simply don't get why we are never seen by a doctor, which is the common practice in most places in Europe. But worst, it's knowing I would be in a hospital for hours agonising and being ignored because I'm being childish or I can't take the pain. Nurses are over worked and they simply don't care (most of them) about how you feel, as if it wasn't stressful enough for a first time mom.
I thought about going to a full private clinic, but I don't have an insurance that covers birth (again this is common practice in the rest of Europe, not in uk) so the thought of spending around £20k on top of all the baby expenses is putting me off. Plus the private hospital (I was looking into the Kensington Wing) is 30m away from me whereas the Isleworth maternity is just 7m. Once the waters break, this will make a difference I suppose.
Then I thought about having a private midwife to be there with me (from the UK Birth centre), but I have a few questions really.
Have you used one and how was your experience? Let's just say I'm agonising in pain, can the private midwife ensure I get an epidural? Or will she be stuck by the NHS procedures and dependent on the goodwill of the NHS midwife at service?
Any feedback will be highly appreciated, thanks a lot!!!