Lister, Stevenage or Rosie, Cambridge for a VBAC?

[Amazona]

Now I'm not even sure I'm pregnant yet, but it's never too early to start thinking about these things ...

I'm actually finding myself dreading the whole hospital experience - particularly the lack of support from the MWs, if ds1's birth is anything to go by (I was labouring on the postnatal ward with occasional brief visits from the postnatal MWs).

If anyone's got any experiences of either of these hospitals to share, esp for a VBAC, I'd love to hear them. I had ds1 in a different area so don't have any personal experiences of these hospitals.

a hopeful bump

No experience of VBAC but I had both of my sons at the Rosie..both by c-section (first emergency and second as an elective due to the worry about the size of the baby and the effect of labour on my scar). I was very happy with my treatment both times. However, I know of one lady who I think had one or two c-sections (can't remember!) at the Rosie and wanted a VBAC and wasn't very happy with there response so transferred to Hinchingbrooke and successfully had a VBAC.

website of hospital

As I say though I was very happy at the Rosie!
Friend had twins by c-section at Lister and that was fine as well..sorry no VBAC experience of that hospital.

The Rosie is fantastic! My experience was very positive and I have only heard good things from other new mothers. I had a C-section and the after care was superb. I would highly recommend the Rosie and their very caring midwives. They also do a tour around the midwife led baby unit if that would help. Have a look on their website for contact details. HTH.

I had my first by elective section for footling breech at the Rosie and my second as a VBAC at the Rosie. I have had two good births.

Was there anything in particular you wanted to know?

I haven't had a VBAC, but I've also had really good experience at the Rosie. For my first & last I even had the same midwife all the way through my labour and birth. For my first, the MW stayed an extra 1.5 hrs past her shift end to "see me through the birth". Which was fab.

My 2nd also born at the Rosie, though he was born at 20wks. Must say that they were fantastic dealing with this distressing time. So highly recommend them.

Hi Amozona

In my personal experience and my honest opinion your safest option of experiencing a successful vbac is to have it at home with experienced confident midwifes. You are entitled to this care, it should not be a case of which hospital is more pro VBAC. Please email Debbie or Gina on this website , they have helped woman who want to VBAC for over 20 years.

There is also an excellent yahoo group here with many woman who have experienced VBAC 1, 2 & 3 and you will get loads of advice. Really worth a visit, without them I would not have had my VBAC2.

Hope this may be of help, feel very passionately that woman should be able to birth where they want to with the full support of confident people around them. If you need any further advice please ask.

Thanks very much for all your responses . USAUKMum, I'm so sorry to hear about your son .

Nome, what I'm worried about is that they'll expect to do continuous fetal monitoring, won't let me use the MW-led unit (not being sufficiently low-risk), and that I won't get much support from the MWs in labour - especially if they can just leave me hooked up to the monitor.

The hospital where I had ds1 was the same kind of size as the Rosie (over 4000 births a year) and seemed very over-stretched and chaotic, so I'm wondering if the Rosie will be the same.

Toady, that would be ideal, I agree. I can't afford an independent MW though, and I don't know how I'd be sure of getting a sympathetic MW on the NHS.

Thanks very much for the links.

Hi Amazona, the Stevenage midwives were very supportive of my decision to have a homeborth, admittedly not VBAC, but it was after not liking my hospital birth (not in Lister or Rosie).

They wanted to do CFM on me - I agreed to baseline for 30 minutes and then a review. DD had an abnormal heartbeat, so I was content that there was actually a reason for the monitor.

I refused to have a 'just in case' cannula, but agreed that if I needed a drip then I would discuss it again.

I was not allowed to use the MLBU - you have to have a low risk of everything for that, but I didn't really expect to be allowed to. I didn't want a homebirth.

I was as active as I wanted to be - I felt it was up to the mw to check the monitor/straps etc regularly and not my responsibility to worry about it and that seemed to work for me, so I moved around.

I had two nice mw during my labour and did not birth lying down. Lying down was not even suggested. (In addition to VBAC, I had SPD)

The SHO wrote NO POOL on my notes at 36 weeks and I couldn't be bothered to argue it, I just spent hours in the shower instead(couldn't get in or out of a bath).

I thought the mw were very helpful, but the doctors much less so. The anaesthetist (whose services I didn't require in the end) was lovely.

I was home 8 hours after delivery.

I had very clear ideas about what interventions I would consider and wrote them down very clearly in my birth plan (ie no syntocin, no ARM) and had a friend as well as my dh with me.

I was lucky and had a very straightforward delivery.

Witter, witter, witter. Was any of that any use?

I have had 2 emergency CSs at the Rosie and I think they aren't as pro-VBAC as they might be.

The first time round I was in labour overnight and spent very long periods alone with dh and no midwife, was also strapped up to lots of monitors throughout (because of meconium in the waters) so it was very hard to move around. Certainly the midwives didn't particularly encourage me to move around or offer suggestions with breathing etc.

During my 2nd pregnancy, a consultant whom I saw at the Rosie started our appointment by saying "So you're having another CS, aren't you?" even though I had specified from the start of my pg that I wanted to try for a VBAC and that should have been in my notes.

When I went into hospital in labour the second time around, building works were going on at the hospital and there were builders outside the window and blinds that didn't close properly! I was only there for about an hour before someone suggested "bailing out" (her exact words), ie another CS. By that time I was in so much pain that I would have agreed to having my arms cut off if it got the baby out.

Having said that, both times, the surgical team were very good and the aftercare was pretty good too. Facilities and food were also good.

However I have heard recently that the Rosie is coming under increasing pressure of numbers and sometimes having problems finding enough beds/rooms for labouring mothers as well.

Have you looked at Dr Foster's Guide?

I had my first es in Rosie Mat Hospital, and found it was a positive experience, but no idea how they are now, or how they are with VBAC, sorry!

duh about first es...I mean I had my es there or my first son, lol whichever way you want to see it

I was induced with DS at 38wks, because of previous birth and placenta looking a bit tired. I wasn't monitored all the way through. Though I had a baseline monitor for 30 min. Then only monitored after a few hours to make sure everything still okay but not during birth (could be as it was too fast -- 1 hr from waters breaking to birth)

But they are getting over booked at the Rosie as some got turned down and were not allowed to register there last year.

Amazona, also is the one in Stevenage the QE2?? (forgetful brain emicon) If so, my close friend just had (well, 3 mths ago) DS there (after being turned down for registering at the Rosie). She said was very good. The midwives there also are the ones that are our commiunity MW in our area. The MW that serves our villages is in charge of home births, and they are v. supportive of home births. In fact, if they are your Community MW they will try and release you within 2 hrs if all goes well, as they don't have to release care to another area if you see what I mean. So you might want to check out where your local MWs are based.

( BTW Thanks for your thoughts)

I had dd at the Lister and have had many friends who also have-will try to check if any were VBAC for you and report back.
I cannot speak highly enough of them-they were wonderful with me.

Hello, I was initially booked at the Rosie for my VBA2C. If you do go for the Rosie I would strongly recommend that you request Charlotte Patient as your consultant. She seems very pro-VBAC, is very woman-centred and doesn't try to scare the pants off you, which is more than I can say for some of the consultants there I initially met some resistance for having a VBAC from her registrar because I'd had two previous CS, but CP smoothed it all over and was very happy for me to have a VBAC. She had it written on my notes than I didn't want a canula sited or continous monitoring but she did warn me that I might meet some resistance to this when i actually arrived in the hospital. Because of this and my experiences with the registrars I actually had a homebirth in the end, but I do know of someone else who had a VBAC at the Rosie recently and she said they were great and it went very well and was completely unmedicated.

HTH a bit

I just had my son at the Rosie 5 weeks ago and they were fantastic all the way through. I had a difficult pregnancy with my waters leaking from 22 weeks and they were amazing dealing with all the problems and weekly scans etc. I had a good birth and was really pleased with the help and encouragement I received. His heartrate dipped after each contraction so I nearly had to have a c section but my labour pregressed very quickly and I ended up delivering naturally with 6 people in the room including 2 doctors! I went home after about 8 hours. I couldn't get up straight after the birth as I felt too dizzy and the lovely midwife helped me get cleaned up with a bowl of water which I really appreciated.

Thanks very much again everybody!

DaisyMoo, that is a great tip, thanks.

Nome, thanks for your post - that's really quite reassuring.

USAUKMum, the QE2 is in Welwyn, but it's the same trust as the Lister I think. It would be lovely to have a MW for the birth that I'd got to know during pg.

I knew it was close as I was standby for delivery duty if her DH didn't get there.....

Dr Patient was my consultant during my first (breech) pg and she was fantastic. I was assigned to someone different for my second pg and I never met her (obv not high risk enough to warrent a consultant!), I only saw her SHO. Who was crap.
I was told that which consultant you get depends on which day your first scan is, ie if your first appt is on a Monday, then you are assigned to someone with a Monday list/clinic. Mr Lees is also fantastic, really reassuring, but I don't know if he is pro-VBAC.

Hi

Just found this thread, don't know if you will see this reply. Am wondering if I am the person who futurity wrote about as I had two sections (the second at the Rosie after trying for a VBAC).

For my next two I got referred to Hinchingbrooke where I had two incredibly positive and unmedicalised VBA2C's. My first midwife has since moved to the Lister (Tori). If you need any info you can always contact me.

Good luck, my personal opinion is to avoid the Rosie like the plague, but that is just me and my experience.........

Lu

I see that this isn't a new thread, but I had a vaginal birth (not AC) at Lister last year, and was quite happy with the care I received.

Only shame was that they were supposed to be building a birthing pool, but it still wasn't finished when I had dd - don't know if it is now or not.