Oxfordshire? JR vs Cotswold Birth Clinic

[Lois345]

Hi everyone, I am pregnant with my first child and due in Juli. I am based outside of Oxford and have to choose between giving birth at the JR and at the Cotswold Birth Centre, which is a MLU. I am really not sure what to choose. I live a little bit closer to the Cotswold Centre, but I am tempted to go for the Spires at the JR due to the presence of doctors. On the other hand the Birth Centre sounds like they have good facilities and is generally a much calmer place to give birth than JR. I am in my late thirties, but so far I haven't had any complications in my pregnancy. All thoughts and experiences are very much appreciated.

I went for the Spires and was really grateful to be there when baby got stuck and heartrate dropped as I had to go into theatre for a rotational forcep delivery. However I know that if you are in the MLU they would transfer you if there was any hint of an issue.

The midwives at Cotswold are lovely and it's a really nice facility however it's a long transfer from a hospital if anything goes wrong.

With my first ds I decided to go to the JR and it turned out to be the right decision as it was a difficult labour with an emergency section.

If you start at Spires and change your mind and want an epidural will they transfer you upstairs so you can have one or are you out of luck?

I started at the Spires when I gave birth to DD back in 2013, but decided I wanted an epidural and was transferred downstairs. Midwives were fantastic.

First time round, I wouldn't consider out of hospital birth, especially one with a long transfer as that's not fun and transfer rates for first timers are higher than subsequent. If I were more midwife inclined I'd go for a MLU in a hospital.

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your answers. This is really helpful. I think I might go for the spires. I like that it is an mlu, but also really close to doctors in case of complications.

I had my second at chipping norton and had to be transferred to the Horton after baby was born due to a complication. I was told mid labour that I would be transferred while in labour if baby wasn’t born within the next 20 minutes so I pushed hard and she was born 15 minutes later. It was quite traumatic as she then had to spend a few hours in SCBU. Loved the first part of the experience at chipping norton but Would have been nice to have had doctors nearby to help when I needed it.