Recent experiences of birth at Homerton

[BadCatDirtyCat]

Hi all, I'd really like to hear about anyone's experience of childbirth at Homerton hospital.. I'm only about 16 weeks but starting to get nervous already.. 90% sure I'll go for an ELCS (consultant seems fine with that) but I might change my mind and of course I might go into labour prior to the c section date so interested to hear all experiences of birth centre/delivery suite/ELCS.. Also keen to hear about postpartum care (seems to be universally bad?!).

Thanks all!

Absolutely not. Granted it was almost 14 years ago but I'm traumatised by the worst experience of my life.....clanging bins all night long; no one could sleep; rude staff that if baby cried and they weren't latching just came in with formula; letting whole families in who were loud and brining in food from outside which was nauseating. It was horrific and this is just a brief description of all that went on. Second time around I asked to go to UCLH and it was such a stark difference. I wished I'd gone there first time round.

Hi OP. I had my 2 year old at Homerton in 2017 and am also about to pop with no2 - also planning on going to Homerton.

Simply speaking, some good, some bad things in my experience.

If you are low risk, the birthing centre reslly is lovely. It's new and clean with all sorts of balls, baths and fancy lights to get you in the mood. Of course if you are high risk or having a C section you won't be in here.

Personally the midwife I was left with what pretty shit imo. She tried to send me home at first (2cm dilated) even though I was having very strong and fast contractions. She advised me to go home and have a nap (!!) Whilst i was roaring with pain holding onto the chair in the waiting room. Thankfully another midwife saw me and agreed to admit me to the suite. 5hrs later my daughter was born so I must have been progressing fast for a first baby. I think it's common to be sent home as they expect firsts to take some time, but that isn't always the case.

My DD was actually born very poorly due to medium aspiration. My waters broke very near the end and were apparently clear so I can only put it down to bad luck rather than anything that was missed from the midwife. But bluntly speaking it has been a worry when pregnant with my 2nd.

The good thing about Homerton is they have a grade 1 (the best) NICU unit next door so if anything does go wrong, baby can be whizzed in there and not have to be transferred anywhere. Although also most big London hospitals have these too.

The care we received in NICU was brilliant- from the nurses to the consultants.

I was in two minds this time round about going to Homerton again or UCLH but as I live in Hackney I just didn't fancy risking a long taxi ride in rush hour to get to UCLH. Although I had some negative feelings about the midwife I had, from what my friends tell me you can get these everywhere! So I have decided to go back to Homerton and hopefully have my second baby in the way that I am hoping!

Anyway I'm 39 weeks tomorrow so I can report back soon if you want

*meconium not medium!

I personally would never recommend it because of what I experienced. Antenatal care was lovely though. I had no insight and didn't do any research before which was my mistake. Google gives out some information...though seems not much changed after my experience:

www.nursingtimes.net/roles/midwives-and-neonatal-nurses/exclusive-homerton-safety-review-after-claims-from-unhappy-midwives-09-04-2014/

‘Worrying’ number of baby deaths at Homerton Maternity Unit revealed – Hackney Citizen

@Butterfly44 with respect, that was 14 years ago. I think they had a massive overhaul some time in the last 5 year's or something, when the new birthing suite was installed etc.

I read that article too about the deaths etc and the hospital manager (or whatever hes called) did justify by saying as they are a top neonatal care hospital for the area they do take in the high risk mothers and premature babies etc from surrounding hospitals, hence they will see more poorly babies/deaths there.

Not saying it's perfect by any means, but just to keep it in perspective.

Thanks, that's really helpful.

@LolaLollypop do you have any idea how far in advance you have to "book" delivery suite or birthing centre? The consultant mentioned that I could schedule in a c section for 39 weeks but if I go into labour before that and it's going well then just crack on. Idk if I could go to the birthing centre in those circumstances . Also, do you get to stay there after birth? (Wondering if it might be a nicer environment than the general post natal ward?).

Wishing you the best of luck with yours and yes, please do keep me posted!

@BadCatDirtyCat I think you only have to make "the plan" at your 34 week midwife appointment so you have plenty of time to see how you feel and whether you're low/high risk at that point.

Thanks - I'll report back once no2 arrives! Fingers crossed it's a positive birth story. I'm told the second one just flies out

@Butterfly44 yeah, I did see that article. Idk how much to read into it tbh, especially since they now have a "good" rating.

I'm really sorry you had a bad experience.

I gave birth at the Homerton just under a year ago and had a pretty good experience. It's not my closest maternity unit but I chose it due to reputation and intervention/outcome statistics. Ante-natal care was good and I saw the same lovely midwife for the majority of my appointments (if you end up with Gladys you have hit the midwife jackpot). I ended up needing to have labour induced but they let me wait until 40+13 and I was able to have an out-patient induction so it felt pretty much like a natural birth, I got to labour at home until 5cm and was still able to use the birthing pool etc and stay on a midwife led pathway.

The birth and immediate after care was great and I came away from the experience feeling really positive despite a significant number of second degree tears and about a million stitches.

Unfortunately the post-natal ward was where it all fell apart a bit. We had to stay for 12 hours post-birth for monitoring and it felt very much like we were shoved in a room and abandoned overnight. The facilities are old and a bit shabby and the staff seemed much less compassionate. I had to really nag for someone to help with breastfeeding and check my latch and the ward really wasn't busy at all, less than half full. I got told off by the consultant nurse who carried out the baby check because DD had a dirty nappy and I hadn't changed it yet which didn't do a lot for my new mum confidence. They let Bounty reps onto the ward so after 24 hours of no sleep, labouring and giving birth, you are accosted by someone in your room essentially demanding your personal details.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure I would have wanted to be any more vulnerable (eg post CS) on that ward so on that basis I don't know if I'd recommend it for you. However, I'm not sure that any other of the local hospitals would provide a sterling experience so it might be the best of a bad bunch which as an NHS employee of more than 15 years makes me really sad to say!

Hope that helps and good luck with your pregnancy.

In answer to your specific question about staying in the birthing suite post-labour, they were planning on letting us hang out there until discharge but suddenly got very busy and so we were transferred to the ward to make some space. So I guess it depends on how busy that particular day happens to be.

I gave birth in the birth centre there in September 2015 so not recent but still thought I'd share. For me I knew I wanted the birth centre. It was amazing, I had a fantastic midwife and student midwife, couldn't fault them at all.
Didn't think much of the postnatal ward at all.
Also my son had to go to NICU for 12 days. Some staff were lovely but others were horrible and rude and I ended up putting in a complaint about how we were treated and I got a letter of apology.
But the birth centre was truly amazing and I'd recommend it to anyone

Thanks @babyburrito1 that is really helpful. I guess I'd be staying in for a few days after a c section which is worrying!

I was a bit at getting a bounty pack at the booking in appointment, but letting reps into the postnatal ward is really bad!

Thanks @happymummy12345

Hello again... reporting back from the other side
I gave birth to my DC2 at Homerton on Monday evening!labour was 50min from waters breaking at home, frantically sorting childcare for DC1 and popping out my baby. If I'd chosen UCLH I would have given birth in the car!!

Although it was a super fast labour, the care at Homerton was great. The initial arrival is always treated with a bit of skeptism whether you're 2cm or 8cm "OH(other half)you're in labour... really... go and do a wee test etc etc" to which i did and was roaring on the toilet with a contraction.
I was quickly checked and whisked off to the birthing suite which is lovely. A massive, quiet room with twinkling lights, candles, bath, shower, balls to bounce on and some rope things to swing on
Sadly I didn't get a chance to use any of these as my son has other plans. I had voiced my fears on the way in as I had a traumatic birth with DC1 and this time round when I gave birth I had 4 midwives there helping me. One held my hand, the others held my legs and one gave me stern instructions which i really needed when pushing.
Once baby was out they were fantastic, so caring with checking me and baby over. I really felt supported and in safe hands.
As the birthing suite wasn't busy they left us in that room all day which was nice and relaxing, popping in only to do observations and bring us tea and toast!
We left the hospital the next day. A really positive experience at Homerton for me. Would have preferred a slower birth but not much they could do about that!

We did have to pop back to the labour ward a couple of days later for a blood test and it seemed a bit chaotic and busy with people running around. However I'm not sure any NHS ward will be particularly relaxing at the moment. We had professional and efficient advice from the midwife who looked at the baby (jaundice).

Overall I would recommend Homerton however you can never know exactly what's going to happen in birth or what sort of midwife you will get.