I am very scared to deliver a baby under the NHS after hearing so many horror stories.

[Nature-Thrive]

For starters, I am a mother to an 8 year old. I am originally from the USA and that is where I delivered my son. I had amazing care and my OBGYN was called when I went into labour. She saw my care from start to finish, including postpartum. I struggled a lot and needed a ton of support and I had great insurance so it was available to me.

Before I start, please understand that I am in no way trying to bash the NHS. All I am doing is trying to figure out how to get good care again.
I haven't had the best experience under the NHS and after talking to some local moms, I am very scared to have a baby here.

We are based In Birmingham and I had a horrible experience at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to the point where even driving by the hospital causes me anxiety. It was so bad that it's been escalated to hospital heads and we will be having a sit down.

Can anyone provide any insight or advice on what I should do? Do I move to a different area to access another trust? If so, where would you recommend?
Thank you so much.

PS - I do not want an NHS debate by any means and please don't tell me to "go back to my country". I got plenty of that over on Reddit.

Another positive experience here.
ended up in an emergency c section.

go and look at the hospitals, the options.
don’t immediately be put off, Try and go with an open mind, certainly some of the newer units are incredible.

for what it’s worth I know a midwife in the private sector. There’s some interesting stories there as well. It’s just nicer surroundings.

you have to feel comfortable wherever you birth and that you trust them. So go and look, go and see for yourself. Don’t judge on Sandra’s terrible birth from 10 years ago.

Private often transfer to nhs when things go wrong, so bare that in mind. It’s one of the reasons lindo is popular, it’s attached to an nhs if things go wrong.

The care I received at an NHS hospital kept me and my baby safe. I had a c section and can't fault anything about my antenatal care or care during delivery. The postnatal midwives weren't great at supporting breastfeeding would be my only criticism.

My SIL who had a great first birth experience at a private hospital and planned to have her second child at the same place ended up being taken by ambulance to the nearest NHS hospital as she needed emergency care.

The problem with opting for the private hospital is that if any intervention is needed you will have to go to and NHS hospital anyway. Much better to do your research and find the NHS hospital near you that has the best reputation for maternity care and plan to go there rather than have the disappointment during a potentially traumatic early labour of being told you HAVE to go the the NHS hospital.

I know locally to me cleaning has massively improved. There was a time when cleaning was just put out to the cheapest private company. Now in my local hospital the cleaning is regular and constant.

I was afraid of giving birth and the nhs midwife advised me to look into using an independent (private) midwife. This was worth every penny. We tried for a home birth, which meant she and a colleague would assist. Unfortunately I needed to be taken by ambulance to hospital. From memory, her colleague left at this point. She then stayed with me until after the birth. Yes, the ward wasn’t great, loos not terribly clean. I didn’t shower as I didn’t have a big hospital bag, just a few bits for dd incase. It was noisy etc with men hanging around and I couldn’t wait to get home.

In your position, I would either pay for a private birth or use an independent midwife and if you go for the hospital option, pay for a private room once you’ve given birth. And take a lot of snacks.

As for how to choose, I just googled agencies and there were links. Tbh there aren’t that many independent midwives around so your choice will be fairly limited. The one I used lived a good. 30 mins away. I found someone, who said they could work with me as they would be free around my due date. She was very gentle. The midwife will come and see you for a discussion of your needs so if you’re happy with the chat over the phone, you can then meet her to ensure you want to go forward.

I understand totally what you are saying. I had an awful experience with my first and so refused to go tl back there. I went to another hospital just over the county and it was the best thing I did. It did cause a few issues with care as the midwife’s I saw at doctors were not attracted to the hospital but to be honest it made no difference and for me it was a great move. Good luck

The US has terrible birthing statistics compared to the UK (maternal injury and death).

It’s always the bad headlines that make the paper, but there are hundreds of positive births each day/week. I’d concentrate on that and the stats.
It’s also how you paint it. I could say I had a water birth, gas and air, delivered baby myself, and most importantly he was healthy. I could also say I had a precipitous labour (2 hours active labour to babe in arms for first DC), nurses didn’t believe me, kept putting me aside, lied to me, kept delaying pain medication, and I just missed out on a 3rd degree tear.

Actually, the USA has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country; giving birth in the UK is safer.

I had a fantastic experience with the NHS at Chelsea Westminster

I've had two babies in NHS hospitals, both times my care from pregnancy to postnatal was great. I saw the same community midwife on almost every appointment, my midwives at the hospital were amazing and consultants were supportive of my choices.

Postnatal ward was clean and spacious, food was ok and we had a great patient kitchen where we could help ourselves to tea, cold drinks, toast and snacks. Staff were very friendly, yes they were busy and you might have to wait a couple of minutes to get help after buzzing but I really don't have any complaints. Emergency c section both times after labouring but no complications.

This always gets mentioned but there are private maternity wards within a number of nhs hospitals. This means you are literally down the corridor from all the emergency care you or baby might need. And if either of you qualify for nhs care then you can switch to nhs at any time should you need it (you just can’t keep switching between the two).

I had private maternity care for both my DC in the private wing of a nhs hospital and consider it the best money I’ve ever spent.

MN is very xenophobic in general, in anti-American in particular. It’s really sad and it makes me doubt continuing to make a home in the UK. OP you’d probably have been better off omitting that you’re American.

I’ve given birth in the US and having experienced NHS maternity care, I do understand your fears. I would echo others who advocate private care at an NHS hospital.

American+British. I've had ovarian surgery in the US and NHS lead IVF and a near perfect water birth here. Some of the other NCT mums had rougher births. It's really hard to generalise care in either country but I have received excellent care in both.

I do suggest an NCT class- they do refresher ones that are for parents who haven't had a birth in a long time. It might help you feel more confident navigating it.

I gave birth at Birmingham Women's Hospital. The induction ward wasn't the best and was staffed by moody midwives.

The delivery suite was cool, clean and calm. I had a midwife and a student for the first half of labour and they were both brilliant. At the shift change I ended up with an equally brilliant midwife who stayed with me until I'd given birth. I ended up with forceps due to baby moving at the last minute and getting into a difficult position. I was really impressed with the treatment I received during my labour and birth. They had to press the alarm quite a few times during labour as the babys heart rate kept dropping and the response to the alarm was fab. Room swimming with people who are there to ensure that mine and my babys lives arnt in danger.

The recovery ward and the post natal ward were horrible. They were clean but noisy and busy which meant I barely received any help with breastfeeding ect which meant I leave hospital extremely anxious.

In the few weeks following the Birth I had to go back to hospital to get my tear checked out. They were fab and very reassuring. My little one had to have an ect after birth which they did as soon as it was needed. I had a follow.up appointment after 12 weeks to ensure that my tear and muscles had healed.

To summarise, I agree with PP. The NHS may be chaotic and busy but when it comes down to It, the medical professionals who work within the NHS are fabulous and they really will save your life.

I’m not sure it’s that straightforward. The US has a high rate of obesity, which is a risk factor, and the maternal mortality rate is impacted by the care (or lack of) provided to people with no insurance. With a comparatively low level of midwives compared to consultants this has a major impact on the care women receive.

I don’t think it necessarily implies that for an individual with decent insurance it’s more risky to give birth in the US.

ECG*

I'm a nurse in the NHS, it's far from perfect, I hate hospitals generally (I'm community based) but the care I received with my DS was perfect six years ago, including the birth which involved a back to back nearly 10lb baby who was in distress. I'm now 28 weeks pregnant again and high risk due to a recent diagnosis, everything again has been great.

You only ever hear the scary stories (and there will always be some!) Myself and all my friends have had good experiences.

Maternal/neonatal outcomes in the UK are generally very good.

www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/nov/maternal-mortality-maternity-care-us-compared-10-countries

I think you need local knowledge OP.
I had my twins in Manchester, everyone absolutely RAVED about the hospital I had them in, which was lucky as you can nearly see it from my house. I had exceptional care from beginning to end, including 3 inpatient admissions with high blood pressure. Finally at 36 weeks I developed sudden and very severe preeclampsia despite being checked in triage twice a week since 34 weeks.
We all could very easily have died, however our lives were very calmly and professionally saved.

I was warned off a couple of other hospitals and
I would advise you get good info from local people and then go with the NHS. Spend your money post-natally on a private room, or a maternity nurse, or a lactation consultant.

My twins were too little and tired to latch but I was supported in pumping while we were in hospital which we continued at home. Spending the money to get them breastfeeding was well worth it, as was post-natal physio to sort my separated stomach muscles out.

@HeyBlaby thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I will look into the link.

Had excellent care in a London NHS hospital and all my friends went NHS and there has been no horror stories. I am aware everyone’s experience is different but there are great hospitals with great maternity depts. There are plenty of bad stories about private as well.

You don’t have to go to the Queen Elizabeth.

I had my son at Heartlands. Prenatal care was between Solihull and Heartlands.
heartlands has the Princess of Wales midwifery unit- a special labour ward and also the willow suite for a more relaxed midwife led unit.
When i had my booking in appointment with the midwife she asked me what hospital I preferred. I asked for Heartlands as it was closer and I knew it had doctors on hand in the labour ward rather than just a midwife unit like at Solihull but could have chosen the Women’s if i wanted to.

just state your preference.

I had a difficult birth with my first and felt a bit upset after but it wasn't because the care was unsafe, just basic. Myself and baby were safe and well but I felt a bit left to it and was enouraged to take pain relief rather than active management because they were busy. Birth can be traumatic, it's a huge event. It can also be easy and amazing. My experience of the NHS generally positive, but it is not private healthcare. You get looked after medically but not much more, like flying short haul economy where you get there safely but no frills. I think hiring a doula to support you is a great idea.

Absolutely agree.

I had a rough birth with my first baby. But not the fault of the midwife at all I tore badly as he sort of shot out! This was the height of covid and the midwives could not have done enough for us. Yes there was blood but isn't there always in birth? They cleared it away quickly. The hospital was clean and tidy. They did their upmost best.

A few months after the CQC released a report saying the services were 'inadequate' this certainly was not my experience. And will be having my second baby there in 3 months.

Considering it's free it's an excellent service. I think you can get excellent midwives where ever you go and terrible service too. Money doesn't always buy care

There are several really great NHS continuity teams or homebirth teams in Birmingham- it's worth having a look on Instagram or Googling services in your area. You could always give them a call or email to see how they work which would hopefully help you feel a bit more informed?