Child birth - Barnet vs North Middlesex

[Enfield77]

Hi,

We live roughly half way between the two hospitals and are trying to decide between them. Does anyone have any recent experience of them? Any opinions/suggestions would be much appreciated.
Is our first child and we don't know anyone in the area that has had children recently. We have read mixed reviews for them both.
We live in Enfield and would ideally like to have ante natal classes in the area rather than close to either of the hospitals.

Thanks!

Any thoughts anyone please?

I gave birth in Barnet which is where I grew up. I have had many nieces and nephews born there and they saved my dad's life many times, and my mum had breast cancer treatment there. I now live in Zone 3, and although Royal Free is closer (and I was treated throughout pregnancy there), as is Northwick Park I chose Barnet.

I did not have a straightforward birth, but I was so happy with my care and the midwives who looked after me, cried with me and accommodated not just my husband but my mum and sister.

Would I go there again, 100%! Would I try for a natural birth for 2 days in active labour again? LOL nope.

Good luck mum, you've got this"

@Enfield77 Hi

Was just wondering who you ended up going for and whether you were happy with your choice as we are currently having the same dilemma and very torn!

Thank you 😊

We went with Barnet. Most of ante natal class did too and they’d all heard good things. Baby is due next month so we’ll find out 😄

@Enfield77 thank you for replying! Good to know.

what an exciting time 😀

have your antenatal appts been ok? I’ve read a few things but from a few years ago that say North Mid’s is a bit disorganised, but haven’t heard much specific about Barnet.

Sorry for slow reply. Our baby boy is now three months old. He was born at Barnet Hospital and we were very impressed with the staff there. There was a minor issue during the birth but it was dealt with well and it felt like we had excellent care. All staff were very happy and helpful.
Baby had an issue when he was about a month old (a lymph node infection) and my wife and him had to stay in there overnight. We had to go through the standard A&E section to reach the children's section. The adult section was awful with huge queues and everyone very stressed but in the children's section we were seen after about two hours and everything was very well explained to us.
We have only positive things to say about the staff there. The hospital itself is a bit shabby and parking has been an issue on every visit but these are very minor problems of course.

The midwifes were brilliant. We saw about 10 over our time there. They picked up on his tongue tie immediately. We know of others where it was identified but parents didn't act on it straight away which lead to bigger problems. After it was pointed out to us we immediately went to the list of practitioners and booked an appointment. Well worth the £180 as she came the day we got home and fixed the problem so that he caught up on the weight he had lost (he lost 10% of his birthweight over the first few days where he wasn't feeding properly.)