Anyone looking at St Thomas, London for a Summer birth? Or given birth there?

[cityangel]

I am due to go and see St. Thomas NHS and Private Lansdell Suite with a view to giving birth there in July.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone else in the same boat or those with experiences there good or bad. Many thanks

Great hospital, hectic but excellent. Staff are fantastic. Small wards, often just 3 in a room. Lots of friends had dcs there and all very positive. Biggest minus point is very expensive parking!

I had all three of mine there, 2 before, and 1 after the big refurbishment. I was happy enough with it that I put up with the hour journey, over priced car parking and killer congestion charge (DD only) rather than go to a nearer one (3 that I can think of) The Home from Home birthing unit looked fab (although I wasn't allowed to use it ) The private rooms looked pretty good too iirc.

hiya, i'm booked in to use the home from home centre for baby due end of feb. had a quick look round last week and seems fab. nhs midwife led bit has large private rooms, en suite over looking thames and houses of parliament! plus all snazzy birth toys. if i see your name around after i've had baby, i'll let you know how it went. or ask me if you see me!

Meant to say lots of friends had their births there too, I had both my dcs there. The Home from Home is excellent but keep an open mind as any intervention at all means you have to stay in the Birth Centre, which is fine too but a lot of people have it fixed in their mind that they'll be able to stay in the Home from Home and it doesn't always work out that way. Didn't for me - my birth plan was the classic Jo Malone candles, whale music, birthing pool, etc, etc and I ended up ditching all that and having a emergency c-section!

thanks for all your experiences very helpful

hi cityangel -I am booked in there to give birth in lansdell. Very good care so far

I had DS2 there. It was ok, but it was a difficult birth so that's probably coloured my views a bit. There are no affordable private rooms so i was on a ward with three other people and the midwives clattered about a lot in the night, which meant i was delirious with exhaustion by the time I left.
But they handled the birth well and DS2 came home in one piece.

I had DS there. I really liked it - mostly lovely midwives, nice unit, efficient doctors, home from home and indoor garden are fab (although I couldn't use them).

My biggest downside was the ante-natal day assessment unit which is always super busy and you never see the same person twice.

Sorry only second hand but know two people who have gone there for two babies (i.e. they have chosen to return there). I remember one friend didn't want to leave when it was time to come out! They were both OB-led rather than midwifery-led.

Thanks for all your advice

Dh and I went to view St. Thomas (Tues/Thu 6:30pm) and were very impressed.

Thanks for all your advice I've decided this is the one. Now I just need to get referred there It was 100 times better than the Royal London for our requirements.

Thanks again

I've heard nothing but good things about St Thomas' and really want to do a birth there! (So if you want a doula )

Seriously though... heard really good things.

Thanks MarsLady that's very encouraging

In the next couple of months I will look at the post birth doula option as I am desperate for breast feeding to work.

I had ds there in 2004. Unfortunately had to be induced so did not get to use the home from home birth centre . The medical birth centre was old, stark and uncomfortable. However the doctors were fab. They really worked hard to turn ds so that I could deliver him without needing cs (he was stuck)and I wanted to kiss them when he was born. The post-natal ward was not good. I went there at 4am after the birth. The night staff were horrid and did not come to check even though ds was crying all night and I had not slept for 36 hours. I had to sleep sitting up in the chair holding him because I was scared I would drop him if I laid in bed with him (beds have no sides). Had to take the canula out myself too. Asked for help to go to the toilet and the m/w moaned that they shouldn't have taken the catheter out and that they weren't supposed to be helping take ladies to the toilet So glad to go home later that day. The home from home ctr is supposed to be great though. Despite these experiences I would love to give birth there again because it has one of the best safety records.

Thanks for sharing ladylush. I too am worried about the post-natal ward, but on balance its my first choice. It sounds like you had a tough experience I hope its better next time.

My DD1 was born at St Thomas's in July '99. The staff were all great, very kind, although my midwife was a bit knackered (she had to go off for a power-nap at one point ) but that was maybe my fault for giving birth at 5AM!
I wasn't exactly inundated with assistance in the post-natal ward, but help was there when I asked for it

Should have clarified re my post above - I thought you were asking about the Lansdell - it was that my friend did not want to leave(!) Hope it goes well whichever you have chosen.

Hi Cityangel,

have a look at babyfy.com, they have interesting information about the hospital and some reviews from mums who gave birth there.

www.babyfy.com/index.php/hospital-review/2808/London/Guys---St-Thomas-Hospital/

I had mine in St. John and Lizzie, amazing hospital.

Thanks,

Char

I too had ds1 there in Dec 2004 and I have to be honest and say that my time spent on the post-natal ward was truly shocking - the worse 4 days of my life thus far apart from the day my father died! It was over Xmas and New Year though so I like to think it is not always that hideous. My SIL gave birth there 8 months later in the home from home bit and had no problems so I think it probably depends on whether you can get in there and whether you have to stay on the post natal ward (don't).

thanks slinkl yes was looking at the Lansdell but not sure we can justify the cost so will try and go for the home from home option and then maybe try and pay to go private if we need to stay after the birth... too many options

Now we just need to work out how to get referred there as we don't live in the catchment area.

Thanks Sasizi and Barbamama, yes I am getting a postnatal ward theme... but given the state of our local hospital anywhere would be better

I appreciate everyone's advice... very helpful for a nervous first timer!

Also was 3 years ago and a bad time of year - I'm sure it would be better now (couldn't be worse). I think you can pay for a private room after (if you need to stay which you may not) which is what I wanted to do but couldn't. And if your pregnancy is straightforward with no complications they should let you in the home from home which really did sound great from my SIL - own room, partner stays with you overnight (this is vital - fight for it), they show you how to bath and feed the baby etc etc.

Thanks barbamama hopefully I will get to work something out!

Anyone know what is happening with the midwife team at the Lansdell? I am a bit concerned that despite part of the selling point being that I would have the same midwife throughout my pregnancy I have seen a whole number so far and trying to find out why the original 2 Lansdell midwifes aren't available (ranging from "they are in the building but cannot see anyone" to "they are on holiday" to "I can't tell you anything else")?

I had both my children in Lansdell Suite - latest in Sept last year.
They are wonderful.Worth every penny.

I had DS there in the Home from Home and actually all worked out in the birthing pool, it was lovely!

But as I would expect in the NHS, fairly short-staffed for normal births, which was fine for me as I didn't really want any interference but just so you know what to expect. Since the birth was normal, DH, DS and I all stayed in birthing room together the first night and that was great (although DH did mention that the sofa bed was really uncomfortable).

I liked that the Home from Home is on the same floor as the Hospital Birth Centre so if intervention was needed you could move between the two pretty easily, otherwise I would not have gone for midwife-led unit as I was convinced I would have problems from my earlier ectopic, I thought it could be a bit like trying VBAC.

I was also at Tommy's about a year before DS was born, when I had emergency surgery for a ruptured ectopic and I can vouch that when help was needed I had a lot of staff sorting me out at once! After that I stayed in the normal ward which was nice, 4 beds but only 2 filled and plenty of space around, bathroom was fine.

So all in all I really trust them and hopefully will go again for another baby.

However will just mention if you are considering going private my friend really had a great experience with the Birth Centre in the grounds of St George's Hospital in Tooting, as she got same midwives throughout and said it was worth it even though she did have to have CS in the end.

I hope very much it has changed since summer 2003 when I had ds on the allegedly midwife-led unit. There was one midwife to seven women in labour. She couldn't transfer me to the hospital birth centre as there was only one midwife there, too. Appalling. Thank Christ ds was OK - if anything had gone wrong no-one would have noticed until far too late.

As it was, I had a third degree tear as the midwife wasn't anywhere near the room when I had to push.

Very galling that they charge you for parking with no overall limit or anything, too -cost us £60 or something because, oddly enough, I kind of wanted dh to be there (esp. as there was no effing midwife) rather than driving the car home and getting a cab back again in the middle of the night.