JR or Wallingford in Oxford?

[Catzenobia]

Hi everyone, I'm due at the end of April and need to decide whether to give birth at the JR or the maternity place. I'm hoping to have a water birth and feel that I would be happier not at the JR as from what I have read you are more likely to have medical interventions in a hospital than elsewhere and I think I'd feel less stressed outside the hospital and therefore less likely to need lots of pain relief. However, my PIL are really anti me going anywhere other than the JR in case anything goes wrong (they're a doctor and a nurse). Anyone have any experience of either or both who might be able to give me some advice? Thanks.

I had both my ds's in Wallingford and it was great. After ds1 I had to have quite exstensive stiches which I had to be transferred to the JR for, tbh though it was worth it as the Wallingford is so personal and laid back. They will only take you at Wallingford though if you have no complications throughout the pregnancy and are expected to be fine for the birth.

I had no choice but the JR as I was designated 'high risk' (for a footling not-really-very-risky genetic condition) and was veeery cross about it, but went on to have a fantastic drug-free no-intervention waterbirth - it can be done.
Postnatal care was another matter entirely though, and if you think you'll want to stay in for any length of time I'd investigate transferring to Wallingford after the birth.

Having said that, it's you giving birth, not PIL, so feel free to tell them to butt out it's your choice not theirs.

Although I haven't been to the maternity unit at Wallingford, I've been told it's really good. My parents have lived there forever (I was born at the old maternity hospital), and as an infant teacher mum got to hear about all the births.
I planned to give birth at a standalone birthing centre which was very similar (had to go to DGH as DS decided to turn up 5 weeks early), and what really decided me was that you were guaranteed to know the mw who was delivering you, you always got a waterbirth if you wanted one (only 1 pool at the DGH)and it was just so lovely and relaxed.
They do have very strict rules on who can give birth, and on when they will transfer. Also much more experienced in dealing with labour naturally so its much more likely to happen that way.
As MrsBadger says- you're the one doing this, not PIL. The chances of anything happening that the mws can't cope with is very very slim indeed - they'll be able to tell you all about their transfer rates etc.

I really wanted to give birth at Wallingford (or home), but got transferred to consultant care at JR because of pre-eclampsia and ended up with a cs there. Have heard nothing but good things about Wallingford, I know several people who gave birth there and the mws were lovely when I went for my antenatal care. Although they did fail to spot my rather odd version of pre-eclampsia. But they were still lovely .

Personally speaking I had brilliant care at the JR, ante and postnatally, but I was on level 6 (high risk pg unit) and was there for 4 weeks so had good relationships with mws by the time I really needed drugs! My only quibble was with the bathroom on the observation ward, which was covered in blood. Everywhere else was clean and all the staff were great.

Like everyone else said, it's your baby, it's up to you - don't be swayed by your PIL!

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I too really wasnted to go to Wallingford & several of my NCT group gave birth there. Is really friendly & relaxed. Ended up in JR with pre-eclampsia, induction & CS with 10 day stay - staff are lovely but more rushed than at Wallingford. IF you want personal care Wallingford is the best bet. Plus they only have 1 pool at JR you are unlikely to get it whereas the 1 they have at Wallingford is much more likely to be free. Finally not sure if they are still thinking of closing Wallingford but either way they need all the support they can get!!

I wanted to deliver at Chipping Norton (v similar to Wallingford) but was transferred to the JR. It's good, though quite chaotic and busy. Only one birth pool. If things go well your chances of getting a water birth are therefore higher at the midwife unit.

Transfers from Wallingford are done on blue lights (ambulance) and take about 25 minutes. This means if the worst came to the worst you would be in surgery in under an hour - it took 40 minutes for me to go to emergency surgery from the delivery ward at the JR. So you may not lose much in the time stakes for being elsewhere.

Tell your assorted relies to sod off, it's your baby, your birth and walllingford would kick you out if they had any worries at all!

I had ds at the JR nearly five years ago and vowed never to give birth there again if I could help it because of the "care" I received in the delivery unit. The unit was understaffed and overrun with women in labour, I had a midwife who was later found to be negligent, along with two others who'd falsified my medical records to say they'd found all the swabs used during my delivery (they hadn't, they'd left one inside me which was thankfully found 48 hours later). Having said that, I received pretty good care up on the wards afterwards (especially from the wonderful midwife who found the swab), and my son needed to go to the special care unit (because of problems with my labour caused by the negligent midwife), and the staff there were absolutely fantastic (as were all the community midwives I saw in Oxford). Breastfeeding support wasn't great on the ward (actually that's an understatement, it was appalling) but the breastfeeding clinic, which I only found out about after I'd been discharged, was wonderful and without doubt stopped me having to give up on bf earlier than I wanted to.

I've heard wonderful things about Wallingford from many other mums. If I was in your position, I'd be going there if at all possible.

BTW, probably a bit previous but the bf clinic is no longer on level 6 - it's moved to level 1 down a little corridor next to the blood test place.

I had hoped to go to Wallingford, but as I went into labour at 35 weeks had to deliver at JR instead, but managed it drug-free. DD had to go to special care, so we were in for 4 nights and most of the staff were great, but if I have another and am given the choice I would still try for Wallingford.

Good luck wherever you end up!

I'm in the same quandry - sort of! I really want to go to Wallingford - I'm five minutes' drive away - and if I manage to go into labour normally between 38-42 weeks and my baby isn't deemed too large, that's what I'll do! But I may need to go to the JR if I'm given compelling evidence that my large baby is too large. Not nearly as keen!

Have you been on a tour of the St George's Unit at Wford yet? I think they're on monday evenings and saturday mornings: ring 01491 826037 to book, and you need to ring about half an hour beforehand in case they have someone in labour! It's a great unit, laid-back as people have said, and chances are you'll be familiar with the MWs on duty when you go in. Two delivery rooms but apparently they have never had to turn anyone away yet. One pool, smaller than the one at the JR apparently (one?? I had no idea there was only one in Oxford!!), but large enough. Balls, mats, spanking new birthing stool, stereo and dimmer lights in the delivery rooms so you can get all atmospheric... Post-natal ward looked lovely and homely, four beds, and a living room and kitchen for your use. Has a relatively rare UNICEF rating for excellence in breastfeeding. Heaven, basically! God, I hope I can go there... And no, there are no immediate threats to close it down, apparently, despite it being on 'the list' for ten years.

Sadly, they have now stopped tours of the JR wards due to staffing (how many people does it take??) and the heralded 'virtual tour' that they promised they'd put up on the net is nowhere to be seen. I rang and asked and was told it's unlikely to be up before my due date of march 2nd. However, the JR is a national centre of excellence (for non-normal births) and reports from various friends have all been positive. The idea would be to transfer to Wallingford for a night asap, though. And I was advised by a Wford MW to ring them about this from the JR, rather than rely on someone at the JR to sort it out - they might try to tell you it can't be done.

Sorry, too verbose! I really hope you get to go somewhere you feel relaxed and happy - and good luck!

Doctors are the worst when it comes to scaring you about labour. I am planning a home birth in Oxford (any minute now, eeeek) and while all mws have been great three young female GPs have tried to scare me or call me brave and tell me how great epidurals are . Doctors don't see enough normal births and they forget how normal birth is! So tell your PIL that you have done your research and this is your decision.

Elliekat - how large is too large? I gave birth to ds at Wallingford in the pool, no stitches, and he was 10 lb 6 oz.

Check your chances of getting a waterbirth at the JR by asking how many birthing pools they have now and how many births a year. In the 90s when I gave birth there, only one pool was available and there were 6000 births a year at the JR. Not surprising then, that it was unavailable for my first birth. I did use it for my second, and had a very good midwife and generally good experience, going home same day, very little perineal damage.

I had #3 at Wallingford, in the water. At that time they had about 180 births a year there, and one birthing pool so if that's not changed, your chances of being able to use it (if you are low risk) are high.

Re your pil: they may give you their opinions but it is your decision. They are right that if anything goes majorly wrong, Wallingford can't cope and will only send you to the JR. However, that should be balanced against the risks of going to a big hospital: infection, spiral of intervention.

Childbirth is not a risk free event and there is really no safe side to be on. Wallingford will only let you labour there if you are low risk and at the first sign of raised bp or other problem, will send you to the jr.

Well I'm due in the next few days and have no choice but to go to the JR so I'll try to report once I've had DC2!

Delivered my DTs there on Level 7 in the bereavement suite three years ago and the staff were absolutely fantastic, then had DS there two years ago and they were still pretty good (was in for 4 days while DS had light treatment for jaundice), but I had to stand my ground with the paeds who were insisting that I gave DS formula which I wasn't prepared to do.

My friend had her DD2 there in November and wasn't impressed at all with the staffing (and she's a nurse in a different part of the Women's centre) particularly over night when she waited an extraordinarily long time (something like 10 hours) for anyone to respond to a bell - it's only because she knows how to cancel them that it didn't drive her mad.

Go for the smaller place. It's SO true that if you feel more relaxed and 'at home' you're less likely to need as much pain relief. Also, doctors and nurses do tend to err on the side of high tech medicalised births imo. I think it's a lot to do with seeing all the difficult births and interventions. When i had my dd in a midwife unit, i was very conscious that the midwife was an absolute expert - she was amazing and helped me so much all through labour. When i had dc3 a few years later in a big hospital, i really had to fight off the doctors who wanted to monitor/intervene/ generally not leave me alone!! If your instinct tells you that you want a small hospital, then follow it! Don;t worry about anyone else's view. And your definitely NOT putting your child at any risks - these midwife units have a better safety record than larger hospitals, and they wouldnt let you anywhere near if you had any risk factors.

Hi Catz,

Try www.babyfy.com, they have information regarding most maternity wards in the country, plus, even more interesting, letting mums leave comments about their birth experience

Char.

i just gave birth at the JR 9 weeks ago and had a fantastic birth. remember you don't have to go down the intervention route if you don't want to.

their CS rate is about 25% but that's largely to do with the fact that they are the only major hospital in the area and take all the higher risk births.

just do what makes you feel most comfortable

btw - was just aswell i was in th JR as had to have manual removal of plenta after an unsuccessful natural 3rd stage.