VBAC and London hospitals

[tigger15]

Can anyone give me their experience of VBACs in London hospitals? In particular:
St Mary's (ds1 had there ended up in Emcs)
UCH
Royal London
Whittington
Homerton
Barnet

Were they for or against it? (ie did you have to fight through every appointment to get it)

Did what you were promised in Antenatal appointments actually happen on the labour ward? e.g. if you were told you could have telemetric monitoring or intermittent did you find yourself having to fiercely argue not to have CFM

What were the policies and were they at all negotiable? e.g. 6 hour "trials", CFM etc.

I'm not pregnant again yet but I'd really like to find out in advance.

Thanks

Guys and St Thomas' is another option.

Any takers?

anyone?

bump

not familiar with london hospitals, but i can tell you that you cannot be made or forced to labour a certain way.

www.aims.org.uk is good, they have a booklet called Am I allowed? which is about a fiver i think...

i would also suggest looking for info from the cochrane library ( online)and NICE guidelines, so that you can demonstrate you are making informed choices if you wish to decline CFM for example or a cannula

a good thing is to get a consultant on side and get them to sign off your birth preferences in your handheld notes.

and hire a doula to suport you in getting those choices and preferences met during labour.

Thanks for the reply.

I know you can't technically be forced but you can have a lot of pressure brought to bear on you both before and during labour if you fail to comply with their ways of doing things. Personally, I'd rather not spend the whole labour fighting as it makes it a little difficult to relax

That's why I'd like to find out which hospitals require less argument to get the conditions I think would make it most likely for me to successfully vbac.

The consultant on side is a good idea although I have heard stories of midwives and other doctors to ignore their recommendations on these sorts of things.

I had a doula for my first birth and would definitely use her again even though it ended in emcs.

you are welcome, perhaps the doula you had last time has knowledge abotu this ? all the best x

St Mary's
UCH
Royal London
Whittington
Homerton
Barnet

I've attended births at all of these hospitals. As far as I know you won't be pressured to have a VBAC. That said it actually comes down to your consultant.

You have rights and choices. No one can make you have a c-birth if you don't want one. However, I always say that you should ask for the medical reason why something is necessary. Hospital protocol is not a medical reason.

Incidentally... Homerton is currently my favourite.