Private birth lindo wing v's nhs UCH or can you have a bit of both?

[CaroG]

HI all

new to this (just found out am 6 weeks) I was looking into private births but I have found out at the lindo its around 8 to 10k (3.2 for the hospital and £5k upwards for the consultant).

I have heard good things about antinatal at UCH can anyone tell me what it is like to give birth what are the facilities like? I have my first app in a couple of weeks with a midwife.

Is it possible to have anti natal care on the nhs and a private doctor for the birth? If so do you know which hospitals you can do this in and with which consultants.

Any words of wisdom gratefully received.

thanks

I can tell you, for sure, if you TELL the NHS you are planning to go private (or they find out) then you will not be eligible for ANY AN care on the NHS - so factor your scans (£100 for a 12 week scan, more if you want the triple test, £200 for the 20 week test and probably around another £100 if you want a 35 week dating scan, though this isn't always needed)

Plus, no AN classes - you will have to fund your own privately.

I have a friend who had her son at UCH and is going back there for her second (she's on the NHS)

You really need to decide what sort of facility you are looking for and what birth you want.

I suppose you could just book into the NHS place and then transfer at the last minute, but consultants get very booked up, so I really don't know if this is a possibility?

Hope that's of some help.

Oh, and if you do go private, be prepared for the HV (in due course) to have a go because you haven't been to the NHS run courses - I can give you some good one retalitory lines about how you would HAVE LOVED TO GO but weren't invited!!!!!!!!!! GRRRR (pet hate of mine!! sorry!)

I had my second child at UCH in November. I have absolutely no complaints, however, I had a medically managed birth - I was high risk, needed lots of monitoring throughout pregnancy and eventually had an elective section. I know UCH are fabulous when it comes to this sort of thing, but I'm not sure how they are with women wanting a more natural, intervention-free birth?

I will say that the care I received was absolutely wonderful (especially when compared to horrendous experience at the Royal Free in 2005). The building is also brand new, so it's clean, pleasant and the equipment is all top class. However, you do not get that 'hotel service' you'd get with private. I was with 3 other women on the postnatal ward, DH had to go when visiting hours ended etc.

I say that because I visited a friend who gave birth at the Portland and it was all crisp white sheets and 'earl grey or english breakfast tea, madam?'. None of that at UCH!

Would second Mrsmattie - my friend had an El Cs and will have one with her second child too. She was very happy with the care, but it was what she wanted, IYSWIM.

Oh, it is MrsMattie!!!

There is room service, 24hours a day!

I remember texting DH, telling him I was taking afternoon tea. I have no clue why I got such a kick out of that, but I really did.

In fact, when you leave, you aren't discharged, you check out

That's how much like a hotel it is!! And guests can stay over night too.

And, if you book dinner, a nurse appears at the same time to take the baby to the nursery so that you can eat in peace...

In fact, I had to ASK to keep DS with me... they couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to send him to the nursery at night - I had to explain that I didn't have a full time nursery at home and the sooner I got used to night-time waking / feeding the better !!

my doctor told me NOT to go to the Royal Free - so I am not going there.

In an ideal world it would be private but 10k seems way too much.

I definately want to be in a hospital and am not so bothered about the hotel service - I just want to know that there are enought midwives and doctors and the facilities are good and clean. Ideally I'd like to have a doctor present at birth. Is that standard on the nhs?

Haribosmummy - what's HV?

thanks

Health visitor..

No one can tell you what is right for you - but DO check out all the options.

For me, £10K was a price worth paying... So, we had a few less holidays and cut back on a couple of things.

I can't say if it's right for you or not, but it's worth checking out what's available.

(And not just in terms of medical care - Doulas are, IMO, very worthwhile too)

Ahhhh thanks

I know - we're trying to way up the options but with possibility of New baby (if all goes according to plan)

We'll need a new car and all the baby stuff too. Plus someone said the best money they spent was on a night nurse.

A doula is not a bad idea - might have a think about it.

I'm actually really glad we didn't employ a night nurse / PN nurse. I could hardly bear to let DS out of my sight!!!

But that's just me (total flippin' PFB )

Mind you, my second child is due in August - I might change my mind then (DS will be 13 months old!!!!! [scared emoticon!!]

Whereabouts are you? I can give you the link to my doula (she's on MN) - Even if you aren't in the right area, she could point you to the right websites if you are interested?

that would be fantastic thank you. NW london

Mentioned doula to Hubbie - he's not so sure but definately something I'd be interested in checking out.

This is my doula

She is called Hertsnessex on MN and really wonderful!!!

I loved having a doula - and will have her there again when I have my next baby in the summer... I loved the fact that there was someone there for ME - no other motivation at all... She did everything I asked of her (including minding my DSDs ) She was SUCH a star - from keeping me calm to reminding me about Vit K injections (mind was all over the place after I'd had DS!!!).

I also think it's possibly one of the best sources of information while you are trying to work out your birth plan... They can give (again, totally unbiased) information on the pros and cons etc., and make sure you understand the risks if (like me) you decide on a CS...

I'm sure it's now obvious how much I appreciated having that support there. In fact, I think I'd have found the actual day I had DS alot more difficult if she hadn't been there...

Caro - my friend had 2 babies at UCH and I am totally envious of both births.

At the Bloomsbury Birth Unit they use student midwives to do case-loading. This meant that my friend had a student come to all of her ante-natal checks. When she went into labour the same student came to her flat and helped her labour at home so that when she went to the hospital she was 9cm. She had the baby and was discharged the next day. With her second the midwife who did the delivery was someone she had met at a number of ante-natal appointments.

I reckon that if you want to aim for a vaginal delivery you can do a lot worse than UCH. Ask them about the case-loading and see what they say. Also, they are now in their brand spanking new building so it will be clean (this sort of thing matters a lot to me!).

I went private and had half my care on the NHS under a consultant (for pg complications) and half with an independent MW (for the more normal and routine bits). Nobody ever mentioned withdrawing the NHS care and they were very good at liaison as a rule (apart from the inevitable lost paperwork from time to time).

The joy of independent midwifery is that if you do have to go into hospital, they advicate for you to make sure you get better facilities and appropriate treatment.

Incidentally we also did the half NHS and half private thing with DS2 when he broke his arm badly, and that worked well too. We got the same consultant but had the second operation in a BUPA hospital. Fewer toys and so on, but more peace and quiet.

Shared ante-natal care between NHS & private doesn't always go smoothly.

Both sides would rather you chose as important tests etc can be missed as the other side thinks it's covered if that makes sense!

Well, if I had just left it to the NHS a lot more would have been missed! That's one reason why I went private.

HM I thought it was me being paranoid but I had HV and community midwives going funny with me as well because I went private. I just wouldnt let the HV in the house as the baby was sleeping, she soon gave up! I had a maternity nurse as well but got rid of her after a day as you have such a good rest privately you are raring to go. But horses for courses, you have to do whats right for you.

There will always be stories from either side - NHS vs Private.

I have personal experience of the private sector missing things! Only my experience but I think NHS often better with complicated pregnancies, private better with more straightforward ones. In fact private often won't take "complicated" pregnancies on....

Had both my children at UCH. Most recent baby was just 3 weeks ago.

I picked UCH for number 2 mainly as it was closer to work and our new house not because I had a great experience first time.

First time was recorded as a 15 hour labour (moved from birth centre to labour ward. Had drip / waters broken / diamorphine. 2 hours pushing but natural delivery with no intervention) and we stayed in for 36h.

Second time was recorded as an 80 minute labour - just gas and air in the birthing centre. We were discharged after 6 hours.

Had positives and negatives for both children. To sum up I am glad I'll never be having more children and won't be going back to UCH

Antenatal care was fine. I was low risk and second time they hardly saw me. I had massive gaps between appointments (had 16w appointment at 15w 3d and 28w appointment at 29w).

We did have a potential issue flagged up at anomaly scan and we needed blood tests and extra scans in the fetal medicine unit. They were amazing there. Still I remained low risk though and only had 3 appointments with FMU.

Just noticed this is a thread from 2009.

Whoops!

Hello!

I just had my baby at the lindo and it was an amazing experience. Best money we'd ever spent and we had to make a few sacrifices too.

But I went private for the whole pregnancy and birth - it was 24k all. I also had a private postnatal midwife.

Wanted to flag that for you - if you want a breakdown of costs let me know.

Hope this helps

Oh yeah - a breakdown of costs would be really helpful. I am planning to deliver at the lindo wing this summer, i have some basic costs, but understand that there will always be extras at the hospital as well as for scans etc. Which consultant did you go with? And your postnatal midwife, was she at the lindo or someone you hired independently? Is her fees included in the 24k you mentioned? If not how long did you use her for and how much? Many thanks for your help in advance!

I'm giving birth at the Lindo in June, under Prof Teoh. I have been lucky in that I have managed to get a good deal with him as I only started seeing him at 20 weeks and am continuing to have scans etc with UCLH, cutting the costs by a few grand.

The antenatal care at UCLH has been pretty good so far - they're very organised and thorough and the midwives and doctors have a good bedside manner. I've heard that it's very different for the birth though, just because they're so oversubscribed, and that's why I've chosen to go private.

I've had 3 private births - admittedly straightforward but none of them cost anything like 24k!