Who has given birth in Whittington Hospital?

[jantogan]

Hello all,I have been thinking about waterbirth in London Whittington Hospiatal but I haven't decided yet.My first pregnancy and due 20 agust.I'd like to hear from someone who has given birth in Whittington.If you have more experience,how do you compare natural and water birth?

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had both my girls at the whittington (both c/s in the end), the care on the ante natal and labour wards was v good, but the number of staff on duty on the postnatal ward meant that you didn't get much individual attention re: bfeeding. i did get my painkillers on time though (!) and managed to get a private room so i could get some sleep (the wards are v noisy) so if you could limit the amt of time you spend there i think it would be a pretty good choice.

Me. Didn't have waterbirth, just laboured at home in bath till last minute (baby born 27 mins after I got there).
They do a community midwife thingy if you live in the right catchment, ie locally, which is fairly ace. I only had to go to hosp for scans and delivery.
However, the team of MWsI'd got to know were all off duty on the day I went into labour, whcih was a disappointment (they'd promised me that I had an 90 pc chance of being delivered by someone I knew -- yeah right),
Delivery rooms a bit of a blur seemed bettter than those at Royal Freee where I had no1. Also anesthetist arrived skidding (sadly, I was too late for my longed-for epidural -- my fault, not the hospital's).
Have to say the wards afterwards pretty grim. I had a side room, also fairly rudimentary, but quietish. The loos/showers were appalling (I had to tell the nurses this. They looked at me in blank incomprehension.)
The care was fine: good. The less essential details not so.
(Hi bundle)

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dd1: june 2000; dd2: april 2003.

bath?? ooooh no, only had showers (mainly to whip off dressing on c/s scar and take out catheter) and blurry bed bath a few hrs after surgery. friend who had her first 2 at whit is going to royal free this time (mainly to find out the sex, which they have a policy of not doing at the whittington).

hi bp

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shower has to be better than bath (with or without pubes)

I was there in jan, mumof2.
Antenatal 'facilities' were filthy -- hence the complaint to the MWs. Pee on loo seats etc.
Oh yes, and there was no hot water the night i was there, so I couldn't have used the showers anyway.
I think they're overhauling though... walked past the other day and thought I saw decorators' ladders in my old side room.

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