Experiences of Lewisham Hospital and antenatal care in Lewisham

[BR44]

Just found out that DC2 is on the way! My DS was born at St. Thomas's but we have moved since then so I think it's looking likely that this time I'll be booked in to Lewisham hospital. I'd be very interested in hearing you experiences, good and bad, of Lewisham.

Also, as I'm relatively new to the area I don't really know what my other options might be yet. Are there other hospitals/birthing centres in the area that any of you have used?

I had ds1 and dd1 at Lewisham. Both experiences were good. The birth centre there was open by the time DD1 was due but unfortunately i was unable to use it as i had group b strep. I was bitterly disappointed as it looks wonderful!

I have no complaints about the midwives during labour, but both children were born soon after I arrived so I have no experience of long labour on the ward.

Postnatal care was good and all my needs were met. My one complaint would be the noise of the midwives during the night - radio on at their station, talking loudly etc.

I had ds2 at home and we were with the brierley midwives who are based at kings. We live just outside the catchment area in Sydenham but they kindly allowed me to go on their books.

Thanks for that, SydenhamSet. I'll be having my first scan there in a few weeks and am keen to see what it's like.

If you can use the birthing centre in Lewisham then I think you'll be happy, to be honest though I have never met anyone who fulfilled the criteria they have set.

I had DS at King's in 2009 and DD in Lewisham eleven months ago. I have heard good reports from others about Lewisham however I'm sorry to say my experience was different. My consultant failed to prescribe a drug for me, meaning that my baby was put at serious risk for three months. Thankfully DD was unharmed but it could have been a very different story.

If you are having a straightforward pregnancy then it should be OK. I had to see a consultant every four weeks during my pregnancy and the waiting times were RIDICULOUS, never less than an hour and a half late often longer. Towards then end of my pregnancy I was being monitored every three days, the clinic that did this was always massively late - I was once kept waiting five and a half hours and ended up being kept in for high blood pressure, my blood pressure was high because I was bloody furious!

You can always change hospitals after your scan if you need to. I was originally booked into Lewisham with DS but switched to King's because I was unhappy with Lewisham, with DD my midwife reassured me that Lewisham had improved.

Sorry, I don't want to worry you but I also think it's good to get as many view points as possible. In terms of stats on interventions etc. Lewisham and King's were fairly level pegging but I felt King's had better facilities (and was cleaner).

Good luck with your birth, wherever you decide to go.

Oops, just noticed the date on this , obviously don't hang out in local much.