First time PG, living in Muswell Hill want your local hospital birth stories

[digitalgirl]

Hello Haringey-dwellers,

I've just discovered I'm PG (wahey!) and the Dr has said I have a choice between Whittington, Barnet, Royal Free and UCLH. Here's what she says about them:

Whittington is most convenient and the midwives are more organised.

Barnet has better facilities but midwives are a bit disorganised and don't always come out to visit.

Royal Free, MWs won't come to visit and it's a teaching hospital

UCLH is in the centre of town, so would be inconvenient to have a quick labour during rush hour.

Anyone give birth in any of these hospitals recently?

Am also toying with the idea of a home-birth and wondered which of the hospitals would be best to 'do' this with.

TIA

DG x

Congratualations digitalgirl.

I gave birth in the Whittington five weeks ago. Was glad I chose it. Lovely midwife delivered me, and good friendly competent doctors. Nice new canteen too!- great if you can get DP to bring up food!

You won't especially want to hang around on any of the wards, but I think that might apply to any hospital to be honest. Whittington is particularly shabby, but you won't really be looking at the decor.

It's also worth thinking about what is convenient to get to for scans, ante-natal appts etc. We were back and forth quite a bit, including going in for the labour itself, then being re-admitted twice afterwards. If the hospital you choose is on an easy bus route from where you live, that counts for a lot!

Would recommend that you go on a few tours?

Hi and congratulations,
I gave birth 6 weeks ago at the Royal Free and found them all to be fantastic, midwives and doctors, it was very clean the only draw back was the ante natal checks, see if you can have them done locally as the team there aren't the ones who will deliver the baby either.
The fetal mdicine team at the royal free are excellent too.
Go and have a good look around.

Hi digitalgirl. Congrats on your pregnancy.

I am also in Muswell Hill and had my 4th baby at the Whittington last April. I would highly recommend it as I had excellent care under the wonderful Miss Henson, who I seem to remember has quite a few Mumsnet admirers! I never had to wait a long time at any of my hospital appointments and in fact most of the midwife check-ups were at my local health centre, which was very convenient.

Babies 2 and 3 were home births. I was under the care of a team of midwives from the Whittington for baby no 3 and they too were excellent, although this is going back a few years.

I gave birth this time round in the early hours, then went up to a ward where I stayed for around 12 hours. I took a pack of nuclear strength cleaning wipes with me as I was paranoid about hospital bugs but the loos on the ward were clean.

I'd echo what wobbegong says about considering convenience of access.

I gave birth at the Royal Free 4 weeks ago. The wards were clean and nicer looking than those at UCLH. I didn't find the RF without its problems though. Antenatal administration was poor in my experience and these administration glitches extended to slow discharge from hospital after the birth.

We had a bad experience at the RF with the labour wards being full up when we needed them (this could probably have happened anywhere) and we felt the care we had prior to being admitted to the actual labour ward could have been much better. Once in the labour suite though the staff and care were very good and at the end of the day that's what matters most.

Go to the Whit! I had Miss Henson as my consultant. She's WONDERFUL!

Have attended lots of births there and can recommend it.

meant to say that I had 4 (incl twins) of my 5 there.

Congratulations digitalgirl.
I gave birth at UCLH at the end of August. The midwife I ended up with was fantastic - Monal - and I would recommend it to anyone. They really included DH in whole experience. Was lucky in the sense I had no complications so was in the Birthing Centre, was allocated the active birthing room - which I think that was the biggest, only downside was there was no bed, gave birth on a foam platform thing (!?). Ward was fine - nothing special but certainly not bad either, only there one night though.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (the maternity hospital) is due to move into new building soon - so may be worth checking out the dates for this as sure a fantastic new building would be a big draw.
Trip there was okay - only problem is parking meters very pricey and you would need to be careful not to go into Congestion Zone. Hope this helps. Please note that I was born at UCLH too so I may be slightly biased.

Good point Priory park chick, parking at royal free is a nightmare- £3 an hour and very few spaces, I agree with sebbysmum too admin a pain and slow discharge but the care was excellent in my case and made up for everything else.

Thanks for all your responses! Reassuring to hear they've all got their good points, I imagine I'd be safe and well taken care of in any one of them.

Going to try and cram in tours of Whittington and Royal Free this weekend. Although am leaning towards Whittington from a convenience point of view (much closer and on my bus route to work, you never know).

Just gotta make it to September now.

I had a baby at the Whittington, not my nearest as I'm in the east of the borough but easier by public transport from home (bus) and work (tube) and I found at the end that the midwives also do antenatal appointments at the very local to me health centre all of 3 minutes walk away.

North Mid used to have a homebirth team which they don't any more, and there is now one at the Whittington. There's a midwife who has now moved there who is keen to support home births, and if you're going for one, being so near to the hospital just down the road might be no bad thing. I will ask my friend who's the Wood Green NCT contact about the homebirth team and the name of the midwife she told me about.

My NCT postnatal group (didn't get onto antenatal classes though I wanted to) had a good 2nd baby experience at the Royal Free, two not very good 1st baby experiences at UCLH, and 3 at the Whittington - I can't remember where one woman gave birth but think she may have missed the week where we recounted our birth stories.

I would consider going back to the Whittington to have another baby, though there are a number of things I would have liked to have done differently - I think many of them are things where I will know more about it next time, including the biggie, establishing feeding after the birth.

Thanks for the info Elkie.

We made it to the Whittington tour, along with a hundred other couples! Apparently last week was really quiet but today they had to split us into two groups.
Actually felt a bit silly being there so early on. Every other woman there had a giant bump.

Anyway, definitely looks a bit shabby as others have said. However, the labour ward itself looked well equipped and they encourage active births, TENS machines and doulas. There are two birthing pool rooms as well.

Both the ante-natal wards and post-natal wards are cramped, but I guess that's NHS for you. They're wonderfully strict about visitors. I just have to hope that I get to leave after the minimum 6 hours. I can't see me getting dibs on the either of two private rooms in September.

After the midwife giving the tour said 70% of first time mums have an epidural I suddenly thought maybe I should make sure I'm within grabbing distance of all kinds of drugs. Perhaps a homebirth is a bit ambitious for my first!

Think it's only fair I go and see Royal Free to compare.

In practice I didn't find them that strict about visitors. Not that I wanted to have more than two people there at a time, but they let dp stop around out of hours if he was helping/supporting me. He had to go home to get sleep. I was booked in to be induced and told to come at 7 pm and he stayed until about 10.30 or so. Then when I told the midwife my contractions had started at about 2.30 am she offered to phone him to get him back, though in the end I did and he came back to the hospital about 5 or 6 am.

I was one of the 30% of first time mums who didn't have an epidural then. I did have gas and air though..

It worked out ok for me in that it was successsful although very slow, but I'm not altogether happy that I was induced mainly just on grounds of lateness (and a bit too early, 8 days not 10) and my age (I was 37).

Hello,

I'm another "graduate" of the Whittington - I had my first baby there 11 weeks ago. I have almost nothing but praise, despite the shabby appearance that you'll have seen. The only slight grumbles were the fact that although my labour room had a pool, there was no midwife available who was qualified to do a water delivery (in the event I could not have had one anyway due to meconium issues - I did use the pool for a couple of hours during the contractions), the restriction on the amount of time for which they let you remain in scond stage labour without medical intervention (1 hour - I live in LB Barnet, and the community mdwife who saw me after the birth was surprised as in Barnet hospitals they allow at least 1 and a half hours)and finally the rather unfriendly nurses doing nights on the postnatal ward (but hardly surprising given their job description!) .

I was also one of the 30% of first timers who didn't have an epidural!

Hi digital girl!

I was at the Whittington tour today and plan to go to the Royal Free tomorrow at 2:00.

I would like to get on a tour at UCLH - just to compare the facilities.

I checked on the net and it seems that Whittington has better accreditation than the Royal Free. UCLH and Whittigton have equal accreditation.

Hi morningdew

That's interesting about the accreditation. Let us know how the Royal Free tour went and how you think it compares.

Feel a bit pushed for time (even though I have A LONG time to go), as dr won't book me in with a midwife till I decide on a hospital.

I'm liking what I hear about Whittington (I think just being in a labour room was a bit scary), but I should do the Royal Free and UCLH tours too, can't be making this decision too lightly.

elkiedee & fraufrau how did you both manage without an epidural? did you have other pain relief? I'd like to think I'd get away with a TENS machine and gas & air.

Are you allowed to change your mind about which hospital you want to give birth in, and if so do the midwives make you feel bad about it?

I managed with gas and air, everyone seemed surprised, including my mum. My labour was really long and there are parts that seem like a blur, if I remember rightly the contractions in stage 1 were more painful than stage 2, pushing D out.

But I thought the idea of an epidural really scary, a bit frightened of injections. I'd love to try a waterbirth, but by the time I thought about it, it didn't seem like there was time to explore that option further. And given that I was induced, it probably wouldn't have happened anyway. The problem with induction is it means that you spend ridiculous amounts of time just hooked up to machines.

My understanding is that you can change your mind about hospitals. I'd be surprised if the midwives make you feel guilty - I think it was only at the end that I started seeing the same people more than once - I had my final antenatal appointment with the midwife who ended up delivering D but that was coincidence.

Aren't all the hospitals teaching hospitals? I'm sure that UCLH and the Whittington are as well as the Royal Free. Student midwives have to deliver 40 babies to qualify, but that must be with qualified midwives present.

Hi there, I gave birth to our little girl at the Whittington in October. We were really lucky to have a midwife from our community team (Stonecroft) for the final 8 hours of the labour - she was absolutely fantastic and sounds odd but I'd love to see her again to say thank you.

The care we received throughout the pregnancy and during the labour and emergency c-section were fantastic and I always felt safe in their hands as the birth turned in to the typical cascade of intervention. At the end of the day, the baby decides how they want to come out (or not)!

It's a good point for the location of the hospital to be convenient for your appointments as you can end up going quite a few times for various scans and check ups - also for visitors / partner if you need to stay in a couple of days after the birth.

After we went on the tour I was determined to be up and out six hours after the birth as the post natal ward scared the life out of me (probably more to do with the fact I'd never seen a London hospital ward). However, we ended up staying for two nights in labour (cairns) and two nights after the birth (murray) and thanked our lucky stars to get a post natal private room - worth its absolute weight in gold as the ward can get quite noisy.

Hope this helps, at the end of the day you have to go with what feels right for you ... I would definitely go to the Whittington for number 2.

Hello digital girl,

it's been a while since the last post on this thread, but I am in the same predicament now, as you were back in January.

I'd like to know which hospital you've decided to go for, and what your experience has been like.

Thanks to all for enlightening posts,

p

Hi Pacita,

I noticed your other post in the childbirth section and came here to link the thread!

I chose Whittington in the end. It's the closest to me and I heard such good stories about the midwife care and neo-natal care. The labour ward hasn't been refurbished like the rest of the hospital, but I doubt I'll be worried about the chipped paint when I'm having contractions. The labour rooms themselves looked very well equipped and they encourage active births, TENS machines, doulas, pretty much whatever you want to make it is comfortable as possible.

I've only just had my first scan there (at 13 weeks) and I'm not having my booking in appointment till another 3 weeks when I'll be 16 weeks, that's through a local midwife team who will visit me at home. My GP told me that was standard timing in this area.

Congrats and good luck!

hi digitalgirl,
i havent read all the responses to your original question however wanted to put my response in anyway.

had my first born, AT HOsoME, initially scary but wonderful experience. the whittington team were amazing. i couldnt have asked for a better team.
the post natal care incredible. imagine the midwife coming to your bed and you never having to get up. they were invaluable for getting on the right track for breast feeding too. (no problems to report)

two of my friends in london had home births which in my mind paved the way for me to feel ok with it.
the closer i got to my due date the more natural a choice it felt. how lovely to go to bed the first night just three of us.

ive heard some say they would have home birth for second birth however, second births usually go much faster than the first so if you need to transfer to hospital, not always an option with second but on the whole more likely with a first time round.

i highly recommend the home birth. would do it again and would self refer myself to whittington team (you can do this once you've been with them once)

any questions, im happy to answer.
julie

Of the list Whittington is my favourite. I attend a lot of births in these hospitals. UCLH is not high on my list unless you go the birthing centre (BBC).

If you do a homebirth it will probably be the Whittington.

Hey Digitalgirl,

Congrats on your pregnancy!
I had my baby at the Whittington in February. I highly recommend it as everybody was super competent, caring and friendly. I had a stress free, pain free, wonderful experience. The midwifes and doctors were a perfect team. I always felt safe and relaxed.
Hope it helps and Good luck.

I had all four of mine at the Whittington, and cannot sing its praises highly enough. Yes, the wards are shabby and the toilet/ bathing facilities not great, but hopefully you will get a quick discharge after the birth and be back home in your own surroundings. The SCBU there is fantastic and the midwives mostly all kind,supportive and friendly. I had excellent care from Miss Paul, Miss Henson and Miss Eben. Miss Eben even once spent 4 hours on the phone for me in the middle of the night trying to get a SCBU place for the baby and a bed for me in the same hospital when there wasn't room at the Whittington. I will never forget that kindness.

I had my first baby at the Whittington last August and went back to give the midwife a bottle of champers and a big thank you hug.

I don't like hospitals and made the mistake of getting out too early before I really mastered the art of breastfeeding. I requested a quick discharge and left within 24 hrs. Bad mistake! I suffered lots of pain and stress when I found out I couldn't feed my baby.

Good luck and enjoy watching your bump grow.

xx

Hi there,

If you're giving homebirth any consideration you should speak to the Whittington Homebirth team - i'd like to join JulieSara in singing their praises. I had my first baby last September and the level of care i received was excellent right from the start.

I saw the same midwife on all but one occasion; all my antenatal appointments were at home so I only went to hospital for my scans. The birth itself went to plan and I'm sure that being in familiar surroundings and the good relationship with my mdwife contributed to this. Will definitely be back to them if/when baby no 2 is on the way.

They do a coffee morning every other Wednesday at the cafe by the boating lake in Finsbury Park so you can get to meet all the midwives in the team along with other homebirth mums-to-be.

good luck - whatever you choose!