Kingston or epsom!!?

[butterfly444]

I have recently found out i am pregant but cant decied if to go to epsom or kingston hospital??
Any advice pleasee!!

I have had 3 children at Epsom and can't fault it at all. Breastfeeding advice was fab, staff were great, had 1 normal, 1 emergency section and 1 planned section.

my referral has been made to kingston but my bf rather me go to epsom as his mum works there!...

I had to choose between Kingston and West Mid. What swung West Mid for me was the parking. It took us 25 mins to park at Kingston which will be a nightmare when in labour and for people coming to visit. Apart from that was a great hospital.
Hope that helps?

yeah thanks i usly go 2 kingston for everything and my bf and his mum both wont
me go epsom and its causing so many problems!

I know a lot of people that have had very good experiences at Epsom. However, my friend has also had one at Kingston and had a good experience - they key difference I can see is Kingston is a lot bigger. A lot of people I've spoken to like the smaller feel of Epsom.

Hope that helps.

i had my 2 at kingston. it's the closest to me. i don't think it's amazing, but i think it compares well against st. thomas & st. georges. not that that is at all relevant.

I had mine at Kingston, in the midwife led birth unit. For weeks I was anxious that I wouldnt get in to the unit but be shoved on the labour ward. To my relief I did get let in (if there is no space you have to go to the labour ward) BUT it was night and there were no midwives! I was attended by a young doctor and a labour ward "midwife" neither of them knew ANYTHING about natural childbirth and I had to fight with them all the way through.

I did manage to deliver my baby naturally as I wanted, but I am still very angry about how I was treated and how unpleasant they made it. I was forced into labouring on my back, using a feotal monitor, threatened me with episiotomy and suffered general RUDENESS and lack of empathy. Thank god I had a doula with me, she helped fill the gap in care. However, recovery and help from the midwives who arrived the next morning was very good.

I am sure that not everyone has a terrible time at Kingston, but this was my experience.

I'm due in just under 4 weeks and am heading to Kingston, So far I have no complaints all my appointments, scans and antenatal classes ( which are run by the Midwifes at Kingston have been fab :)) am very pleased with the service and support we have received so far

Gosh, sorry, hope I haven't scared you LucyLev.

For you and anyone else heading off to Kingston, remember that if you dont like the person attending you, you can request a change. I wish I had done this!

Best of luck to you on the big day xxx

Had ds in Epsom 6 years ago, had emergency c-section and it was excellent.

I had DD at Kingston by ELCS for breech two years ago and mostly the experience was very good. I'm now pg again but going to Epsom as we've moved and Epsom's a bit closer. I'm a bit anxious about whether we've made the right choice, the only reason I might favour Kingston is it has a lot of single rooms which they generally give to CS mums if they can - I had a single room with DD which was fantastic as I was in for five days and meant I could actually sleep when DD slept rather than being kept awake by lots of other babies crying. So now I'm a bit worried that I'm going to Epsom as if I need another CS there's no option of a single room, and I've only heard bad things about people's experiences of staying on a busy ward! But fingers crossed I'll have a good VBAC this time so I hope I won't have to stay too long.

Magnolia how old are your children. I found the bf help at Epsom was non existent and I never did bf dd (2.8). Unfortunately I live across the road from the hospital and it would be daft to go elsewhere as it's so near. Am hoping the bf service has improved...

Sorry for hijack!

I had DD (16months) at Kingston and this time I'm going to West Midd. While I found the care at Kingston good, parking is terrible (DH nearly came to blows with the warden!) and the maternity unit is so over subscribed that my DH had to find me a gown and they tried to send my home without helping me to establish bfing.