Private Obstetrician Recommendations London

[DarlingClem]

Hi Everyone--

I am currently 7 weeks pregnant, live in Melbourne Australia and just found out that we are moving to London for my husbands work. We are anticipating being in London by September.

Our daughter was stillborn in December 2012 so this is a very anxious time for me and I have been really organised care-wise in regards to what I want for this pregnancy, currently very much in love with the OB I have chosen over here.

I would like to have this baby privately in London (expensive I know) so I would really appreciate any private obstetrician recommendations you can provide. It is really important to me to have an OB with a great bedside manner that is caring and understanding about what my husband and I have been through. An OB willing to help put my mind at ease when needed and ideally one that has an ultrasound machine in their office to do a quick scan if needed to show me all is well.

Any advice and recommendations would be greatly appreciated! We will be living quite central (zone 1 or 2 with a W, NW, or SW postcode). We have lived in London before so are familiar with many areas and using the NHS, just not with being pregnant in London or using private health.

Thanks again!

Hi,
Congratulations on your pregnancy!
I really, really REALLY recommend Roshni Patel at Chelsea & Westminster. She specialises in high risk pregnancies and was absolutely amazing throughout my pg and birth. She does a lot of counselling and really takes the time to understand your fears and anxieties. She is - as well as being a very highly qualified and experienced obstetrician - a lovely, comforting, positive person (and a mother herself).
She won't push you towards a csection if you don't want one either. And in my experience she was happy to do a quick unscheduled scan at ante-natal appointments.
She delivers exclusively at Chelsea & Westminster (a lovely hospital)... More info about her, and her fees, here:
britbirthclinic.co.uk/about/

I had severe anxiety / phobia of certain aspects of birth and she absolutely engaged with that and put my mind at rest more than I ever thought possible. She's incredible. I wouldnt have dared go for a second pregnancy if it weren't for her, and the confidence she gave me to face my fears.

Good luck! Xx

Hi,
I came across your response on ecls with Dr Pat O Brien from Jun 2013 which I found really helpful.
I am due in Sep'16 and have booked an appointment with him for a private C section in UCLH. Please could you provide some more information about your experience and your recovery post op?Any specific request or check that I should ask for from the consultant? I would really appreciate any guidance from you as my family doesn't live in Uk so don't have much info on how the private system works in London.

Many thanks,
Sonali

Reanimating a zombie thread to see if anyone has info that might help.
We recently lost our baby at 37 weeks, and are slowly trying to process it. It's early days but I'd really like to try again as soon as we're able. But am freaked out by the prospect of using the NHS again. I don't think anything that went wrong was necessarily the hospital's fault, but just the idea of seeing so many different midwives who barely know us or our situation, and feeling like they let us slip through the cracks is making me scared and stressed.
I'd like to go completely private, but need to figure out how it works. Do we go see a consultant before we try to get pregnant? Or should we be waiting until we are and then go look for consultants? And would they then do all our antenatal care? Or do we go back on the NHS for some antenatal care?

Oh Bisquick, I have nothing helpful to add (have only been on NHS) but I have seen you on other pregnancy threads and I am so fucking sorry.

Thinking of you and hoping someone will be along very soon with useful advice. I can completely see why you would want the reassurance of seeing the same person every time. If it would help to talk please tell us anything you like about what happened, and how you are doing. So sorry.

Bisquick I'm so sorry for your loss. I felt the same about wanting to try again as soon as we could. I also understand the feeling of falling through the cracks the first time round.

My experience of pregnancy after a late loss is that as I'm consultant led, I have good continuity of care. I would have considered going private if I hadn't felt reassured, but NHS care so far has been exceptional. I might see a different midwife to take my blood pressure or urine samples but the actual appointments are with the consultants and they are very thorough.

Thank you hopsalong and blueroses

I'm coping, I suppose, and trying to focus on recovering physically. We still don't know exactly what happened. I went into what I thought was early labour at 37 weeks on the dot. Went to the hospital after waters broke where I was 1cm dilated and sent home. V rough night with me realising I can't handle labour pain, but being v scared of going in again and being sent home. Finally went in and was 4 cm dilated. But they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat (although confusion on this point because midwife says she did find it when we came in 5 min earlier). Went from that to 10 cm in about five minutes amid lots of rushing to theatre and debate about emergency c section and me screaming for an epidural or an anaesthetic or something. And sadly no heartbeat still and delivering without an epidural a few minutes later. It was obviously the most horrible experience of my life, and sorry for reliving it in such detail - just that I don't want to share or burden anyone with it IRL.
Sigh. I don't think there was much the hospital could have done but we will hopefully get some more information after the post mortem. He was in the 6th centile at birth and I'd had low Papp a and growth scans throughout the pregnancy - not sure if that's what led to this.

Sorry for rambling. I am heartbroken and don't think we can ever replace him, but I'd so like to try again once we get some more information and I'm just aching for a family in a way I can barely explain.

Blue I take it you've had a successful pregnancy after a late loss? Would love to hear your story if you're up for sharing. I keep googling for stories of happy second pregnancies after stillbirths to try to give myself hope.

Bisquick thanks for sharing your story. I found it therapeutic to write my thoughts and feelings as I was just so bewildered - I started a blog actually blueroses99.wordpress.com

Last July, I went into early labour at 21+3 with no warning and my son was born just a few hours later. Absolutely heartbroken. From speaking to others and doing a bit of research, I suspected the cause was an incompetent cervix. The post mortem confirmed it, and I learned that there are measures that can be taken to prevent another loss.

It had been an IVF pregnancy and we went back to the clinic at the earliest opportunity, which was 3 months later once I was physically healed and my cycle had become regular. I knew it would take far longer to heal emotionally but I couldn't bear to wait. Amazingly we were lucky to conceive once more and I am currently 14w pregnant.

I have had 7 scans already! I am under the care of a specialist pre-term clinic. Last week I had a cervical stitch to strengthen the cervix, I am on progesterone which also helps the cervix, prescribed rest (staying off my feet) and am being monitored. I couldn't ask for more really. It's not an easy journey though, I was fairly calm during my last pregnancy but I am really anxious now. Trying to be positive.

Do you have any real life support? I found Sands really helped, as well as virtual support from those I chatted to online, either here or via my blog.

Happy to chat if it helps - you're definitely not alone and it's very recent for you still. Take care xx

Oh Bisquick, I am so sorry -- there really are no words. This is just my worst nightmare, and you sound so brave (both in hospital and in this gracious message). Blueroses, I am also so sorry for your loss.

I have nothing useful to offer really, except to say that I am a very anxious pregnant person (not for any good reason) and I find the disjointed NHS care a little frightening at times. I always look at these private obstetrician threads because I imagine that if I had (a lot) more money that I would go down this route, and it would allay me! But in fact in this (second) pregnancy I have been put under one of the "big" consultants at local hospital and this only because I had a c-section last time. (Haven't seen her yet, but have seen doctors working underneath her.) I am sure that when you get pregnant again you will be given LOTS of extra care by the NHS to monitor growth and placental function and that they will be very happy to do an elective early c-section at 37 weeks or whenever necessary. Maybe you can discuss now what the plan of care would be to reassure you?

Do you think it might help to start a new thread (if you can bear it) to see if some of the people who have direct experience of full-term stillbirth can offer much better advice? I think maybe most people don't click on the ones about private obstetricians!

Again, I am so very sorry. How are you physically? Sending .

Thank you Hops.

If you start a new thread Bisquick, there's a lot of support on the Miscarriage/Pregnancy Loss area on Mumsnet xx

Thank you both - I've created a new thread here
And Blue reading through your blog now. Thank you for sharing. It feels comforting somehow to see someone else at least experiencing similar thoughts and feelings. I have my fingers crossed that you have a completely uneventful pregnancy going forward and a happy healthy baby D in your arms soon!

Thank you Bisquick, though I hope not too soon! Feel free to PM if you want to chat

I had such a positive experience with Nicola Lack. I’m going to have all my babies with her. I have dealt with lots of private consultants over the years and while they are all tend to be great medically, some of them can be quite arrogant and officious and don’t really listen or treat you like a human being. Nicola is amazing she treated me with such care and empathy. I had such a great experience with her during what ended up being quite a high risk pregnancy. She just put me and my baby first and was contactable via WhatsApp 24/7 throughout my whole pregnancy. She delivers at The Portland and her NHS base is UCLH.

You've replied to thread that is from 2013 originally with some comments from 2016!