Tommy's?

[wombats]

Any recent experiences with delivering at Tommy's? All reviews I've found on MN are at least a few years old. Considering it as it's quite near to home and the birth centre sounds fab, (though still waiting for antenatal booking appt after several weeks and referrals sent and lost!)

I had 2 babies at St Thomas' - one in 2014 and one last last year.

First time around i was blown away by how amazing the experience was however 2nd time round i was rather shocked by how awfully stressed and pressured the midwives were...they were FRANTIC and clearly desperately understaffed.

Following a complicated birth/C section, as soon as I was out of the high dependency unit I was pretty much left to my own devices and was desperate to get the hell out of there ASAP.

2 weeks after the C section I collapsed due to an infection in the womb caused by a retained placenta (ie placenta hadn't all been removed properly during the section) and was taken (by ambulance so no choice as to where) to St Georges ' for a further op. The experience in their post natal ward was very different and everything felt far, far calmer.

I don't blame anyone at all (other than Jeremy Hunt!) for the bad experience at St T's...i just felt that it must be awful for those working within such pressured conditions and the NHS is clearly very very stretched, very sad for all involved :-(.

That is my personal experience however I guess it's really all down to how many babies are being born at any given time and how busy that means staff are...

Let me know if I can help further!

Thank you! Your experience last year sounds quite frightening. I'm glad you were able to get sorted eventually. Does put me off a bit of their services, though it might be my only reasonable option.

Anyone else??

Two births in 2012 and 2015, one in the Doctor-led unit and one in the birthing centre.

The only down point for me was surrounding getting an epidural. In my first delivery I held out as long as I could and then asked for an epidural - this was about 6pm. I wouldn't let them give me the induction drugs until I had it. DS was back to back and both anaesthetists were in surgery non stop for the next few hours so it was a long and painful five hours until someone finally came to give me the epidural at 11pm. The midwife kept telling me "you're not in any danger, you're only in pain" and I was becoming inhuman with it. But that was delivered expertly and I had no complaints after that.

In my second delivery I asked for it when the pain got really bad, but I was in the birthing centre and there were no beds available in the doctor led unit. As it happened DD was born 30 minutes later anyway and we were discharged to go home 6 hours later, so I'm not at all sorry I didn't get the epi and feel that was the better outcome anyway.

I found the pre-birth treatment really good, I had bad SPD and saw the women's physios there too and they were excellent.

Yes I might add that, similarly to VeryHungry, I found the antenatal care excellent - throughout both successfully pregnancies, and also when I had 3 miscarriages, the EPU and ante natal day assessment unit were amazing.

Another big positive about the hospital is that it is HUGE, meaning that they really can cover any unusual eventuality/care required.

Thank you both, reassuring to hear you've had good experiences with the antenatal care and overall with delivery. Most important bit of course is that the baby is healthy so I just want a safe place to deliver. Read about the recent baby death at King's so terrified of ending up there.

Keen to hear of any other experiences for Tommy's birth centre or labour ward.