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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

How important is hospital tour?

19 replies

sandytoes84 · 13/11/2019 11:13

I’ve decided against the one day antenatal class available with midwife, but it does include a birth unit tour.

My feeling is I know the hospital and where to go and that a tour is another faff to add to the many maternity appointments!

My outlook is very much to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst and I don’t want to over think every eventuality, but be willing to roll with whatever pans out.

First baby if that makes a difference!

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Oly4 · 13/11/2019 11:16

It isn’t important!

hopefullyanon · 13/11/2019 11:18

3 children. Never done a hospital tour. Two were born in the same room.
But if you dropped me outside the door now I couldn't find it.

Boymummy3 · 13/11/2019 11:20

If it helps im in baby no3 and never attended any antenatal classes or hospital tours i kind of found them a bit pointless x

India999 · 13/11/2019 11:21

I'm doing one, simply because I randomly found out the other day that the midwife-led unit at my hospital doesn't offer epidurals, but the main (consultant/doctor led) hospital does. Nobody had told me this so I figured I'd go to the tour just incase I'm missing other information. It can't hurt! Then I can make a more informed decision on which to chose.

I wasn't going to bother until then!

maternity123qwe · 13/11/2019 11:21

2 kids never done, four year old and 10 week old never done classes or a tour.
Personally don’t think it’s needed, you soon find out where things are in labour! I didn’t feel any less prepared by not doing it either

Talkwhilstyouwalk · 13/11/2019 11:22

I wouldn't bother with a hospital tour. Don't think that all hospitals even offer them.

HighwayCat · 13/11/2019 11:22

As long as you know where to go, where is best to park and if access is different out of hours then no need for a tour if you don’t want it.

Samosaurus · 13/11/2019 11:24

I don’t think my hospital even offered them - and I didn’t think to ask for one. So I don’t think it’s important at all if you are not bothered.

maternity123qwe · 13/11/2019 11:24

@India999 no midwife led units off epidurals; and they also have limited pain killers.
But people say they are nice inside and have beds for partners and birthing pools.

I was consultant led and high risk so I didn’t have the option of midwife led - but I wouldn’t have picked it either.
Much prefer to have the drugs on hand... I didn’t have an epidural but had some good opiate based drugs - which again you cnet get at mid wife led units

Preggosaurus9 · 13/11/2019 11:29

Parking practise is essential and knowing where the ward is.

Bit odd to refuse a free 1 day antenatal course though. What steps are you taking to inform yourself about labour and your choices e.g. pain relief as mentioned by pps?

stucknoue · 13/11/2019 11:29

It's not important, but I do recommend some sort of birth preparation just so you know what to expect, it's not like in the movies (normally)

ruralcat · 13/11/2019 11:31

3 children, never even been offered a class or a tour so on that basis I'd say they're not important.

MsSquiz · 13/11/2019 11:39

We recently did the tour of our local MLU & delivery suite (all based in the same hospital) as part of the 1 day (4 hr) ante natal class.

Most of what was discussed, we already knew through reading pregnancy books, but it was also helpful to find out the parking situation for maternity, etc. We also found it handy to see the rooms in the MLU and find out how the rules differ between the MLU & delivery suite in terms of visitors, birthing partners, average length of stay, etc. I think it particularly helped DH get an idea of what both areas are like

At our hospital, you can just arrange for the tour if you don't want to do the class, but it's personal preference

India999 · 13/11/2019 11:41

@midwife123qwe

Thanks! It's my first time so I know nothing :)

I didn't even know it was a midwife led unit haha!

My hospital seem to only give me information when you specifically ask for it, so as a first timer it's quite hard to know what to expect!

Peanutbutteryogurt · 13/11/2019 11:46

I didn't have one. We already knew where to park and go as i'd had my scans at the same hospital. Would've been pointless anyway, I spent about 10 minutes in the midwife led unit before being ushered away to the labour ward as I was bleeding all over the place, then once I was in a room I stayed there. The hospital publishes a monthly birth stats thing on Facebook and it's usually about 400 births, 40 or so in the midwife led unit 😂 none of my nct group got to use the birthing pools we'd dreamed of. None of them offer epidurals btw, they're generally for straight forward natural births with limited pain relief.

JennyWren · 13/11/2019 11:48

If your delivery is smooth and all goes well - maybe no value at all. But I went for the tour of my closest main hospital with my first, even though Plan A was to give birth at the midwife unit in the town I live in.

In the event, I had a difficult delivery and was transferred at 10cm in an ambulance, had further complications and wound up on the extra support ward after it was all over. I was so glad I had been for the visit - everything happened so fast, but I really think it was easier because it was a bit familiar. Yes, the chances are that you won’t need the knowledge, but at a time when I was feeling vulnerable and all the plans had been thrown out of the window, it really helped me to feel part of the process, rather than the person it was happening to, if that makes sense. I would always recommend taking the tour.

Original poster

sandytoes84 · 13/11/2019 12:03

Thanks all for responses, I think the consensus is pretty much along the lines of how I feel about it.

Bit odd to refuse a free 1 day antenatal course though. What steps are you taking to inform yourself about labour and your choices e.g. pain relief as mentioned by pps?

Is it odd? Midwife didn’t seem concerned and almost told me about it as though she knew it wouldn’t benefit but was available if I wanted it. I’ve read up and doing positive birth company, which I feel is the right choice for me. From what I know of the course that’s offered I don’t think it would benefit me, free or not.

I’m being seen by midwife and consultant at moment, consultant will confirm at 36 weeks whether I can go midwife led. MLU is next to labour ward so they can transfer if need be.

I feel pretty aware of options, but also keen not to decide on anything in advance, as i can’t predict how I’ll be.

I’ve also spent a lot of time in hospital through the lovely combo of infertility/miscarriage/ectopic/ivf, so although I’m not anxious about medical environments, I am a bit sick of them and don’t fancy spending another Saturday in one if it’s not necessary.

OP posts:

maternity123qwe · 13/11/2019 12:06

I also declined the one day free course - with both pregnancies like you I was at hospital ALoT! I was at the hospital every week for scans or the consultant so honesty couldn’t be bothered with another appointment and felt that I didn’t need it. My labour was fine and I read a lot online so don’t think it would have informed me of anything else!

hopefullyanon · 13/11/2019 12:29

Op I'm on my third. I went to one of those hospital classes with my first. It was useless. Me and DH came out laughing about how ridiculous it was.

I learned the real facts from google, FB groups and MN. Also you have a Midwife so if you have any questions ask them.

Also you can change your mind and get more information during BF labour.

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