Has anyone gone through pregnancy privately?

[sarahjsdddd]

Just looking for any advice or experience on this, either a private midwife or total private care? Thank you!

This is a very very long shot because I'm sure you will know if you are covered under your partner's health insurance or not - but if you're not sure do check theirs too.

There are quite a few posts on mumsnet discussing requesting c sections on the NHS for various reasons. I think it's the case that if you are adamant they should allow it - especially if you have good reasons like a traumatic first birth. Have a look at the NICE guidelines.

I did my third birth privately after 2 NHS ones. All three pregnancies I did private scans as they were more thorough. private was like night and day. I had a dedicated midwife who I met at 2 appointments pre delivery and I had a named back up midwife who I had also met. I had an epidural before labour was induced, I was induced due to previous quick deliveries on my request. My waters were broken, no pessaries and I had a quick, totally painless birth with ample breastfeeding support and a lovely room afterwards. My obstetrician delivered the baby with expertise and I didn't need an episiotomy. He did however, expertly restitch and fix some scar tissue from a previous birth and poor stitches which have never given me trouble again. It was worth every single penny

You can request an elective c section on the NHS which they should approve if you had a bad experience previously. However, as it is an NHS, don't expect a date and time to be set for you months in advance and stuck to religiously. The NHS has to deal with emergencies and are pretty overwhelmed, which is why the private sector are able to commit so much time to mum and baby, they don't usually have people in great distress and life threatening situations to deal with.