Picking a hospital for birth

[hogsy]

Hello! Now that I'm 5 weeks pregnant do I need to apply to numerous hospitals to see which one will take me in for my c section birth? Especially if they're not in my catchment area?

No you can self refer to which ever hospital you wish to give birth at - regardless of catchment and they will take you.

However, in my experience it's easier to be with a hospital that's 'in area' - because you'll see the community midwives local to you, who may be on a different system to an out of catchment trust. So it just makes things easier admin wise, and you can have bloods & scans etc done locally instead of having to travel to the hospital

You can.

but bear in mind it your closest is probably the most practical. You will need to travel to your chosen hospital for all your pre natal care, a long journey or risking traffic when in labour is not a great idea either. Parking? Will your dh be able to find somewhere to leave the car? Or be able to drive back and forward easily if you need to stay in after birth?

your post natal care as well you’ll either have to travel, or your care will be transferred back to your local hospital m/w. Not great for continuity of care.

You are normally given couple of local hospitals to choose from, I had 3 on my list. Are all your local hospitals that bad ?

The local hospitals to me are not great at all which is why I'm trying to look further afield. I'll need to have a c section due to an abdominal surgery I had in October last year.
I'm worried that the hospitals I'm looking at (in London which are about 30-60 mins away) may not take me because I'm far but I'm not sure how it works as this is my first baby