Advice or experiences of London Hospitals

[Jzee]

I'm new the board and would like to know if anyone can share any experiences of either UCH or the Homerton Hospital? Do either of them have private rooms or water birth facilities?

I found Homerton was fine, but know women who've had good and bad experiences - I'm sure you'll find that of UCH too. Homerton do have water birth room and were in the process of making it more accessible (back in 2001) so should be available to you. Private rooms are called something odd, can't remember what. We intended to get one, but they're actually part of the ward, so unless you have the door shut all the time (and it's probably too hot for that) and ear plugs in, you'll find it's just as noisy as being in the ward. I found I had plenty privacy just poulling the curtains round. I found the midwives I knew from the surgery were fab and visited daily. The midwives on the ward (and their helpers) were a lot less great, a part from a couple of saintly ladies. Don't let them get you down - they can be a bit bullying ! The bathrooms etc are basic and not particularly clean, the food's s**t (except for tea and toast in the morning which tasted wonderful after a long night !)And it's really really hot. I took in a water spray (one of those plant sprays from a garden / hardware shop)filled with water and a little lavender oil and just kept spraying myself to keep cool ! Anything else you'd like to know just ask ... and good luck !

Check them all out ask as many questions as you can think of and more, dont imagine that they can guarantee you the birthing suite or water birth just because it is a possibility and dont expect them to treat you as anything other than a patient(ie a sick person) Find out all you can about the intervention spiral and rate of cesarean section in your local hospital ask them what their policy is on dilation(one cm an hour is usual before they start pumping you with unneceessary drugs) I can go on and on
5 years ago I had my first baby at the Royal London in Whitechapel. If it is anything like it was then dont touch it with a barge pole it's dirty (i had to wash someone elses blood out of the bath) under staffed (despite a 30 hour labour and a ventouse extraction plus a lot of stitches they didnt have someone who could mention when food was available and I didnt eat for 8 hours after giving birth and the breastfeeding support and postnatal care was atrocious. I will NEVER EVER forget how bad they made the whole experience for me and my husband. I was screaming to get out of there. I stayed a day and a direct consequence of my time there was that I had my next two children at home despite the last one being overdue 10lbs and posterior I would have killed the midwife rather than let her take me in to hospital. Just thinking about it has made me shake again.

The theory is

Check them all out ask as many questions as you can think of and more, dont imagine that they can guarantee you the birthing suite or water birth just because it is a possibility and dont expect them to treat you as anything other than a patient(ie a sick person) Find out all you can about the intervention spiral and rate of cesarean section in your local hospital ask them what their policy is on dilation(one cm an hour is usual before they start pumping you with unneceessary drugs) I can go on and on
5 years ago I had my first baby at the Royal London in Whitechapel. If it is anything like it was then dont touch it with a barge pole it's dirty (i had to wash someone elses blood out of the bath) under staffed (despite a 30 hour labour and a ventouse extraction plus a lot of stitches they didnt have someone who could mention when food was available and I didnt eat for 8 hours after giving birth and the breastfeeding support and postnatal care was atrocious. I will NEVER EVER forget how bad they made the whole experience for me and my husband. I was screaming to get out of there. I stayed a day and a direct consequence of my time there was that I had my next two children at home despite the last one being overdue 10lbs and posterior I would have killed the midwife rather than let her take me in to hospital. Just thinking about it has made me shake again.

I had my first dd at Whipps Cross, who by the way, did have the highest Episiotomy rate in the U.K,, my labour was "textbook" so I was told but it was only later I realised I'd been persauded to deliver in the easiest way for the Midwife!

Friends I knew then all had good experiences at the Homerton. Good Luck.

Thanks for all the advice I shall check them out and keep my fingers crossed!

I had my daughter at the UCH in 2000. They do have a birthing pool but will wait until you are 5cm dilated before you can go in (standard procedure) but make sure they regularly check you as I went from 2cm to 10cm without being checked and so missed the chance (admittedly I progressed much quicker than expected)!
UCH were excellent, the midwife listened to my wishes and abided with them until things went wrong, ie baby stuck. I ended up with an emergency c-section, general anaesthetic (quite rare) and they were excellent when it all got scary.
After care was a bit poor but due to staff shortages, not bad midwives. After the surgery I ended up on the ward for the first night (with about 9 other women) and then sharing a room with a wailing woman (literally all day) who had just had twins (who wailed non-stop too!) and couldn't hack it so we decided to stump up for their 'private' room, this gave you your own TV, own shower and toilet and own phone and was TOTAL bliss (but at around £120 a night, eek!). They have 2 private rooms but if they are both in use then, obviously, you are put in the normal ward, ie no way of guaranteeing you would get the room.
UCH is a teaching hospital and I just felt I was totally in the right place when things got complicated which is really all you could wish for.
Good luck with your decision.

I had ds at UCH using the birthing pool. I found the antenatal care not very good, as they were always trying to do extra tests and research, which caused me a lot of stress, when in fact everything was normal. I was told this is because they are a teaching hospital and so they pick up on tiny things that normal hospitals don't worry the mother about. However, in labour they were fantastic. I'd say don't go to hospital until the last minute, then they will put you straight into the pool. Afterwards, I had to move to 3 different wards within 6 hours, because of overcrowding and then they finally put me into a twin room with a methadone addict. Her baby cried all night long without her even getting out of bed, so I was delighted to be discharged early next morning. Having said all that, I would definitely go there again for another delivery (because I don't have a suitable flat for a home birth) but just aim to leave asap, and be very assertive about refusing unnecessary antenatal tests.

one mum I know who had twins at the Homerton told me that a crack addict who was opposite her in the ward just upped & left - leaving baby behind! - after causing all kinds of ructions for the other mums.

Jzee - did you make a decision on which hospital to use? I've had a baby at UCH and it was dirty, cocroach infestation. When I told a midwife about a cockroach in the bathroom she was completly disinterested and said they get them all the time - nice!

If you need loads of tests/investigations/high risk pregnancy it is OK - have lots of experts there, but don't expect any 'customer care', you are just a number and the attitude is like they are doing you a favour. Hence - I'm not going back there this time......................

Hi Jzee, there's a current thread about UCH (= Elizabeth Garrett Anderson) here . Hope that helps.

I had ds at the Homerton and would agree with everything tomps said, really. I found the antenatal care to be pretty good. Labour and delivery - well, I was left on my own a lot in early labour but sadly that's often par for the course in a busy hospital. Did have one utterly fab midwife who I will remember for the rest of my days, though! And yes, they make fantastic post-delivery tea and toast

Post-natally not a great experience. Would agree that some of the midwives/MCAs can be bullying - lots of boob-grabbing when trying to bf etc, being asked 'Haven't you learnt to feed that baby yet?' three hours post-delivery . No privacy but I just kept the curtains closed. I'm not sure having had a private room would have made much diffrence really - they still just barge in!

I had all three DSs at the Homerton and agree with snafu.

This is a very old thread - not quite sure why it's been resurrected?

Well spotted dinosaur- I think if JZee hasn't made up her mind by now it's a bit late

LOL - only just noticed that!