Help choosing a maternity unit in Herts, Beds or Bucks

[minimouse88]

Hi all! I am in the very early stages of my first pregnany (just 5 weeks) and wondering if anyone has had any experiences of the maternity wards below:
QE2 Welwyn
Luton & Dunstable hospital
Stoke Mandeville

I've heard that Watford is hell on earth so will be avoiding that, but would be really grateful if anyone can tell me anything about any of the other maternity wards listed above.
Much appreciated
Thx
)

I live in Hemel Hempstead and have good friend who is HV and former midwife - speaks very highly of L&D

Although it's not one of the ones you've asked about, Watford is far from hell on earth! Don't discount it out of hand if it might be a possible option. Have had 3 babies there - 6 1/2 years, 5 years and 1 week ago. Have used both the ABC (midwife led unit) and delivery suite and had good care on both. Post natal very busy, but from what I hear that's the same everywhere, and it was actually much improved last week compared to a few years ago (seemed to have more staff, they certainly had more time for everyone, food was surprisingly good, advice from all the different professionals was consistent).

I live in NW London but lots of people in our area choose to go to Watford, especially the birthing centre, which also has the benefit of only being one floor away from delivery suite and special care should you need it.

Good luck making your choice.

I'm at the L&D and it seems quite good, people definitely speak very highly of it. The only problem is if you're having your ultrasound scans here they won't tell you the sex of the baby. An advantage is that it has a SCBU.

Thanks girls thats really helpful! I'll chat to my doctor when I go on friday - hopefully he'll be referring me to the midwife then. When do I have to decide about where to go? thanks again x

You can decide / change mind whenever you like - but if you are going to have community midwife antenatal care it's probably worth making your mind up sooner rather than later so that you have some continuity of antenatal care. If you are having shared care with your GP that might be less of a problem as you'll have one person that will be there all the way through. Might be worth phoning the hospitals and seeing if you can visit - although I think some units are cutting back on this due to swine flu.

I had my dd2 at luton and currently 35 weeks plus with dc3
i can not fault them i had a tricky labour with dd2 scary too and they were super i had a 5 day stay in.

i had my 1st dd1 at barnet in comparision l&D wins hands down

congratulations!!

oh yes the SCBU at l&d is very highly rated if that makes sense!

also they are doing lots of new stuff so when time comes for you to have baby there will be nice new midwife led units etc

I agree with alana.....I had DD at Watford and they were fab. I'm currently pg and have opted for Watford again, even though I am out of their area (betcha can't guess where I live )

Thanks girls for all the advice, i had a chat with my doctor today and he says he refers most of his ladies to L&D and has only had good feedback so I think we are leaning towards that at the moment. The only downside to L&D is that they don't tell you the sex of the baby there, so that might swing us in the direction of watford x

Watford won't tell you either........

On the sex thing, one of my friends has had her babies at Watford, but initially booked in at another hospital where they did tell you the sex (not sure if they still do though, seems like it's increasingly common not to) then changed her care after her 20 week scans! Although if you have a spare £100ish you could get a private sexing scan anyway.

The QEII at Welwyn do tell you what the sex is if you want to know, so you could always book into there then change afterwards.

And as Alana says, you could always go private.

Hope you make a decision which works out well for you.

I Wouldn't discount Watford, I think that they are an excellent unit and have only positive things to say about the antenatal and delivery there.Postnatal can be hit or miss but that's the same with all NHS units.

i paid £70 to find out the sex in st albans.

don't let that influence the hospital you choose.