NHS Birthing Unit's NOT in hospitals

[pitchy]

hi there,

my first baby is due in July and yesterday, I went to Edgware Birthing Unit for a look around. It is totally midwife led, with a focus on water births. I thought it was fantastic, really chilled and relaxing a real 'home from home' environment.

I was well up for it, but when I told my husband about it, he got very nervous as the nearest hospital is a 10 minute drive away.

Has anybody else had a birth there? or at other midwife led units that are not in an NHS hospital?

thanks

Sorry - should have added this message to the childbirth thread. New to mumsnet!!

Yes I've had 3. In each case, the local GP was called and s/he came in just after the birth to give the baby a quick check.
Our nearest "proper" hospital is a 40 minute drive away, and I didnt want to be in the car in labour for that length of time.
If there had been a problem during the birth, then they would have sent me in a blue-light ambulance to the hospital, with a midwife in attendance. Apparently, they can do the journey in 20 minutes.
IME, all 3 births were fantastic. I knew from the outset that I couldn't have an epidural, but all the other pain meds were available. If you can, I would definitely recommend a birthing unit.

I had ds in a midwife-led unit, which was actually attached to a hospital but the hospital didn't deal with births so would still have had to be transferred to the nearest maternity unit (20 mins in an ambulance) if birth was anything other than straightforward.

Positives - very chilled, lovely staff, calm, peaceful, lots of help, put me in the bath with some gas and air and then had some pethedine. Also had my own room after the birth which I could stay in as long as I liked, and a unbelievable amount of support to help me breastfeed. Staff also took my baby off for a few hours at night to let me sleep!

Negatives - I almost had to get transferred as labour wasn't progressing. Before I had gone in to labour, 20 mins in an ambulance hadn't seemed like a big deal, but when it came to it the idea of having to move even from the bed to the door was awful. Thankfully everything suddenly started again so didn't get moved.

I would definitely consider going back to the same unit again, only thing that would sway me going to other hospital is that they have birthing pools there and don't at the MLU, but sounds as if you get those at your birthing centre.

Hope this helps!