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Birth |
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Choosing where to give birth |
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The choice of where to give birth is one which can impact tremendously on the health of mother and baby, and the bond between birthing mothers and their partners. We at The Fertility Support Company recommend that all newly pregnant women make themselves aware of their options and view the hospitals nearest their homes, before making a decision.
Naava Carman at The Fertility Support Company runs a 1 hour consultation service for pregnant mothers in which she runs through all the options and talks to you about what you can expect in the first trimester of pregnancy. She can explain your care options, the different scans and tests which will be suggested depending on the area in which you live, and help to define what sort of birth you as the parent’s to be would be most comfortable with, and what steps you need to take to help you to achieve the birth you want.
We at The Fertility Support Company recommend contacting AIMS which is the Association for Improvements in Midwifery Services (www.aims.org.uk), and ordering one of their highly informative publications; most specifically a book by Beverly Beech called ‘Am I Allowed.’ This gives clear guidance about your rights as a pregnant and birthing mother, and sheds light on the most commonly recommended care by a GP called ‘shared care.’ Did you know that shared care means that you will almost never see the same midwife or doctor twice in your pregnancy, and that the GP gets a financial reward for his/her recommendation? Did you know that you are entitled to see one midwife throughout your pregnancy, choose the place you wish to give birth, and that you can change your mind as to where you would like to give birth (even if it means deciding on the day of labour that you want to give birth at home) right up until and even during the birth itself. (Although this last act is not recommended as it may lead to complications due to lack of continuity of care.)
The Fertility Support Company also suggests reading Ina May Gaskin’s book, ‘A Guide to Childbirth,’ which has lovely birthing stories and the front, and a layman’s guide to the more technical aspects of labour at the back. This is an excellent book for fathers-to-be to read, as it gives clear information about the options and rights in the labour itself, (especially when it comes to a hospital birth and therefore a statistically higher incidence of intervention which can range from foetal monitoring all the way to a c-section) and will help fathers to know how to stand up for their partners rights, and not be subject to ‘white coat syndrome’ where they simply hand over all power to choose how they want their birth to be to whomever is in the room without any input from the birthing mother.
For mothers who are interested in exploring the idea of a home birth, and would like to know their rights, then The Fertility Support Company recommends an excellent book by Nicky Wesson called Home Birth: A Practical Guide. This beautifully written and highly informative guide does a wonderful job empowering women who want to go down the route of a home birth and wish to be informed about the positive and negative aspects of their choice.
Here is a link to Amazon where you can purchase this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Birth-Practical-Nicky-Wesson/dp/1905177062/sr=1-2/qid=1165342122/ref=sr_1_2/203-4377157-5368748?ie=UTF8&s=books
Finally, there is an invaluable website which compares the birth statistics of each hospital in London from non-intervention all the way up to emergency c-section. The Fertility Support Company would recommend that before you choose your hospital, you pop onto this website and look at the recent data which has come out of the hospital of your choice. www.birthchoiceuk.com
For example, here is a table comparing the birth statistics for inner-London hospitals:
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| Barnet General Hospital |
CU |
3073 |
14% |
25% |
10% |
54% |
| Central Middlesex Hospital |
MLU |
100 |
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| Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield |
CU+MLU |
2964 |
16% |
26% |
8% |
53% |
| Chelsea and Westminster Hospital |
CU |
4816 |
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31% |
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| Ealing Hospital, Southall |
CU |
2742 |
16% |
33% |
4% |
52% |
| Edgware Birth Centre |
MLU |
364 |
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| Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital |
CU+MLU |
3209 |
19% |
28% |
10% |
47% |
| Epsom General Hospital, St Helier Hospital, Carshalton(1) |
CU |
1760 |
16% |
25% |
16% |
39% |
| Harold Wood Hospital, Romford |
CU+MLU |
4219 |
22% |
18% |
13% |
54% |
| Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge |
CU |
3292 |
4% |
24% |
10% |
59% |
| Homerton Hospital |
CU |
4619 |
14% |
25% |
11% |
47% |
| Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth (Private) |
CU+MLU |
500 |
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| King George Hospital, Ilford |
CU |
4465 |
19% |
22% |
8% |
49% |
| Kings College Hospital, London |
CU |
4103 |
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23% |
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| Kingston Hospital |
CU+MLU |
4683 |
19% |
26% |
14% |
39% |
| Mayday Hospital, Croydon |
CU |
4450 |
16% |
21% |
7% |
54% |
| Newham Hospital |
CU+MLU |
4367 |
18% |
26% |
6% |
54% |
| *Data combined with St Helier Hospital, Carshalton. |
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| North Middlesex Hospital |
CU |
3174 |
11% |
20% |
8% |
58% |
| Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow |
CU |
4958 |
15% |
29% |
10% |
47% |
| Princess Royal University Hospital, Orpington |
CU |
3215 |
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28% |
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| Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital |
CU+MU |
4738 |
20% |
29% |
14% |
31% |
| Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich |
CU+MU |
3615 |
17% |
20% |
12% |
50% |
| Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup |
CU |
2884 |
20% |
29% |
14% |
45% |
| Royal Free Hospital. Hampstead |
CU+MLU |
3351 |
6% |
27% |
8% |
42% |
| Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel |
CU |
3964 |
17% |
21% |
9% |
52% |
| St Georges Hospital, Tooting |
CU+MLU |
4262 |
13% |
22% |
14% |
51% |
| St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, Epsom General Hospital(2) |
CU |
2703 |
16% |
25% |
16% |
39% |
| St Mary's Hospital, Paddington |
CU |
4167 |
16% |
28% |
14% |
41% |
| St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey |
CU |
3523 |
20% |
26% |
14% |
41% |
| St Thomas' Hospital |
CU+MU |
5488 |
21% |
26% |
13% |
46% |
| The Birth Centre, Tooting (Private) |
MU |
200 |
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| The Portland Hospital (Private) |
CU+MLU |
4800 |
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| University Hospital, Lewisham |
CU |
3454 |
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36% |
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| NWest Middlesex University Hospital, Isleworth |
CU |
3349 |
15% |
24% |
11% |
45% |
| Whipps Cross Hospital, Leytonstone |
CU+MU |
4240 |
18% |
30% |
6% |
55% |
| Whittington Hospital, Highgate |
CU |
3127 |
19% |
26% |
15% |
45% |
| *Data combined with Epsom General Hospital. |
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