Pregnancy

Choosing the right place to give birth

Having Erin 6 year ago I was put into a consultant ward due to her being “big”. She wasn’t huge but they were concerned about my body being small and Erin being big. But I delivered perfectly well a very healthy 8lbs 7oz baby. I gave birth at Shrewsbury Hospital and it was so dark and dingy that it reminded me of a prison.

A pretty awful pic of Erin below! But the first ever taken ?

The midwife during my birth was amazing and once I was on the ward afterwards everything went downhill. The midwives were rude and told me Erin wasn’t important due to her being bottle fed and not breast fed so she could wait. This enraged me and I asked for us both to be discharged. She swiftly said it was a lot of paperwork for her and she huffed and puffed and made a huge drama. I didn’t want this again. I didn’t want to feel like we weren’t important. I am older now and I know I shouldn’t be spoken to like that.

Ideally I would have had a home birth, I don’t like hospitals and I know I would feel more comfortable. Matt didn’t agree (neither did half my family!!) but I respect his decision and the fact he wants us both safe if anything did go wrong, so we went on the hunt for the perfect place to give birth.

I looked at Which.com as they detail everything about each birth centre and I knew I was looking for the most home like setting which happened to be a Midwife Led Centre.

We booked a tour around Telford Hospital and off we went. After looking around I came out miserable and deflated. The pool wasn’t working, the rooms were dingy, there was no light and I didn’t get a warm feel from there- it was too much like a hospital.

I’m not going to lie I had a panic as I didn’t know of any other MLU’s around my area. Back to the drawing board.

On the way home I found our other local hospital has one in between the consultant wards- they supported hypnobirthing and even had aromatherapy. I called an booked a tour for the next morning.

We arrived and it was just us and a midwife- a massive contrast to the 15 people heavy tour of the day before.

The unit was lilac and had really calming diffusers and best of all no beds!! They have bed like couches, pools with twinkly stars above them in every room and no medical equipment to be seen- it is all in there but is hidden in the walls.

I immediately felt at ease! The midwife was absolutely lovely and chatted to us for 45 mins about tips hints and tricks and answered any questions. She showed us every aspect and I was beaming when we left. I am now excited again to give birth and can’t wait to have our own place that’s so relaxing it even offers reflexologist’s!!! What a turn around from everywhere else we saw!

Where did you give birth? Would you change your decision?