Lewisham vs. Chelsea and Westminster

Hello mums and mum-to-bees 🐝

I recently found out I am pregnant with my first baby and am excited beyond words but in two minds about hospitals

I work in SW london relatively close to Chelsea and Westminster , earlier this year I made my home address my work address to get access to better healthcare and easier healthcare in SW london and closer to work but no that I am expecting I cant help but wonder if I have put myself in a predicament for when the birth comes and home checks etc later down the line as I live in SE London and work in SW london which is an hour travel easily

I have a fear of Lewisham hospital due to previous health and wellbeing experiences not related to pregnancy, can I actually lay my trust in them for this pregnancy?

I don’t intend to sound judgy , I am just generally terrified and confused on what to do.

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I would research both and see which is best for you, I have heard some things about Lewisham regarding care of babies there’s a news article

You are entitled to give birth in any hospital you choose and self refer. I chose kings rather than my local one.

However it will mess you up for health visitor and midwives visits after if you don’t give them your actual address as they’ll be expecting to turn up to your work……

Being an out of area patient at another hospital like kings or guys and st Thomas is totally fine - but you need to register with them soonish so they can get you booked in for all the prenatal care

I think where you have the baby, you fill in your current home address at that point and they send your details to the borough's health team under the home address u fill in as your home.

Same thing happened to me but I was moving address and gave them the new address and the health team from there visited. Just remember to let them know your current home address is different from what's on file before you get discharged..

Also look into PRUH if you are searching for a good birth hospital. Almost everyone i know there has good experience.

I also live in Lewisham though, need to decide where I also want to go

Princess royal isn’t too bad, so that’s worth considering

I gave birth twice at the pruh and that was only in June and was amazing would definitely recommend!!!

I had my baby at Lewisham, and I can’t fault them. They were all so lovely and accommodating, I’d gone through 25 hours of labor on the hormone drip with no pain relief apart from gas and air as my waters had gone and she’d done a poo inside but I wasn’t contracting, and in the end I was pushing so much but getting so tired they had to take me to theatre to try forceps but ended up realising her head was sideways so they had to do a c section there and then, and the aftercare from everyone on the ward was amazing! We have our favourite midwife, she was so so amazing. She took baby and fed her and got her back to sleep for us the first night where we’d been awake for over a day and were exhausted!

Even the head midwife who I’d seen the day before my waters even went, came up after I had her to tell me how proud of me she was and how strong I was as it was really worrying at parts!
I get it’s different for everyone but my experience there was amazing.

in our community

Anyone else up feeding their Bebe?

As above. Trying so hard to keep my eyes open

Is this normal??

I’m 29 weeks pregnant and having really aching legs and they’re all lumpy and swollen. Above the knee and behind the knee . Should I be worried ? My legs have never looked like this up until a few days ago. ??

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I just wanted to share my experience with being induced as I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought it may help others.

I opted for the foley balloon which was inserted at 8am Saturday morning, I had to stay in hospital due to hypertension and protein urine however usually you can just go home once this has been done. The insertion of the balloon was not painful, was slightly uncomfortable as there was slight pressure. I actually found having the cervix checked prior to be worse (again not painful at this point just uncomfortable) The balloon had little effect and after having it removed I was still only 1cm. Removal also was pain free and hardly even noticeable.

I then had my first dose of the gel and definitely noticed a difference, I started experiencing period like cramps almost immediately however they were light and manageable. After 6 hours I had another cervix check and although my cervix was soft it was still only 1cm and was only open at the front. I had another dose of the gel and felt an increase in pressure and more intense cramping where I now required pain relief (codeine). After another 6 hours I had another cervix check and I had now dilated to 2-3cm however was still quite difficult to get all the way through so a third gel was recommended which I agreed to.

Almost immediately I noticed the difference and was in considerable pain, I had paracetamol and codeine however the contractions had now become intense and a lot closer together (around 3 minutes apart). After a couple of hours I had my last cervix check and was 4cm and taken down to the Labour ward to have my waters broken and an epidural.

I had been in my room for approx 20minutes when my waters broke by themselves and I was now 10cm and actively pushing…. There was no time for the epidural and my beautiful girl arrived into the world within 2 minutes of pushing.

All in all I would say the cramps/contractions were manageable up until the third gel where it became pretty unbearable however it was for a very short time a gas and air helped take the edge off. The worst part about any of it was actually the later cervix checks where after stimulating the cervix my contractions were at their most painful.

If I had to be induced again I would skip the balloon and opt for the gels immediately as thy had a quicker effect and I would have been out a lot sooner if I had done this to begin with.

One more thing, I’ve never believed when people say “you forget the pain once they’re here” but I can honestly say this is true. It’s been 4 days and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Anyone else experiencing this?

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