Birthing centres

I live in Andover and I'm 25 weeks pregnant, it's my nominated option but they completely rebuilt it and have been having staffing problems so unsure if and when it'll be 'up and running' hoping in time for my baby boy to come as I live suuuuper close and it'd be so convenient. Second choice is Basingstoke I've heard some amazing things about theirs :)

I live in Andover, and had my little boy last year. Before falling pregnant, I dreamed of having a natural birth or a water birth. My pregnancy ended up being consultant led, but I still had the option. I chose to go to Winchester on the off chance something went wrong, as Andover doesn’t have an emergency unit. During labour, I got offered a water birth but declined as I’d gotten comfortable in my birthing suite and didn’t want to cause myself any unnecessary stress. I’m glad I chose to stay as ended up with a back to back labour, ventouse assisted delivery and a episiotomy with bubba going to the NICU for a week. Listen to your gut and make a decision that’s right for you.

I had my little one in Winchester birthing centre and the midwife I had was lovely. My LO is my first and the midwife made sure I had all options available to me (however I was 8cm when I got there so was not allowed epidural but thankfully I didn’t want that I wanted as natural as possible). The midwife was lovely and even gave my partner ideas on how to support me and told him when there was blood as he’s quite squimish and doesn’t like blood. I was classed as high risk due to have low PAPP A but was still offered a room in the birth centre. I had my LO at 1:14am and was discharged at 5am. I did have to return for a newborn screen later that day but there was the option to stay the until the morning on the ward