NHS vs Private/Indep midwife

[spanners45]

Dear mums,

I'll be having a second baby in a few months, which we're all excited about. A friend told me at the weekend how wonderful it was for her to have a private midwife for her second labour and I thought I'd put a note here to see what people's experiences had been.

My son was born at King's and we just had the midwifery team there. It was a loooong labour but they were perfectly fine and helpful. I suppose I can't compare because a) it was my first one and b) I know nothing else.

Anyway, I appreciate this is a huge topic and that it is probably down to personal preference but I'd be interested to hear some of people's thoughts.

Thank you for your time

Spanners

[mrs f]

Why not try to get a community midwife... Best of both worlds, free yet high level of personal care throughout your pregnancy/labour from the same midwife/s

[CMF2009]

I too looked into independent midwifery for my second birth due in 3 weeks. I originally wanted to go with Brieley community midwifes but only moved into the area a few months ago and was told I'd missed the boat unfortunately. I am planning for a home birth and wanted this first time round but the care (or should I say lack of it) meant I ended up going into hospital, St Thomas' not Kings. The independent midwifery option looks amazing but I couldn't believe the cost.....?3,500!! Considering I was already in my 3rd trimester, I simply couldn't justify paying this sort of money and as it happens have now been extremely fortunate and am with the Brieley community midwifes so am looking forward to better care hopefully enabling my home birth.

If you can afford it and feel your past care wasn't good enough, I'd do it but if you feel you had the care you wanted, I'd be more inclined to stick that money in the wee ones account instead.

Good luck :-)