How do I choose where to give birth?

Dilan

If you keep in your mind, like, the hospitals that you might like to give birth at. Ideally they should be accessible in the sense that they should be kinda close to where you will be most of the time. Have a look round, see what the facilities are like. Also, chat to some of the staff that are there, talk to them, bring along any questions that you have and use that as an opportunity to just ask.

Memuna

And I think everybody’s delivery or journey would be different to yours so you make your delivery and your journey unique to yourself by you doing your own investigation.

Raoul

One of the most helpful things for us was to have a look around and just check out what the facilities are, as you say, and just kind of think about what the staff are like. Our plan was primarily to have a home birth but we still went to look at the hospitals because birthing plans can change. It was important for me to know how far I’d need to drive to get to these different hospitals and what it was like, the set-up for car parking, for drop-offs and all of the logistical things so I think those are all things to think about when picking a potential hospital.

Dilan

That is a great bit of advice there. The amount of car parking-related questions we do get asked and sometimes us as midwives, we just, we don’t know. So, it’s best to use all of those various different opportunities when you’re able to visit the unit to ask those questions.