Birthing at Mendip Birth Centre (Southmead)

I planned on doing but it was full so I had to go to the labour suite. I got the room with the birth pool though and they made my experience as it would be on mendip, very hands off, calm

@Aimee this is what I wondered as it only has 3 rooms! Is the labour suite in the central delivery suite? (Hospital). Do you know how many rooms with birthing pools they have as that would be ideal. Good to know they kept it nice and calm :)

Yes I meant the central delivery suite I think they only have the one birth pool but I might be wrong

I've given birth on Mendip and delivery suite and both births I had were fantastic! Mendip is extremely lovely and calm, dim lights, pool, huge bed, floor bed etc. Delivery suite is a bit more basic but I had an amazing midwife so I had no problems there at all!

CDS ( central delivery suite) is based walking distance from Mendip and it has 1 room with a pool. None can guarantee that the pools will be available sadly. There are lots of birthing balls on CDS and all rooms have dimmed lights too.

I gave birth on Mendip and it was the best experience.. the midwives were soo lovely and it was very calm and relaxing. It also has a very large bed that you, Dad and baby can all relax on after birth ❤️

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@Sandy this is amazing and exactly what I would want! We’re you low risk hun? I’m high risk so worried my choices are limited x

I was planning to but ended up having a c section, I did get put in one of their recovery rooms though as it’s closest to NICU and I’d say bring ear plugs because it was noisy 😅

@Bea yeh I was low risk but worth an ask!!! Delivery suite is still great if you can't though x

Yes gave birth there in Jan, the room was lush, and huge! Midwife Kate was amazing and just let me do my thing. Wanted to get in the pool but baby girl had other ideas and came while it was still running lol. The nicest part for me was afterwards the room wasn’t needed so we had uninterrupted time with our girl in the lovely big bed with the mood lighting and it will forever be an amazing memory for us as a new family 🥰

I planned a water birth there got there took some photos of the lovely room and then my waters broke and there was meconium mixed in so they wheeled me down the corridor to a hospital birth room which was basically just a plain hospital room but needed the extra monitoring of baby. But I did get to take my Mendip midwife with me and she was amazing but the after birth care on the ward at Southmead was awful. The way some of the nurses spoke to me when I asked a question was disgusting and everyone I know who has had a baby at Southmead had a bad experience with the aftercare.

@Bea if your high risk then you'll likely be consultant led and unfortunately they won't let you give birth in Mendip as its midwife led so no Dr's there. I was originally consultant led then during my last trimester I requested to be midwife led and had to get my consultant to sign off on it but obviously this will depend on the reasons you are classed as high risk.

I had planned my birth at mendip, when I was in labour I called and they were full, so waited an hour, called again and they had a room available. I think I saw about 10 mins of the room before they told me my blood pressure was too high and I needed to go to a normal room. To this day I’m still angry about it and convinced I wouldn’t have needed half the interventions I had if I’d just been allowed to birth in a pool as planned

@Carrie yeh the ward is a bloody awful place

@Carrie so I’m mixed midwife and consultant led they we’re going to change it to just midwife led. I think it’s because I had a TFMR with my last, high bmi and PTSD from baby loss. X

@Aimee why? I’m worried I’m going to have a rubbish birth :(

@Carrie I gave birth in southmead too, but didn't have a bad experience of care afterwards. The ward was busy, and hot, but every member of staff I came across was lovely and super helpful! I was pressing my buzzer for all kinds of stupid things in the night, mainly anxiety about doing things right as a first time parent. And everyone was patient and kind with me.. sorry you had a bad experience, just putting my positive one out there. X

@Sam I'm glad that you had a good experience I couldn't fault my midwife and student midwife who were with me for the whole birth it was just on the ward after. You must of just had nice caring staff in. I only pressed buzzer twice and both times was made to feel stupid for pressing it the first time was because my lo had vomited a load of black tar looking stuff which obviously worried me but the attitude I got for pressing the buzzer for something that is clearly completely normal (first time mum how I was I supposed to know this) was unreal and the poor lady next to me was struggling with breastfeeding and kept pressing buzzer for support and they just made her cry a few times.

@Bea I was originally classed as high risk due to age, boadline BMI, previous early losses and because it was an IVF pregnancy. I did have to ask to be down graded to just midwife lead so it worth having a chat with your midwife the good thing about Mendip is that if there are any issues they can just wheel you down the corridor to Southmead birth room with Drs and extra monitoring which is what happened to me. Also the birthing midwifes are amazing so there's no reason you won't have a positive birth and as @Sam said she had a good experience of aftercare so again there's no reason to say you won't.

@Carrie omg that sounds awful. I'm so sorry to hear that you had a bad after care. When I gave birth in September 2022 I couldn't ask for better after care in Southmead. I didn't use the buzzer but they kept coming in every couple hours to check on us and help me with trying to breastfeeding. I had an older lady helping with positioning the lil one and trying to get her to latch and when I had a trouble doing it she kept talking to me nicely and calm and tell me it's okey and I'm doing a good job even tho I felt like failing.

@Carrie not sure if they will now as I also have GD. So they probably monitor me on a sliding scale. His abdomen is on the 97% but overall he is 87% the diabetes doctor thinks I could go for a VBAC but I’m nervous with the large tummy if that would cause me to tear?

@Sandy that pic looks magical!! What's that galaxy light? I'm presuming you took that in yourself? Xx

@Sandy ideally I'd love the Mendip centre but if it's busy I'd like to find out what delivery suit is like. I'm fully confident on midwives but things like bright lights etc..do you know if all the birth suits in the CDS are private? :)

@sonia thank you :) dim lights are reassuring which was one of my main concerns (knowing myself I'll struggle to relax with bright lights). Are they all private?

@Laura this is my worry :( I understand they need to be cautious but I don't want it to turn into a medicalised birth unless completely necessary.

@Carrie that's terrible :( when are you allowed to go home? (Aware this is completely dependent on your situation) but if everything goes well, do you know when you are able to leave? Sorry first mum here!

I think it’s honestly luck of the draw, some of the midwife’s on the ward are great and others aren’t. For me it’s the constant changeover of staff (I was there 5 days) then getting differing advice. In fairness I spent the first 3 days on a ward without babies because mine was in NICU, then 2 more days on a normal ward and we just were so desperate to go home. My husband did his back in from sleeping on those awful chairs. The first ward actually didn’t have any heating working for 2 days and it was January. @Bea you’ll definitely be under consultant led care but that’s probably not a bad thing, and don’t be forced into a VBAC. Also, you’re most likely to tear in a pool so if you did want to I wouldn’t go down that route if you’re worried about size.

@Sam I suppose it really depends who's there! I've had amazing experiences with scans and others not so good so will be similar I imagine. Fingers crossed for a positive experience as it's my first time!

@Bea I teared and had to have stitches as I pushed baby out too quick the tear healed up just fine. If they are saying your fine for a natural birth theres no reason to doubt them. But at the end of the day it's your body and you choice you can opt for whatever birth option you feel is best for you including a c-section. Talk to your midwife about the pros ond cons of birth options so you can make an informed choice about what is right for you.

@Elvira the central birth suite are private rooms with onsuites one of the rooms even has a pool for a water birth if it's available. But they are much smaller than the Mendip birth suites and look just like a normal hospital room. Also if it is extremely busy and none of the rooms are free you may have to give birth on the assessment ward this happened to a friend of mine so just be mentally prepared for this. There are things you can do to wherever you give birth to make it a more relaxing environment. Like taking flameless candles with you (if they can they will turn light down if you ask). Having your music playing, lavender mist/spay for the room, essential oil if you want your partner to massage. You can take photos in your own pillow and blanket basically anything that will make the environment more suitable and comfortable for you.

@Loz no it was their lights!!x

@Elvira I'm not sure sorry. I had a private room. I'm sure they must be,who would want to give birth infront of someone else 😄 take in your own lights to CDS 😁

@Elvira how long you stay in after birth depends on time of day you give birth and if there were no issues. If you give birth in the evening and everything is fine you probably won't get discharged until the the following morning as you will have to wait for staff to come on shift to do the newborn checks as those staff don't work through the night whereas if you give birth in the morning or earlier in the day you could be discharged in as little as 2 hours after giving birth. Of course this will depend on how busy they are and if there are no reasons you or baby need to stay for extra care.