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Thank you so much. I have tried phoning many times and can’t get through to anyone. I hope your home birth went well. Really is my dream to have one but seems it won’t be possible 😩 I tried princess royal hospital and they refused out of area and strictly only accept Bromley residents
It was wonderful, but to be honest I decided to hire a doula and freebirth 😄 I didn't get to meet anyone from East Surrey and although their homebirth team has excellent stats I was just very cautious about who I invited to the birth (due to my previous experience). The midwife that came after the birth was lovely though, so they probably would've been fine 😄 Have you considered hiring a doula? It's considerably cheaper than a private midwife, and mine actually used to be a midwife (she chose to deregister because she wasn't happy working in the NHS). She's loucinabirthkeeping on Instagram 🙂 she was absolutely wonderful (her last testimonial on her website is mine!)
Check out "Homebirth support group UK" on Facebook because they have great guidance on how to draft a letter to the head of midwifery. You have a legal right to be supported in where you choose to birth your baby. Generally it seems if you threaten to freebirth then funding magically appears and they find a midwife for you! Birthrights is also a great resource https://birthrights.org.uk/factsheets/choice-of-place-of-birth/#:~:text=In%20some%20cases%2C%20there%20may,if%20you%20lack%20mental%20capacity.
@Emma 🌱 thank you so much for this ! I will have a look at the website and see what I can do xx
Good luck! 🙂
Hi I live in selsdon have the same issue although I did get through to Jen 2 weeks ago she said they were looking at hiring private midwives my first baby was through princess royal and I’m currently registered and have all my appointments through them but they also rejected my home birth request as it’s different nhs trust and I’m out of area Jen did say she would get back to me first week of nov but still nothing I’m 34 weeks now wanting home birth
Michelle Hi Michelle , we are in the same situation. I am 18 weeks pregnant. I am in New Addington and princess royal also refused my home birth request even I live 10 mins away.Currently I am registered at st Thomas though as I had my first baby there and my mum lives close by so I can go there closer to my due date if anything. However ideally I really want a home birth and Croydon said the same information to me about hiring private midwifes. Spoke to antenatal and they said Jen will give me a call in two weeks to update me on what the process will be. I really hope I can have a home birth . Have you tried ringing antenatal again ? I hope you can have your home birth
I had a midwife appointment today and they confirmed the home birth team is currently suspended, hopefully by the time I give birth they will be back in action. Apparently you don’t need to be assessed until you’re 36 weeks
@Frederique Hi , thank you so much for your response. I really hope the team will be back on . 36 weeks seems so late for a home birth though. How many weeks are you now ? I am currently with st Thomas hospital as I’ve given birth at their birth centre for my first in 2022 and it was great so if home birth is not available at Croydon I’ll stay with st Thomas but if it becomes available I want to switch my maternity care to Croydon hospital
The homebirth team is currently just one woman (Jen) but the last I heard she was trying to secure funding for private midwives to cover the shortage. It will take a while to hear back but you could probably call and ask to speak to her to ask what the latest news is. She's really lovely When I had my baby 3 weeks ago the homebirth service was suspended so I registered with East Surrey to cover my homebirth instead, which they did even though I was technically out of their area