Giving Birth in Bristol
Hey there preggo navigating your journey in Bristol or North Somerset.
It can often feel a little overwhelming to know what your options are, so let us break it down for you:
Your 1st midwife appointment
Your booking in appointment tends to happen at your local GP surgery with the community midwife.
You can usually find an online referral form to let them know you are expecting and get your first appointment booked in
You can find your local trust HERE
Any follow up appointments will be discussed with you as people are offered different care according to their clinical background
Where to give birth?
Depending of where you live, you will be allocated a hospital within your catchment area.
For example, people living in Weston-Super-Mare will be allocated St Michael’s Hospital and people living in Portishead will allocated Southmead hospital.
At this point it’s worth noting that if you are planning a hospital birth have a preference between the two trusts, you can absolutely choose to move your care to a different hospital!
Ask your midwife and they can sort the paperwork for you… and if anyone tells you that this isn’t possible… they are not being entirely truthful!
So what’s the difference between the two hospitals?
Southmead x St Michael’s
Easy to park Limited Parking
Midwife Led Unit Midwife Led Unit
1 Pool in CDS 1 Pool in CDS
Supports VBAC in MLU Doesn’t support VBAC in MLU
Has Birth Choices Team Doesn’t have Birth Choices Team
Shares Monthly Statistics Doesn’t share monthly statistics
More Person centred More focused on policies
Has Dedicated Home Birth team Midwives on rota on home birth
Please note that some of the above points are our own experiences and opinions from the times we have supported clients navigating the maternity services system.
Is there another option?
Long are the times when families could also choose to birth at Cossham hospital or Ashcombe Birth Centre.
Unfortunately, due to lack of funds and staffing, these amazing midwife led units have been closed and our sources tell us they are unlikely to re-open.
If you are in Weston, you may want to double check with your midwife re: opening Ashcombe Centre on a case by case basis.
What about home birthing?
Home birthing is definitely an option for you! We would highly encourage families to look at home birthing and consider this as a plan A, as they will likely spend a lot of their labours at home anyway!
Both Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare have fantastic Home Birth Groups, you should go to the one closest to you!
WSM- Weston super Mare Home Birth group (@westonhomebirth) • Instagram photos and videos
Bristol- About | Bristol Home Birth
You might also want to consider downloading our FREE homebirth checklist HERE
We hope you find this post helpful! Happy Birthing!
Lotta love,
Luiza & Ellie
The NBC Gals x