Our maternity team has worked closely with the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) to develop a suite of resources to help you to make that decision. Find out more below.
Where can I give birth?
Your Birth, Your Choice – Where can I give birth?
Making a decision about where to give birth is really important, because it allows you to be in control and have the birth experience that you would like. We have eight trusts in the North East and North Cumbria, all offering different options on where to have your baby.
So, we’ll talk about place of birth from the moment you meet your midwife and have your booking appointment. That probably feels really early to you, but the sooner we can make a decision, the sooner we can help plan and work with you around your choice of birth, and make sure you have all the right information.
You can choose to give birth at home with the support of midwives, in the comfort of your own space. If you need a doctor you will be transferred to hospital. You can choose a freestanding midwifery led unit, where you’ll be looked after by midwives in a separate unit from the hospital. If you need a doctor again you will be transferred, with the midwife, to a hospital.
You can choose an alongside midwifery led unit which is based at the hospital. You’ll receive midwifery-led care but you’re close to obstetric care if it’s needed. Or you can choose an obstetric unit, which is based in a hospital, where doctors and specialist teams are available to provide treatment if needed.
An obstetric doctor is someone who looks after pregnant women and birthing people. So if the pregnancy is straightforward, and you’re fit and well, then a home birth is definitely an option. Well you can have all for options actually!
You can still choose if you want to have your baby in the obstetric unit with doctors available on hand. If you’ve for any illnesses, or if there are concerns about you or the baby in the pregnancy, then you may be advised that the best place to have your baby is actually in the obstetric unit. And if you want a caesarean section, then you will have to have your baby in the obstetric unit.
Equally so, if there’s any concerns about your baby and that it might need some specialist neonatal help after your baby’s born, again we may advise you strongly to have your baby in the obstetric unit.
They’re all choices, and basically what you need to do is talk to your midwife, or your doctor, or both, to help you make that decision. You can also get information from the LMS website.
There’s the local maternity and neonatal voice partnership. They’ll be able to give you some information, so it might be useful to go into one of their engagement or drop-in sessions and speak to moms that have recently had a baby. Or of course, you have got family and friends.
So take a look at all our videos, make the choice that is right for you. It’s really important that you feel in control in your pregnancy and for your birth experience. Because that ultimately will give you the best outcome and the best birth experience for you and your baby.
In the North East and North Cumbria, we have eight NHS Trusts. In each Trust, you can choose to give birth:
- At home
- At a birth centre (midwifery-led unit)
- At a labour ward (obstetric unit) in a hospital
Choosing your place of birth booklet
This booklet will give you information on where you can give birth to your baby. You can use it to help you talk to your midwife or doctor about your choices.
Choosing your place of birth booklet – EnglishGiving birth at North Tees and Hartlepool
Having your baby with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
For our population, who access our services, it shouldn’t make a difference whether or not they’re coming on to the North Tees and Hartlepool, South Tees or at our Friarage sites. They should be able to expect the same level of service no matter where they access it from. And we’ve got a consistency across our group model.
Choosing where you want to give birth is probably one of the first decisions that you will make in your pregnancy. We appreciate that it can be a really difficult decision to make. Particularly if you don’t know what your options are, so your community midwife is there to provide you with information for options.
The first is our obstetric unit at Stockton, so that’s the University Hospital of North Tees, and then we also have the option for home birth. So depending on whether your care is high risk or low risk, that might help you to choose what you want to do. But ultimately, wherever you choose to decide to have your baby, we’ll take care of you. Our team will look after you and we’ll make sure that you and your baby are safe.
So if you think that you’re in labour you would call the maternity advice line. We would invite you in for assessment. You would come to us using the main entrance, where the revolving doors are situated. Make an immediate right, follow the signs for ward 18 to 19 and you would press the buzzer and we would come and let you in.
Our delivery rooms are lovely. They’re all en-suites with either baths or showers. We have mood lighting, twinkling lights in the ceiling, aromatherapy diffusers. You can bring your favourite playlist, your own little speaker and we will try and make it as comfortable as possible for you.
We just want to make sure that you’ve got a nice relaxing, calming environment to have your baby.
You’re allowed one birthing partner to stay throughout the duration here at North Tees. in the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal period. So you can have someone there with you at all times to look after you and to help look after your baby, ss well as the care that we all give you.
At North Tees, we have an on-site canteen, an on-site coffee shop and over the road we have a bakery. We will provide you with food throughout your stay with us and following delivery we’ll give you the best tea and toast you’ve ever had.
Pain relief in labour, and the need for pain relief in labour is quite subjective. It depends on how you are. The most common that is used is what we call entonox, which is what we call gas and air. if that’s not enough, there are oral pain relief options like paracetamol and codeine. If you need something more, then you can have the injections, which is the diamorphine and in the end, you do have the epidural, which is administered to you by an anaesthetist and monitored by your midwife. In the end pain relief is entirely your choice. You could have a say regarding what you want.
About 20% of women will need an emergency C-section and that hasn’t changed much over the years. But now you have the choice, and many women are opting more for c-sections. So if you need to go to theatre as an emergency, the theatre is within the same block as your labour room. It just takes us five minutes to wheel you down.
It can be a scary situation if it’s an emergency, but there are various categories of an emergency and most of the time, you’ll have time to discuss your need for a cesearian section. We’ll try to make it as communicative and seamless for you. At every point, you will get a chance to discuss your need for ac-section and the steps that is coming with it during the whole process.
Our special care baby unit is manned by consultant paediatricians and neonatologists. We have specialist paediatric and neonatal nurses. At the moment we care for babies who are 30 weeks or older. Anyone younger than that we try to transfer them out to our sister unit, which is James Cook University Hospital.
Giving birth and being a mother is a wonderful feeling. But the fact that you have such a good team working for you should give you a lot of reassurance and we would love you to choose our hospital to give birth.