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Choosing where to give birth.
It's entirely possible that if this is your first baby (or even if you have given birth before), that when you walk into that first 8-12 week midwife booking appointment, the 'where would you like to give birth?' question may take you by surprise.
If you live in a city that has more than one hospital, you may presume that they are just asking which one, but the reality of this choice is that you have much more choice than that.
Your choices are:
Hospital (if so, which one)
A midwife-led unit, if there is one within a reasonable distance
Homebirth with the NHS (if you live in an area that has a homebirth team)
Homebirth with a private or independent Midwife
Freebirth
Any of the above with a Birth-Keeper or Doula (or Virtual Doula like me!)
You can choose to give birth in any hospital or birth centre/midwifery led unit that you wish, but the homebirth teams will have specific areas that they cover.
Choosing Where to Give Birth in Leeds Teaching Hospitals
If you are giving birth in Leeds, our main Trust is The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS. This umbrella trust includes two hospitals:
Leeds General Infirmary (LGI)
St. James Univerisity Hospital (SJUH)
They also have a homebirth team
An alongside Midwife Led Unit (The Lotus Midwifery Unit) within LGI.
You also have the choice of travelling to a different hospital for example
Mid Yorkshire Teaching Hospital which has:
Alongside birth centre at Pinderfields Hospital
Freestanding birth centre at Dewsbury and District Hospital
Hospital labour ward at Pinderfields Hospital
Home birth service
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Labour ward
Alongside birth centre
Homebirth team
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
Labour ward
Homebirth team
Seacroft Hospital Wharfedale doesnt have any maternity services
How to choose where to give birth.
You may have been told that it is suggested that you give birth in the labour ward because of certain risk factors; however, please know that it is still your right to choose where you give birth. This is a protected legal right in the UK.
Both homebirth and midwife led units may be primarily offered to ' low risk ' women but they are an option for everyone.
Choosing where to give birth is a personal choice; it comes down to where you feel safest, but we can't always trust our gut on this one as we have to look at how we have been programmed to think about birth.
Different choices have different options of pain relief, acess to Dr's, access to theatre teams and different levels of the ability to support physiology.
Most of the birth we see in film, TV and movies is in hospital, so your subconsious may be making the connection birth = hospital, but you owe yourself some time to unpick this assumption, below are sore resourses that I suggest to all my virtual doula clients to help them make or confirm their decisions:
Blog by Dr Sara Wickham
Podcast on Homebirth
Podcast on birth centres
These resources may open more areas of research for you, or help you to make your decision.
If your decision is different to the one that has been suggested to you by your midwife or doctor (usually labour ward), you will need to have a discussion with them about the risks associated with your specific situation and why they are reduced in the labour ward.
This is something that I help my virtual doula families with and often cover in BirthBoost calls. To help you look at the evidence and research behind the suggestions/risks and help you feel confident in making your decision, you can find out more about these services here:
If you have chosen to birth out of guidance, you will likely be referred to a birth choices team to put together an out-of-guidance plan.
Which hospital/birth centre should you choose?
So you have made your choice that you want to give birth (at home / in a birth centre / on a labour ward), but you are wondering which of the local hospitals to pick. Here are some things you can consider:
Take a tour- a real-life tour, not a virtual one.
Look at their statistics. What is their c-section vs vaginal birth percentage? What is the transfer rate for the homebirth team or birth centre? How often were birth centres full or closed in the past month? With homebirths, how often are there no midwives available, or is the team suspended?
Decide what is important to you. Do you want a water birth? How many of the rooms have pools? Is an ensuite important to you?
Transfer distance - How long will it take you to get there in labour? What is the traffic like on those roads?
Parking - Does the hospital have parking, or is it a city centre hospital with none?
Do you need specialist support, like breech birth or are you having twins? Does this hospital have that available?
Check out the Care Quality Commission reports by clicking here:
Consider all these questions and then think about the below:
Homebirth - The option that keeps all options open
Hear me out....
You can change your mind about where you give birth at any point in your pregnancy and during labour, but it's much harder to switch to homebirth at 40 weeks or when early labour starts.
If you let your care team know that you intend to give birth at home, everything will be in place for the homebirth, and should you decide you'd rather use the maternity unit, no problem.
If when you go into labour you decide you want to transfer to the labour ward, that is totally fine.
What I am saying is that homebirth is the one option that keeps all options open, and that can be worth its weight in gold.
Where to give birth in Leeds
Lotus Midwifery Unit
This is an alongside midwifery unit within Leeds General Infirmary, it is on the same corridor as the LGI delivery suite, divided by a set of double doors.
There are three rooms in the Lotus Midwifery Suite, two with birth pools.
All of the rooms have ensuite bathrooms.
The rooms are set up as a 'home from home' decorated with birth affirmations, mood lighting, music systems and aromatherapy diffusers. The three rooms also share a 'snug' that can be used to make tea and coffee.
Leeds General Infirmary Delivery Suite (L45)
The LGI delivery suite has 11 rooms, with one birth pool room; they do not have ensuite bathrooms.
For parking at LGI, there is a small pay and display car park outside the Clarendon wing (the closest to the Lotus suite and delivery suite), but this is very often full. The other option is the multistory car park opposite A&E just past the Leeds Dental Institute. There are a few parking spaces outside of the Clarendon wing to enable your partner to drop you off and then find parking.
A good option if you are using this hospital and live close to the city centre is to use a taxi, that way you do not have to stress about parking.
Otherwise, you will need to find a council pay and display car park if the hospital ones are full.
SJUH Delivery suite
The SJUH delivery suite has 8 delivery rooms, 2 water birth rooms and 1 active birth room, all have ensuite facilities.
There is a large multistory car park at SJUH, which usually has sufficient space if you drive up enough of the levels! There is also a small council car park nearby.
What happens when you arrive at the hospital in labour in Leeds General Infirmary
Regardless of where you choose to give birth, your early labour will be at home, and you will be encouraged to let your midwifery team know that you are in labour by calling the Maternity Assessment Centre (MAC).
MAC will let you know that it is best that you spend your early labour at home, if your waters have broken or you have any concerns they may suggest that you come in for a check which may include a vaginal exam, a swab to see if your waters have broken and some continous fetal monitoring, all of thi is optional and you may choose to stay at home instead. If you are planning a homebirth, the homebirth team may offer to come to you instead.
At this point, you may be told that your chosed option is not available, that the birth centre is full or closed, that the homebirth team is busy or that your chosen hospital is full, try not to worry as it may still be some time before you need them!
Once you feel as though you are in active labour, you will ring MAC again, who will triage you on the phone and invite you in if your labour sounds established. Remember if you feel like you need help, you can go in regardless, but going in too early may disrupt your labour.
You will be seen in MAC, offered a cervical check and continuous monitoring; these are optional.
If you are under 4cm dilated or assessed not to be in active labour, you will be given three options:
Go home
Go to the antenatal ward
Spend some time on the MAC unit (if there is space)
What you do is your choice. You will usually be allowed one person with you on MAC, and visitors on the antenatal ward will be dependant on the visiting hours.
If you are 4cm you will be taken to your room on the delivery suite or the midwifery led unit. At this point you will be aloowed two birth partners with you.
If you are on the midwifery led unit, there may be a point that it is suggested you transfer to the labour ward during your birth, this happened to me; you can read about both of my births at the LGI here:
Once you have had your baby:
If you are on the delivery suite, you will be transferred to the postnatal ward. The postnatal ward is a multi roomed ward with shared bays separated by curtains. There will be a bed, a cot, a chair and a small unit to store your clothes. The toilets and bathrooms are shared.
In certain circumstances you may be given a separate room, but these are not available on request.
If you give birth on the midwife led unit and things are straight forward, you may be given some time in the room you are in to recover and be discharged straight from there, or you may be transferred to the postnatal ward.
LGI birth statistics
The last time Leeds Teaching Hospitals published their statistics was May 2024. this showed:
Vaginal births 49%
Emergency Caesarean 21%
Elective Caesarean Section 15%
Assisted vaginal birth 15%
Inductions 37%
39 out of 729 babies born in the midwife centre
32 out of 729 babies born in water.
20 planned homebirths - 1 birthed at home
The bottom line
Where you choose to give birth may well be the thing that has the biggest influence on the path your birth takes, take the time to look into your choices, make the choice on what feels safest to you, and know that it truley is YOUR choice.
Who am I?
I am Charlotte, a Virtual Doula, providing bespoke evidence-based pregnancy support to families who want an empowering birth.
With 10 years + of clinical research experience, a biomedical science degree, and two hospital births under my belt, I use my knowledge to provide pregnancy support to help you make informed decisions about your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
I provide pregnancy support for all types of births, including hospital births, helping you to navigate NHS guidelines and have an empowering positive birth.
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