If you didn’t watch the recent BBC 2 Series, Five Star Babies: Inside the Portland Hospital you have missed a treat! A two part fly on the wall documentary set in the UK’s most prestigious (and probably most expensive!) private maternity hospital in London. The Portland Hospital is where the rich and famous go to give birth, with clients including names such as Victoria Beckham and the Duchess of York. With 36 private rooms and suites, patients can tuck into oysters and foie grass pre or post labour – quite a change from the thin slice of toast I consumed after my 36 hour experience!
But is it worth the money? With the average bill at The Portland topping £20,000, this is not a hospital for the frugal! Not to mention the £14k four poster baby cot you can purchase with your left over change!
Based on my experience, if I had given birth to Erin at the Portland we would have been looking at 4 nights stay at £1200 a night (for the cheapest room option with medical grade furniture!), plus consultants fees, additional charges for vontuse delivery, another charge for episiotomy and probably some fees incurred for being seconds away from a c section! With some final “minor” charges for room service and such the like, I’d not have a lot of change left from £20k! If I had the money, sure, why not? But for me £20k could pay for my child’s entire education, and a good one at that!
Whilst giving birth in an NHS hospital might not match the glitz and glamour of the Portland, I cannot fault the care and attention I received. My midwife was my hero. A beautiful lady named Bobbie with the most beautiful brown eyes who kept me calm despite the number of times I swore and declared that Mike was “never going to have sex with me again!”. I got 3 days of breast feeding support and not once did I ship my baby off to a nursery so I could get some kip – I bonded, I swaddled, I sat roasting (literally!) whilst having skin to skin with my baby, and it was the best 3 days of my life. I gave birth in a maternity led unit, in a large birthing pool, with relaxing lights, my personal music collection on my ipod and my mother and partner around me. Ok, so I didn’t get a glass of champagne whilst I recovered but hey, life isn’t perfect!
For me the saddest part of the whole Portland Programme was the number of new mothers who very swiftly took their newborn child off to the hospital 24 hour nursery. Whatever happened to the bonding of those precious first few hours? My daughter changed soooo much in those first few minutes, hours and days, and I personally would not have missed that for the world. I had been awake for 45 hours, and hadn’t eaten for 35 yet the thought of asking someone else to hold her or comfort her when she cried never even entered my mind.
If you missed The Portland, you can catch up on BBC Iplayer – Episode 1 is still available to download. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b077nscw
