As part of your care plan, your midwife will talk to you about your options and preferences for giving birth.
Where you want to have your baby is a personal choice, which is why we offer many options on where you can have your baby at Morecambe Bay.
Local parents make a wide range of choices including pool births at home, birth in hospital with the support of an epidural, or caesarean birth.
Where can I give birth?
You can give birth at home, at a birth centre or in hospital.
Your options about where to have your baby will depend on your needs, risks and, to some extent, on where you live.
If you're healthy and have no complications ("low risk") you could consider any of these birth locations. For women with some medical conditions, it's safest to give birth in hospital where specialists are available. This is in case you need treatment during labour.
Wherever you choose, the place should feel right for you. You can change your mind at any point in your pregnancy.
Helme Chase, Westmorland General Hospital
Helme Chase is our midwife-led unit, based at the Westmorland General Hospital (WGH) in Kendal. A midwife-led unit means there are no doctors present.
Women can give birth at Helme Chase 24 hours a day, seven days a week, supported by a midwife.
If you are assessed as having an uncomplicated pregnancy, i.e. you are unlikely to develop any complications during your pregnancy, whilst giving birth, or after your baby is born, you can choose to give birth at Helme Chase if you want to.
If at any point during your pregnancy and labour, you or your midwife has any concerns then you will be transferred to one of our consultant-led units at either the Royal Lancaster Infirmary or Furness General Hospital.
Helme Chase operates an on-call system out of hours (Monday - Friday from 8pm - 8am, all day Saturday and Sunday, and Bank Holidays). Out of hours, you simply need to call the unit which is transferred directly to the midwife on call. They can then arrange to meet you at home or at the unit.
Helme Chase is located on the third floor of Westmorland General Hospital. There are lifts available and parking spaces directly outside the hospital.
Helme Chase: 01539 795375
Royal Lancaster Infirmary
Maternity Services at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) offer midwife-led and obstetric consultant-led care for high risk and low risk women, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The Central Delivery Suite is on the ground floor of the Women's Unit, with the neonatal unit and two operating theatres nearby. The Antenatal and Postnatal wards are situated on level 2 of the Women's Unit.
There are six delivery rooms within the central delivery suite. Each of these delivery rooms has an electronic bed which can be adjusted to support different birthing positions, and en-suite bathrooms.
There is also an active birth room with a birthing pool in the central delivery suite.
The active birth room has an en-suite bathroom, and is equipped with a variety of equipment, including:
- Low mattress
- Birthing stool
- Floor mats
- Birthing balls
This equipment is designed to encourage your body to adopt comfortable positions during labour and birth.
There is disabled access to the women’s unit, as well as limited blue badge and drop off parking spaces available outside. A pay and display car park is close by, as well as a bus stop with good public transport links.
RLI Women’s Unit: 01524 583850
South Lakes Birth Centre, Furness General Hospital
Maternity services at the South Lakes Birth Centre at Furness General Hospital (FGH) offer midwife-led and obstetric consultant-led care for both high risk and low risk women, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Within the new £12m South Lakes Birth Centre, there are fourteen labour, delivery, recovery and postnatal rooms, four of which have a birthing pool. There is also two dedicated operating theatres, a Special Care Baby Unit, a Maternity day assessment area, a Transitional Care facility, a skills lab for staff training, and a Bereavement Suite - the Rainbow Suite.
The pool rooms all have en-suite bathrooms, and are equipped with a variety of equipment, including:
• Low mattress
• Birthing stool
• Floor mats
• Birth balls
This equipment is designed to encourage your body to adopt comfortable positions during labour and birth.
Each of our birthing rooms at the South Lakes Birth Centre also has a bed for partners to stay over while supporting their partners and learning to care for their baby.
The South Lakes Birth Centre is located beside the main hospital building. There are limited drop off, blue badge, short stay and pay and display car parking spaces outside the South Lakes Birth Centre, as well as a bus stop within the main hospital grounds.
South Lakes Birth Centre: 01229 403609
Rather than coming into hospital to have your baby, many women chose to give birth at home. This option is available to women who are considered to be low-risk or have no underlying medical conditions.
You can request to have a home birth with your midwife. After the birth of your baby, care and support are provided in your home.
If you choose to have your baby at home, then the community midwifery team will be happy to support this - as long as no problems have been identified in your pregnancy. If there are additional risks which would suggest recommendation of birth in a consultant led unit, but you choose to have your baby at home, discussions can be facilitated by your named community midwife and Supervisor of midwives.
While we are continuing to offer Home Birth services, we have suspended the use of Entonox at these births while we conclude our safety and monitoring arrangements for staff administering Entonox in a home setting.