Community midwife care - silly question

johanne

hi

im currently 25 weeks 4 days pregnant with my first baby and just wanted some advice. So far ive had 3 different midwives at my 3 different antenal appointments. I was told they were a team of midwives so it might not always be the same person all the time but then this week the person i saw said she was "only standing in" and "next check up in 3 weeks you'll be back to your normal midwife who obviously knows you better and can help you more" I didnt know i had a normal midwife!

First one i saw was a great, second was horrible and actually made me cry with one the things she said, third was ok but gave me completely contridicting info to the first one and the hospital!

I was put under community midwife care intially by the GP id seen at my surgery. Then at my booking in at the hospital i was told i should have been under consultant care at the hospital due to existing medical problems so they swapped it to that.... When i went for my first appointment i only saw the consultants assistant who me discharged back to community midwife team without even examining me (i didnt even get a chance to take my coat off!) or checking my medical files to find out the extent of my 2 existing medical conditions - she was too busy trying to convince me and my OH to take part in a documentary for channel 4!! :rolleyes:

So now im back to community midwife care and I feel a little lost and abandoned....its my first baby and i havent had one consistent person through my pregnancy - even the GP is off on long term sick! I feel really anxious anyway and have loads of questions about the labour etc but dont feel theres anyone i can really speak to except my OH and my mum and theres things they cant answer for me!

Im worried im getting upset over nothing and its perfectly normal to never see the same person more than once for the whole of my pregnancy???

I know its probably pot luck of whos on duty at the hospital anyway when i finally go into labour and it will likely be a stranger who delivers little one anyway.. but i just thought my antenal appointments might be a bit more how can i put it?? "friendly" and consistent?

starbump

It is, as far as my experience goes, completely normal to never see the same NHS person twice. (This is why we opted for private care.)

sjpsam

have to agree with the above,

I was GP care with my first and consultant care with my second. I never hardly saw the same midwife 2nd time round because I had to go to the appointments at the hospital but firs time round my midwife was great.

neither pregnancies did I see the same midwife in delivery that had throughout my anti natal, but they all were really good friendly people in the delivery ward.

I know it can be daunting with your first baby, but try and stay positive, you'll be fine

babs

Hi,

Im a midwife in the NHS and unfortunately it can be very hit and miss with who you see. Each area and trust is different and I will explain how ours operates and you can then compare similarities.

We operate two community midwives teams. You will be assigned either "midwives care" "shared Care" or "consultant care"

Midwives Care - You will see someone from the team at each antenatal visit. Within our trust 2 or 3 midwives are assigned to a particular doctors surgery. When you have had your appointments you may have seen different midwives to cover sickness/holidays etc.


Shared care - is shared between the hospital and midwives - see above and below

Consultant Care - All care is hospital based. You very rarely get to see a consultant unless you have a dire need to and more than likely will see a different junior doctor each time.

Don't get despondent with midwife care at this point, you are only just beginning to see the midwife on a regular basis as very little is seen of them before 26 weeks and you should end up meeting all the midwives assigned to your surgery. Midwives are qualified far more than junior doctors in normal birth anyway, so see them when you can as long as everything is going normally.

You will be offered the chance to do a birthplan (usually conducted at home) prior to the birth where all questions can be asked about the birth. Don't get too wound up about it at this stage and just enjoy the pregnancy.

As far as labour goes, if you have opted to deliver in a consultant unit you will see a different midwife entirely for the birth.

Some hospitals offer "caseload midwifery" where the midwife who looks after you antenatally delivers you in hospital, if she isn't available then her "buddy" would do it - and you will have meet her at somepoint in pregnancy. However, very few units offer this at present so you are lucky if this is available in your area.

Feel free to pm if you have any further questions.

heather38

i only saw my regular midwife twice through my whole pregancy and only once after the delivery.
i saw her for the initial booking appointment and again at 36 weeks. all the other times i saw a locum or covering midwife. and i never saw her (or anyone else for that matter) to do a birthplan at home or at the surgery either. if you are worried i would ring the antinatal unit at the hospital or ask your gp to re-refer you back to the consultant.
tbh the delivery suite will help loads with any questions when you're in labour.

TAG

Hi ya johanne,

I know what you mean. When I had my first baby I was under shared care and never saw the same person twice. It is a very daunting experience as you don't know what or what not to expect. I also felt very 'bullied' especially after DD was born and I had to stay in hospital. ( I had pre eclampsia) I was very very poorly but the midwives on the ward had a 'get on with it' attitude. I also feel that it had something to do with me being only 19 as well.

However, when I had DS 1 and 2 my GP at the time specialised in GP unit births. Very much like the caseload midwifery mentioned above. I only went to the hospital for my scans and all other care was done by the same 2 midwives throughout. It was wonderful and I had 2 very easy births as I was so much more relaxed and the midwife actually knew me. Not a stitch in sight.

When I had DD2 I had the same midwife at all ante natal appointments and after the birth. But had complete strangers when I went in to give birth.
Didn't have a particullary bad experience, but had the midwife on the ward actually listened to me when I said I wanted to push and not told me 'don't be silly of course you don't' then she wouldn't have had to race me in a wheelchair to the delivery room at 90mph where DD appeared less than 5 minutes after getting there.

All I can say to you is try and stay calm when the time comes and don't be pushed into anything you don't want.

If you've got any questions there are loads of us on here that could help you. There is a pregnancy thread on here somwhere. Will try and find it for you. Be back in a mo.

There's this one -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=251468&highlight=pregnancy+secrets

and this one

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=454789

Hope that helps and good luck

Justie

having a team of midwives is actually better in the end as you're then likely to have met the person who delivers your baby (midwives don't work 24/7 so you're unlikely to end up with 'your' midwife).

Having a baby is usually very medically hands off in this country which is as it should be in many ways but can be very confusing for us first time mums.

If you have specific questions or worries then phone the midwife team and someone will answer them either over the phone or in person.

And try not to write off any one midwife - I had one who I hated during my pregnancy but who on the ward (I ended up with an emergency section and a 5 day stay in hospital) was an absolute star.

Don't forget your hormones are everywhere right now and you've not done this before so it's normal to be worried and confused but help is there if you ask.

Good luck with the baby :T