Positive about midwives

[Bekka94]

Hi seen so much negativity about women feeling abandoned by their midwives and them being put in a bad light due to the covid crisis!

I honestly can't complain about mine at all had 3 water infections during lockdown and given them my symptoms and been seen within an hour of me calling and left with antibiotics straight away granted only seen my midwife twice face to face I'm now 25 weeks but inbetween seeing them I've
recieved 2 phone calls just to see how I'm feeling or if I've had any problems they've honestly been amazing from the off and nothing is ever too much trouble the support and care I've received in such a crisis has been heart warming and relieved so much anxiety being a FTM 🥰😊

[PurBal]

That's fantastic.

[bee222]

Mine has been amazing as well. I’ve only had my booking-in app over the phone and a face to face to take bloods so far.
The face to face was supposed to be a quick appointment to minimise the amount of time at the surgery. As soon as she asked how I was I started crying because the anxiety from multiple miscarriages was making things difficult for me. Being in the surgery triggered difficult memories and I was finding it really difficult. She ended up spending about 50 minutes with me instead of 10 to help calm me. She followed it up with phone calls to check how I was and also got a specialist mental health midwife to call me for a chat.
I’ve had a few appointments at EPU during covid as well, and the nurses there have also been fantastic and have gone out of their way to try make things as easy as possible under difficult circumstances.
They have been amazing so far. I couldn’t fault my care at all.

[October2020]

Every midwife I've met in every setting has been incredible- community, maternity hospital and big hospital. I've had lots of problems and worries and without fail they have been amazing.

[sel2223]

Nice to see a positive post OP.

My experience has been really good too. I am 30 weeks now so booking in, 12 week scan and 16 week appt were all pre-covid.
After that, I didn't see the community midwife again until 29 weeks (25 week appt was cancelled) so 13 weeks between f2f appointments but there are no essential appointments between that time normally anyway.

I still had my scan and consultant appt as expected and I had full contact details if I needed to speak to the midwife or the hospital in between appointments (I didn't).

My next appointment is in 2 weeks so the essential f2f appointments are still there. The schedule changed a bit but I still managed to have the whooping cough vaccination (at 29 weeks) and GD test done (at 28 weeks).

I've also been in to the hospital once for monitoring and just this week I had to stay on the maternity ward for 3 days. The midwives and other staff at the hospital were also brilliant.

These are unprecedented times and I genuinely feel, in my area at least, they really are trying their best.

[RunnerGirl123]

I'm only 14 weeks and it's my first pregnancy but I can't fault the care I've been given so far. Everytime I have spoken to my midwife, or anyone in the antenatal and the scan department, they have been lovely and always clear about what to expect at that appointment or future appointments. Any concerns or questions I've asked have been answered or addressed and I don't feel I have missed out on anything I would have had during a pregnancy in normal circumstances, just timings may just be a little different - eg urine & blood tests took place after my dating scan instead of at booking appointment.

It's lovely to see other people's positive experiences too, thanks for such a positive thread 😊

[AlviesMam]

I agree
My midwife has rang me after every scan and I have her number to text her with any questions at any time.
Due to previous losses and anxiety she's agreed from 24 weeks she will let me into the clinic every week to listen to the heart beat.
Although I've not met her yet she's been an amazing support

[Bekka94]

Thank you for your positive responses ladies it's so nice to hear positive things about midwives for a change I do genuinely believe they're doing their best and any cancelled appointments are clearly not necessary ones and I'd rather they were cancelled and followed up via the phone and rescheduled than put me and my baby at risk and themselves!! Really is nice to hear something positive about them 🥰

[Luckyme30]

I don’t think anyone is ‘putting them in a bad light’ they are just concerned that they are not getting the care they need.

I’m really pleased you and other posters have had no issues with your care but there are actually quite a few people who have missed out on appointments - as I say no one is putting midwives in a bad light they are just expressing their views/ concerns about the care they have had.

Midwives are doing a great job in dealing with this pandemic as is every other health care professional - the sad truth is it’s probably not the midwives making the decisions about cutting appointments etc, it’s decisions being made much higher up.
Fingers crossed for us all that some of the routine appointments and services can resume to some normality in the near future!

[MittensTheSerpent]

All the midwives and sonographers I've seen so far (28 weeks) have been absolutely wonderful.

[zscaler]

I’m only 13 weeks but mine has been lovely. Feel so sorry for people who have had bad experiences.

[sel2223]

@Luckyme30 yes, some have unfortunately had negative experiences and there are several posts currently running about that.
Consider this 'balance' as not everyone feels they have been neglected or abandoned during pregnancy.
This is a positive post for those with positive experiences to share.

[1990shopefulftm]

I was very nervous for my 12 week scan as the community midwifes had forgotten to rearrange my booking appointment and I d had to chase it up so I was worried of something similar happening again.They saw me in the antenatal clinic after the scan and were so kind and apologetic as there was a bit of a wait and made the time to ask if I was okay despite it being very busy there.

Also when I didn't hear about a 16 week appointment I spoke to a lovely midwife who explained how the rest of the appointments throughout the pregnancy would work and who I needed to speak to to book them in which made me feel a lot better as I know what the plan is now.