My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Pregnancy

Midwife appointments

14 replies

EBM20 · 11/08/2020 08:11

So due to covid, all my appointments apart from scans have been over the phone. Each phone call appointment being with a different midwife. At my last phone call appointment at 16 weeks she arranged an appointment face to face at 25 weeks with my 'assigned midwife' she told me her name and gave me her number for anything I have to ask thats non urgent. Yesterday I text my 'assigned midwife' to ask about the procedure and if partners are allowed to come to appointments yet, she then told me in her reply that my appointment will not be with her but with a colleague. I'm annoyed as I was looking forward to actually meeting my assigned midwife and now I feel like this seems to be a consistent thing with different midwives each time and I'll have to explain how my pregnancy has been each time I go. It's my first pregnancy and I already feel like I don't have much support from a midwife

OP posts:
Report
Wankpuffin · 11/08/2020 08:17

That’s all really normal I’m afraid.

Even pre covid in my last pregnancy I never saw the same midwife twice. I know it would be nice to have the same one but to be honest, they will be different from the ones in hospital delivering your baby anyway.

Report
peachypetite · 11/08/2020 08:19

I’ve not seen a midwife since week 11. My 25 week appointment is on the phone. Will finally see a midwife week 28. I’m not even sure I have an assigned midwife and not really that bothered! I’ve not had anything other than the usual pregnancy related issues so I don’t feel like I need to worry about “explaining my pregnancy”. I assume they are for the most part doing their best in these challenging times.

Report
FoxtrotSkarloey · 11/08/2020 08:25

Sadly this is completely normal even without Coronavirus. And even if you do have a consistent midwife in the run up to birth, the midwives you then see in labour will de different again and possibly also change shift part way through your labour.

Please don't let it bother you. In my experience, when I did manage to see the same midwife more than once she always referred back to the notes anyway because they see so many patients. It would have been nice if she could have remembered me as an individual, but reassuring she was using notes.

Main thing is you are having regular contact, even if on the phone. You should feel supported by the team of midwives, and if not you need to tell each one you speak to what you need. Not ideal, but it is ok.

Report
Brandaris · 11/08/2020 08:27

Sounds pretty normal, don’t get too focused on who is your assigned midwife, you will likely have someone different at the birth anyway.

I think midwife services are really badly explained. They’re there to check everything is ok through the pregnancy and put in place anything needed if something isn’t ok, and there at the birth. But they aren’t really there to support and handhold through a normal, uncomplicated pregnancy. That shouldn’t really be necessary. I hope that doesn’t sound too unkind, I just don’t think the reality of the underfunded midwife service is in line with the expectations of many first time mums.

If you feel you need more support then do contact them, especially if there is something specific you’re worried about.

Report
NoGinNotComingIn · 11/08/2020 08:31

I’ve had 2 children and have never seen the same midwife twice, it’s pretty normal even before covid. If you have your baby in hospital it won’t be the community midwives you had your appointments with delivering your baby anyway it’ll be a team of hospital midwives so having a named midwife makes no difference. They are looking after a lot of people so it’s not like they’d remember what’s going on from one appointment to the next. That’s why you have your notes and carry them around with you.

If you had a home birth and live in the area your antenatal appointments are there is a slim chance one of the midwives you’ve met at appointments would be delivering your baby, but again it’s a team and they work shifts. Even after I had my baby and they came out to me (they came out for 5 weeks with my first as she struggled to gain weight) I had someone different every time.

Report
Spam88 · 11/08/2020 08:33

In my first pregnancy I didn't meet my named midwife until my discharge appointment. In my second I actually did see my named midwife for all scheduled appointments after around 28 weeks I think. I wouldn't say one was better than the other really 🤷‍♀️ they're all capable of reading your notes and tbh the checks that they do in a routine appointment don't really require knowledge of your pregnancy to date. FWIW I also got through 7 midwives during my first labour 😂

Report
Footlooseandfancy · 11/08/2020 08:55

Sounds normal to me. Here you get a community midwife but can end up seeing another member of the team and the hospital midwives are a separate group who work on delivery and postnatal. There's a different home birth group of midwives too.

As PP said, your checks are fairly straightforward anyway in a "normal" pregnancy - I found them really inconvenient actually, used to take an hour out of my day to travel for a 7 minute appointment every couple of weeks.

Report
FizzingWhizzbee123 · 11/08/2020 10:57

Yeah, our Trust operates a team of midwives, with the theory that you start to recognise faces, although you don’t get an assigned midwife unless you’ve got a specialist case. I coincidentally had the same midwife for all my antenatal appointments which was nice, but a bit pointless when I went into labour, had a random stranger midwife and then a shift swap to another midwife and student half way through. Didn’t make much difference to me really.

This time around, I don’t think I’ve even been given a team. Never seen or spoken to the same person twice. Again, not really made much difference.

I can see why it’s upsetting for first time mums to not really see a midwife face to face before 28 weeks. Even as a second time mum, it has left me feeling slightly abandoned, but they’re just following the RCOG Covid guidelines. You’ll see more people, the closer you get to labour and you can always walk into the MAU if you’re really worried about anything.

Report
Natalie654321 · 11/08/2020 11:06

Normal to me. With my last pregnancy a couple of years ago I didn't see the same midwife twice.

Report
FluffyKittensinabasket · 11/08/2020 12:17

I read somewhere that they are reintroducing face to face appointments from next month? I really hope so.

Report
Sanch1 · 11/08/2020 12:27

I find it so strange how all Trusts have dealt with the Covid situation so differently! I am on DC3 and apart from having my booking in appointment on the phone,and partner not allowed at 12 week scan, all my midwife appointments have been face to face, with the same one, as with my other two pregnancies. She's even booked me in for an extra appointment for 25 weeks as she thought waiting til 28 weeks was too long! I feel grateful when I see others experiences.

Report
OverTheRainbow88 · 11/08/2020 12:32

Even pre Covid I maybe saw the same community MW 2 times max; was also a diff one; they spent the whole app reading the notes from the previous one, they all measure bump from A diff place so baby too small/too big! I was consultant led due to health issue and never saw same consultant either... it’s crap!

Report
Wankpuffin · 11/08/2020 13:29

@OverTheRainbow88 I’m consultant led in this pregnancy (3rd) and I’ve only ever seen a different junior doctor each time. I don’t even have a clue who my named consultant is! Not that it matters anyway, as I found from my two previous pregnancies and sections they never came near me.

Report
OverTheRainbow88 · 11/08/2020 13:33

@Wankpuffin

It’s terrible isn’t it! The wards were full when I was in labour with second so I didn’t even see any form of doctor during labour or after and I was on the MW led unit!!! 😬 luckily all ended up ok, but could have gone bad as I have quite a serious heart condition!

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.