I’m a midwife, ask me anything

[CatchingBabies]

Seeing as this has become a theme recently I’m jumping on the bandwagon because I need a distraction from my new house that is slowly becoming the worst decision I ever made.

Soooo I’m a midwife ask me anything! (Dons hard hat)

What's the goriest thing you've ever seen?

i suppose you might only know this if you’re a community midwife!! but...do you think that pregnant women are seen enough in their second/third/whatever pregnancies? i’m 30 weeks with my second and i’m finding it so different to my first, i feel like i never see a midwife (from 12 weeks to 28 weeks with just one appt) and when i do, they’re quite uninterested and very much ‘well you’ve done this all before’.

@rizzokicks A severely infected Caesarean section wound that burst open because of the pressure of the pus behind it, the stench was AWFUL! The poor lady couldn’t stop apologising as we cleaned her up but it wasn’t her fault bless her!

Have you had a baby named after you? Any names you just thought noooo, don't do that to your future adult child?

@guiltynetter

Midwives rotate around all areas, unless they’ve been qualified for years before that became a thing, so most cover all aspects of midwifery.

No I don’t think the NICE schedule of antenatal appointments is enough for multiparous women (women who have had babies before). Many hospitals, mine included, are now ignoring this and giving everyone the same appointments as first time mums as it’s just too long in between them. Also you may be interested to know that NICE guidelines say women can request additional appointments if they want them.

My first baby was stillborn and the midwives were fantastic, so compassionate and caring. They were so distressed too.
Do midwives get any sort of debrief or chance to ‘recover’ from a really traumatic time?

How hard is it sewing up tears? I had small 2nd degree tears with mine and it seemed to take ages to sew and despite the anesthesia I felt every single stitch. I puffed on the gas and air even though I hadn’t needed it in labour! Is that normal?

@bagadverts No I havnt but my name is rubbish. I had one named after my daughter because we were talking about her during the labour. Yes there are some names that have been AWFUL! One in particular that I felt deserved a safeguarding referral but it’s way too outing for that mother to say the name on here sorry. Think along the lines of fluffy bunny bumpkins.

Do you have enough staff to be able to give safe care? Are midwives leaving in droves?

Before i ask my question... do you/have you done mostly community midwifery or births? (I know you said you’ve done a bit of everything but presumably most midwives do more of one that the other overall)

I'm 40+4 and baby isn't engaged at all. Head still free. In your experiences does this usually mean it will be a while before giving birth? And if I do go into labor naturally do I have to go to hospital quicker because there is a risk to the cord? Sorry to ask on here but my MW is off sick and I don't have another appointment for a week.

Do you know what low Papp-a is/involves?

What are the attitudes to Male midwives like? Do you work with any?

It's something I'm looking into becoming, possibly.

@hulamelody I’m sorry for your loss. No they don’t, we used to have supervisors of midwives who could review care for you and look at if it could have been improved etc. but that’s gone as well now. The hardest part of the job is walking straight from delivering a beautiful stillborn baby where the parents are going through the worst time in their lives straight into another labour room where the parents are happy and excited, with not even a break in between. It’s so hard to adjust your tone and you can’t just forget that family that you’ve spent hours comforting and grieving alongside.

@fishywishyhead

We do get training on repairing tears, 1st and 2nd degree only, anything more than that is a doctors job. Some 2nd degrees are more complicated than others, if a midwife feels it’s beyond her capabilities however she should request a doctor to do it. And it’s not acceptable that you did not have enough pain relief, there’s no excuse for that!

@slowlyshrinking

No we don’t, sometimes we are left caring for up to 3 women in labour or up to 16 women and babies on the postnatal ward. Our hospital is apparantly fully staffed, other areas will be worse. It’s scary at times. And yes midwives leave all the time because the stress is too much and they are not supported.

@namechange30

Most midwives do an even mix of all. Some rotate every 6 months, others every 6 weeks etc. The hospital I work at is small and so we rotate quickly as we don’t staff all areas everyday depending on where is busy. So for example last week I spent Monday and Tuesday in community doing antenatal clinics and postnatal home visits. Thursday I was on labour ward and Friday and Sunday postnatal ward.

That’s crap Catching but not surprising. 16 women and babies is frightening . I’m a nurse and sometimes, like you say, it’s scary. It’s ok if everything goes smoothly, but not much room for manoeuvre if anything goes wrong and someone needs extra attention.

Ah thank you I didn’t realise that, i thought most did one or the other!

@monica87

Babies can engage as late as labour and all be fine. Without knowing the position your baby is in I don’t know your risk of cord prolapse etc. Cord prolapse tends to be a risk in transverse and breech presentations rather than cephalic (head down) however.

If you were to have another child and had the choice of a natural birth or an elective c-section what would you choose? And why?

@albussevarusmalfoy

I do yes, do you want me to explain? Have you been told you have low pappa A? It can be nothing and it can be a problem so I don’t want to give you horror stories when usually we never find out why and everything is fine.

@sneakygremlins

I worked with 1 male midwife years ago, he was amazing and the women loved him. Only a few had a problem with him and refused his care. It was the husbands that seemed to have more of an issue. Go for it!

OK so I realise how much pressure midwives are under (and NHS staff in general)

With that in mind, do you have any thoughts about how women can be given the best possible care in the circumstances?

It’s very tempting to ask questions about my own personal experience of labour, when I did not feel at all respected or supported by the first midwife on duty (she repeatedly got my name wrong, and was impatient and dismissive with me) but I don’t know how helpful that will be to anyone, based on the fact that we all know there are both good and bad midwives out there, all midwives are under pressure, and there is a shortage of them - so beggars can’t be choosers!

Assuming you don't do this, what do you do about colleagues who are judgy towards women who struggle with breastfeeding.