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)

@chasingcars123

That was absolutely not ok! You should never be stitched without being given the numbing injection down below, I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m also surprised you know there were 38 stitches. We suture in a continuous method not separate stitches and so we don’t count them usually.

Hi I hope your house situation sorts it’s self out. What brought the wrong house and it’s been hard to love it but you do get used to it.

Can you just have very weak pushing muscles / core and does it make birth difficult? I pushed for ages with all of mine to no effect and I had pph with one maybe because I was pushing for so long and vontouse with the others. It would be interesting to know if that’s a thing.

Also on a trival note you must see a lot of pubic hair. Has fashions changed since you started practicing do you see more with or without?

@tuckingfypo Thank you

@morgan12 If you’ve had a previous PPH you are at higher risk of another. It depends on the factors leading to it however. Being high risk of PPH means they will be ready and prepared for it no matter how you have your baby. It’s those at low risk where the big complications happen.

Thanks Catching, I realise that but I'm feeling a bit anxious about the whole thing.

I've been lucky to have some incredible midwives. As always I love and am grateful for the NHS. Hope it lasts.

@alexd112 yes I would because I love my job and feel so so privaliged every day but it’s hard and can be emotionally unbearable at times. I don’t think I would have lasted at a much younger age as I wasn’t emotionally ready to deal with how cruel the world can be at times, some people are however.

DC1 - I had an epidural and was lying down (rookie mistakes); 7lb13oz.
DC 2 & DC 3 - no epidural, kneeling upright; 9lb4oz and 8lb4oz respectively.
I don't know what position they were in as nobody ever said and I didn't think to ask. I guess maybe I'm just bad at pushing.

I have another question re: becoming a mw. Is there any way you can do it without night shifts? Or is that non-negotiable?

@skyechasemarshalontheway

No I havnt sorry, not many hospitals do these any more. I have heard they work well however. We do use pessaries on our VBACs but there is a higher failure rate.

Ooh Catchingbabies, I hope you don’t mind me asking a question about my labour, I was induced as my waters went and contractions hadn’t started after 24 hours, I just had a pessary that kicked things off, near the end of my labour not long before I was pushing, I felt something pop inside me and my pain increased ten fold. I never found out what it was. Could it have been my hind waters and why would that make everything so much more painful?

Thank you!

@happymummy1991 yes a lot do, I don’t think they always realise it themselves. We become immune to it.

What's the biggest baby you have delivered to date

@hedgehog80

The advice to not have more than 3 Caesarean sections is because you’re risk of bleeding increases each time. Picture a big elastic balloon the more times you stretch it, cut it, and tape it back up the more chance it will completely rupture. Some women of course have more than 3 and are fine, others have 1 and bleed severely. That’s the law of odds. The most I’ve seen was a 5th and she was sterilised at the same time.

Thank you for all your answers, this is a really interesting thread!

I have one more question (sorry )

In your experience/opinion, to what extent does birthing position affect the risk of shoulder dystocia?

When my son was born he had shoulder dystocia (one shoulder got stuck, not both, and he was fine in the end thankfully). I think a major factor was that I had been forced to labour on my back (which I absolutely did not want). Of course it might still have happened if I’d been in a different position but I do wonder. And i am particularly concerned that if I have another baby i would like to minimise the risk of shoulder dystocia as much as possible.

Anyway I realise every birth is different and there may be different factors in each case but I’d be interested in your two cents on it.

What do you think would be the most useful thing we could do (as a country) to improve breastfeeding rates in the U.K.?

Also.. thanks so much to you for the amazing job you and your colleagues do!

How much do you trust women to know their own bodies or do you think 'This one is a first time Mum, she doesn't know what she's on about?'. With my first I think I 'coped' fairly well and didn't really get any attention from a midwife until I announced something had come out (a tiny bit of blood) and felt I needed to push. Baby was born 40 mins later, less than 3 hours after I've been checked and been told I was just 2cm dilated and told I could go home. I always felt like perhaps because it was my first baby and I wasn't making any fuss, everyone assumed I was miles off delivering.

My second Labour was very fast and intense; 1hr 20 mins from start to finish. I don't think I'll have a third baby but if I did, I'm scared it would be even quicker and I'd end up having them at home or in the car. What do you think - does each successive labour tend to get quicker or is there a limit to how fast they can get?

I lurk in a few midwifery forums, and they have a strong ideological bent towards natural childbirth in the style of Gaskin, Odent, etc. In your experience, does that ideology exist in actual midwifery culture, or is it just amplified in virtual spaces?

@juneau if baby is in distress it means their heart rate is changing and showing they are not coping with labour, usually it’s dropping down and slowing, if not dealt with it can eventually stop. We want them out fast as you can resus a baby at this point, once the heart rate has stopped it’s much harder, if not impossible, to bring them back.

Is it true that the risk of a PPH is greater in a second or subsequent delivery, if the woman has had one PPH previously? What is the best strategy to avoid a repeat of this? Last time I had "assisted delivery" of the placenta which I found most unpleasant & I wonder if it affected the way things turned out.

I had to have an emergency c section with my ds (first child) because he was footling breach. I'd been told he was head down and engaged, but got to the hospital to be told I was 6cm and he was coming feet first! Luckily my waters only went just before they started the csection.
My question is if I have another what's the chance of them being breach, and would I probably end up having another c section?

Aww thank you for saying that OP! I've waited 21 years to hear someone say that it wasn't ok. I actually shed some tears but I'm so grateful for your reply.

The reason I know the number is because at the pre natal classes they would say women may have anything from one to 5 or 6 stiches and I started to count to help me believe it would end soon. It didn't.

Thanks again for answering. You do an amazing job!!!

@awwlookatmybabyspider

You are lucky I didn’t refuse to answer you based on your username! 😂

No I didn’t always want to be a midwife, having my own children inspired me to look into it and I liked the sound of it, did some volunteer work and LOVED it so I went back to do my a levels and applied. Delivering my first baby, I was a student then, was amazing! I cried, a lot!

I had a wonderful midwife. She was with an agency and I emailed to thank her, I think the vast majority of midwives do an amazing job so thank you!

What do you think is the best way of effecting change - eg more midwives, better facilities, whatever is needed. I know it’s down to funding but is there anything I could do to help make changes happen?