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)

How many babies have you delivered? What are your thoughts on water births in general x

Right I need to sort my children out for bed but if I haven’t answered yours yet I’ll do so later / tomorrow x

Thankyou for this post it's very interesting.

May I ask if it is common to be presented with a baby in the ROT position during active labour and pushing? If so is it common in those who've had their waters broken for them and is their a chance that the baby could still be delivered without intervention?

Also if baby is in distress but stabilises with mother on her back (drops when moves) but in excruciating pain in that position would you then expect her to labour in that position for a further 12hrs.

Sorry that turned out to be longer and more questions than I intended.

Baby early sept.
My last was aroumd 4.5kg
With the one before that I had a huge pph of 2.5l
Delivery before that needed repairs in theatre
1- could the big pphs (3rd del wasn't as much) be due to how the repair was done?
2- this baby is alreasy measuring big
Big babies= bigger bleeds?
What can I do to reduce bleeding?

No GD have been checked.

Ohh and how to reduce blood clots after birth that are huge

Thank you

Just want to say thank you
You sound like an amazing mw

@Hedgehog80 I have had three c sections within a very short space of time (under three years) and was actively encouraged and supported by consultants at my hospital to ttc as soon as my period returned following my last one. I think a lot will depend upon the individual woman’s uterus and health.

Hi CatchingBabies!

I had a horrendous time in labour with DD, not helped by having pre-ecelampsia and feeling utterly awful before things even got started. I'm due DS in a couple of weeks and am generally calm about it but do have a couple of worries/queries based solely on my experience last time. I've asked my community MW but a second opinion can't hurt.

1. I had an epidural with DD, which was fine and definitely needed. Labour wasn't progressing and by the end I had to have an episiotomy and ventouse delivery. The doctor who did the incision said I "wasn't allowed" to press the epidural button for any of it (inc stitches), so I didn't. I felt every bit of the cutting and it was probably the worst/most painful part of the experience for me, despite G&A. The next day I spoke to another doctor who said I should DEFINITELY have pressed the button because at that point it didn't matter if I could feel it or not. What are your thoughts on this/which doctor was right?

1. I saw a PP asked about internal examinations. That was the second worst part of the experience for me - by the end I was sobbing whenever the MW came near me, especially if she was putting gloves on. I've spoken to my MW about not allowing them this time, and she said I have the right to do so. But with my history (pre-eclampsia, labour not progressing, etc), am I likely to be advised into having them? I will if it's best, obviously, but I'd rather not!

1. Lastly, because of my history and not wanting internal examinations, my MW has advised me to write a birth plan. I didn't do one last time because I didn't have any plans other than "get the baby out!" and I wasn't planning on doing one this time until she suggested it. Do you read them/try to adhere to them? Mine would essentially be a note about what happened last time (MW's advice), no internal exams, want to go home ASAP (with DD we were stuck in hospital for three days as they "forgot" about us!).

Thank you so much for all that you do!

Thank you so much @CatchingBabies. So glad my community midwife referred me for the scan, as I wouldn't have known otherwise.

@CatchingBabies I have heard that I can get a SANDS sticker for the front of my maternity notes to show that my last baby died neonatally. Is this true and would all midwives immediately know what it indicates or do some hospitals/trusts not have this? I don’t know whether we will have another baby but the thought of having to explain what happened each time or wait for someone to read my notes before realising why I will inevitably be very neurotic during the pregnancy worries me.

Hi op,
Thanks for this thread.
Before having children I had quite narrow hips. They are wider now, and I’m 2 inches shorter( had a bone scan, no problems) tidelands like my pelvis widened, and my spine sunk into it. Is that possible? It’s been stable for 11 years.

Tidelands? Feels

How many times have you seen a spontaneous massive fetomaternal haemorrhage happen and how many births have you been involved in?

My epidural worked everywhere but my left bum cheek and perineum. Why?!?!?

Re pain relief for stitching up, local does not work on me very well. What can I request to help, don't want the experience another gas and air also doesn't do much stitching? Thanks.

OP I just googled it!!! That has enraged me. It is still a man's world. Well they can't babies!

I have a question, re smoking in pregnancy.

Have you ever told a pregnant woman that, "The stress of giving up smoking can be more harmful to your baby than actually smoking is".
Is this advice in any medical training books you work from?
Because every pregnant woman I've met has insisted their midwife told them this.

No questions but you guys do an AMAZING job. My midwives were fantastic and thankfully i had a pretty straightforward birth even with her getting into distress

@LilacIris

Sorry for your loss

It was 11 years ago now, but my pregnancy notes after stillbirth had a sticker on them from my first midwife appointment. Most staff I encountered would spot the sticker and quickly read my notes before continuing with the appointment, and would check on my mental wellbeing as well as physical. Only had one encounter (a consultant) that was less than sympathetic and I bit his head off in reply (midwife apologised afterwards).

Wishing you all the best x

When I had my son, my waters went at home and my contractions started quite quickly and intensely, I was in quite a lot of pain when I got to hospital to check, but was only 1cm. I asked if I was going Home and they said no, which I wasn't expecting! Is that because my waters had gone?

Hi @catchingbabies
Thank you for this thread. I have 2 healthy,happy DC but birth of dc1 was tricky and there are some things which just weren’t explained to me.
The one thing that really bothers me was that even after a long, long induction with sycotonin ( not sure how to spell it) I had still ‘failed to progress’ So it had all gone on for a long time, back to back contractions etc but my cervix just wasn’t opening at all. Why does that happen? What would have happened if I hadn’t been given a csection?

It must be an amazing job, women always remember giving birth & we don’t talk about it in public much but it’s really one of the most extraordinary things that can happen to you.

Love this thread thanks @CatchingBabies !!

I have a question...

What is your opinion of midwife only labour wards?

I ask because... I had my first baby at 18 and our local hospital only has a midwife led labour ward. I was put under pressure by my mum to deliver at the larger hospital in the next county as they have doctors.

However... I had two further children when I was older and wiser and chose to have them at the local hospital.

I cannot express how much better it was. Every single thing about it was better.

However... this ward has recently closed due to the plummet of births. I don't know anyone else at all who has given birth there and people are always shocked when I say I did.

Why are people so scared of midwife led care?

@weaselwomble I hated them in my first labour too, I couldn't handle being in any position other than hands and knees and they kept making me lie on by back for the next internal. Turns out baby was back to back (no one mentioned this) which is why it was so painful on my back. I refused them completely for my second labour, although the doctor wanted to give me one when I had arrived in the ambulance (hoping for home birth but as I hit trasition there was a big gush of (more) waters and there was meconium and at the same time the mw began to have trouble finding heartbeat so she advised transfer)- of course the doctor had no idea how far along I was but the midwife knew I was delivering any second so she just carried on preparing to catch the baby (who was completely fine, agpar 10).

@catchingbabies my first baby was back to back, and I had an uncontrollable urge to push when I was about 5cm. I told the midwife, who just told me not to, and didn't even record it in my notes (which was odd, given I got out the pool because of it, so my poor oh could wobble my thighs, as I'd read somewhere that this stops the body being able to push: and it was right, and he wobbled my thighs for a long while!)
I do wonder if it was my body trying to turn him, and by fighting my body I prevented that happening? Has anyone else ever said that to you?

As it was he was 9lb4 with a head off the charts and was delivered by kellands forceps (still came out face up, notes don't mention that either, but it was the first thing the doctor said.... "He still came out face up. Wait, did you know it was a he?")

What does 'baby's a bit shocked' mean? When DD was born, everything went very straightforwardly and her Apgar score was 10 but they only let me hold her for a few seconds, then said she was 'a bit shocked' and whisked her away to special care, and I didn't see her again till the next morning. I'm diabetic and in the morning they said they'd had to give her formula because her blood sugar was low, but when they said she was shocked, they hadn't checked that yet so that can't have been it? I never asked and I've always wondered.

You mentioned earlier that it's difficult, if not impossible, to resuscitate a baby whose heart has stopped. DS's stopped at some stage during the last 22 minutes of my labour (they know because they had a trace on me and one on him, and afterwards they noticed that both traces had been picking up my heartbeat for the final 22 minutes, so his was unmonitored, despite the fact that he had been having 'atypical decelerations' for a couple of hours at that stage; he actually turned out to have cardiac issues which went unnoticed at the 20 week scan). He was completely limp and blue when he was born, and they didn't get his heart restarted for another 12 minutes. How easy is it to miss the fact that the two traces are picking up identical heart rates for that length of time? Given that he had been having issues, would it not be usual to be keeping and eye on them? There were two midwives and a student midwife in the room at the time.

@foufotis Yes there is a process for raising complaints.

@celeryeater you were not induced, induced is to start labour you were already in labour, it was augmented which is what we do to speed it up if progress is slow or has stopped. Yes it’s usually worse sadly but if you’re labour stopped at 8cms that’s not normal so we need to do something about it, leaving you to sleep would risk your baby being compromised as they only have enough reserves to cope with labour for so long. You didn’t have a home birth and get transferred in at 8cm did you? Your story is very familiar.

@plumpie79 not superstitious we just don’t see it much so it’s nice to see something different.

@suferjet the average miscarriage rate is 1%, different consultants have different rates of risk however depending on how skilled they are and how much they perform the procedure. I always recommended asking them their personal risk rate and the hospitals risk rate, some are much lower and some much higher.