I'm a Midwife AMA

[MidwifeAMA]

Experienced midwife, hoping to spread good quality info :)
AMA

This sounds so awful, I'm sorry that was your experience,

I can and would pull up colleagues on poor practice. It's not happened many times, luckily I work with a group of very competent midwives with high standards.

Oooh that's unusual, how did you think of that...

Making up feeds individually is much better, but the eddd fridge feed if needed is ok. I was thinking more about te old school where people used to make eight bottles for the day and line them in the fridge door for the day

More common if you've had babies before, if your waters have already gone, if your body is on the cusp and really. The majority need a bit more though.

Probably not. There are millions of small frames women having babies uneventfully. Things are so much different now and it's more likely that's the labour experience contributed to a more scary birth.
Think about ways of rewriting your brains idea of what birth will be like. Have you looked at Hypnobirthing?

Both are rare and I've not seen either more than twice in 15 years, I don't rework in the obstetric unit though so I'm a bit less exposed to complicated stuff.
USA info is often rubbish.
Try the RCOG, they have good patient info leaflets

Usually smooth sailing, probs a bit slower than second but without the start stop of a third. With your history probably 2hours, don't dilly dally

Could my 3b tear have been prevented?

I turned up to hospital already 6cm dilated (history of v fast labours in my family). Send to ward. I was saying I need to push but was in such pain and distress (previous birth PTSD) that I declined an internal examination. Fast forward another 3 hours of being told to hold baby in, waters burst and are meconium stained. Contractions start to peter out, new midwife starts dayshift and tells me it's now or never. 3 pushes later and voila a 3b tear...

Thanks for replying. His cord was very short and stumpy and did snap. I was so disappointed to have to go to theatre as I’d been upright and mobile all morning in labour with just entonox then delivered him standing up. I physically couldn’t sit or lie during labour as it was SO uncomfortable 😳

@MidwifeAMA thanks that sounds ideal 😁 dc2 was far too fast and furious. Hopefully I'll be dilly dallying around the house in the expectation of another home birth, whether the mw makes it or not will be interesting 🤣

Crystal ball type stuff I'm afraid. There are definitely things we can try that reduced the chance but then there's an element of genetics, baby's position, luck.
Perineum friendly things include perineal massage from 32 weeks, gentle progress in second stage, waterbirth, side lying or all fours, careful guidance from midwife, breathing out rather than shoving out.
However there will always be times when we move off this course, for example if baby is distressed really actively pushing might be the best approach at that time.

Occupational hazard of birthing standing up is that baby often comes quickly with lots of gravity and a short cord may be more likely to snap. Crummy luck!

Ooh yes, Dilly dally AFTER you've called the midwife :)

Thanks for doing this AMA!
Is it common for women to suffer back to back contractions when induced with the drip? I'm pregnant with no 2 and terrified that my birth will end up the same as number 1 (PROM, drip, fail to progress, c section).

They should do. We slowly increase the drip until you're having about four contractions in ten minutes. This means you should have gaps but they don't feel very far apart as you'll only get a minute or so to recoup in between.
It's worth seeing if you have a birth reflections type service as a good read through your notes may add clarity in contributing factors and give you some reassurance about next time. I'd strongly recommend a decent Hypnobirthing course to give you some positivity and release your fear.

I had a fairly easy labour when my baby was born. Laboured until 10cm at home, it took along time but still quite manageable. ( had to go in the end to have forceps) Contractions were absolutely fine throughout did have tens machine, breathing techniques and birthing ball and found the pain was very manageable. Problem is whenever I tried to lay down for a rest or to sleep at all, it was just unbearable! Any position that wasn’t upright just brought on this ridiculous amount of pain like quadruple the pain and I have always wondered why this could be? Do you have any answers? Thanks in advance!

@MidwifeAMA I’m going to be a first time mum in September :) I’ll have just turned 32, am pretty fit & healthy and am having a v low risk pregnancy. If all goes to plan, I’m hoping to give birth in the midwife led birthing centre.

do you have any tips for an easier labour?! Both things I can do in advance (I’m 32 weeks now) and for during actual labour.

thanks!!

Was the baby in an awkward position? I'm wondering if the pain with positioning and the forceps perhaps had the sane cause, maybe a back to back baby?
It's really common for women to feel much more comfortable upright than lying down generally though

So things I did as a midwife when I was pregnant.,,, not all of these have a solid evidence base....
Perineal massage, raspberry leaf tea, Hypnobirthing, eating 6 dates a day in pregnancy.
Then staying upright in labour, tens machine and stay at home and distracted for as much of early labour as possible. Flexible mindset

Any tips for doing VE's?
End of 2nd year and it's still not clicking for me. I'm getting worried I'll never get it. I can't tell what I can feel.

@MidwifeAMA thanks so much for your response. Will give hypnobirthing and birth reflections a look.

Two of my daughters want to be midwives. Would you encourage or try and talk about other options ? WhAt would you say to your daughter

I'm 31 weeks and baby has dropped from 30th centile to 8th centile in 3 weeks.

I was induced last time at 37w and daughter was born on 2nd centile, should I be preparing myself for a similar scenario?
Also had manual placenta removal, is there anything to suggest this was due to induction?

Thank you so so much for helping all these Mums with your views & experience.
You and your colleagues do a great job.
Daughter has just given birth and Midwives for whole 9 months were super. Not sure that B/F help was there after birth tho'. Such pain when feeding.
9 days old and baby has tongue tie. No help via NHS. And no way to know how to find someone privately. Some seem out for sucking lots of money out of Mums. How do you find someone to do a frenotomy/cut?

Play doh!
Get your colleagues to make some play dough cervix models for you to practice on.
Also, this skill is perfected when working on delivery suite often as there are many more women with regional analgesia and who are therefore more comfortable with a more thorough, slower examination.
You'll get it soon, it will just click