I'm a midwife, ask me anything

[MidwifeAMA]

Midwife of 20 years, currently specialising in home birth.
Ask me anything :)

"Thank you so much for answering something I've had in my head for 2 years!! How common is face presentation and is it possible to deliver vaginally?"

It's about 1-600-800. I've never seen one in all my years. Whether they can be born depends on whether the chin faces your front or your back as this determines whether they can get through the curve of the pelvis.

Nothing to ask

Just want to say you're bloody amazing doing the job you do.

Thank you for the care you give your patients.

Thanks I feel very lucky to do what I do and I appreciate how incredibly important it is to give women the best possible birthing experience.

I'm pregnant with my first. My trust only have hospital births (no MLU/birth centre) or home birth. On one hand I'm bad in hospitals - I've been discharged earlier than usual before as I'm stressed out and not sleeping/resting. I'm worried I'll be too distressed in a hospital environment to progress. But I'm also worried about what happens if I haemorrhage or baby get stuck etc in a non-medical setting. I live less than 2 miles from the hospital. What would be done in a home birth setting if these complications happened?

You may have been my midwife for my first then. Or the trainee she brought with her. Both had exactly that attitude to my birth. They were absolutely brilliant supporting me all through and listening to me, and dealing with my massive PPH after.

Didn't have a midwife for my second. I delivered her myself in the passenger seat while husband accelerated to 90mph after seeing the head next to the gear stick. Thank goodness I was wearing a skirt that day 😂

Thanks again. You and your colleagues are amazing.

They have no home birth or birth unit?!
I think they have to provide a home birth service, what would they do for a woman who just said I'm not coming in. It seems very old fashioned to not have any of these choices, yikes. Any other hospitals near by?

We are trained to manage all emergencies and carry tons of equipment. Stuck babies and bleeding are managed just the same as in the hospital in the first instance and we call an ambulance if we need any ongoing help.

"Didn't have a midwife for my second. I delivered her myself in the passenger seat while husband accelerated to 90mph after seeing the head next to the gear stick. Thank goodness I was wearing a skirt that day 😂"
Now there's an advert for home birth if ever
I've heard one!!

Thanks so much - really appreciate you replying!

Echoing others and just to say you do a fantastic job and thanks for giving up your own time to answer all these questions😊

Student midwife here—quite a few midwives I speak to say the training is more intense than the actual job. It is quite intense as you do have to manage placement, assignments and uni at the same time (though usually there tends to be blocks of placement and theory!) but at the same time I do love it.

If you’re on Facebook, there’s a group called “Secret Community for midwives in the making” which I found absolutely invaluable when applying to university.

No birth unit, home birth is a maybe option as it's hospital midwives so if they're busy they suspend the service as none available (happens often, even closing the ward and sending people in labour to next hospital thats an hour away without traffic). After a recent bad report they're trying to get a dedicated home birth service but no guarantee if they will be in place by the time I give birth. Next hospital in the trust is an hour away and also no birth unit.

There is another hospital also about an hour away but a different trust with a small birth centre in the hospital but access is 'first come first served'.

Meant to tag @Polarsimilarities there!

I was induced on ward with DD at 40+10, she'd been stuck in the same down position from 35 weeks which was with her head turned to the side. I don't believe I was ever going to push her out. Hours & hours of slow progress, epidural, 2 failed ventouse & subsequent forceps got her out - with my DH & anaesthesiologist literally pinning me to the table so she could be yanked out of my body.

She has a very obvious dent in her forehead which has been repeatedly denied by medics that it is birth/forceps related, It matches her post birth photos - plus bruising.
When I was almost fully dilated I was given, mistakenly, a double dose of epidural - would this have caused any harm, affected progress?
They knew her head wasn't in the right position & they failed to turn her - should I have been allowed to progress to the point I did?

I have since found out I have connective tissue issues, when midwife asked me to practice push she actually laughed at me because I managed nothing. Made me feel like crap, plus she was in charge of a trainee midwife!

My 1st midwife was fabulously supportive but because I was there so long I ended up with one that was clearly jaded.

Firstly - such appreciation for all you do! Generally all midwives I've been treated by have been some of the loveliest and kindest people I've ever met.

How many c sections are you allowed to have?

My first baby was footling breech presentation so I had no choice than to have a c section, tried to vbac for my second but after 2 days in labour I got stuck at 4cm so had to have another.

6 months ago I had a third c section after a 10 year gap.

Dh and I would love to have one more baby, is that possible for me? And how long should we leave it? Every c section I've had has been easy, textbook, and without complication.

Hi I had my first baby almost 6 weeks ago. I got to the hospital when having 3 in 10 but was assessed at 1-2cm! They offered me induction (as my waters had gone) or to go home. I refused both as I already felt I was very much in labour and worried about tolerating the pain at home. They told me they could find me a room and see what happened after a few hours so I agreed. I was told I couldn't have gas and air.

At 9:30am they came to check on me and I said I needed to push - i was 10cm and baby was there so she was rushing around trying to get a trace on me/get prepared. She was born at 10:00. I was really happy with my experience as I didn't want much intervention.

My question is, for a second birth will I be taken more seriously if I arrive at the hospital at 1-2cm again given the history? I feel like they didn't believe I was in labour which was why I wasn't allowed pain relief & wasn't monitored at all (they said I could have the room as it was a quiet night) but I had almost 24 hours worth of tracked contractions and the pain had really intensified!

Hello,

thank you for your amazing work, I’ve been reading some of your answers to the questions put forward by MNers and it’s been really educational and informative.

I have a couple if it’s ok. I’m currently 34+6 with my first, a little boy.

• My eldest brother and I were on the late side (him by two weeks, me by 10 days) and the doula who ran my NCT course mentioned the late baby thing might be hereditary, so could my LO be late also (he’s due 29th July)?
• This might be unfair to ask, no midwife I’ve ever asked over the past eight months has been able to answer this question: my middle brother (my mum’s second child) was two weeks early and my mum experienced a bleed prior to labour (possibly a bad one). My brother was born profoundly autistic - could this event be the reason for his condition? Maybe this is completely unanswerable, sorry
• Thirdly, possibly another unanswerable question but I feel completely relaxed and not nervous at all about my baby arriving and being a mum. Am I crazy and in for a huge shock, and possible struggle to re-adjust? I just feel happy about him coming. Im not even that confident and self assured in other parts of my life, so why am I so relaxed? Is it hubris? Again, maybe you cannot possibly answer this as you don’t actually know me

Thank you so much

Can I ask a question that’s been niggling at me since my daughter was born 12 years ago!

I pushed for 2 hours then they attempted forceps but didn’t work so went for C-section but the baby was so far down and stuck in the pelvis they couldn’t get her out initially.
they put a crash call out but as everyone came running into theatre they managed to pull her free.
What would the next step me if they couldn’t have freed her?

Hello, I had my second baby 3 weeks ago. My first was born a day before her due date and labour lasted 16 hours. Everyone told me that second time round baby would be earlier and my labour would be shorter. However my second baby was 10 days late and once again labour lasted around 16 hours. Am I just doomed to have long labours? I'm quite small and my babies were both on the 90th percentile and my midwife said maybe my pelvis is small or something like that. With my first I wasn't particularly mobile whilst in labour but with my second I was standing up, on the ball etc but I just seem to dilate really slowly.

I'm thinking of a home birth but my house is a bit cramped and cluttered. How much room do you reasonably need?
I am embarrassed about how messy my house is. DH just doesn't notice and we have a toddler.

Is it better to birth downstairs in case of emergency?
Is there much mess?

I also wanted to say you're amazing for doing f what you do. I've recently left hospital as I was in for 15 days. I had severe early onset preeclampsia at 19 weeks, and my baby passed at 20 weeks. Every single midwife was so caring and amazing. Went that extra mile for me as they knew how much I was struggling. You are all angels! You certainly don't get paid enough for what you do.

Btw what's the earliest you have seen preeclampsia present? None of the doctors or midwives had ever seen it at 19 weeks before, it's not usually a thing before 20 Weeks. They did say it was becoming more common in general recently. Have you found this to be the case?

That does sound magical 😍

I often think that despite all the modern medicine, machinery and techniques that we have now (and don't get me wrong, they save lives!!) there's something very ancient and powerful about midwifery at it's core. You do incredible work!!

My midwife refused to do mine for pretty much the same reasons as you are saying.

I like the idea though it's true you can't plan some things but when it's your first I think its harmless.

I have very small babies - both DD1 and DD2 were under 5lb, DD1 significantly so. DD1 was born at 38 weeks. I was induced because my waters had broken, and I ended up having a section as I never dilated past 4cm and they were worried she would get distressed - it had also been 48 hours since my waters broke so risk of infection was increased. No one knew she was small until she came out.

DD2 was picked up as being small early on. I had a lot of extra scans and was induced at 36+5, she was born at 37+0, again because I didn't dilate past 4cm I ended up having a section.

My placenta in both cases was small but looked healthy. Both children (now 2 years 7 months and 10 months - you can tell I took the advice not to get pregnant for a year very literally!) are healthy and moving up the growth percentiles.

If I had a third child, which I've been advised would be fine overall as long as I wait 2 years from the birth of DD2 to get pregnant, then it seems likely that they'd be small and I'd be advised to have them early again. Would I be able to be induced after 2 sections? And would there be any point, as I've never dilated past 4cm?

Sorry this is so long!

I wanted a home birth there, but wasn't allowed due to the PPH at my first.

Child had different ideas. As they have done all their life since. Headstrong, stubborn, knows exactly what they want. All started the day they insisted they were born in a moving car!