Seeing the same midwife?

[HelloVeraPlant]

For anyone that has recently had a baby or is currently pregnant, have you had the same midwife throughout or do you see a different person every time?

I was told that it’s rare to have the same one - which I’ve had.

I had a named midwife in both my pregnancies that I saw throughout- I think it is a postcode lottery dependant on the staffing levels where you live.

It usually depends on if they hospital is following the continuity of care model. For DD1 in 2020/1, I had two midwives that I saw interchangeably with the expectation that at least one of them would be available to support me during the birth. It was lovely, got to know them both really well. Felt really well supported. They worked in a wider team of 8 and they also took the time to introduce me to the rest of the team in case they weren't available on the day.

For DD2 in 2023/4, i started off with the same midwife as for DD1, but at around 16w the hospital suspended the continuity of care model due to staffing pressures and i was just assigned to whoever was free at the appointment time. I saw a different midwife at every appointment from 20w onwards, despite having higher and higher BP each time (which did eventually turn into preeclampsia) and it seemed noone was joining the dots with the pregnancy hypertension i had in my first pregnancy. I finally got some continuity once the preeclampsia kicked in as I had monitoring every second day via the triage midwives, so was basically looked after by them instead. Definitely did not feel like anyone was on the ball with my care!

Had the same midwife each time for my DC but neither of them were at the births. (I had fantastic midwives in the hospital for both my births though so I was happy with that)

For most of my appointments I had the same midwife but she wasn’t at the birth and I could never contact her if I had any concerns.

I had the same community midwife all the way through both my pregnancies except when she was on holiday or sick - she told me they try to keep the continuity for second/third pregnancies if they can (though obviously that's not always possible). Postnatal checks were done by whoever was in on the right day.

She wasn't at the birth though - completely different team

Pregnant with DC3. Haven’t seen a midwife more than once for any single midwife visit across 3 pregnancies haha. So saw like 8-10 midwives with first pregnancy. Then a whole different set of people 3 years later. And 2 years later a whole other set of 8 midwives. Zero consistent care ( London borough) it’s so bad it’s almost funny

After the booking in appointment my appointments were all with the same midwife from the home birth team. Sadly she wasn't on call for the birth (another midwife came) but she did all the after birth appointments at home as well.

It's so bad how it can vary so much. My two totally opposite experiences above were also in London!

Interesting!!

im south London?

Yes! Both at St Georges.

Oh wow, we are v close! That was a hospital I considered. Just a bit more effort for me to get there and I feared it would be v busy hospital.

Back in the halcyon days of 30 years ago when it was all supposed to be fab, I saw four or five midwives during pg, two registrars, had two midwives fir the birth due to a shift change, different staff on the PN ward for three days and then at home four community midwives and two students visited. The most frequent phrase was "I don't know". Half of them banged on about their personal lives rather than my well being and chatted contradictory sh1t, missing the fact that I had mastitis. A minority were very rude and rough.

When I had dd I had consultant led care, put my foot down about continuity and only agreed to a vaginal birth on the basis that the midwife was experienced and competent. When I got home I agreed to see no more than two community midwives and put my foot down over students.

For most of my appointments I had the same midwife but she wasn’t at the birth. I could message her or book an appt on a set day a week that she was at my GP’s practice.

It was very busy. With DD1, it was so busy that the maternity unit actually closed whilst we were there and mums were being redirected on arrival to either Chelsea, St Helier or maybe Kingston? 😱Second time round was a bit more relaxed but every single appointment ran at least 45mins behind schedule 🥴 But we were glad we chose it as my labour for DD2 was only 1hr and I went into labour during the morning rush hour so any further and it might have been a bit hairy to get there on time!

I think it’s insane how varied the care is! I’ve had 2 pregnancies and the care couldn’t have been different!

Although both times my midwives were on holiday when I went into labour so had to go with whoever was in duty.

@RosesAndHellebores I think sometimes we don’t realise that we can put our foot down. I was placed in the high risk category but it was for a programme they were trailing. I asked my midwife why I was selected for this programme they were trailing - they said that the service has always existed but only for women that asked for it. I thought it’s unfair - how would you know whether to ask or not?