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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that it's disgusting YouTube was forced to take the place of a qualified midwife?

39 replies

BoffinMum · 01/05/2009 14:20

Come rant with me. I've just been looking at the BBC website, and I was horrified to see that a father had to swot up DIY midwifery skills off YouTube during his wife's 4-hour labour, because there weren't enough midwives in his area to come out to attend his son's birth, and the ambulance couldn't get there in time either?

This was not a twenty-minute layby special, this was a multigravida labour of normal length FFS!! Am I the only person to hand wring in total and utter despair at the state of NHS midwifery services in the light of reports like this? Why are people being forced to freebirth unwillingly with only the internet for advice?? What are we coming to???

Thank goodness this birth was straightforward. I dread to think what might have happened in the case of breathing difficulties or problems with the cord or placenta.

OP posts:

Original poster

BoffinMum · 01/05/2009 18:05

I do not feel like a prat. I think the NHS overworks its midwives badly, and maternity services are woefully underfunded, which to me sounds like a factor in there not being a mw available on this occasion. It's just like in hospital sometimes these days, with one mw to three women in labour, where people basically end up freebirthing, but in an alien environment. Clearly I am a lone voice here though. Carry on with your tribute thread ....

OP posts:

FAQinglovely · 01/05/2009 18:09

yes but Boffin - by the sounds of things even if there had been a MW available she wouldn't have got there in time either!

SO makes no difference!

SoupDragon · 01/05/2009 18:19

With a HB you accept the risk that there will be no midwives available when you go into labour. They can not provide an infinite supply of them and if more women go into labour on that day/time then it's first come first served.

You have misread the story completely.

If the ambulance couldn't get there on time, neither would the midwife and the baby would still have been born unattended by medical staff.

This isn't a tribute thread, it's simply pointing out that you're wrong with your interpretation of the story. You made a point about the labour being 4 hours long yet no one could get there in time when it wasn't. It wasn't a labour of normal length, it was indeed what you said it was not: a 20 minute lay-by special.

FAQinglovely · 01/05/2009 18:20

SoupDragon · 01/05/2009 18:21

[snort]

TheFallenMadonna · 01/05/2009 18:21

Re your somewhat arsey 'tribute thread' - I think you'd get a more dispassionate appraisal of maternity services if a) you got your facts right and b) you weren't discussing the case of someone who is posting. Of course people are going to want to congratulate them.

chequersmate · 01/05/2009 19:12

As others have said, youtube wasn't forced to take the place of a midwife. I think in those sort of situations you normally get talked through it by a trained emergency services operator, don't you?

frenchteacher2 · 01/05/2009 22:17

Boffin Mum,
just wanted to thank you for your advice on various oxbridge threads I found via advanced search. Did thank you here ... and grateful for any more insights. (Sorry for thread hijack) Thanks

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/741484-Cambridge-Natural-Sciences-application-Hellll lllllllllllllpppppppppp

Original poster

BoffinMum · 02/05/2009 23:04

Thank you Frenchteacher, it's nice to be appreciated. Will pop to other thread tomorrow if I can.

OP posts:

nappyaddict · 02/05/2009 23:08

If you want a homebirth the NHS HAVE to find you a midwife.

If you ring up when you are in labour and they say there aren't any midwives available and you say well I'm not going to hospital they have to find you one. This happened to someone I know and in the end they sent a midwife from a different hospital.

eidsvold · 02/05/2009 23:23

you can think what you like - free country but obviously given the facts of this situation you are misguided in your thoughts and are using incorrect facts to make a point.

LackaDAISYcal · 02/05/2009 23:44

YABVU, if that's what actually happened.....but it wasn't. Have you actually read any of the links to the story?

lots of babies are born quickly before the emergency services can get out to the mum; ordinary people deal with it and the majority of babies born quickly like this are just fine.

By all means start a discussion thread about the state of maternity services; I'm sure it'll be an interesting read.

pinkdolly · 03/05/2009 09:03

I do thnk Boffinmum actually has a valid point (tho her detals were a little off).

We are seriously short on midwives (i was told as much at my booking in appointment).

The midwives that we do have are overstreched which is why women wanting HB's end up in hospital.

I for one am glad my labour was so quick, it meant I got an even better birth then I had planned, I mean I cant think of anyone else i rather would have delivered our little boy.

Thanx for your kind words about our little family.

powpow · 03/05/2009 09:28

congratulations poinkdolly!

I was in a similar situation with my last.
The night before I went into labour my husband and I were looking up how to deliver in case of an emergency.
I was having a HB and when I called there were no midwives available. They called another practice and they arrived while I was pushing.

I'm glad they were not available, the midwives from the NHS I had (barely)seen during pregnancy were hardly helpful, and completely exhausted and run off their feet.
The midwives that showed for my birth, were from a special practice, they were lovely and not bound by all the red tape.

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