Is it possible to bring an independent midwife into hospital with you during labour?

[Kwini]

That's it, really. I'm quite concerned by what I've read about short staffing on maternity wards and really like the idea of having someone with me whom I've known throughout the pregnancy. Would prefer a midwife to a doula as (I assume) the former would have medical training, so could be a useful advocate if things get hairy. But I have a sneaking suspicion that hospitals probably aren't in favour of IMs being brought in by patients! What would MNs advise?

Tina at SLIM was my IM too! Love her!

There's a thread on the go at the
moment where someone posted that their doula advised them not to tell their midwife their waters gad broken (eg to lie!!) so they wouldn't be induced. I thought that was horrifying. am also skeptical of doulas.

Just wanted to add my experience as I truly loved my independant midwife. She was worth every single penny i paid her and yes she came to hospital with me.

I was planning a home birth and was fed up with the tutting at first baby and home birth was too high risk etc. i thought a doula would be my best support but realised i wanted someone more medical and hands on to be able to look at me progressing etc.

My midwife had contracts to work in two local hospitals and had I gone there she could have carried on treating me, but i hated the hospitals and chose a third which was out of her remit.I had a back to back labour which lasted around 30 hours. My midwife was with me at home, in pool etc and then i begged for an epidural. despite it being everything i had said I hated, she respected my wishes but made alternative suggestions first to just make sure its what i wanted. At hospital it was great, just having someone "in the know" by my side was such a huge empowerment. I had an emergency c section when DD got into trouble.

My midwife told them that I wanted to find out the gender for myself not have them shout it over the screen, she also insisted at skin to skin contact in recovery so I could still establish breastfeeding. She was the person to pass me my DD not the surgeons or hospital staff. She also took photos of her being weighed etc as she was respected as a midwife in the room and treated as such despite not actually touching me.

She did all my antenatal at home, 21 days of breastfeeding support after and even attended my DD's 1st birthday. Nothing was too much trouble I would actually go into debt to have an indie midwife again.

good luck xx

Thanks you again for all these stories - it's really helpful!

And point definitely taken about the value of NCT classes :)

Sorry to hear of these negative stiories about Doulas.
They are not medical professionals in any sense, that is not theior role and they should be clear about that from the start.
I do signpost people to published research/websites/videos etc and make sure people are informed of all their options but would not give 'advice' to my clients.
A Doula is there to provide, one to one continuous emotional support, not medical care!
I think an IM is ideal if you can possibly afford it, but personally I beleive a Doulas role is very different to that of a midwife and in a perfect world, there would be a place for the Doula role and an IM at a birth (for examplem, with my last client, she had one to one support from the Consultant midwife as she had had a previous traumatic birth)
Antenatally I signposted them to postitive books on birth, videos, hypnobirthing etc I gave her massages, I spent time with her, her partner, her DD.I listented to her thoughts on her previous birth, what mothering meant to her, about her hopes and fears for this birth and this baby. On the day I massaged, made noise with her, helped her stay mobile at home, made cups of tea, let the second midwife in as the head was crowning, took photos. After the birth I cooked a casserole, supported her with skin to skin, drank champagne and celebrated the birth with them.
Not a medical role at all, but no less useful for that!
Selina x

Selina, I hear vastly more positive stories about doulas than negative ones!

How does one go about picking a doula or IM? Is anyone on here comfortable recommending their own? I'm in West London - W10 - 8 weeks into my first pregnancy, and just starting to figure out what all my options are!

independentmidwives.org.uk is a good resource. I found all three IMs whom I interviewed on there.

It's important to make sure that you check experience and qualifications and have confidence that an IM is someone you can establish a rapport with. You need to be able to trust them to advise you in situations where you may not be able to think straight.