Skip to main content
Skip to main navigation
Skip to talk navigation

Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Childbirth

Denied a homebirth when in labour?

205 replies

PrettyCandles · 18/10/2006 15:06

Has this happened to anybody else?

When I phoned up to say that I was in labour and was booked for a homebirth, they could not find a midwife to come to me and I had to go to the hospital. I know that in theory that can happen, but have never heard of it happening before. Even the midwife who booked me for homebirth a couple of weeks ealier said that it had never happened as far as she was aware.

OP posts:

Report

lulumama · 19/10/2006 17:57

ok happybiggirl...how do we change things? please...

and yes, you stay at home and they either send you a midwife as you are legally entitled to.......the lead midwife has a responsibility to all the women under her care...including those at home...

happybiggirl · 19/10/2006 17:58

Message withdrawn

happybiggirl · 19/10/2006 17:59

Message withdrawn

lulumama · 19/10/2006 18:00

i don't hate the NHS - but i don;t think the situation is tolerable..saying it is worse elsewhere does not excuse it being so understaffed and stretched in this country..

lulumama · 19/10/2006 18:01

and yes--writing letters of complaint is a great place to start!

happybiggirl · 19/10/2006 18:02

Message withdrawn

happybiggirl · 19/10/2006 18:04

Message withdrawn

lulumama · 19/10/2006 18:04

i take your point happy -- and sadly , it is the nurses, midwives and doctors..who get the 'foot stamping' as they are on the front line, rather than behind an office door...

my mum left the NHS recently due to the inordinate amount of paperwork & red tape that actually prevented her from being with the patients who needed her...

Boowila · 19/10/2006 18:11

Is the NHS underfunded, or are they wasteful with their funds? I don't really know the answer, but they do seem to get enormous sums of money.

Okay, China won't save a baby under 28 weeks. And the NHS won't save one under 23 weeks. Is that really such a huge difference? And, if you have to go to China to prove this point, I dare say that in itself is saying something.

lulumama · 19/10/2006 18:12

good point boowilla.....

it has been noted before on this thread that a good positive birth leaves a mum happier and healthier...draining less resources from other areas of the NHS.....

belgo · 19/10/2006 18:19

The NHS is wasteful, at all levels. And it tries to be all things to all people, which it can't possibly be, unless money and management drastically improve.

Also, getting back to home births: Not all home births are good, just because you give birth at home doesn't neccessarily make it a 'good' birth. I had a very straight forward birth in hospital, but my second birth at home was far more traumatic, and I feel that I put the baby and myself at risk by having a homebirth.

Boowila · 19/10/2006 18:32

BTW, I want to clarify that my little rant about the NHS is not directed at the individual doctors and nurses, but rather the higher level of the organisation. The beaurocracy that is the wedge between patient and care all too often.

lulumama · 19/10/2006 18:33

point taken belgo....home birth not for everyone,...but the women who want one should get one!

happybiggirl · 19/10/2006 18:35

Message withdrawn

belgo · 19/10/2006 18:37

Lulumama - you're right - if only we lived in a perfect world where we all got what we wanted. In Holland you have the other extreme where women are not only encouraged to have a home birth, but expected to, and I've heard some awful stories about women being pressurised into having a homebirth.

belgo · 19/10/2006 18:39

I wonder which is the best country to give birth in worldwide? On the whole I don't think the UK does that badly?

kittythescarygoblin · 19/10/2006 18:50

It seems to depend WHERE in th UK. you live as to the level of care you will get.

lulumama · 19/10/2006 18:52

interesting question belgo!

a happy medium needs to be sought and found.....! and on the whole, the UK doesn't do too badly....but it is the shocking stories that garner more attention

i had a home birth & it was perfect! wouldn't have got 142 posts!

i've learnt a lot!

PrettyCandles · 19/10/2006 18:58

The chance of it not happening was explained to me - see my OP.

Fair enough that if no-one compains nothing will be changed, but there has to be a middle ground between footstamping and tantrums on one side, and working with what's available on the other.

OP posts:

happybiggirl · 19/10/2006 19:01

Message withdrawn

lulumama · 19/10/2006 19:02

"a happy medium needs to be sought and found.....!"

see. i agree too!!

happybiggirl · 19/10/2006 19:03

Message withdrawn

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Email address

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

lulumama · 19/10/2006 19:09

i do see.....absolutely! just wanted to say i think we are all ,ultimately ,on the same side!

happybiggirl · 19/10/2006 19:10

Message withdrawn

PrettyCandles · 19/10/2006 19:13

Please also bear in mind, when you say that I (or you/one) should have held out and insisted on my rights, that the m/w who would eventually have attended would have been off duty. I may have entitlements, but so do they. They are incredibly dedicated women, and should not be taken advantage of, no matter how shoddy the state of the NHS.

In hospital, the m/w looking after us had been on duty for 24h. She didn't stamp her feet when I came in with my requirement for one-to-one care...or maybe she did, earlier, but I didn't see that. All I saw was someone giving me their best.

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.