hands up if you saw a consultant during pregnancy or birth or if you know any proper stats on this

[hatwoman]

I'm interested to know what proportion of women see consultants so can I do an utterly unscientific poll - what kind did you see? how many times? or did you not see one at all nb I include anaesthetists - so anyone who had an epidural is going to have to say yes.

me dd1: obstetrician at 20 weeks just to check all was ok with a pre-existing condition; anaesthetist to give me an epidural; obstetrician armed with a ventouse

dd2: none

And if anyone knows where i can access slightly more scientific stats I'd be very grateful I've tried NCT, Mational College (?) of Midwives, and a couple of other sites on safe childbirth but can't see anything

Didn't see one with either of my two.

me - from about 24 weeks, IUGR. Can't remember how many as saw quite a few during my 8 days in hospital too. Would guess about 10 times.

ds: was born in Italy, where you see consultants all the time
dd: saw an obstetrician at around 25 weeks, she did a swab.

Message withdrawn

only on my due date. that is all for my dd3

DS- did not see consultant, but saw the registrar? the one below a consultant..several times, probably 4 or 5 due to bleeding, he induced me and did my emergency c,s, oh, i had an epidural too, yes to that too.

DD - saw the consultant at 28 weeks, and saw him several times after , probably 4 or 5 again, due to being at risk of DVT and also very anxious about the birth...had VBAC, no epidural.

i imagine, stats will vary from trust to trust, year in and year out....Royal college of obs & gynaes?

or each obstetric unit in each health authority

i saw them all the time in both pregnancies. due to pre-existing condition. in fact, my diabetes consultant & obsetrician came to visit me together the morning after i had ds (they congratulated me then told me i looked knackered )

ds - fortnightly from 34 weeks because of persistent transverse lie, had elective c-section

dd - five times during pregnancy, same man, wonderful person (had a stillbirth between ds and dd). Last time was to finalise details of medically essential second elective

Both DCs born in France. Consultant every month during pregnancy but midwives only for births.

Yes right through due to Thyroid disorder and then having a c-section!

I saw one after my 12 week scan due to family history and then at 36 weeks due to baby being breech (was spotted by my GP the same afternoon)
I then had an unsuccessful ECV done by a consultant at 37 weeks. So I suppose I saw one 3 times.

do you actually mean consultants hat, or doctors rather than midwives?

(department of health might be a good source of data).

Loads for dd1 and dd2!

I had CVS's with both of them, had epidurals with both and had a forceps with dd1 and an emergency c-section with dd2.

Being an 'older' mother I was under consultant care anyway - would have been anyway with dd1 because of my birth/bloodloss!

(When I had appointments with dd2 - the screen flashed with an alert message - so must have been deemed high risk)

I did try to have a waterbirth.

I saw the consultant once when pg even though I had quite a few complications.

An anetheatist (sp) was called when I was in labour because I needed antibiotics on a drip and they couldn't get into the vein on the back of my hand. He walked in took my hand roughly said "can't you see these veins, I shouldn't be called for a waste of time like this, you can do it yourself" cue stropy walk out of the room and student midwife mimicking him much to my drugged up delight.

DS saw a consultant a few times (approx 3) during the 6 day stay in scbu after birth.

MW sent me to the obstetrician because due to particular circumstances we were likely to have multiples. He only looked at the scan and said "nah, only one" and left the room.

For DS's birth there were:

• a useless midwife
• 2 other midwifes to loudly tell first one off and to call the consultant
• a paediatrician to revive DS after late actions from first midwife.
• An aneasthecist
• And a doctor who took DS out. although I don't know if she had any kind of speciality but community midwife said she had done some lovely stitches so maybe she was a seamstress.

Me both times

dd1 - six pre-natal including anomaly scan and once post-natal he came to see the baby on the ward.

dd2 - same consultant four pre-natal and anomaly scan and non post-natal.

Dr Philip Owen at Princess Royal - lovely lovely man.

First an anaesthetist who was not a consultant during my first labour (she did it wrong), then the consulant anaesthetist who remarked vaguely it could be sorted (but didn't) about ooooh 12 hours later, then half of King's hospital for the final hoovering.

Saw someone who was possibly a consultant during my second pregnancy on account of my midwife being scared I'd get PND because I'd had a bout of nonPND depression in the past (she was an obstetrician who told me to cheer up and put a bit of makeup on and enjoy being pregnant and how women in the UK - she was an Arab, I think - should be more like their grandmothers about silly things like PND. I told her that my 24 year old Indian grandmother killed herself with PND.)

interesting - to be honest I thought more people would say none. I thought it was "normal" (whatever that is) not to see one. Strange as it sounds the reason I ask is because of a conversation about the problems related to child birth in the developing world. Someone else related the problems of high maternal and natal mortality and other complications - and the solutions - entirely to a lack of consultants and gynaecologists whereas I felt that leaving midwives out of the equation was ridiculous. with good midwifery (including ante-natal care) problems can be spotted early, mothers can be informed, and difficulties referred on to consultants. but also - and arguably most importantly, ordinary healthy pregnancies can stay that way.

ds1-didnt see one till i was hospitalised with pre-eclampsia at 38 weeks.

dd1-saw one when hospitalised with PIH at 36 weeks,then a couple more times before i was induced.

ds2-'booked in' with a consultant at 12 weeks,but saw members of her team untill 36 weeks(when hospitalised with PIH....blah blah).appointments were 12 wk,28 wk,34 weeks at the consultants clinic.

dd2-booking appt with actual consultant at 12 weeks,saw her again at 28 weeks,34 weeks then every week till induction at 38 weeks.

db5-booking in with consultant at 12 weeks,saw her at 27,28,29 and 31 weeks.next appt is next thursday(36 weeks)

Saw one after the 12 week scan, then again after 20 week scan which I think was standard inour area.
Then saw them about twice a week while in hospital (from 34 weeks due to pp) but most of those visits just seemed to be friendly 'hi how are you today'visits rather than to discuss anything serious.

ds - various registrars/consultants from about week 8 ish to try and figure out why I kept bleeding ... most of them pointed out it was because I was going to miscarry - probably saw about 6/8 times, inc for steroid injection. Tbh, not sure which were consultants and which were registrars/SHOs (knew at the time...) Waters went at 36 weeks, saw consultant to try and work out what to do next. Birth with gas and air, SHO did stitches
dd - ahem, two consultants from about week 8 to try & figure out why I kept bleeding - and then nothing until birth where I (go on, guess!) had a bleed, so had waters broken. They had to bring the consultant in becase I was being stroppy and asking if it was necessary!! SHO for stitches again

Ds1 - saw a consultant at 40 weeks to discuss induction. Saw another one about an hour prior to him conducting emergency c-section.

Ds2 - saw consultant midwife at around 28 weeks to discuss birth options as VBAC. Saw consultants (never the same one and never the same advice) fortnightly from 32 weeks due to IUGR. Saw further consultant couple of hours before planned c-section.

Obviously also saw anaethetists at both c-sections - both of whom were lovely and much more personable and reassuring than the consultants.

Saw one once at 12 weeks due to previous attacks of SVT. Confirmed no apparent issue with heart, and didn't need to be seen again unless I had a problem, which I didn't.

(although, in the interests of 'pure sampling methods ... those of who DID see someone are more likely to come onto this thread imho

I saw the consultant every month or more with dd and ds1, and even more with ds2 for growth scans.