Independent midwife at hospital birth?

[Helensita]

From: Helensita 10:44 PM

To: All 479.1

Hi there,

I'm interested in hearing people's experiences of giving birth at Epsom Hospital. I'm due to give birth to my first child there in July and, though all antenatal care has been brilliant thus far, I'm a little concerned that I won't know the midwives who will be delivering my baby - in other words I'll get whoever is on duty at the time. I've heard that when you're having "community midwife care", fantastic though the midwives are that I see regularly at the GP clinic - none of them will deliver my baby. Independent midwives come highly recommended as an option in situations like mine - ie I will give birth in hospital but I know I'd feel a lot more comfortable and reassured to have a midwife with me throughout labour who knows me and has been closely involved in my antenatal care. Am I worrying unnecessarily here? (Anxious, first-time older mother that I am.) I'd really welcome comments particularly from anyone who has given birth at Epsom hospital with/without an independent midwife.

All replies gratefully received.

Regards,

Helen

My friend recently gave birth to her fourth DS. She had independant midwife and wishes she had done it with all of them. Said it was fantastic and only birth with no medical intervention.
However i had two great births and didn't feel compromised on not having same midwife with me throughout.

an IM cannot deliver your baby in an NHS hospital as far as i know, but she can support you throughout your labour and delivery. she can deliver you at home

if you are wanting one to one support , someone with you from start to finish, and gets to know you ante natally, it might be worth looking into having a doula, doula uk and nurturing birth

petitions.pm.gov.uk/midwives/

We may not be able to have IMs support us anywhere soon please sign their petition and pass it on

You need to talk this over with an independent midwife. Some have contracts with the hospital that mean they can be a midwife in hospital too. Some don't and will act as your birth supporter once they cross the hospital threshold.

Mine could at some NHS hospitals which is why we went to one and not the other for the second twin. www.birthcentre.com/

We would have had one baby at home but with twins I and they decided we'd book into an NHS hospital which would let them in.

Thank you so much for all your prompt replies. The information is very useful indeed and I will follow it up.

Regards,
Helen

I employed an independent midwife, even though I pretty much planned to go in to hospital. The reason for this was continuity of care. In the end we did attempt a home birth but ultimately had to go in to hospital. But she was still FANTASTIC to have in the hospital. Really well connected independent midwives can make things happen in hospital - so many of my friends reported spending much of the time on their own, not being able to get epidurals, not being allowed enough time to deliver naturally, not getting the help they needed breast feeding or being encouraged to use the bottle if the baby wasn't gaining the "required" amount of weight etc etc. My midwife was a total buffer for me from all of that nonsense - she was really diplomatic. She also later helped me through a horrible ectopic pregnancy, when the hospital wanted me to sit and wait for hours, even potentially days, for treatment. By calling a consultant she knew at the hospital, she was able to help me get things moving much faster. You shouldn't need to employ an extra person like this in principle, but unfortunately in so many cases you do.