Midwife scaring me? Home birth or strapped down?!

[Catz]

When I was 27 wks I had a very very small bleed. no other symptoms. Went in to be monitored for an hour. All OK and went home straight afterwards. No other probs at all in pregnancy.

Today I saw my midwife for the first time since then. She told me that if I go to hospital there is no way that they will allow me in the pool, I will be on continuous monitoring and an active birth won't be possible as a result. Her view was that the hospital would use any excuse to strap me to monitor. She also said that I could still have a home birth or go to a midwife lead unit and if I did that I could have a pool, active birth etc!?!

I have to say that I am confused by this. The problem was tiny. If there really is a need for me to be monitored (I am sceptical) surely I then shouldnt have home birth etc. If there isn't why would the hospital insist?

Am now feeling worried about this as imagine that labour will be very stressful. Is she just trying to scare me into a home birth? I am 34+2 and the hospital is JR in Oxford if it makes a difference.

maxbear - I just saw the midwife and a housedoctor (or whatever they are called now). They put me on a monitor for a while. I had a chat with the Dr. The Dr went to see the obs to show him the trace and discuss what I'd told her. She came back and said all was fine and I could go but to call back if any further problems (there weren't). It really is about the most minimal thing it could be - felt slightly embarrassed for being there at all. That's why I was so shocked at what the m/w said. I've not had any kind of problem pregnancy (thank goodness) - all totally normal save for that, blood pressure 100/80, blood and urine tests all fine etc etc. If I need moitoring etc virtually every woman must!

LOL! I am sure i made a good choice

funnily enough, made me think more seriously about midwifery again ! eeeeek !

I was forced into hospital and continually monitored. I felt I was strapped to the hospital bed and I was also shouted at if I moved

Hospitals equal lack of choice and far too many unneeded inventions...which ironically was why I was so desperate to have a home birth in the first place.

If you have any other option , take it...you'll be happier in the long run with at least a chance of the type of birth you want.

my first birth

Sounds a bit odd to me - if you need to be constantly monitored why would she suggest a homebirth?! Can you speak to her again about it or get a second opinion? Depending on where you live, there are midwife-led birth centres in Wantage and Wallingford which are both meant to be very good. I had my ds at the JR in August but no labour so can't tell you what they are like for intervention etc, all the midwives I came across were lovely though and I was very happy with my care. Hope it all goes well for you.

I hate to be the voice of doom, catz, but I bet your midwife is right. I can only speak for my unit but if a woman had been admitted for 'unexplained' bleeding (no matter how small, how perfect the CTG trace, how normal the rest of her pg) she'd be bunged on a monitor asap. There's no sense or logic in it but that is how consultant units work - in my limited experience. It does sometimes feel like 'any excuse - we've got the technology, we'll use it'.

You can say no. Or you may get a sensible, intelligent, clued-up mw who realises how petty all this stuff is sometimes Plus, as kathy says, an active birth isn't totally impossible with a CTG, but it's a lot trickier. But why should you have to fight?

In your position, with strong feelings about what you want from your birth, I would explore the other options - which may include just speaking to another mw at the JR and getting an alternative perspective.

I think there's a huge gulf between the average CMW's assessment of risk and that of the hospital MWs and doctors. The Registrar I saw was really antsy about my planned home VBAC and crapped on about continuous monitoring and 12 hour deadlines and being 'let' do things by the consultant. The CMWs, on the other hand, are completely nonplussed and supportive about the whole thing. My MW did warn me before I saw the Registrar that s/he was likely to be less than enthusiastic about the idea, but to remember that it's my choice, my decision.

I agree with CorrieDale - while in labour with ds2 (my third child) she casually commented that 'I probably should have sent you for a GTT, given that dd was 10lb - oh well, they'd just have flapped and made you me induced early or something, much better to have forgotten!'.

Hmm she seems to be saying that there are shit midwives at the hospital??!

Are they different to the ones at the midwife lead unit? Or the ones who would attend a homebirth?

I am a bit about it

I had bleeding and also monitoring but still had a water birth in hospital

Catz, it's probably not a good idea to be 'scared' into a HB but all things being equal I think it would be a great idea for you to plan a HB! check out www.homebirth.org.uk/ for more info.

I hope to have a HB if I get to have another VBAC and am also hoping to witness my first HB as a Doula in the next few weeks!!! Yikes!!!

There was a thread not so long ago extolling the virutes of the mw in Oxford area and their positivity and encouragement about HB, not many other areas are so fortunate

Hmm, maybe I should just remove the offending page from my notes!

I don't think it's so much a case of 'shit midwives' at the hosp, mp - just stupid protocols and a more 'medicalised' mindset

The mw-led units in Oxford are separate from the JR, I think. And the mws who did the homebirths would be community rather than core labour-ward staff. So, yes, they would be different.

I had a bleed at 33 weeks with dd (my first) accompanied by high blood pressure which miraculously dropped every time my friendly community midwife took it and shot up every time I was anywhere near the hospital. Anyway I had a scan at 36 weeks just to check growth as it was on the small side of normal at 33w. Everything was fine and the consultant was not at all worried and said I could have the baby where ever I wanted to he didn't even blink when I said I might have it at home. (I didn't but I did have a mw led unit waterbirth with no problems) I think that the post when you said that if you need monitoring then everyone must is a sad but true situation as so many women are monitored unnecessarily.

I am surprised that the midwife was encourageing you to have a homebirth - the pressure always seems to be for hospital even if you have no history/issues. I had to fight (special permission from consultant following a consultation), to have my third child at a midwife-led unit because my first child had a very traumatic birth with a savage venthouse resulting in a bad haemorrage. (No problems with second delivery). As it turned out the midwife at my third delivery was supremely unhelpful, and although I desparately wanted to be upright/on all fours to deliver, and would have liked a water birth I didn't get either. When I tried to go on all fours I got such terrible pins and needles and weakness in my legs I couldn't sustain it, and the midwife wasn't about to help me or even communicate with me! I felt more "strapped down" than I did with my first delivery after a full epidural and my feet in stirrups! The after care at the midwife-led unit was fantastic, but I felt cheated and bitter about this delivery, particularly as DD1's delivery was pear-shaped, and DD2 had severe heart problems diagnosed at 22 wks, so straight to SCBU in both cases. DS1 was my one and only "normal" delivery. So much seems to depend on the individual midwife you get, regardless of where you deliver. I hope you have a good experience wherever you end up.

Yes, in my experience (of one pregnancy!) Oxford is very supportive of home births (to the point where you feel that you have to explain why you don't want one! I think it's partly because the JR in Oxford is the best hospital for specialist obs and pead care for miles around so people come from all over to go to it. This means that it tends to be quite busy. The impression I get is that the hospital management would quite like straightforward births to happen at home to save space and money. Midwives (or at least the ones I've met) encourage it because they think - probably with good reason - it'll be more relaxed than going to the JR because it is so busy. I also strongly suspect that there is a resource/job interest going on here too - if more women have home births/go to midwife led centres then the hospital has to keep employing properly trained midwives rather than increasingly substituting them wht assistants (which they do postnatally). I'm sure that the midwives genuinely think homebirth is a good idea but I'm unsure how much resource issues and internal politics play a part in it...