Student midwife during labour & childbirth?

[Poppins2016]

One of the prompts on the birth plan template provided by my midwife is:

"Can a student (usually a midwifery student) work with their mentor to provide you care?"

I have really conflicting feelings about whether I want to give permission or not.

1. My overwhelming instinct is that I'd like be to left alone during labour to get on with it by myself. If the rational side of me thought it would be safe, I'd happily have a home birth/unassisted birth. But my sensible side rules and I'm planning to have a water birth in my local midwifery led unit (plan b is standard delivery unit). I'm planning to use hypnobirthing techniques and I'm very much on board with the philosophy of a 'calm, gentle birth' (as it fits with my natural instinct). It was emphasised by the midwife who ran our course that we should tell the MLU midwives that we'd be using hypnobirthing techniques and we should emphasise that we'd like to aim for a calm, quiet environment with a minimum of conversation. Allowing a student midwife to be present seems to go against my natural instincts... It would (surely?) involve double the conversation, checking, observation and examinations.

However...

2. I strongly believe that students need to be allowed to gain experience. In the past I have always allowed student doctors, nurses, gynaecologists and midwives to give me care. How is anyone going to learn if people like me say 'no'? My instinct is to want an experienced midwife who will be as hands off as possible... But how does anyone learn how to do that without practice?

So:

Has anyone said yes to a student midwife being present? Was it ok? Did you regret it or was it a positive experience? Any pros/cons you wish had been mentioned?

I'm going to speak to my community midwife about what I should expect (if I say yes) when I next see her, but thought I'd ask for your experiences in the meantime.

I had a wonderful student midwife with my second baby. They have to deliver a certain number of births so they can qualify- I don't know the exact number. My DS was her last one as a student! She was lovely, very calm and professional.

I wasnt bothered either way about having a student midwife with my first but actually it was a really positive experience. The actual midwife couldnt stay during the whole labour and was in and out of the room but the student stayed with me the whole time and was very supportive. She explained at times what the midwife was doing and why and suggested different positions for me to try etc.

This is turning into a lovely thread! All the positive experiences have persuaded me to consent to a student midwife in future if I have another child.

I just won’t let them do my stitches

I'm expecting my first and can I just say thank you to everyone who's shared their positive experiences of a student midwife- I never thought k would want one present but I'm now kinda hoping I get one! Also, made me think, there come a time when that student will be the midwife (even on their first day of qualifying!) and there'll be no choice about their presence in the birth - surely it's better to give them as much support and experience for future mums-to-be than to deprive them of the opportunity to be fully independent and competent professionals?

A lovely student midwife “caught” my twins. There were at least 12 HCP/students in the room by that stage but the student who had been there all along caught them.

I had been asked could a few extra students come in because it was a spontaneous delivery of twins with no intervention on a quiet Sunday evening.

By coincidence it turned out the student midwife and I had a mutual friend who from the timing of texts from both of us realized that her friend had delivered my babies. The student had sent the friend a lovely text about the amazing experience she had just had and what a privilege it had been to be involved. It was lovely for me to read.

I gave permission for a student mw to carry out care for dc3 (vbac2).
The student was clearly struggling with finding FHR and no supervision was given due to short-staffing. NICE guidelines about continuous monitoring were ignored, and FHR monitoring was insufficient (around 45 minutes gaps).
My baby was born with FHR of 28bpm and no real way of telling how long this had been the case, and was brain damaged as a result. She has cerebral palsy due to birth hypoxia.
I fully support student midwives, but please ensure you put full supervising responsibility into the qualified mw. Don’t allow the student to be put into the position mine was. She should have had the confidence to flag that she was struggling but didn’t, probably because she didn’t want to appear incompetent. Insist that everything is checked by the supervisor and that guidelines are being followed.

I had a student midwife when I was in labour with DS and I don't have a bad word to say. My labour didn't progress and ended in an emcs after her shift finished but she was just amazing. She and her mentor were with me and dh for most of the day but didn't encroach. I also has student midwives post natally and they were amazing too.

My dc 2 was delivered by a student midwife and she was fantastic, her mentor was there at all times. It did mean I was examined twice to check how dilated I was. I felt I got a better level of aftercare because she was checking on me. I did get 6 hours discharge as I requested so she was with me from start to finish.
My dc was her 18th supervised delivery.

I had a long labour with DD1 and ended up with 3 student midwives involved in her delivery and it was not a great experience. Part of the problem was that the delivery ward was terribly overstretched and the students were not always properly supervised and made several mistakes such as pressing buttons at random on the epidural as she didn't know which one was correct and scoring dd's breathing as 10 on APGAR when minutes after the birth the paediatric crash team had to come and take her to NICU as her lungs were full of fluid.

I requested no students for dd2.

Like @mirren3 I had a brilliant student midwife at the birth of my first DD 24 years ago and I think of her on my DD's birthday. She stayed with me the whole time, rubbed my back throughout my labour and was a wonderful calm person. I hope she is still enjoying a happy career.

I also had a lovely student midwife as part of my community team during my last pregnancy.

When i was in labour the whole class of student midwives could have come in for all I cared. They have to learn somehow. How do you think your 'proper' midwife learnt?

Mamaryllis

Student midwife was fab for me - means you get constant attention which can be useful. She was playing good cop/bad cop with my DH which was exactly what I needed!

In my experience the student midwife that was with me for the first part of my labour was far more supportive and caring than the second midwife I had in the end (shift swap in the middle labour)

Fake, hopefully not by brain-damaging babies as a practice-run?
As I said, I fully support student midwives, but for everyone’s sake, please insist on full supervision.

Oh goodness yes I mean with total supervision. Not the whole class or even one on their own.

I had a atud not mw at my first birth and she was geat. I think that very generally speaking by the time they are at the shadowing stage they don’t need lots of direction from/ discussion with their mentor, they are there for hands on and to hone their decision makeing skills.

Had a student midwife for 1st and 3rd birth, think they were both excellent, no disrespect to the qualified midwives.
Both were really enthusiastic, nothing was too much trouble really supportive and they both sought help when they needed it.
Honestly would have any of them for any of my births.
A a side note (as a nurse perspective) we learn really quickly which students can be trusted; bearing in mind any mistakes they make are on our heads. If we are not comfortable delegating to a student we really won't it is not worth the risk to your registration.

Mamaryllis. I'm so sorry.

I had a student midwife with her senior midwife and it was fantastic, she was helped by the senior midwife and came to see me when I was settling in the ward afterwards. It probably depends on who you get , just like any health care professional I expect. My experience was positive.

I had a water birth and there was a student with me part of the time. She didn’t actually help with the delivery but a marching band could have been there in the final stages of labour and I wouldn’t have cared less.

I had a student with me and she was great. I think I got more help and attention as always had two people with me. Would recommend it highly x

I always thought student midwives were already registered general nurses who have gone on to do extra training as a midwife. I'd have no problem with a student nurse or a student midwife.

Slightly different but I had a newly qualified midwife with a senior midwife. I much preferred the new midwife, she seemed more logical and sympathetic. Students will be just as open to you using hypnobirthinf techniques and I like to think there’s an extra person assigned to you should you need drinks/emergency care etc.

I had one, I too used a pool and hypnobirthing so she sat quietly observing from a distance. I wasn't really aware of her, until... I had to be stitched up by a horrid consultant in a different, bright, clinical room. The student midwife held my hand through it all (as dh was holding baby) and whispered how well I was doing. I fell in love with her a little. I felt scared and alone as everyone else had other important jobs looking after my baby and nether regions. She was a star and I wouldn't hesitate to agree again.