Will I be allowed a water birth in the MLU? High BMI?

[Abbielouisejames]

Hi I’m 23yrs old in my 1st pregnancy currently 32+3 weeks. I had a booking BMI of 37.5 (very short, huge boobs, always been overweight) and the midwife I originally seen said she was referring me to the consultants at the hospital but didn’t make it clear why. I saw a consultant at 13+5 the same day I had my dating scan. They discussed the risks of pregnancy complications with high BMI and suggested I do a GTT test for GD at 28 weeks (which I accepted) as well as deliver on the CLU. They wrote to my GP/Midwife and said they were happy to discharge me from consultant clinic and only to be referred back if my BMI exceeded 40 at 28 weeks.

Fast forward to now, my pregnancy has been amazing. Perfect BP, Urine samples fine, baby measuring right on track, passed GTT with flying colours and my BMI had only raised to 39 at 28 weeks (a gain of 4KGs total) - the midwife and her assistant were amazed!

I recently did a tour of my chosen hospital which also contains a MLU birthing centre directly on the floor below the CLU/labour ward.
The lady doing the tour really hyped up the MLU and compared it to the Labour ward making the labour ward sound extremely medical and scary, also pointing out that visitors are very restricted and in the MLU your partner can stay with you the entire time and no need to be ‘shoved on a ward/bay with 4/5 other women with no where to store your belongings’ I have since felt very compelled to follow my original plan of a water birth in the MLU.

Im next booked in to see my midwife in 2 weeks time when I’ll be 34 weeks. I plan to discuss my plans with the midwife but am so worried I’ll get pushed back/refused or not taken seriously purely down to my BMI.
Also can’t understand if I’d still be classed as ‘consultant led’ or ‘midwife led’ as my online notes say consultant, but as I mentioned above the consultant discharged me and said they’re happy not to see me unless I had further complications and I haven’t. This is really getting to me, just hoping I can have the birth I want especially when everything else has gone great so far.

Your pregnancy sounds very much like mine so far and I've been told it should be fine if that's what I want (although my nearest MLU is too far away for me to be comfortable with as I had a quick Labour last time). In my trust at least they seem to differentiate between a high risk pregnancy and a high risk labour. You can have a high risk pregnancy but if all goes well (like it has for you and me) it doesn't become a high risk labour

I had my first baby on the labour ward (only as the MLU was full!) and they were brilliant - really supportive of everything I wanted, including hypnobirthing etc. I was really worried it would be overly clinical (had a similar tour!) but it was great.

Hypnobirthing really helped me to weigh up risks & benefits of everything, as well as feeling in control. The birth didn’t quite go to plan, but still felt very calm and positive.

Wishing you all the best.

@HopefulFor2020 that process makes a lot of sense, high risk pregnancy vs high risk labour... I hope my trust shares a similar view of some sort. Fingers crossed. Thanks so much for your reply :)

@Sipperskipper I'll definitely look into hypo birthing. It really is so off putting when you have a tour that makes things look so scary isn't it?

I wasn’t allowed a pool delivery as my BMI was over 35. It’s in case they have to get you out the pool in an emergency and the risk they could injure themselves.

I officially was also under consultant led care but in the end my deliveries were carried out by midwifes. The only difference was having to have a couple of consultant appointments.

In my area you wouldn't be allowed as too many risks

Where I am you wouldn’t be allowed either. As a PP says the staff need to be able to get you out of the pool fast if need be. This happened to me during my water birth (false alarm thankfully, though I didn’t get back in!) and I was whipped out very quickly.

In regards to a water birth, in my trust it would also be a definite no. They have to consider the possibility of having to get you out of the water as a dead weight quickly in an emergency.

You would probably be ok to labour on the MLU still. Just not in the water.

No in my trust too for similar reasons to other posters they need to be able to get you out fast in an emergency

Also with high BMI it makes it much harder to track babies heart rate during labour so there is every chance you'll need the prob attached to babies head

Also wanted to say, if you aren’t able to have the water birth you want, try not to be too upset. I was desperate for it, and there was even a pool in the labour ward room, but I wasn’t able to due to then needing a probe on baby’s head (which wasn’t uncomfortable!).

It was honestly all OK. I’m high risk this time due to high BMI (and birth last time) but feel happy with it as I know more what to expect. First time round feels so daunting.

Hoping everything goes smoothly for you.

PS - I could do with your advice about how to not put on much weight! You’ve done brilliantly.

In my area it would be no for a water birth, no for the MLU and a CTG in labour would be advised.