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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Does a midwife stay with you?

51 replies

blessings2022 · 10/10/2021 19:59

In a normal, low risk delivery in an NHS hospital where things are progressing normally, does a midwife or someone medical stay with you for the entire labour until you've safely given birth?

OP posts:

Lj8893 · 10/10/2021 20:00

Yes pretty much, they may pop in and out of the room but they should be with you for the majority of the time.

dementedpixie · 10/10/2021 20:03

They don't stay the whole time in my experience. I remember dh having to shout for someone to come back in when I was giving birth to dd. With ds I was left for ages as they were going to send me home and by the time they came back my contractions had started (had gone in as my waters had broken )

RagzReturnsRebooted · 10/10/2021 20:05

They didn't with my first, I'd had a good 24 hrs at home with no progress, home midwife napped on the sofa between checking on me. Then went to hospital and had about 10 hours in there. They were only with me for checks until I got the having and epidural stage. Then obviously for pushing. Before that they just popped in and out, but I was making slow progress!

2nd I had a home birth and it was faster so they with me all the time.

3rd should have been another home birth but had meconium and I'm pretty sure I wasn't left alone much at all as I was on a monitor that kept malfunctioning.

So, probably depends on where you are and how quickly labour is progressing.

fairgame84 · 10/10/2021 20:06

They stayed when I was pushing but otherwise just popped in and out.

AluminumMonster · 10/10/2021 20:20

Maybe it depends where you are/how busy they are. Over shift changes, I had 3 different midwives with me most of the time.

Fridafever · 10/10/2021 20:22

They do for a home birth which is one of the advantages!

MattyGroves · 10/10/2021 20:23

It depends on how busy they are, I was left for several hours and summoned someone when I was starting to push (9cm dilated much to everyone's surprise but mine)

AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken · 10/10/2021 20:24

For my first they did.
For my second, I was left in a side room for four hours until I was pushing.
Third is due this week so I’m not sure what to expect.

Twickerhun · 10/10/2021 20:24

Both of my births I had the midwife with me pretty much the whole time, each time they sort of disappeared for a while after birth so I could have time with the baby and no audience. I couldn’t fault their attention

Branleuse · 10/10/2021 20:25

no not in a normal delivery, they go in and out to deal with other patients.

Midwife stays with you during a homebirth though, which was why i chose that for my second birth

TheOpportuneMoment · 10/10/2021 20:26

The main midwife was in and out. The student midwife was there the whole time and was amazing.

nanabow · 10/10/2021 20:29

Once pushing they did.

But up until then it was checks every 15 minutes.

MinesAPintOfTea · 10/10/2021 20:29

Like pp, I had a student midwife (mine was nearly qualified) who stayed throughout, with the main midwife in and out. Student was great.

OopsUpsideYa · 10/10/2021 20:31

Not ime no.

In fact thinking about it I couldn't tell you the name of even one person who was the first person that saw any of my three children.

I guess that means babies can be born without that knowledge. And that they are, in the UK.

But no, there won't be one woman with you throughout, as a planned matter of course. It may end up that way if you're lucky, but it isn't a planned matter of course.

ahushkss · 10/10/2021 20:33

Mine did once I was in hospital. But both times I had meconium in my waters and babies needed to be monitored constantly until they were born.

Blahdyblahbla · 10/10/2021 20:33

Not IME, they pop in and out until you're actively pushing. May be different if you don't have a birth partner though?

RandomMess · 10/10/2021 20:36

Depends how busy they are IME

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 10/10/2021 20:38

No. That's why DD1 was born with no one else in the room....

DD2 was a home birth with two midwives and one student midwife present and they promised I wouldn't be left alone for a second.

SickAndTiredAgain · 10/10/2021 20:38

What do they actually do if they stay with you the whole time? I had a home birth with DD but even once the midwife arrived, (and I was 8cm at that point) she was in and out of the room I was in. Always available obviously, but checking on me periodically until it was time to push. I was quite happy with that, maybe she sensed that and they adapt to what each woman wants?

katmarie · 10/10/2021 20:44

My first labour the midwife popped in and out, I was there for about 10 hours after they put the epidural in and I slept for a good bit of it, so they just kept an eye on me until the active pushing bit, at which point there were about 6 people in the room.

Second labour, I was 5cm and contracting every 60-90 seconds when I got to hospital, so the midwife didn't have time to pop in and out, once she got me settled and all the q&a and monitoring stuff set up, it was time to push. So she and an amazing student midwife stayed with me throughout. They were truly brilliant, and then slipped off after the clean up and let us have an hour of privacy in the birthing suite before we moved to the ward.

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 10/10/2021 20:45

Not with me, she popped in and out, but stayed during the pushing phase

gogohm · 10/10/2021 21:22

Mostly, she popped to the canteen for food and told us how to bleep her, she also went outside to make a couple of calls, she sat doing paperwork for some of the time

OopsUpsideYa · 10/10/2021 21:32

One of mine went out for a fag. I could smell it on her when she held ds2 upto look at his back. I guess at least we didn't inconvenience her.

MiddleParking · 10/10/2021 21:33

My waters had gone more than 24 hours before labour and in my hospital that meant I had to have a midwife in the room the whole time and couldn’t be unattended.

OopsUpsideYa · 10/10/2021 21:34

What do they actually do if they stay with you the whole time?

None of us will ever know.

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