I am 11 weeks pg and trying to make my mind up whether to book an independent midwife for the birth (I'm lucky enough to have the choice). My dd was supposed to be a home birth and I saw my lovely community midwives for ante-natal care. Unfortunately when I went into labour, they were unavailable and I was attended by midwives I had never seen before. I am convinced that it was a combination of this fact and the NHS protocols they applied that meant I ended up being transferred to hospital by ambulance in second stage labour. This was frightening and traumatic, and I ended up delivering normally without further interventions when I got there, so in my opinion it was totally unnecessary.
I'm very wary of trusting myself to the NHS system again as I would also like a home birth this time, but for various reasons I am dubious about going the whole way and hiring an independent. Can I achieve what I want by just hiring a doula as my birth advocate?
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Childbirth
Independent midwives v doulas - experiences?
13 replies
downbutnotout · 12/07/2008 11:56
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