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Original poster

Consultant-led or Midwife-led?

6 replies

hasina123 · 27/03/2015 20:16

Just after a few opinions and experiences of those who have given birth at Stoke Mandeville please :-)
So I am currently 28 weeks pregnant with my second child, and pregnancy has been problem-free so far. I am a little confused at this stage, as to whether I should opt to give birth in the midwife-led unit at Stoke Mandeville, or the consultant-led one? This is mainly due to the circumstance surrounding my previous labour.
My son is 3 1/2, so I was last at Stoke Mandeville in 2011! A summary of my labour: waters broke on the Saturday (2am), admitted into Stoke on Sunday (7am) and induced Monday (7am), and finally after a 14 hour labour, my son was delivered after an episiotomy, via forceps. My son was a healthy baby, and it seemed to be just myself in distress! I lost two litres of blood and had to stay in observation for a further 2 nights.
I'm just asking as I've read similar accounts, where mothers with a similar birth experience to mine, have had subsequent births in a consultant-led unit.
I don't want to behave like a drama queen, but at the same time, would like to do everything I can to ensure this labour goes as smoothly as possible!

OP posts:
Imissclubeden · 29/03/2015 10:25

I pretty much had the same experience as you, in Stoke with DS1.

My MW has automatically put me down as consultant led because of the haemmorage and traumatic birth the first time. I won't set foot in Stoke M again but I would have thought they would do the same if you requested to be Consultant led?

Equally, it's just next door. You could start on the midwife led side and then move over to the labour ward if you needed to be moved?

What do you want to happen? I'm hoping that they will take my opinion into account when I see the consultant at Wexham. Maybe they will do the same at Stoke?

Original poster
hasina123 · 30/03/2015 15:34

Oh its all so confusing! I've now got the added stress of being anaemic (just waiting to hear if I'll need an infusion now), and given the blood loss first time around, I don't really want to leave anything to chance this time.
My MW this time round, doesn't appear too concerned about my first labour, but I will raise it with her at my appointment this week.
I would rather be in the safest hands possible, and would prefer to be under consultant-led care. Just hoping that my fears will not be brushed aside, and my concerns listened to!

OP posts:
Imissclubeden · 30/03/2015 19:55

Sounds rubbish Flowers

You can ask to be on the labour ward, I think. If it's causing anxiety then I would have thought a decent MW would be happy to do it. If she isn't, maybe you could insist that she writes a letter saying you request consultant care. Or maybe go via GP?

Were you on labour ward the last time by the time you got to the forceps stage? Were the MW in charge when you had the blood loss?

What are you most worried about, this time round? Blood loss, forceps?

I only ask because they switched me to the labour ward when meconium was shown to be present. I ended up under the care of a total bastard consultant and still had theatre, spinal, epidural, episiotomy, forceps, big blood loss and resulting PTSD. I wouldn't want you to think that the consultants will be any the less forceps happy, if that's what you were hoping to avoid...

Imissclubeden · 30/03/2015 19:58

Sorry, hope I don't sound all doom and gloom. I know how hard it is to face giving birth again after a traumatic one.

I'm only 11 weeks and it's already causing me some anxiety. Hopefully will be better once they've said yes to the ELCS.

Original poster
hasina123 · 31/03/2015 00:36

Thankyou for being so helpful! Not sounding all doom and gloom at all, so don't worry!

I'm 28 weeks atm, so thought I should start paying attention to my options in labour. It's not so much the forceps causing anxiety, I think at that point (first time round) I was pretty out of it by the time they decided to use forceps. I'm more concerned about the effects of another (traumatic) labour on both myself and baby, especially with the added worry of my anaemia.

My son was born 3 1/2 years ago, so my memory is quite patchy as regards what happened at any particular stage in labour. I honestly cannot remember much, and my birthing partners have little recollection of who was in the room.

Sorry to hear that the consultant wasn't the most patient-friendly, so to speak. I wish you all the best with this pregnancy and hope you don't let your anxiety detract too much from the happiness of this one Smile

At this stage, I would rather take the safest option and request consultant-led care. From my experiences last time, midwives differ in their attention to perceived level of distress, and I would rather not be fobbed off with paracetemol or a delay in being induced this time around!

OP posts:
Imissclubeden · 31/03/2015 07:30

My son is 3 and 4 months so we must have been there at similar times!!

I think whatever you can do to alleviate our anxiety is worth it. I don't think they'd have any reason not to let you on the labour ward. Rooms were nicer in my opinion anyway Grin

Hope all goes well and that this one is less traumatic for you Smile

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