Shocked at the amount of stress and pressure our MW's are put under.

[Nbg]

I had my MW round today for normal check up and we got chatting about home birth.
She was explaining about the bits and bobs that she would deliver to the house, little bag of stuff and the gas and air.

She explained that the gas and air would come later because if its stored in the house its a risk in case we have a fire.
This didnt cross my mind at all.

Anyway she carried on to say that the MW's deliver the gas and air themselves in their own cars and that if she had a shunt the thing would go off like a torpedo!

She also added that shes on call for the next 4 days covering a ridiculously large area with only 4 other MW's.

How crap is that.

And this low staffing levels is why many areas struggle to provide homebirths, why the amount of time spent/number of antenantal and pstnatal visits has decreased, its why women don't get enough support breastfeeding, etc.

Must admit I'd never thought about a torpedoing cannister of gas and air before