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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

been warned we will probably have our planned homebirth cancelled despite being low risk

47 replies

MadreInglese · 10/03/2011 12:43

chatting to midwife the other day and she said to be aware that they have had many homebirths cancelled recently due to staffing levels being low and the labour ward being busy

a friend of mine who is also a midwife keeps telling me that legally they can't cancel or refuse you a homebirth if you are low risk - she basically said if you go into labour and call them and tell them you are insisting on a homebirth then they HAVE to send a midwife out to you (although you may not get the two required)

my friend lives in a different healthcare area but was adamant this is a national policy, I do see what she's saying but if they haven't physically got the staff there's not much that my insistance can do about it, is there?

I'd ideally like a homebirth but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't get one, and of course we'd want to do the safest thing for the baby, but now I'm convinced that they're just going to cancel it anyway as my midwife was going on and on about staffing problems

has anyone come across this recently?

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wildflowersinajug · 10/03/2011 16:44

or do what I did which was tell them your contractions are coming every two minutes when they were just starting.

littleducks · 10/03/2011 16:52

I had a baby delivered by paramedics who cut the cord, i hadnt been planning on a homebirth but it happened quickly. A MW turned up in time to deliver the placenta, i didnt have to go into hospital

I have been told by midwifes to insist on the homebirth as if the labour ward staff have to leave to attend it will then be evidence that more staff are needed and funds found. Cancelled homebirths arent considered. I dont know if i would actually care enough about the policies of staffing enough in labour to actually follow that through for the principle though.

Secondtimelucky · 10/03/2011 17:51

No, but if you had a serious fear of returning to the same hospital where you had DC1, it might encourage you not to be put off by the idea that you were being 'selfish' by standing your ground little ducks (not that I have issues, or anything, ahem).

nannyl · 10/03/2011 17:53

Im hoping for a home birth.

Have been reading up and as i understand it, so long as im low risk i CAN have a home birth... (midwife agrees but they wont make the final decision until 34 weeks, and wont allow a home birth before 37 weeks)

and its up to the NHS trust to budget / staff accordingly. If they dont have enough midwifes on duty there are bank staff, and people can be called in. (wonder if any actual midwives can confirm this?)

At this point in time, if i am at low enough risk to be allowed a home birth, i intend to stand my ground and insist that a midwife comes to me....
If that means they get in extra staff, or pay overtime or whatever then thats what my taxes /NI have been paying for, i refuse to feel guilty about it.

I dont want to drive 25mins to my nearest midwife led unit, or 45mins - 1 hour+ to nearest hospital whilst in labour if it is not medically necesasary.

VivaLeBeaver · 10/03/2011 18:14

NannyL - I'm a midwife and as I said earlier on they can only call midwives in if someone agrees to come in. We're not under any obligation to come in when its our day off and a lot of the time they can't even get people to come in and cover labour ward never mind home births. There are no independent midwives that cover this area so thats not an option either.

nailak · 10/03/2011 19:49

in my area we have hb team, of 2 mws

AppleyEverAfter · 10/03/2011 20:00

What annoys me about the NHS is that there are women out there desperate to train as MWs... I personally know one, she's a young mum of two and is willing and passionate about doing the years of study and practical work but has been turned down by several unis and is now considering going down the general nursing route then specialising as a midwife. I'm not an expert on MW training but you'd think the government would be biting her hand off instead of giving her the runaround when you hear some of the horror stories about labour.

Looks like you will have to see what it's like on the day, fingers crossed it will be quiet and you can have your home birth!

oggybags · 10/03/2011 20:44

I'm not anti or pro homebirth, but would feel selfish if I had 2 mw with me at the same time as the 2 city huge hosps near my BOTH had their doors closed they were that busy, when the hosp ratio is 3:1 - this happens quite often apparently, just something to think about.

VivaLeBeaver · 10/03/2011 21:59

Appley - there isn't a shortage of midiwves, there is a shortage of jobs for midwives. Ie; no money to employ them. I personally know quite a few midwives who are doing office work as they can't get a midwifery job.

thisisyesterday · 10/03/2011 22:01

sorry, not sure if anyone else has pointed this out...
but the midwives attending your homebirth won't have come out of the labour ward.

it should be your community midwives who attend,.

thisisyesterday · 10/03/2011 22:07

oh and paramedics were going to cut ds3's cord, but i did it myself! they clamped it though

pettyprudence · 10/03/2011 22:10

oggybags its the nhs trusts who only employ 3:1 midwives in the hospitals that are being selfish not the women at home receiving the care that everyone should get regardless of where they labour! Its because of the lack of care in hospital/mlu that I am opting for a homebirth - I am not going to get left and abandoned in a hospital room for hours on end hoping that someone might find the time to pop in and see how i am doing.

Luckily i live in wales where the assembly is on a drive to increase homebirths to 10% so I have a very pro-homebirth community midwife who only mentions that i will just get whoever is on call that night rather than getting no-one (although it does play on the back of my mind!)

SnapFrakkleAndPop · 11/03/2011 10:09

If there's only 1 hb team in your area what happens if they're busy with another woman though, thisis?

There are so many qualified midwives who can't find work and it's increasingly difficult to work as an Indy, not that anyone would take a NQMW as an IM anyway, so even those who've got through the incredibly competitive selection process to get to Uni and survived the course aren't necessarily going to get a job. It's a crying shame.

NotJustKangaskhan · 11/03/2011 12:55

There isn't a "hb team" - it's the community midwives team, same as most see at the surgeries for antenatal care. If all of them are busy, they will send you ones when they become available and send paramedics to wait with you until then if you tell them that the baby is close to being born. For me, who was told none were available right then, it took 45 minutes (and at least one of the two came from home - we had a lovely talk about how she knew there'd be a call as it always seems to happen on her shifts when she forgets to fill her tank).

There are systems in place. It is a crying shame that proper funding isn't being put into place for there to be more midwives, but there are systems in place for the variety of situations (had a conversation with one about attending a women who needed care in a shopping centre!).

moomaa · 11/03/2011 13:15

If I were told to come in because of staffing and I demanded someone came to me than I would worry that I could cause the unit to shut doors and some poor first time mum was directed on a long drive (probably a fist timer as there would be less worry about delivery en route).

I gave birth in December and I was horrified at the short staffing. Ok for me, I popped in, delivered DC3 after 30 mins, had a shower, toast and snooze and off I went. Not so nice for the 2 women I was on a ward with who were discharged less than 2 days after a c section. I saw a midwife once more before I was discharged and only then because I went into the drs surgery to see her.

I was told by midwifes that this had become normal. It wasn't like this when I had DS (4) and DD (2).

thisisyesterday · 11/03/2011 14:29

snap there isn't a homebirth team. there are community midwives connected to each surgery in our town, and they work out of the hospital here.

When I went into labour 2 were sent out from the ante-natal department of the hospital.
While they were with me, if someone else in the area had gone into labour then 2 more would have been sent out

it may have affected people having booking appts, or those waiting for home visits from a midwife pre or post-birth.. but only if they were short-staffed. it would not have taken ANYONE away from the labour ward (which incidentally isn't at my local hospital, we have to travel to the next town anyway)

the only time we're at risk of not getting a midwife is if we go into labour at night, when you are reliant on 2 on-call midwives which cover the entire area

SnapFrakkleAndPop · 11/03/2011 14:52

Depends how areas organise themselves then. Some certainly seem to have a dedicated pair of MWs for hbs and don't rely on CMWs to provide that. Besides they might take CMWs away from antenatal appts but I thought you had to be seen by a MW every day in the for 10(?) days afterwards so they can't exactly stop doing postnatal visits.

Obviously this is going to be more of a problem in very rural areas than a city because the MWs could be quite far away when you need them....

Secondtimelucky · 11/03/2011 17:53

Every day for the 10 days afterwards [stops and chokes on coffee]? Sadly not where I live in London. I was seen quite a lot (stiches issues) and I think I got three visits...

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 11/03/2011 18:02

I was seen a lot post-birth, they wouldn't discharge me until DS was 5 weeks old because he hadn't regained birthweight. I must have had 15-20 visits in that time, the vast majority of which I didn't want and were a complete waste of time.

nannyl · 11/03/2011 18:07

Snap i live in a very rural area...
Its 45mins MIN to hospital (ie in middle of night! when not traffic) and an hour plus at most other points during the day.

For this reason my midwife has been telling me, that we have lots more midwives than average to cover home births.... because this area is so far from the nearest hospital!

(One of my friends (from a different area) is pg with number 3, she has had 2 quick labours, with number 2 she gave birth within 10 mins of arriving at the hospital... she lives 10 / 15 mins away from her hospital.... She has been told with this 3rd pregnancy that a homebirth is the best option as she may not even make it to the hospital!
If I had similar experiance, even if i left at 1st twinge, (as my friend did) i could be giving birth in the car!)

My grandmothers have all had super quick labours too, my uncle was just 15mins from the start to birth according to my grandmother!, (others 2 hours, then 45 mins, then him @ 15mins, then 3 hours!)

MadameCastafiore · 11/03/2011 18:08

Employing bank staff will only be done if they have the money to do it - the ward I work on is very often short even for patients on observations and it is rare that they will call a bank nurse as it costs so much and having to justify spending above and beyond your staffing budget is a pain in the arse!

thisisyesterday · 13/03/2011 20:34

i don't think you have to be seen every day for 10 days.
i wasn't, even with my first, think i had 3 visits.

my friend was seen every day for 14 days because she was really struggling.

so i think that's taken on a case-by-case basis. if a mother wants/needs a visit each day that's fine, i think they have to be available... but they don't have to if it's not necessary.

i was happy getting on with stuff by myself, so didn't feel like i should have had more

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