Community midwife or one-one?

[EssexMummy123]

The one-to-one midwives are brand new to my part of the country but my GP had some leaflets on them and it seems they are funded in my area so i'm trying to decide between the community midwife and a one-one midwife.

So far i can see, pro's of one-one is always getting a named midwife or her back-up, but to be fair it's probably fairly similar in the community.

One-one midwives will also do home appointments at more varied times, community appointments are only once or twice a week at set times, this would be really really useful for me.

I had some bad experiences last time round with community midwives - lots of anxiety making comments such as 'baby palpates strangely' with no explanation ever given - and the ever unscientific piece of string to measure bump giving anxiety - but this is a different community midwife and rated by my GP and I guess the community midwife would be very familiar with the hospital setup.

One-one midwife would be able to come and hold my hand through the early stages of labour - the bit when the hospital pretend you aren't really in Labour and potentially be there all the way through, I really like that that idea as well.

Finally in second (pregnancies there is usually less ante-natal appointments but one-one do more than the standard NHS.

So - any thoughts, or experiences with one-one? as i said they are brand new here so no local feedback.

I used them in my second pregnancy (first was community midwives) and would strongly recommend them to everyone that is in an area they work in! Absolutely brilliant, happy to respond to texts if I had a query, and the appointments weren't rushed the way the community midwife ones are. Also there is something very reassuring about knowing the midwife who will be with you when you give birth, she knew exactly what I wanted from my labour and she made sure that it was how I wanted it to be.

Oh, and if you are given a midwife you don't click with, you can just ring and they will allocate you someone else :-)

That sounds really good, did your GP mind that you weren't using the community midwifes?

Hi OP Ive never used them as my community midwives this time are great I see the same one each time !
I think you have answered your own question , it sounds like you want 1-2-1 . Sounds a great option :-) .
Ps dont worry about what the Gp's think , they are 2 differently services gp's are a private business and midwives are a service provided by NHS . xx

No issue with GP, only (slight) disadvantage is that I couldn't get 12 and 20 week scans at my nearest hospital but growth scan at 35 weeks was fine there, so may be worth checking.

I'm 34+4 and have been using 1-1. They have been fantastic, my mw is lovely and it's so nice knowing she's always at the end of the phone. I usually spend around 30-45 mins with her at each appointment and she's more than happy to chat about whatever I want to. She'll respond to texts about things which is nice. They also offer a free hypnobirthing course in our area which has been really good in helping me prepare for labour.

I'm currently trying to decide between home and hospital birth and she has been really relaxed about it, saying we can plan for home and change mind at any time. They'll get me a birthing pool and she'll be the one to deliver the baby if I decide to go for home. She also offered to sit down with both me and my DH to discuss home birth and the pros/cons. Overall I can't recommend them enough, it's so good to have such a personalised service.