Recently moved area and am now being seen by a different midwife. This has really highlighted to me what poor care I was getting previously. This is my fourth baby and tbh I feel pretty well "in touch" with what happens during pregnancy, but this previous midwife really didn't inspire any confidence and I didn't feel I could trust her at all. I'm concerned that any first-time mums under her charge could suffer due to her incompetence.
Summary of what happened to me:
Was unable to take blood from me (and left me with an armful of bruises)
Used the wrong notes for me but said "it didn't matter" (I only had her word for it but she did say it would confuse the consultants)
Never returned phonecalls but would just turn up at the house at really inconvenient times (eg just as the kids arrived home from school) - yet often I was ringing to ask a question that didn't require a visit. Her phone messages were received at the nurses workstation but she said once "I don't let them know anything about my maternity patients" - er, very helpful in a crisis, that
Insisted that I should have a GTT as I had sugar in my urine (I always have sugar in my urine, my kidneys "leak" this during pregnancy; consultant later confirmed that I did not have to have GTT as my bloods were fine)
Tried to put me on iron tablets with a level of 107 (GP overruled her as she said my levels weren't low enough to warrant it)
When I asked her (whilst she was palpating) which way round my baby was (I was 32 weeks at the time) she said "I don't know"
Kept telling me that my bump was "knobbly" and therefore she was concerned I did not have enough amniotic fluid - I've got plenty, but it being my fourth it's much easier to feel the limbs as my uterus is stretched. She then wrote on my notes "query low amnio" which my current midwife wondered if it referred to amniocentesis - ie it wasn't at all clear!
Wrote on my notes that I was A+. I'm not - I'm O+. That seems like a pretty serious error to me!
All in all these sound like small things but I'm worried that she really doesn't know what she is doing and there could be a major mishap. She works in a very rural area, ie not as part of a team, so people under her care don't see any other midwife during pregnancy - which kind of amplifies the problems.
Anecdotally I know that she has caused more serious problems - a friend of mine was measuring small for dates but she insisted it was fine as she was "young and fit" - turned out the baby was suffering IUGR due to a knot in the cord. Obviously I can't mention this in any complaint but it makes me feel that it's not just me that received poor care.
Any thoughts appreciated thanks.