Contacting my Midwife

[Msmercer]

I’ve had a letter in the post congratulating me on my pregnancy and advising on my midwife and when I can contact her. The contact hours I’ve been given are Mon-Fri 8.30-9.30am or weekends 9am and 10am?

These seem very strict and not a large window?? Or am I being dramatic??

That would be normal ,if out of hours needed it would be through the hospital,your midwife will give u that information when u see her x

You are being dramatic. You won't really need to contact them. In 3 pregnancies I have not needed to contact my midwife at all outside of the pre scheduled appointments. The only thing you'll need to contact them about is if you can't make your appointment. For anything else there's other ways to get support- early pregnancy assessment unit, maternity assessment unit, NHS website, GP, Google, Mumsnet etc.

Is there anything you think you'll need to contact them about?

As pp say, there really is no need to be contacting your midwife in most pregnancies outside of appointments.

We weren't given hours but I was given her mobile number. Not really sure why, she doesn't respond to anything and after reading on a local FB group, it seems par for the course that they are impossible to speak to.

This is my 3rd pregnancy, last one was 12 years ago and it's a shame that nothing has improved. I found the community midwives seriously lacking each time.

Presumably those are the times when they’ll be in the office answering the phone; outside those hours they’ll be out at appointments/ visits. With mine I can leave an answerphone message outside of the official hours.

You're being dramatic.

What would you need to be contacting your midwife for?

As a PP says, it's probably the time they're by the phone rather than seeing patients. If you call outside those hours you'll need to leave a message for them to ring back.

As for people asking what you'd need to speak to a midwife about, I thought it would be for general queries regarding your health?! I spoke to one in my midwife team this morning to ask about constipation given I'd been asked about that at my 16 week appointment and everything was ok at that point. It isn't now so I figured they were the right people to ask rather than bother a GP appointment. Turns out she just told me to speak to my GP so looks like my assumption was incorrect 🤷

I wouldn’t say dramatic but I think it’s more that’s probably their ‘admin time’ when they make themselves available for the phone. Otherwise they will be visiting etc. You shouldn’t need to contact them but I agree with pp that midwifery services in general are woefully lacking (money and the system not due to the individuals who are usually lovely)