Consultant v Midwife led pregnancy

[Dav87]

Hi all 😊
I had my first midwife appointment today before my scan in 2 weeks time. I’m currently 11+1 weeks pregnant.
The midwife asked me a lot of questions about medical history and family medical history etc, and then before she left said that from 20 weeks I’ll be handed over to a consultant to be consultant-led for the second half of my pregnancy and will no longer be under the care of the midwife.

I was just wondering if anyone else has been consultant led and if they can share the difference between this compared to being under the care of the midwife? Do you have more appointments or scans, and does this mean I’ll have to give birth in a hospital rather than a midwife unit (which is local - the hospital is quite a long drive away from where I live). Any insight would be appreciated!

❤️

I'm consultant led because I've got IBD and kidney problems so classed as high risk. It's meant that I've seen the midwives at the hospital more than the community midwives but I still see the community midwives at the usual points for example I had a growth scan yesterday at the hospital and saw the midwife after and I've got an appointment with my community midwife today (and a consultant appointment on Mon!) . I've seen my consultant roughly once a month and had monthly growth scans because IBD babies are more likely to be small.
I've been told I'll need to give birth at the hospital but the midwife led unit and consultant led unit are in the same building so doesn't make much difference to me.

Did the midwife not say why you've got to be consultant led? If you don't have any risk factors that make you high risk then I don't see why you'd need to be consultant led.

You'll be consultant led because you are higher risk for something. If you have no medical history of note it may be to do with your age of a family history of something.

Ask the midwife next time you see her and she'll be able to tell you.

Best wishes with your pregnancy!

Age or family history that should say.

Care will depend on the reason for the referral - do you know what that is?

So far I've only had my booking appointment but I was told I will be consultant led too, because I have a slightly low BMI. Watching this thread with interest because im interested in other peoples experiences too!

I was referred to consultant led for a slightly high BMI (.5 over the threshold). I really wanted to use the midwife birth centre and the pool, I have had terrible sickness and haven't gained much weight at all. I saw the midwife advocate who has made it possible for me to be discharged back down to midwife led and hopefully all being well I'll get a water birth.

I was consultant led due to previous EMCS, and then later switched consultant teams due to gestational diabetes. I still had the usual midwife appointments as well, I thought that was normal? The doctor's appointments focused on different kinds of things than the midwife appointments.

I was consultant led as I got gestational diabetes. It was fine...I was seeing different midwives each time anyway.

The final consultant I saw was lovely and she looked over my birth plan and discussed my induction with me.

I was consultant led twice - first time for low lying placenta and giant fibroids and the second due to a large baby and the fibroids again.

It depends why you’re consultant led - I got all my community midwife appointments and basic scans plus extra scans to check growth with the consultant etc...

Birth had to be in hospital and not the MLU for consultant led. My hospital did have water birth facilities etc although limited in number, so I’d ask what they’ve got.

Why not call the midwife to find out more ?

Hi, I am consultant led due to a number of conditions. I discuss with my two consultants these conditions and their impact on pregnancy. I still see the community midwife as normal.

Thanks so much for your replies everyone!

I am being referred to a consultant due to a brain haemorrhage I had a few years ago. The midwife told me that, I was just wondering how that would differ to midwife-led pregnancy.

Thanks for sharing your experiences! Looks like I will be having consultant appointments as well as the usual midwife appointments, going by what you’ve said - so that’s reassuring 😊