Midwife and giving birth

[Smile03]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering how everyones midwifes have been other than my booking appointment I have had no communication whatsoever which I find a tad strange at one point I hadn’t eaten in 3 days so called the unit no answer sent a text no answer when I received no reply it kind of put me off from my midwife.

I don’t have a GP so referred myself directly to the hospital where this team ‘took’ my referral. This team is a slightly smaller team and offer a continuation of care which means very little to me at this point as i’ve had no-one to talk to. I was wondering if I could request to transfer myself back to the other maternity team/unit...

Also this will be my first time giving birth and at my booking appointment my midwife all but told me I will be on a midwife led ward when I asked how it was she basically described it as no drs just midwifes who do rotations of the beds until its time to push which led me to think will there be several women in the same room as me? It kind of makes me feel uncomfortable if so 😬

P.S had my scan which dated me 13 weeks 5 days so I have a while to go yet.

The care you’ve had until now sounds pretty normal. You’ve had a booking and a scan, your midwife may have been on annual leave and that’s why they haven’t replied, the GP should see you as midwives cannot prescribe anti sickness medication. You should next speak to someone around 16 weeks either on the phone due to covid or face to face.

Midwife led absolutely does not mean you’ll be in a room with other women, it just means a separate unit from the labour ward. Some hospitals have these attached to the labour ward some units are stand alone units. For low risk women, without complications for labour and birth, any complications would require transfer to the labour ward were doctors are present. You may not stay midwife led throughout your pregnancy if complications arise but all it means is that currently at booking your pregnancy is low risk and you don’t need to see a consultant throughout.

Sorry I meant the out of hours GP so 111 if you don’t have your own GP.

You need to register with a GP if you aren't already

To clarify about my GP situation I moved houses so went out of the catchment area of my current GP who has point blanked refused to see me because of where I now live - I have tried relentlessly to get an appointment or atleast speak on the phone

The local GP in my area won’t accept new patients right now due to covid if you are already registered which I technically am. I explained this to the midwife to seemed to understand at the booking appointment and said she would make a note.

You can choose where you give birth. If you're low risk you can choose a midwife led centre or a more traditional hospital labour ward. There are pros and cons to both and you should read up on options in your area and decide what's best for you.

My local hospital has the 2 labour wards next to each other so if you start off in midwife led you can be quickly moved if needed (epidural/surgery required) but there's also a separate midwife led centre where you'd need an ambulance transfer. Important to know your options

You need to be under a GP. Someone has to take you. The amount of care seems normal, I had one appt between booking and 28 weeks.

I've only had my booking appointment so far and not really expected anything else.

When I was in labour with my son I did end up on a ward with 3 other women until I went to delivery - we were all being monitored for one thing or another. Quite honestly I didn't care or notice really who else was there. I had curtains to pull round when I wanted to and could chat if I/they wanted to too.
I left for delivery before the others and was in agony so by that point didn't care what they saw or thought about me.

She phrased that badly, on the MLU I was on my midwife was looking after me and probably one other lady, so she would drift between the rooms until one of us was at the pushing stage, and of both then another midwife was on hand if that makes sense. Think they also looked after the women on the ward, I still had the same midwife throughout though

Apologies for the terrible typing