how experienced should homebirth midwife be?

[bananafarmer]

I am really doubting myself even posting this as I feel a bit horrible, but the worries are starting to plague me a little about the experience of my homebirth midwife.

She is really nice, and has said herself things like 'I'm not very good at the admin side of things but I'm good at delivering babies' which I kind of respect the honesty and self-awareness of. But I am 31 weeks now and so far she hasn't known the answer to almost any of my questions and says things like 'I should know that, but would you mind asking your GP' - about things like whooping cough vaccine, whether I need a glucose tolerance test etc. I just don't get a 'highly experienced' vibe from her, which is what I was expecting in a homebirth midwife. I thought they were the midwives that tended to have a lot of expertise and experience. It's starting to affect my confidence in giving birth at home, which I have been totally set on until now.

I have done a bit of poking around online and can see she actually only qualified less than year ago - which does make me feel a little uneasy if I'm being honest. I don't know if I'm being unreasonable / have unreasonable expectations, or what to do about how I'm feeling. Would hugely appreciate any advice.

Can you speak to someone at the home birth team? You might be able to request a different midwife.

I just don't know if that's really awful of me, and really unfair?

I think midwives choose which area they work in, I.e. antenatal, community, on the ward etc rather than it being down to their experience. If your uncomfortable in any way you can ask for a different midwife. In likelihood she may not be the one who delivers baby anyway (unless they're on call 24/7 in your area) and 2 midwives will attend so she wouldn't be alone anyway x

I wouldn’t worry, there will be a mix of experience levels on the team and I’m sure they’ll pair new starters with more experienced midwives for the actual birth.

She’s a bit cheeky telling you to ask your GO about whooping cough vaccines and GTTs though, that’s really something she should be able to deal with.

Hey OP, the birth of your baby, and how you feel during it, is incredibly important. Feeling safe is crucial to having a positive experience in labour. If you do not feel reassured by your midwife, and you wouldn't feel looked after by her in labour, I would request another midwife.

As pp she may not even be the midwife that comes to your birth anyway (unless there is some kind of special arrangement?) So in fact this may all be moot. But trust your gut and don't worry about offending people. Let go of the "good girl" thing, it's the first thing you gotta do when becoming a mum imo, stop worrying about offending people 😂 the birth of your baby is important and you need to feel confident in whoever is with you.

Whatever you decide, there will be two midwives present. I planned a home birth and my named midwife was only there for a couple hours then replaced with two others when her shift ended. They were absolutely amazing even tho I didn't know them well, I felt safe.

Best of luck!! X