Private Midwife?

[Cat1424]

Hello,

I’m still early days in my pregnancy but myself and my OH have been looking into private midwives as we’ve sadly lost a bit of faith in our local maternity care following the birth of my brothers baby.

I just wondered whether anyone has used a private midwife before and if so, how you found it and whether it was worth the expense?

I had an Independent Midwife (birth Jan 20), so before the insurance stuff happened.

It was honestly the best most empowering experience and I wish I’d have felt worth it enough to have done it for my first born in 2016.

I had 2 homebirths but birth place aside just having the longer appointments, more regularly, at home, having continuity of care, someone I could text a picture of a weird thing to and get a quick measured response, and having 6 weeks of post partum visits….it was worth every penny and much better than a new bathroom (hilariously he was born in the bathroom and ended up being a BBA because I think I felt so relaxed - it was the best most beautiful birth).

Are you wanting a homebirth? If not private midwives don't offer hospital labour care.

There is a difference between independent and private midwives. Private midwives are beholden to the company's policies and will drop you if you don't meet certain criteria. I'd definitely recommend an independent mw for that reason. They now have insurance options for birth/intrapartum care so that issue has now passed.

They can accompany you to hospital too if that becomes necessary and act as another advocate/birth partner.

NHS maternity services are imo and experience now highly variable and in some cases dangerous. If I have another I'll have an IM.

We had a private midwife for our third. It was expensive but worth it it. I was wanting a homebirth but was out of area for our local hospital. I ended up having an induction which I was terrified of (having had an awful first induction). She advocated for me brilliantly, raised questions for me to ask so I would be fully aware of my choices, made sure I mobilised even with an epidural. She encouraged all the professionals to do the best they could without putting noses out of joint and consequently I had a really good birth.

We had an independent midwife who came with me to hospital for my birth. This was ages ago though in 2014. Was it worth it...? In hindsight, I'm not 100% sure it was worth the extra money for me and I didn't use them again for dc2. They were lovely and it was nice to get the extra attention from them, but my birth ended up being a bit complicated and there wasn't a lot my MW could do except be there which wasn't worth the money.

I'd have used them for dc2 if we'd had a home birth which I had initially really wanted. But I spoke to a consultant who wasn't happy with that and I ended up with an ELCS.

So, I think I wouldn't if you are planning to be in hospital. Probably worth it if you are planning to be at home.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I would suspect I’ll be having a hospital birth (or a birth in the maternity unit we have at the local hospital) with it being the first but we were considering it for the continuity of care as we haven’t had a great start and I currently have absolutely zero support from a professional. We also think the post partum support will be invaluable as it’s our first baby and we don’t have a clue what we’re doing 😂

I'd recommend looking into home birth :) either way IMs do offer post natal packages, that's probably the most important bit (and almost non existent on the NHS)

Independent midwife for my first birth in 2005

Homebirth

But no insurance

All went well 😊

Postpartum care was awful with independent midwife

Good with NHS😉 for second birth bit birth was awful with second midwife

I had an independent midwife. Twin pregnancy and I wanted a home birth. Superlative antenatal care. Fab.
She tried so hard to move baby 1 around so as not to be transverse - no luck. Came with me to hospital for "emergency" ( waters had not broken all was fine) cesarian. Bloody loved her being there. Also post natal care from her was super.

I had a homebirth with my first, it’s absolutely doable.

However if you are considering a hospital birth another option would be to hire a doula.