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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

did you have any students at your birth?

111 replies

ranirani · 21/01/2009 22:28

I am at watford general. 37 weeks PG this Friday.
Do not think I want to have any students poking down there, definitely not. maybe to be present, and one only, not the whole group of them staring at my bits.
did you have any experience with students?
i know they need to learn but do not feel all that glamorous somehow with all this extraweight etc... having my Dh there would be enough embarassment for me
and NO photographing either!!!!!!!

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ilovemydogandMrObama · 21/01/2009 22:51

DS was delivered by a student!

She was supervised, and it was fine.

I had an epidural and she monitored my contractions throughout, so it just seemed like a natural progression that she delivered DS.

The on duty midwife did the stitches.

Midwives have to learn at some stage, and if there was a problem, I would have asked for her to be replaced, but she was fine.

cheesesarnie · 21/01/2009 22:52

yep.she was lovely.

epithet · 21/01/2009 22:54

Yes, had a student midwife, which was good, because she was present in the room keeping tabs on things (I was on syntocinon drip) while the mw was out dealing with a difficult labour.

It was actually an enhancement to my birth experience (I would have been terrified to be left on my own, as was first baby and not going to plan).

whingeomatic · 21/01/2009 22:55

A student mw delivered dd1 - she was fab...

Catilla · 21/01/2009 22:56

I had a student as the 2nd mw for both of my births - thought they were both great and it meant two pairs of hands with me continuously both times (albeit the 2nd one only lasted 7 mins before dd was born!)

In neither case did I have any internal examinations once I was officially in labour. Of course I'm sure they could see a bit (dh stayed pretty much near my head) but I delivered on all fours both times and never felt really "exposed" like I'd thought I would if lying on the bed like you see on TV.

I would suggest not saying anything up front, and waiting to see what happens, what they ask for and how you feel at the time. Like you say, they have to learn, and the medics in my family definitely say that they see so many people - you won't stand out in their mind and they won't notice the sort of things you'd feel worried about exposing.

Good luck with it!

cece · 21/01/2009 22:57

I had a student for my first birth. The mw arrived, after a change of shift, with her. At that point I think I said I don't care just get this baby out of me! (or something like that ). It was the second birth she had attended and she delivered my placenta under close supervision. She looked really pleased with herself - bless .

katiepotatie · 21/01/2009 22:58

I had a lovely student doctor who stayed way beyond her finishing time just to witness her first birth, she was fab, think she was almost as tired as me in the end. You are asked if you mind them being present, I'm sure there would never be a room full of them.

Simplysally · 21/01/2009 22:59

I had a student mw in with me - it didn't bother me but she ended up tipping the baby clothes on the floor in her haste to unpack the bag .

I also had a paed in with me as my dd had gone into distress and two mws. At least 4 people at the business end plus more holding me down supporting me.

Must have been a bit crowded thinking about it

Marthasmama · 21/01/2009 23:05

I had a student MW both times. 1st only for labour as I ended up with emcs and second was elcs and she was there for the actual 'removal' (not really a birth is it?!). The 1st time it was great, she was lovely and DH had someone to talk to while I was off my head on drugs. She also had a good laugh at my gas and air fuelled rantings! 1st one was lovely, second one, was ok but then annoyed me later on in my hospital stay. She did some bullying about getting out of bed when I was pretty ill following a huge blood loss.

didoreth · 21/01/2009 23:16

I had a student midwife and a student doctor present at my homebirth. The student midwife came with the community midwives, she was very young and very sweet, it was her first week in training and the first birth she'd ever seen. The student doctor was my best mate, who'd just finished her obstetrics placement - I thought it would be good her education to see a lovely calm home birth, after all the medicalised births she'd seen in hospital.

ZoeC · 21/01/2009 23:20

I had a student present for much of dd1's labour, but I was taken to theatre and I don't remember her being there.

dd2 was homebirth and a student midwife came with an experienced midwife and they asked if it was ok for student to lead the birth - she was almost qualified and I think one more delivery would complete so she did. If there had been anything complicated, the experienced midwife would have been there to deal with it if necessary.

WobblyPig · 21/01/2009 23:30

I was a medical student at many births. Many times I was the only person with the womean in labour throughout. We didn't poke around down there unless we had to and were never given responsibility for the birth we were observers only. Wouldn't bother me to have a nice medical student but many are complete arses so I owuld have to vet the first.

Original poster

ranirani · 21/01/2009 23:45

so it seems like not a bad thing then.
I just got put off by a friend , pregnant as well, the same term as me, when she went to the ward with some complications (danger of premature birth) and student nurse tried to put a drip in . And instead of medicine going down, my friend's blood was going up the tube The student girl could not get into ther veins, although she has got perfect veins compare to me, i have almost none visible in my arms, only around my wrist area. last thing I want someone bruising me just because they need training. happened to me when i had a surgery once .

Have to remember to put : no photographs.
and if I do need stitches, qualified MF or doctor will have to do it, pronto. I am not a quinea pig, thank you very much.

Otherwise sounds very positive to me . Will have to wait and see, as someone said earlier: personality is important.

OP posts:

Ebb · 21/01/2009 23:49

A student midwife delivered Ds. He was her first 'catch'. She was called Alice and absolutely lovely.

savoycabbage · 21/01/2009 23:57

I had a student midwife for my 1st dd and it was great. She had to stay to the end so I knew that I was going to have at least someone with me the whole time! I wished I could have had one the second time when the ward was busy and I hardly saw a midwife except for when the baby was actually being delivered.

My sister was alone for the majority of her birth. She only had a ward cleaner with her. And her dh. She is having another baby and is having a home birth so she has more chance of getting a midwife.

elkiedee · 22/01/2009 00:14

Student midwives need to be at 40 births as part of their training. You can refuse I think but I wouldn't. What I could do without is the ridiculous number of people who came in when I was in labour - the pair of staff who were wandering round trying to borrow all the equipment for my room in the delivery suite, and the 6 doctors on a ward round. There wasn't much for any of them to see at that point, I was fairly covered up and progressing very slowly in early labour. Among other things it contributed to my feeling of a lack of control over anything but a student midwife being around for her shift would be ok.

I also wonder if my main daytime midwife was a student or very inexperienced - she didn't talk to me much or try to manage the flow of people in and out for various reasons. Or perhaps she just wasn't interested. I'd be happy with a student midwife who actually had the confidence to talk to me and interact with me.

hairymcleary · 22/01/2009 01:48

I would go for it- if only for the continuity of care. I had a student midwife with DS1 and she was lovely. Her name was Charity and she couldn't have been more aptly named! She mostly did the monitoring and note writing and when I got my notes from the hospital, hers were by far the most thorough entries... also easiest to read!
I felt so sorry for her though- she had been at college all day, arrived about 11pm because they thought I would deliver shortly and ended up going home about 7am! She looked knackered.
I had also met her prior to the birth, when I went into the antenatal unit for some monitoring, so it was nice to have a familiar face there.

Astrophe · 22/01/2009 03:20

I had one hanging around with DD (1st birth) - there seemed to be about 6 people there at one stage. I thought it a bit surreal, but it didn't bother me in the slightest (and I am not normally one for parading my fanjo whilst screaming).

With DS I had one midwife, mostly not present, and one student. Student looked like Brigdet Jones, and every so often I would think absently "wow, should I tell her?" then thought would leave, only to return 10 minutes later. Bridget Jones looked like she was about to be sick the whole time, and propped herself up agaist furniture while they stitched me. I would have rathered she wasnt there, but not a huge deal. (I suspect she had a career change the next day)

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 22/01/2009 06:26

I did, she was studying at the hospital I was employed by and was a couple of my colleages were her lecturers. She didn't talk to me like a patient which was flipping hard work after being in labour for hours and a shot of pethadine. Ended up with an emergency caesarian and she was still going on in theatre which I found hard to cope with. I wouldn't have have agreed to one the second time but wasn't asked.

magnummum · 22/01/2009 07:00

With DD 1 I had put on the birth plan that I potentially wouldn't mind - as I do think it's important for their training and I had read loads of very positive stuff about the focus and attention you get from them. When it came to it I delivered just as staff were changing shift and they asked if I minded a student coming in for what would have been the last 20 minutes. I'm afraid I said no - wouldn't have minded had they been there for the whole thing but to just come in and gawp was something I couldn't cope with. I'm now pregnant with twins and don't know what I think - I think the delivery is going to be a bit of a circus anyway and part of me wants to restrict the number of people there a bit, the other part thinks what difference will one more make? By the way I really wouldn't worry about the embarrassment factor - all of that goes out of the window anyway. Good luck with your pregnancy

amanda12 · 22/01/2009 07:29

Having once been a student nurse and having been present at several births i felt i should really let some students be involed. So ds1 was delivered by a fantastic student midwife, ds2 birth was wittnessed by med students i can still remember the look of horror on their faces!! Finally ds3 was also delivered by a student midwife. She was great much more use then dp.

llareggub · 22/01/2009 07:40

I'd much rather have a qualified midwife and doctor who have had plenty of pre and post qualifying experience, so I always agree to students being present.

Whenever I see my consultant he always has fairly young med students in tow so he gives them a detailed history of my pregnancy and previous pregnancy, so I consider myself to be very well informed regarding my condition!

shabster · 22/01/2009 07:42

When I had DS4 (I was almost 41 and he was a wonderful shock!) I didnt go to hospital until about 2 hours before he was born.

I had a very young male midwife. My sons birth coincided with his first day 'on the job.'

I remember glancing round at him after the ventouse delivery. His face was like this and , and I am always very quiet when delivering so its nothing I did The nurse had to help him out of the room LOL!!!

He came to see me the morning after and said 'Thanks for letting me watch your sons delivery....I couldn't sleep last night....do you know you are 2 years older than my mum!!...She sends all her love and says that you are barking mad!' I would love to know if he qualified in midwifery.

lal07 · 22/01/2009 08:14

Like Idris I had lovely student doctor - she was so excited to see a birth and quite tearful after the delivery. Was really lovely for me that she was so overwhelmed by it - and as was very straightforward think it was good for her to see. Good luck with your birth ranirani

MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 22/01/2009 08:23

I had a student mw for the first part of the experience (the nice civilised water-birth bit before it all got complicated and ended in CS) and it was definitely a bonus, she fetched me loads of cups of tea etc, helped if I needed to get out of the pool for anything and was just an extra person for reassurance - there was an experienced mw too of course and DH, but if one or both of them ever needed to leave for a few minutes it meant I still had company. She missed the rest of it though as we went through several shift changes before DS was finally extracted!

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