Question for all midwives...

[dizietsma]

Why do so few MW seem to know that when measuring blood pressure in pregnant women with high BMI you need to use a big cuff to avoid inaccurately high readings?

It makes a real difference to the care received by pregnant women with high BMI, and could end in unnecessary early induction for non-existent "pre-eclampsia".

Inductions are correlated with worse health outcomes for mother and baby than spontaneous birth, so surely this is a measurement it is vital to get right?

In my pregnancy, every MW needed to be informed of this and reminded each time to get the big cuff. Many of them tried to convince me just to use the normal one. The one time I reluctantly agreed, my bp read as elevated. I then insisted they get the big cuff to check, hey presto my bp was perfectly normal again!

So how come this happens MW's? Don't they teach you this?

James, I think you should get an appointment with someone from your maternity unit to go through your notes with you. I think it may help you understand and make sense of your labour and delivery. If you feel you were treated unfairly or inappropriately then i would get in touch with PALS at the hospital.

Any health care professional should be explaining what they are doing with regards to your care and why, also, they should be providing non judgemental care with a focus on helping you to make informed choices x

Thanks, I actually feel so anxious about it the thought of sitting down with my notes and that midwife makes me feel sick, but maybe it would be helpful in the long term.