Being pushed to give birth in Midwife Led Unit

[Unexpected212]

Hello,

I have two children already. The first one I was booked onto the Midwife Led Unit but transferred to the Consultant Led Unit as I had quite a few complications. Awful labour, awful recovered.

My second child I had a quick, easy birth. No issues and didn't tear or anything.

This time when I rang the doctors they told me I'd be booked in on a midwife led unit unless I was high risk.

I have my booking in appointment at the midwife led unit and they are REALLY pushy about giving birth there.

I want to give birth at a consultant led unit as my closest midwife led unit is THIRTY minutes away from the consultant led unit

Which means if I had a haemorrage or the baby was stuck or I needed emergency surgery I'd have to be transferred. 30 minutes transfer could have meant the death of my son as his situation went from 'ok' to BAD really quickly

The Midwife led units where I am literally have no doctors/surgeons

I also have issues with anaemia whilst pregnant :/

Ahhhhh it can sometimes be so hard to get what you want. I'm so greatful for free healthcare but oh my gosh it makes it so hard to push for what you want

 

[lynnikins]

if you have had one complication free delivery then its likely you will have another,

My firstborn was a MLU birth, but he got stuck so waterbirth was abandoned and i had a ventouse delivery, thankfully the consultant unit was only up the hall,
Second was complication free natural birth on same MLU
Third we opted for a homebirth and ended up having an unassisted birth but the lessons I had learnt on how my body labours and how to help not hinder it enabled me to cope fine and the ambulance arrived ( homebirth team unavalible )
Fourth and Fifth babies were planned home water births which both were so lovely and calm, nearest maternity unit is a 20 min drive in normal traffic and 15 min under blue lights.

I know things probably seem like they went really fast with your first when things got panicked i know i thought that they did with ds1 but in reality from the time i got out of the pool because he was stuck and they pressed the emergancy call button for the doctor till the time he was born was nearly 50 min ( most of that just getting things ready and set up for the ventouse ) and that was with a whole team of doctors on hand, I know if i had to transfer from home in an emergancy all the prep work would be getting done from the time it was phoned in by the mw and would be waiting my arrival so i don't worry about the transfer time,
Even an emergancy c section takes an hour to get the theatre ready and team assembled and scrubbed if the theatre is even empty when its needed.

I would try to focus on the positives , that your body has done this with no issues once now and knows what its doing the first one was a trial run for you and your body and it would seem since you managed fine second time round that your body found its groove. There is plenty of time to talk to consultants and assess risks and plan birthplace

 

[Unexpected212]

Thanks for the advice.

I've just had a really bad experience with midwives...

With my son they refused to check me or believe I was in labour and put me in a room alone overnight and when they finally examined me I was 8cm and he was in distress.

With my daughter my first midwife was literally falling asleep (end of shift) and cut my cervix when she broke my waters. Also I was being induced and I went into labour naturally but they wouldn't believe me for hours and laughed at me. When they examined me finally I was 5cm.

 

[laila 44]

I don't know why where you are there are midwives? I'm in Canada and here giving birth with midwives is really really uncommon. It's a choice that's there if you really want to but it's not encouraged. I personally would never ever give birth with anyone other than an obstetrician because I have see how things can go wrong so quickly. Had I been with MW I would have for sure lost my life in my first delivery. I'm sorry but I really never understood the concept... At most it should be an option not the standard. Fight for what you want OP, I would too xx

 

[ReadynWaiting]

Laila, I also am in Canada and I know more people (in the past 5 years) that have had a mw present vs ob-gyn for birth. More people are choosing mw because they are highly trained, use little intervention and are more hands on where ob are more inclined to intervene.
Midwives have been delivering babies long before licensed drs have. In saying all this, mw deal with low risk where if a patient is high risk care is transferred.
In my own personal experience I had an ob/hospital birth with ds and I hated it. I was told to lie down, had a fetal monitor strapped around my belly and hated the whole process. With dd I had a mw/homebirth and it was the best experience as I led my labour and delivery.
I have heard some awful stories of mw care but I have also heard of terrible ob interventions that for me personally would have been so upsetting. I guess it's a matter of what you are looking for when delivering.
Our mw clinic educates clients on their care and the possibilities of something going wrong and how they deal with it. It was interesting because there are so many misperceptions out there.

 

[newmommy21]

Fight for what you want OP!

 

[laila 44]

Laila, I also am in Canada and I know more people (in the past 5 years) that have had a mw present vs ob-gyn for birth. More people are choosing mw because they are highly trained, use little intervention and are more hands on where ob are more inclined to intervene.
Midwives have been delivering babies long before licensed drs have. In saying all this, mw deal with low risk where if a patient is high risk care is transferred.
In my own personal experience I had an ob/hospital birth with ds and I hated it. I was told to lie down, had a fetal monitor strapped around my belly and hated the whole process. With dd I had a mw/homebirth and it was the best experience as I led my labour and delivery.
I have heard some awful stories of mw care but I have also heard of terrible ob interventions that for me personally would have been so upsetting. I guess it's a matter of what you are looking for when delivering.
Our mw clinic educates clients on their care and the possibilities of something going wrong and how they deal with it. It was interesting because there are so many misperceptions out there.

Yes ofcourse for low risk it can be great but my point is that it should be a choice not an obligation. Also for me I know I'd never be comfortable with a MW ever. My OB had published articles, delivered thousands of babies, teaches obstetrics at the university level and is specialized in maternal fetal medicine. I don't think a MW would have the same qualifications as someone who attended medical school etc. however it's not a debate, I respect the decision for those who have a MW and love it, that's awesome. I do believe it should be a personal choice and not an obligation xx

 

[Unexpected212]

The UK are really pushing home births and Midwife Led Units (basically birth centres with only midwives) which is great because I know a LOT of people want that

Personally I like as much medical care as possible and like the fact there is a consultant on the ward. The consultant with my son had to step in and tell the midwives with my son that I was not to carry on pushing as his heart was dropping and he had me rushed to theatre where my son was born with forceps (almost c section) I'm scared to think what would have happened if he hadn't had been there?

Also that isn't a dig at midwives, one of my best friends is one and is amazing at her job I've just had really bad experiences. Two of the midwives I had (changes of shift) were lovely and great but two were just...awful.

 

[lynnikins]

UK Midwives are very different to American ones or even some Canadian ones they go to Uni and earn a degree the same as a junior doctor except instead of studying everything then specialising in one thing they study one thing, Natural childbirth and specialise in it from day one. NHS care can be a big let down in some areas and some PCT's but as Patients then we have a responsibility to give feedback when we arent happy with the care we recieve so we can help improve the service. it was being ignored during labour and post birth with my second that made me rethink my options and choose homebirths for the others as at home then I am the one in the control of what happens not them, and I wasn't needing MW's to be support that was DH's role they were there to watch and observe and pick up issues where i couldn't,

The most important thing about giving birth is that you are as the labouring woman in a place where you feel able to relax so that you can let your body do its thing.

 

[ReadynWaiting]

I totally agree that you should fight for what you want. Labour and delivery is a very personal experience and you def need to feel confident in the care that you get.

 

[Tripledagger3]

Do not let anyone push u into a birth scenario u don't want. Ur the one who has to give birth- not them

 

[MissCherry15]

I'm in the UK and I think ur lucky but I understand ur opinion. Sadly for me I am high risk and I can't have a home birth like I'd want. But then again my closest hospital treated me like crap with my daughters birth. The hospital I chose to give birth to my son at is 30mins drive. My labours have been 3 and 4 hours so I worry about the distance. but for the comfort and care you receive is worth the travel. I agree with u and u should be allowed to birth in a hospital. U do not need to be consultant led though. But If u choose a hospital ward to birth in a consultant is always on hand in the labour ward should u need them xx
Just to add. U can not be forced to give birth where u don't want to. Unless ur high risk and u want a home birth. They can stop you from that via court etc. And u cant be consultant led just because u want to. However in your situation put ur foot down and say no. I will birth in a hospital where I feel safe and know consultants are on hand and an emergency section is available on hand should complications arise xx u don't need consultant appointments etc just a hospital to have ur baby in x

 

[Unexpected212]

thank you. I know I should feel lucky to have the option but I just want doctors around if necessary as my son nearly died during labour so I have really bad stress over childbirth even though my daughters was so easy

 

[lynnikins]

I would consider trying to work through your emotions about labour and birth esp if it's causing you stress Hun you deserve a stress free pregnancy

 

[Unexpected212]

Thank you

I'm quite an anxious person so tend to focus on worst case scenarios.

 

[jinxii]

I would fight for what I want. The less worried you are, the better your delivery will go. Here in California, our setup is a little different. There are a bunch of midwives that work in labor and delivery, but there is always a doctor and surgeon available as well to assist with any complications. And if you prefer a doctor-only attended birth, you can do that. I prefer a midwife unless there are complications, but if I didn't know the doctor could be there in minutes there is no way I would go with just midwives. We also have the third most expensive delivery costs of any state though. With insurance, it averages 5-10K.

 

[laila 44]

I would fight for what I want. The less worried you are, the better your delivery will go. Here in California, our setup is a little different. There are a bunch of midwives that work in labor and delivery, but there is always a doctor and surgeon available as well to assist with any complications. And if you prefer a doctor-only attended birth, you can do that. I prefer a midwife unless there are complications, but if I didn't know the doctor could be there in minutes there is no way I would go with just midwives. We also have the third most expensive delivery costs of any state though. With insurance, it averages 5-10K.

That's a very cool concept actually. Where I am in Canada, if you give burg in hospital there are only Drs and nurses no midwives. Never even heard of a midwife until I came on here! Either way it's nice to have options. However for me and my births I prefer an OB

 

[jessmke]

I would fight for what I want. The less worried you are, the better your delivery will go. Here in California, our setup is a little different. There are a bunch of midwives that work in labor and delivery, but there is always a doctor and surgeon available as well to assist with any complications. And if you prefer a doctor-only attended birth, you can do that. I prefer a midwife unless there are complications, but if I didn't know the doctor could be there in minutes there is no way I would go with just midwives. We also have the third most expensive delivery costs of any state though. With insurance, it averages 5-10K.

That's a very cool concept actually. Where I am in Canada, if you give burg in hospital there are only Drs and nurses no midwives. Never even heard of a midwife until I came on here! Either way it's nice to have options. However for me and my births I prefer an OB

Where in Canada are you? I am in the Calgary area and there is a huge demand for midwives, there is a waitlist of over 800 women to receive midwifery care in Calgary. I actually don't know anyone who would choose a doctor over a midwife, the only people I know who are under doctor or OB care are doing so because they were unable to get a midwife (myself included!) or are high risk pregnancies. Midwives have privileges at all the hospitals in the province, so there are plenty of midwives who deliver at the hospital. Canada and the US are two of the only countries in the world who do not use midwives to deliver babies to low risk, healthy women. All other countries let the OB's handle just the high risk or special cases that require that level of expertise.