Midwife Home Assessment & Birth Plan Visit

[Lauz85]

Hi Ladies

Just after some advice please I have my midwife coming to visit tomorrow for a home assessment and to go through my birthing plan, the last appt was the first anyone has mentioned my birth plan and it wasn't my usual midwife and the fact that I would be having a home assessment. I'm 36+4 and was just wondering what I should expect from this visit ?

I have arranged for DH to be home for the visit as I'm scared they might try and influence my birth plan etc when I have an idea of how i want it to go already. Any advice would be appreciated ? Thanks

 

[CS_and_bump]

Ii went to see my MW yesterday and she said she needed to come and check the nursey etc i was really taken back i didnt realise that they did this.

She said its new and they just see if your prepared.

She will have a shock ive not even started the nursery x

 

[xolily]

never heard of it it seems they do alot of things differently in different areas! i would've thought when it came to NHS care, it'd be pretty similar throughout!

 

[Gbobs]

Ii went to see my MW yesterday and she said she needed to come and check the nursey etc i was really taken back i didnt realise that they did this.

She said its new and they just see if your prepared.

She will have a shock ive not even started the nursery x

How strange! Maybe she just fancied a nosy around your house! I have never even heard this mentioned from my midwife so I'd be as surprised as you! especially as ours isn't finished yet either - I mean baby will be in the bedroom with us for a few months so there isn't even a need to have it done.

 

[CharlieP]

I'm having a home birth. when the midwife came round she just went through a risk assessment (of me as opposed to the house) and also went through a list of what we need to provide (tarpaulin, towels, torch etc). They also tell you about what pain relief you can have, what circumstances would mean a transfer to hospital and when and where to call when you go ito labour.

They also discuss positions for labouring etc. We didn't talk about a birth plan really - I don't actually have one written down as I'm going to go with the flow - but they certainly didn't try to influence me.

My big piece of advice would be not to get too fixated on your birth plan - you can have an idea of what you want/don't want, but babies have a habit of doing what they want, and you are never sure how you will feel once in actual labour.

My husband was here for the assessment and she just told him what to do in the event the baby got here before the midwife!!

 

[scuffer]

CS_and _bump this is apparently a new thing for Sheffield, not all areas do it. They did come to my house a few weeks ago but I refused to show them upstairs as it felt too intrusive. You don't have to show them the nursery etc if you are happy with what you have done or what you are doing, the midwife told me they hate doing it anyway!

Lauz85, yours is probably similar, they didn't try and change anything about my birth plans, just made a note of my preferences. It was all quite quick and painless, just a fomality if you have no concerns x

 

[Lauz85]

glad its not just me then, a few friends have been warned of this and a couple of them have got other children and didn't have one so they asked why and they said its a new thing they have to do, baby is in our bedroom too and doesn't have a nursery of its own as we are letting my step daughters have their own rooms for as long as possible although our bedroom is 28ft long and we have made half of it in to a mini nursey for jellybean just wish i knew what to expect from it

 

[Lauz85]

CS_and _bump this is apparently a new thing for Sheffield, not all areas do it. They did come to my house a few weeks ago but I refused to show them upstairs as it felt too intrusive. You don't have to show them the nursery etc if you are happy with what you have done or what you are doing, the midwife told me they hate doing it anyway!

Lauz85, yours is probably similar, they didn't try and change anything about my birth plans, just made a note of my preferences. It was all quite quick and painless, just a fomality if you have no concerns x

ooh thanks glad someone else has heard of it i was getting worried

 

[CS_and_bump]

I thought i was really rude! I bet she just wants a nosey around our house

I wouldnt mind but its not my first and i dont need someone the count my nappies etc ha ha x

 

[Lauz85]

I thought i was really rude! I bet she just wants a nosey around our house

I wouldnt mind but its not my first and i dont need someone the count my nappies etc ha ha x

that just made me chuckle, i'm in Sheffield too so guess its something local to here a few of my friends are on their 2nd and third babies and said the same thing

 

[leahsbabybump]

my health visitor checked my home after the birth with my first and the only reason i had mw come and go through my birth plan is because she is a student and will be there at my birth so we thought it would be beneficial for us both to know what i would like before hand
i dont now if its common practice to go through birthplan no one did with my first:-/

 

[leahsbabybump]

im in sheff and no one been to check my nursery :-/ not even any mention of it :-/ they will have a shock if they do wana check my nursery as it doesnt excist i live in a 1 beroomed flat my son has the bedroom and me OH and LO are in the lounge seen ads the council dont think we are overcrowded and wont help :-/

 

[Gbobs]

my health visitor checked my home after the birth with my first and the only reason i had mw come and go through my birth plan is because she is a student and will be there at my birth so we thought it would be beneficial for us both to know what i would like before hand
i dont now if its common practice to go through birthplan no one did with my first:-/

If you don't mind me asking what exactly did they check your home for? I think it's quite rude and intrusive for someone to come round and "check" my home, especially when coping with a newborn!

 

[dan-o]

I've got one of these home visits next week.

It's actually very inconvenient as I have the plumber round refitting our bathroom, the carpenter doing the stairs & bannister and a litter of puppies just born in the front room lol!!

Nightmare

 

[Green Lady]

Oh Lord, I hope they don't do that here. I'm having my 36 wk midwife appointment next week but no one has mentioned a home visit. We don't have a nursery either, just the cot in our bedroom, and the flat is filled with stacks of boxes. No storage here at all. I'm already dreading the HV appointments, but if she mentions the state of the place I'll just tell her it's temporary. Maybe another year kind of temporary till we can find a bigger place, but she doesn't need to know that!

 

[leahsbabybump]

my health visitor checked my home after the birth with my first and the only reason i had mw come and go through my birth plan is because she is a student and will be there at my birth so we thought it would be beneficial for us both to know what i would like before hand
i dont now if its common practice to go through birthplan no one did with my first:-/

If you don't mind me asking what exactly did they check your home for? I think it's quite rude and intrusive for someone to come round and "check" my home, especially when coping with a newborn!

they just checked that babys bed was safe and that matress complied with the sids complience testing thingy lol they checked the sheets were clean etc and that the room was otherwise safe temprature was good well ventilated and heated they then just checked that the rest of the house had no obvious dangers or hazards
at the time they did it i was living with my nan and she has ornaments and crap everywere she hauds all sorts and the health visitor said as some of the ornaments had small parts would she mind putting them away for the saftey of the baby (choking etc) my nan stood up and said "absoluty not none of the other grandchildren touch them so why will this one lol they are stopping there" loooool the health visitor just said fine but be aware they are a hazard. My nan was really pissed that someone came into house and tried to tell her what to do with her stuff so yeah it can be quite intrusive but i suppose they have a job to do at end of day are there are probably a lot of homes out there that are unsafe for kids and do need sorting somone needs to identify them and help the parents out i have a friend who is a social worker and she said you wouldnt believe what happens in some homes out there with junkie parents etc so its just there way of identifying risk to kids
and i think they do it more in south yorkshire now to those sheff mommies as we are one of the highest rated communities suceptible to child abuse :-/ apparently we have the third highest reported cases in the UK or something bless the little kiddies that go through it :-/

 

[Linzi]

HV came out before Seth was born but never a midwife. We're getting a home visit as we're planning a homebirth but never been mentioned about a standard pre baby visit from a mw! Is that happening everywhere now? I hate it makes me panic xx

 

[My4thmiracle]

I had midwife visit 2 years ago to do birth plan. She sat at the table, I made her a cuppa, she didnt want to look anywhere or at anything.

She did mention yesterday that they usually Come out to do birth plan, but she filled half of it in yesterday at hospital and I've got to go back to hospital next Thursday to be examined for them to see if it's breech or not. Said no point in completing birth plan as it may all change if baby is breech.

She will have a shock cos at the mo bar a few piles of clothes that I've washed, it doesn't look like there's a baby coming into this house. Lol

 

[scuffer]

I thought i was really rude! I bet she just wants a nosey around our house

I wouldnt mind but its not my first and i dont need someone the count my nappies etc ha ha x

that just made me chuckle, i'm in Sheffield too so guess its something local to here a few of my friends are on their 2nd and third babies and said the same thing

I was really honest with the midwife and told her I wasn't happy with it. I pointed out that it was my 3rd baby and I know what I'm doing, plus, if I want to put my baby to sleep in a drawer that's up to me! She was really sweet about it. I'm very excited that there are more Sheffield Mum's too, we should definitely meet in a park or something once our babies are here!

my health visitor checked my home after the birth with my first and the only reason i had mw come and go through my birth plan is because she is a student and will be there at my birth so we thought it would be beneficial for us both to know what i would like before hand
i dont now if its common practice to go through birthplan no one did with my first:-/

If you don't mind me asking what exactly did they check your home for? I think it's quite rude and intrusive for someone to come round and "check" my home, especially when coping with a newborn!

They just like to see where the baby is sleeping really and I suppose that the house seems like a safe environment to bring a child into, though I'm not sure what their next step is if it isn't??

 

[leahsbabybump]

I thought i was really rude! I bet she just wants a nosey around our house

I wouldnt mind but its not my first and i dont need someone the count my nappies etc ha ha x

that just made me chuckle, i'm in Sheffield too so guess its something local to here a few of my friends are on their 2nd and third babies and said the same thing

I was really honest with the midwife and told her I wasn't happy with it. I pointed out that it was my 3rd baby and I know what I'm doing, plus, if I want to put my baby to sleep in a drawer that's up to me! She was really sweet about it. I'm very excited that there are more Sheffield Mum's too, we should definitely meet in a park or something once our babies are here!

my health visitor checked my home after the birth with my first and the only reason i had mw come and go through my birth plan is because she is a student and will be there at my birth so we thought it would be beneficial for us both to know what i would like before hand
i dont now if its common practice to go through birthplan no one did with my first:-/

If you don't mind me asking what exactly did they check your home for? I think it's quite rude and intrusive for someone to come round and "check" my home, especially when coping with a newborn!

They just like to see where the baby is sleeping really and I suppose that the house seems like a safe environment to bring a child into, though I'm not sure what their next step is if it isn't??

i think if the house is unsafe for baby then they will send social worker out to chat to you to see whatyou can do to improve :-/ just a random guess x