Help please - your opinions......

[Princess81]

Well as y'know I'm wanting to become a midwife, and I'm doing all I can to increase my chances of a place at uni within this fiercely competitive course. I am therefore doing a preparatory course to stand me in good stead. As part of an assignment I need to do a survey to identify what you think a role of a midwife involves.

So, if you could spare me a few mins of your time in answering the following question I would be eternally grateful (and who knows maybe assist you in the birth of one of your own babies one day )

You don't need to Google It or whatever, just the thoughts that spring to mind....

Sooooo..... Tell me, what do you think the role of a midwife involves?

Thank you my lovelies xx

tapatalking!!

 

[HopesDreams]

Apart from the obvious? My midwife almost became like my comfort blanket. As long as she was there, I felt calmer & more at ease.
My delivery was scary. It maybe wouldn't have been for others, but it was for me. I didn't know if he was going to be ok. She arrived back on shift the night of O's arrival & I instantly felt a bit calmer. When I got emotional about it she gave me a hug & talked things through with me. She was a massive support.

 

[positivity :)]

Reassurance - really important

The ability to convey self confidence in what they know/do (not sure that makes sense?)

Personable

Ability to listen and understand - I always think a midwife who has been thru labour will understand better of course!

Good communication skills to explain what's happening and why to the 'patient'

'people management skills' and sound judgement as I didn't cope with my labour well until a mw caught my attention and literally TOLD me to pull it together when I went into a bit of a panicked frenzy at the transition stage - she then kept my attention by counting with me until lo arrived and changed the whole way the labour was going (she was ace!)

Also, I know some will disagree but I think taking into account dads. J was ignored a lot which I totally get but I sometimes felt if he felt a little more 'important/involved' it would have made me feel a bit better too - just some acknowledgement I guess!!

I think u will make an excellent MW! Good luck xxx

 

[tweetyfoo]

I think a midwife is there to help a woman through her pregnancy, to care for her, listen to her, reassure her and in general look out for her.

I would love to live in a community where one dedicated midwife takes you right through from pregnancy to labour.

Fact: I never saw the same mw more than once in my pregnancy!

 

[Princess81]

Thanks so much for your replies girls, really helpful to know and I'll be referring to it for sure iny assignment. I have 13 assignments to do in 3 months xx

tapatalking!!

 

[CARNAT22]

I can only base it on my experience....

Same as Tweety I never saw the same MW twice.

I felt as though my appointments were a bit of a conveyor belt to be honest but I was low risk and apart from needing a trace at 38w it was always BP, dip stick and listen to babies HB.

My sister is with a different hospital (same as SIL) and they had the same MW all the way through who is also a community MW - she came out to see me and James.

"Consistency" was my point here. Although I have no complaints about any of the MW's I saw. I would have preferred to build a rapport with someone but it wasn't the biggest problem.

On the day of giving birth I had the most amazing MW in the birthing centre. She was gentle, kind, supportive (came in and gave me a good old rub if OH nipped out). She just kind of 'got me'.... She was exactly what I would expect to find in a non medical environment.

Sadly I had to be transferred to labour ward but my MW (Bissie) came down to see me when her shift finished. She was off the next day but tracked me down to the MW station via phone to find out what we'd had and as we were still in when she came back on shift she came to visit us. It was such a personal touch and made me feel very special. I wish I'd taken her surname from my notes so I could have sent her a massive thank you.

So I think the personal touches are important.

My experience in labour ward was totally different. I had a student and a teacher - didn't know this until afterwards - and I felt the really didn't respect my wishes. I didn't want to labour on my back but they ended up losing babies trace every time they tried so I had to have the clip fitted. I understand this was for the babies safety and I was fine with I just felt very submissive and ganged up on???

When I was actually pushing the MW's were literally shouting at me "You must do better", "those pushes aren't good enough", "Come on, the Dr's are just about to intervene". It was tough love I know and they did allow me to have my wish and deliver James naturally but I had a horrible experience with these MW's. I didn't get any reassurance from them, they were all about the baby (rightly so) but there was no compassion or sympathy. I guess they weighed up the situation and saw that I would benefit more from the tough approach???

I also found the aftercare crap!

I know on the day the MW's have to do whatever they need to keep Mum and baby safe. I just wish when I'd been a bit more lucid they'd have said something to me to tell me they may have to get a bit forceful with me to get bub here safely.

I have no regrets, my labour was horrid but delivery and post delivery actually was fine.

I guess my point is I just wish there had been a bit kinder and softer?? I'd been in labour for so many hours I was very vulnerable.

xxxxxxxx

 

[Gayle30]

My midwifery care was brilliant. Our community has 4 teams. Blue, red, orange and yellow. Each is split by gp practice (our population of the area is about 52, 000) so out of that I guess it's not a huge volume of pg ladies. Usually about 50 per team at one spell they told me. Each team has about 6 midwifes so it was made very easy to see the same one at most visits. I had quite a few issues in pregnancy including an avarian cyst, spd and cholestasis for the remaining 10 weeks. I was also under the consultant due to having an elective csect. So basically I was at the mw every 2 weeks. Some weeks I was there 2-3 times though so I seen the same girls each time. I had my favourite 2. They were fantastic from the start.

My only gripe was, as the community set up is different to that on the wards, they were not present during delivery or my 3 day stay in hospital. I would have loved for my fav mw from the team to have been with me but when it came down to it the theatre mws were lovely and I had my mum there and to be honest-I couldnt habe cared less by then. I just wanted the baby to come. The ward mws were lively but much busier (despite there only being 3 ladies and 2 babies in at the same time as me).

The 1st day I was allocated a mw for the whole day (she was in recovery until 6pm the same night) she stayed with me most of the day which was a great help as I was in bed after the csection.

I met an amazing mw who was on night shift who came and chatted to me when I was too excited to sleep and up feeding the little one. She never once judged me for not breast feeding of for having an elective. She made me realise that what I was doing was ok and not to feel pressured.

The community mws were to visit from day 5 to 10 after I was discharged. Although we both agreed I didnt need to be seen so in the end they just phoned daily and visited on the 10th day to sign me over to hv.

I had an amazing bundle of care by some special ladies. I was a nervous wreck at the end due to my aunty having lost a baby due to cholestasis so they kept me sane. I was genuinely sad to see them go on day 10!!

Soery-waffled on there. But anyway, just wanted to say good luck. Xxxx


tapatalking

 

[Princess81]

That's great, thanks so much for your responses girls. I am now getting round to doing my first assignment. Obviously with the house move I've had to put things on hold a bit in this respect, but now I have a spare minute I'll get started.
Thanks again so much for taking the time to give these great answers, really appreciate you spending the time xxx

 

[Roo3]

I saw the same midwife at my gp surgery throughout my pregnancy. I got on really well with her. I really can't complain about the care I had throughout my pregnancy. I was consultant led due to being high risk. In all I had 13 scans on the NHS throughout my pregnancy!
I was induced due to high blood pressure, the first midwife I had when I was on the drip was fab, but due to changing shifts she was only with me for an hour. The next midwife I had was fab too, and stayed with me all the time. Towards the end of my labour I had 2 doctors and about 3 midwives in the room with me. I had no idea what was going on and why they were there but they were all shouting for me to push. Turns out my lo had the cord wrapped round his neck twice and they were losing his hb.
Once I had the baby I felt the care changed. I was like they couldn't wait to get me to the ward and off the delivery suite. I found the midwives very blunt and short with me, completely different to how they'd been when I was in labour.