What are midwives for?

I'm pregnant with my first - 14 weeks on Thursday. I'm having my baby here in London with the NHS. So far I've met with my GP, had a scan and met with midwife. At no point during this whole treadmill of forms and hospital visits has it been made clear to me what a midwife is and what they are for! I don't mean to be insulting, but the meeting I had with my midwife [who is a man, by the way  ] just didn't really seem to do much for me. The midwife was very kind, but the advice he gave me was verbatim from the purple nhs maternity book. The meeting was about him giving me loads of paperwork and fobbing me off to my GP when I had a serious question, e.g. if my asthma flares up can i take my inhalers.

Are midwives present for the birth? Do they make decisions about my care? Can a man midwife seriously give me advice on things like sore nipples!?

I love the UK but right now desperately miss the clean, white, antiseptic, pristine, drug-giving US healthcare system as I near birth.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Distressed, Mimsy2000

I love the UK but right now desperately miss the clean, white, antiseptic, pristine, drug-giving US healthcare system as I near birth.

I'm sorry I don't have any advice for you.  I'm not even thinking about having children yet.  But I'm just wondering...how would you describe the UK health care system if that's how you summed up the US?  I'm moving to the UK next year and possibly somewhere down the line might have children in London as well.  So I'm seriously wondering your thoughts so far on the process.

Good luck with it all and congrats on expecting!

Sorry to hear how you're fealing.  I can't answer any of your question re: Midwives, UK pregnacy care etc... there are tons of knowledge moms on this board who will no doubt answer your questions.

hang in there.

Midwives are great! They will take care of you during your prenatal and postnatal care and help you through labour and delivery and even help you with the baby afterwards. A few days after you get home from the hospital the community midwife will visit you at your home and check you and the baby out. The baby will be weighed some visits and she/he will also perform the heel prick test. The midwife can also help you with breastfeeding.
I had wonderful midwives for both my sons here in the UK. And even though they were c/s babies the midwives were there for me in the hospital and when I came home. I had a very slow recovery with Jack and my midwife came twice a week for nearly two months till she knew I would be OK.
I think I would be OK with a male midwife. They are all trained the same way. I have had male and female OB/GYNs...never made any difference to me.
Good luck and enjoy your pregnancy and your midwife!!

I've never given birth here in the UK so I am not the one to answer this really, but will say that in the US (I have five children...the last two twins...and I have had two c-sections, 2 VBACS, so a bit of experience in all kinds of pregnancies and births) I prefer having a midwife for all my care. It is usually more "personal" and I felt very important and cared for. The midwives I went to in two separate practices between my births, all worked under OBs which I also saw and knew (and who performed the c-sections) but if your pregnancy is within the "normal" range the midwife is usually the one to attend the birth.

We have had three babies with the NHS in London, all with wonderful care from midwives ... the hospital wasn't the smartest of places (in fact, it was a bit of dump!),  BUT, the care we received was exemplary.

Generally, if your pregnancy is going well, you won't see much of your midwife, GP or consultant - but if you don't feel comfortable with your allocated midwife, call your GP's office and ask for another - this is perfectly acceptable and you shouldn't be afraid of offending anyone - you don't have to give a reason.

Have you made contact with your local NCT branch?  NCT is the National Childbirth Trust - they run classes and support groups - which YOU WILL NEED!!!  Give them a call or click on http://www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com/nearest_branch.asp.  We have made life long friends through NCT.

Good luck!

Luxie - i don't want to give an overly negative account of the NHS but no doubt my fear of giving birth [fear of pain, etc] has made me feel a bit freaked out.

The NHS is brilliant b.c it is free healthcare for all in the UK. It is the largest employer in the UK so it is a huge bureaucracy and all the red tape that goes along with it, but most of the individuals within the sytems are competent and committed. As a socialised medical profession there is a scarcity of resources, you will not get treatments, drugs, etc as easily as you would in the States. In some ways this is positive b/c I think most doctors in the States are all too happy to prescribe drugs. *however* now that I'm pregnant I'm actually wanting someone to be liberal with treatments, drugs, etc....

There are definately pros and cons to NHS - either way it is a much different experience than US healthcare [assuming you were fortunate enough to have health insurance in the US]

In some ways this is positive b/c I think most doctors in the States are all too happy to prescribe drugs.

I understand what you're saying... my brother is a surgeon in the US and he has learned through his schooling the statistic that in the US, roughly 80% of a person's health care costs are spent in their last 2 weeks of life!!!  Isn't that amazing and horrible at the same time?  The mentality in the US is to do everything possible when a loved one is dying to make up for everything that wasn't done while they were living.  If you think about it most Americans would say, "we're going to get your the best treatment possible, do everything we can do... etc."  Sometimes, doing everything possible is not the best option.  I think for most people it's a guilt deterrent.  Anyway... there are negatives to all health care systems...

I don't mean to get off track here.  I really hope everything goes well for you and you find that your midwife proves to be of help.  Keep us updated!!

thanks, luxie.

good luck on your move over. i'm assuming you know it's supposed to be a really cold winter this year?! stock up on woolly jumpers!

thanks, luxie.

good luck on your move over. i'm assuming you know it's supposed to be a really cold winter this year?! stock up on woolly jumpers!

Thanks for letting me know... How cold is it supposed to get?  I live in Michigan so the weather over there will feel mild probably unless it falls down into the low 20s during the day.  I went to North Yorkshire last New Year's and thought it was "warm" outside becuase it was near 40, and I acutally would go out without a coat on.

Right now, in Michigan, it's 12 degrees and feels like 5 with the wind chill.... I'm practically an Eskimo!

God, if you're living in Michigan in the winter, England will be nearly the tropics for you.  It even gets colder in Michigan than the part of Sweden I'm currently living in most of the time.

Can't say that at the time I was actually giving birth I would have given a hoot if the midwife were female, male, monkey, ape, etc.  As long as they were helping me get her OUT, I was happy w/it.   

God, if you're living in Michigan in the winter, England will be nearly the tropics for you.  It even gets colder in Michigan than the part of Sweden I'm currently living in most of the time.

When I was in highschool, they had to close the school district down because the actual temperature outside was -22 degrees.  The windchill was down to -60 degrees.  They were afraid that children would freeze to death at the bus stop and would have in about 5 minutes without proper clothing!  It was actually sort of scary that people could freeze so fast.

errrr. yeah. if you are in michigan now england will be a breeze. i'm originally from illinois and have obvs been in uk for too long thinking it could ever compare to a midwest winter!

My Midwife was brilliant!! I think I was lucky to be honest. It is daunting to have a child but to have it in a foreign place can be even more daunting..I can understand. I was able to talk to my midwife she was German so she kinda understood my fears and really was very helpful discussing all the services that were on hand as I was not familiar with the NHS. If you are in London you may even get to take advantage of Sure Start which many services are lead by Midwives and Health Visitors.

The role of the midwife is like a foot soldier sort of speak and barring any complications you will have a closer relationship with your midwife than with your GP (but depends on how competent the midwife is) I'm working in neonatal care at the moment and the midwife plays a role in assessing patients and any concerns are then relayed to the other members of the team , they also can determine any gaps in care and provide support according ..but this is all down to how competent the midwife is in their role and how willing are they to go the distance. As for "the clean, white, antiseptic, pristine, drug-giving US healthcare system" Well I say if you are uncomfortable with your midwife there isn't anything stopping you to ask for a better one or if you are uncomfortable with a male one ask if you can change who knows you might be able to change him. I've worked in health care in the US one of the things I've seen on this forum is the tendency to sometimes suffer from "the grass is always greener syndrome"

Give your current services a chance make the best of the situation, don't compare things it will drive you mad...unfortunately the NHS is faaaarrr from perfect there are things that piss me off  about it but it's the same with the US system ...I've had to work with US Obstetricians that referred to their patients in the most awful manner, lacked any compassion and not all the wings were pristine not to mention many soon to be mums didn't go to prenatal care because they couldn't afford it...maybe it's  because I've been seeing things from the inside out within both US and UK systems and it's not always a pretty sight


Good luck though and well wishes!!!!