What happens during your sessions with your midwife?

Question

Every time I go to see my midwife, all she does is go through my notes (silently) ask me what symptoms I’m having, check my urine, check my blood pressure and my fundal height. I’m 28 weeks pregnant with my first child and this is all that has happened at my appointments. Is she meant to be teaching me anything because everything I know I’ve learnt from the internet and from family/friends... My friends have said their appointments lasted about 20-40 minutes, max 60 minutes but mine only last between 10-20 minutes. Thanks!

Answer

Normal....unfortunately. With my first pregnancy i saw a different midwife every time, did the usual checks but wouldn't inform me of anything unless i asked! In the last 3 months of my pregnancy  i had rib pain from my babies feet being up there all the time, and when they would check his positioning they would say all is ok, but he was back to back the whole time! I wish i would've been told (i only found out when i looked at my notes after my 45 hr labour ending in c section) he was OP the whole time! 
I know from researching now that most babies who are back to back move into normal positon during labour , but my point is that i would've liked to have been told as maybe i could have done things to change his positioning. :( highnsight!

Answer

I've seen my name's midwife once and that was at 16 weeks, I'm now 34 weeks. Every time I go to an appointment it's a different midwife with some reason as to why my name's midwife couldn't be there (she runs a clinic every Thursday at my gp surgery but is never there) I've never been given any of the information packs or leaflets that my folder says I should get. The last 2 appointments have been the same midwife but she's useless, the first appointment she didn't tell me any results of my GTT or blood tests just wrote them down so I had to.google it all. She then had to put in a request for my grow chart as I never received one, when that arrived it had my date of birth as 5 years earlier than what it was, the wrong weight, the wrong bmi and the wrong due date. Last appointment she asked how I was doing I mentioned things I was struggling with, she brushed it off and said that was just pregnancy and then in my book wrote "mother said she is doing well" I had basically said the opposite of that. Hopefully I see my actual midwife this week but I don't hold out much hope. All in all none of my appointments have been that great, just do the usual and get me out. As a FTM I had hoped for a little more advice and support from the midwife but luckily I have family and the internet for that

Answer

You’ll need to go classes for info, the midwife is just a medical check. We did NCT classes and they were excellent, most places also have free courses available

Answer

Sounds normal to me! I am not sure what I expected...a good chat about what to expect in the next few weeks over a nice cup of tea and a biscuit and then “oh we better fill in your notes!” ...but in reality I just didn’t connect with her and found them such a chore and not personal at all, like I was one of many expecting mums.
Me and my husband went to the NCT courses and they were great, one of the girls had the same community midwife as me so we had a moan together 😂 xx

Answer

My midwife was same as your . Just ask me questions and input data to the computer  . Silently ... she ask if I have anything to ask her . If I have I will ask then silent ....  last like 20 minutes I guess .

Answer

Sounds normal to me all my midwifes have done the same thing with all 3 of my pregnancies. There isn’t anything they should be teaching you really, but they should be giving info about breastfeeding support after you had baby or any other support you may need. Once you had your baby your health visitor is your go to for questions baby related they very helpful and teach you a lot of things when your a 1st time mum.

Answer

She should be making sure you are ok other than the pee test,  baby in check etc, she should be asking about your emotional well being whether this is your first pregnancy or not. She should ask about home life and if you have support now and when the baby comes etc 🙄 some people are like robots and don't really care, they just want to get through their 'workload' but a midwife shouldn't be like that, she should be coming and caring and actually interested in you as a person imo

Answer

I haven’t really clicked with my midwife either. I feel like she just rushes me in and out as if the next pregnant woman is waiting to come in. I would appreciate a friendlier, more caring midwife really, especially because this is my first baby!

Answer

That's all my midwife done with me. Check pee, blood pressure, measure bump and listen to babys heart beat.
My appointments never lasted more than 5mins. 
If you want more information they usually do antenatal classes later on.

Answer

My midwife has been the same, just asks how I am and does all the normal checks. She invited me to group things they do to inform you about everything but I couldn't make it. Did you get the Ready Steady Baby book?

What happens during your sessions with your midwife?

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