"Community Midwives"

As a first time mum, it was incredibly important to me that I had a good relationship with my community midwife. I couldn't of asked more than working with Natalie throughout my pregnancy. She was attentive, informative and supportive from my first booking appointment all the way through to my baby being born. 

Natalie went out of her way to ensure excellent care and answered any and all questions I had for her. She took my concerns seriously when I presented them to her and ensured my wellbeing multiple times by advocating for my needs. She never made me feel judged for choosing in the latter half of my pregnancy to turn to a c-section and supported my decision by walking me through every expectation I could be presented with. She cares deeply about her patients and will go over and above expectations to ensure their care. I am so incredibly lucky to have had her as my midwife and hope she never leaves our area because she is just so excellent. 

I would give some feedback to the community midwife who came out to me after I was discharged from hospital. Although very polite, I felt they were very rushed through my checks and like they were speeding through the information they needed to tell me. By no means were they bad at their job, but they could do with slowing down as the speed in which they are delivering crucial information does feel overwhelming. 

One disappointing and baffling administration note was only receiving 3 visits after my discharge from hospital, despite extreme circumstances in my birth. Hospital and home are two completely different environments and to reduce my visits post-birth due to my extended stay in hospital felt cruel. I had almost died during and after my section and I absolutely needed more care in the community than I received. This is not at fault to the community midwives who are governed by policy, but it absolutely needs reviewed to take into account special cases where the birthing person has experienced significant complications and trauma. I felt like I was dropped off a cliff edge after what can only be considered one of the most traumatic experiences of my life and told to swim. It feels heartless and inconsiderate to expect a new mother with severe birthing complications to not need more community care than that.