"Antenatal care"

I want to leave positive feedback for the midwife I had during the first two trimesters of my first pregnancy at Aberdeen City. She was really approachable and welcoming, promptly answered any questions I had regarding my pregnancy and birth plans as soon as I mentioned them, in complete support of my choices. She was great at building rapport between myself as a service user and HCP. She never expressed any judgement on my choices, whilst she advised me on anything relevant I needed to know for example any risks involved, at no point did she express any personal bias.

I moved addresses, and therefore needed to change to a different team and therefore midwife.  I decided to stay with her until it came to making myself familiar with the team who would be on call for my Homebirth. Unfortunately she was moved into the labour ward and I was no longer under her care. She kindly arranged for me to meet with the South Aberdeenshire team to discuss my home birth plans at 28 weeks (I knew nothing would be put in place at this stage) to discuss and familiarise myself with the team and my new midwife. 

At 28 weeks, I was assigned to anther midwife. Routine checks were carried out as normal and then I was asked if I had any questions. I mentioned how my previous midwife had organised the appointment to discuss my home birth plans (I have a text to prove this).  They responded by refusing to discuss my birth plans at this stage, and suggested lack of staff would mean I had to go to hospital anyway. I responded with the point that staffing levels are not the service users concern, I would transfer in the event of an emergency and that being in labour on its own is not an emergency and therefore a reason to transfer to hospital. I also knew according to the NHS Grampian website, explicitly stating birth plans can be discussed at any point throughout ones care, specific plans would not be put in place until a certain stage.  In my case I knew I could not birth at home pre 37 weeks, therefore assessments, delivery of the kit and on-call rotas would not be organised until later down the line. 

I was questioned on why I did not attend a growth scan.   I cancelled the growth scan for a few reasons; 1. instincts told me my baby was fine and there was no need. 2. It was my legal right to accept or decline any level of monitoring and checks I wish to have done to my body and my baby. 3. I called to cancel the appointment after being messed around and spoken to poorly by staff. (I did not explain this to them as I felt that was very rude to assume it was my fault).

My concerns and reluctancy around moving midwives during my care, because a change of address were coming true. I have heard from many women who have had poor antenatal care and unsupportive midwives. I felt I struck lucky with my first midwife and wanted to stay with her. I was met with what I felt was a much lower standard of care that I initially received . Cold, dismissive, zero attempt to build a rapport and very presumptive regarding the reasoning for my growth scan not going ahead. Assumptions it seemed with not attending - as if I was the problem, with zero consideration and wasting resources. (not a very nice reception to receive from a HCP during such a special & intimate time becoming a new mum, completely reinforcing my reasons for home birthing & the concept of free-birthing was becoming more of a potential reality).

I knew the midwife could be on-call for my home birth and they were not someone I would have felt comfortable with. They already appeared to assume it was fault of mine and not for any other reason.  I therefore I got the impression they was committed to misunderstanding me and passing preconceived judgment, therefore I did not feel comfortable enough to go into details of what happened and it seemed pretty clear they did not support service users and my choice to birth at home, despite that also being my legal right to do so. 

I felt poorly treated by the Sonographer at my 20 week anomoly scan. I escalated this and the details of this will be in my notes. It felt rude, dismissive and a very painful scan with a questionable scanning technique. Had the midwife taken the time to look at my notes prior, they may have seen the reason why I did not attend.

It was suggested I attend Stonehaven for any further scans after this incident.  On arrival the Sonographer came to the waiting room and the first thing that was said was that they seen in my notes that I did not want to be scanned by them. Again, I found this very rude.  Yes, I did not want to be scanned by them. Myself and my partner wasted a journey to a different hospital, wasted efforts by other staff to try and prevent this happening, and very uncomfortable to have to face that situation, as I found the attitude was still poor and there was zero attempt on their part as a HCP to be professional and diffuse the situation and make me feel comfortable to go ahead with this scan what so ever.

I decided to cancel a new one booked, as I was contacted and asked to come in earlier. I should have been booked in earlier in the day due to being the only person on the list -an issue of organisation of the appointment book. Once again, not the service users concern and this was a really poor attitude to be met with given how I had already been treated.