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i never had the same midwife through my whole pregnancy they were all great
I went private but the midwife’s I had my whole pregnancy aren’t the once I had in the room with me when I have gave birth, even is she wasn’t going away there is a chance she still won’t be at your birth
From my experience at RBWH you see a variation of many midwives. Some I saw more than once but I’d never seen any of the midwives I encountered in my 24+ time in the delivery room. I had three or four shift changes and also had to politely ask for one midwife to be reassigned to another patient 🙈 we just didn’t vibe and I was then 48 hours in labour (counting the early labour I went through at home) lol
It’s normal to have different midwives if you’re going public. Annoying but hard to get continuity of care unless you pay to go private or join midwifery group practice program
@Liz okay I understand that. But this is my first baby and I would be comfortable having the same midwife and building a relationship with her. So I will be requesting a new midwife.
That’s what everyone would like! But in the public system you aren’t guaranteed or should even expect you’ll see the same midwife at prenatal appointments or at the birth. It’s whoever is rostered on those days. That’s a main reason people pay to go private instead - it’s one of the main differences public vs private.
It would really depend for you what you have selected to go with care wise. If you have just gotten a general referral to RBWH (haven’t applied for eg a midwifery group practice program place) then you’ll see whatever midwives are part of the birth center team.
https://metronorth.health.qld.gov.au/rbwh/healthcare-services/maternity-services/choosing-an-option-for-maternity-care#general-content-2
@Courtney I’m with a program, and at the beginning I was told it would be the same midwife.
There were actually not enough midwives to go around in march to be independently assigned to me, but every single nurse and midwife I came into contact with were wonderful, they all read my chart and understood exactly were I was at. I understand wanting a connection and needing to feel secure with who you will have but there will be also the potential that they will already be with someone else when you give birth, plus I can tell you from my experience I didn't even know who was with me apart from my partner and mother, I was in full labour pain that it didn't matter who was helping deliver as long as they understood my wants and needs during the process. This was my first baby too, so I understand the anxiety and stress that comes along with it.
Because she can still do her job until so goes on leave and they will hire someone to cover her shifts/clients while on maternity leave. You can’t expect them to NOT assign her any new clients just because she is going on maternity leave. Otherwise she will be basically being paid to sit around and do nothing until she goes.