How we work
Congratulations on your pregnancy and welcome to you and your families journey! Our goal as midwives is to work in partnership with you to provide safe, informed and kind care. Working in partnership means that we work together with you to make informed choices about your care, whilst recognising that you are in control of your own experience. Feedback is always welcome and you can change midwives at any time if you feel like the care isn’t working for you.
As a group of midwives, we provide care from conception, through to your baby being up to 6 weeks old, and support people birthing at home or the Thames Birthing Unit. If you need or want to give birth at Waikato Hospital we are unable to attend your birth but can provide care before your birth and once you are back in the Thames region.
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We work in a rotation of eight days on-call, four days off-call. This means that sometimes when you call to talk to your midwife, your call will be forwarded to the midwife covering her. Texts are unable to be forwarded so please be aware these won’t be see while your midwife is off-call. We all have access to each others notes as needed and have the same philosophy so are able to provide the same style of care for all women. Appointments are done during your midwives on-call days.
The nature of being on-call is that sometimes we will have to rearrange an appointment last min due to being called away to a birth, or we may be running late to a visit due to an urgent call that needs our attention. We appreciate your understanding and know when you are the one calling us we will drop everything for you too.
There will be times where we take longer breaks for things like holidays, occasionally personal matters such as illness or family emergencies will mean we have to reschedule appointments or take urgent leave, this will be communicated as soon as possible. We run a meet up session once a month to give you the oppertunity to meet each of us so please take advantage of these if meeting everyone in the team is important to you.
Usual schedule of visits
Below is a summary of our usual schedule of visits and what information we cover. Timing and content might change depending on your specific circumstances.
1st visit
Booking Visit
Soon after you contact us we'll arrange a booking visit to meet and go through your history, arrange initial blood tests and scans as needed. We will discuss the option of Downs Syndrome screening and how this works. There's no need to see a GP first unless you'd like to.
26-30 weeks
4th visit
We will discuss any blood results and start to measure the estimated size of your baby by measuring your fundal height, along with any other relevant information.
34-37 weeks
7th visit
This visit we discuss the first weeks after baby is born, supporting feeding and normal newborn behaviour, along with your recovery. We will talk about the option for Newborn Metabolic Screening too, done in the first few days if wanted.
1st week
Week one with baby
We'll see you within 24 hrs of getting home, and we do a full check of baby again on day 5-7. For some people we will visit most days in that first week to help get feeding established and support you emotionally.
14-18 weeks
2nd visit
At this appointment we will go through any results from booking and talk through your option for an anatomy scan around 20-22 weeks, along with any other relevant information.
30-33 weeks
5th visit
At this visit we'll begin to talk about end of pregnancy symptoms and early labour, including when to call and what to do if your water's break, along with any other relevant information.
37-42 weeks
Final weeks
In the final weeks of pregnancy, we will see you every week or two, depending on your situation and pregnancy needs. If you get near 42 weeks, we will work together to make a plan that works for you and check your baby's wellbeing regularly.
2nd week
Week two with baby
We often see you 2-3 times in the second week. We're still on call for you and may visit more if there are concerns.
22-24 weeks
3rd visit
At this time we will talk through any anatomy scan results and your options for Gestational Diabetes (GDM) screening and checking your iron levels, along with any other relevant information.
32-35 weeks
6th visit
We will talk through active labour, what your options are and how we will support and monitor you and your baby's wellbeing. We'll also go through the initial hours post birth and how we would manage a transfer to hospital or emergency if needed.
Birth
Birth
Once in active labour, we stay with you through labour and until at least 2 hours after your placenta is born, often a bit longer. If you're birthing in Waikato, we do our best to find a midwife that can provide this same care to you.
3-6 weeks
First month with baby
If everything is going well, we usually visit once a week from 3 weeks, though in some circumstances will visit more. We legally need to discharge you both by the time baby is 6 weeks old so will do our final visit and checks in week 4 or 5.