Changing MW's during pregnancy

I was just wondering what experiences you've had with changing MW's during pregnancy; have you done it? or stayed with one because you felt you had too? and if you've done it how'd you do it? Any regrets?

I'm finding my MW to be unorganised and not suited to me, although I do think she is a nice person. This is my second pregnancy (which doesn't make me an expert on pregnancy) but I have been having a terrible time with having pains in my baby bump. I've been checked out three times at the hospital "after hours" (ie not at appointment times). My MW suggested I was having a "niggly" pregnancy but I do know its a lot more than discomfort pains that I have had and continue to have. Also the last "after hours" check up I was repetitively asked about family violence (as if that was the cause of my pains and I was trying to hide it. Clearly I was upset before I had the appointment but that was purely because the pains were unbearable.)

So I've got less than 10 weeks until the due date and want to switch MW's but unsure how to do it. I have left it this long because haven't wanted to step on anyone's toes (there's about a dozen or so MW's where I live). My friend's say to put myself and baby before worrying about annoying my current MW by switching MW's. I'm also unsure if other MW's would want another patient so far along in pregnancy / if they have room to take on someone else.

Any advice would be fantastic.

Thank you for your lovely message.

I'm meeting a new one tomorrow and feel excited to have this sorted! :)

Hi, I hope your meeting with the new MW went well :-) I also tried to switch MW's at about 30 weeks due to similar reasons as you've listed. Unfortunately I wasn't successful as I couldn't find anyone who could take me so late in the pregnancy and have stayed with my original, which has turned out to be ok after I discussed the issues with her. However if you can find someone who can take you and you feel more comfortable with then go for it, your friends are right, you need to look after yourself and baby first, don't worry about how your MW will react. Best of luck :-)

A friend of mine switched at 37 weeks, her MW was completely useless and didn't organise strep swabs etc and was never available to take calls. You need to do what's best for you and bubs, someone will be happy to take you on, its just a matter of shopping around. Good luck, and I hope the visit with the potential MW went well

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice.

I had an appointment with my old mw at lunch time; again she didn't understand how much I've been suffering with this pregnancy and she didn't have her laptop (where she often puts notes in) or my swap results as she'd left them at home (swaps from 6 days earlier when I got checked at the hospital) but said she'd have contacted me if swaps weren't okay. She also said that she'd refer me to physio for my symphysis pubis pains in the next few days when she was suppose to do this two weeks ago!!!!!! (was not impressed!!!)

(www.ohbaby.co.nz/pregnancy/health-and-wellbeing/symphysis-pubis-dysfunction/)

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my new mw. I told new mw I was aware of changing mws was sometimes a bit awkward when they all know each other but she said if she didn't take me on someone else would as I wasn't going to stay with the old mw.

7 hours after meeting new mw / changing mws I got a text saying that my swaps weren't fine (I have strep b which 25% of healthy women have as part of their body's natural flora, only dangerous in pregnancy to the baby, and is treated with med during labour. If untreated it can have serious outcomes for baby as odds that baby will get it goes drastically up - with med 1 in 2000 and without med 1 in 400 chance of baby getting strep b, which leads to other problems.). SO.... thankfully my new mw is completely on to things. She is looking into solutions to fix the under the bump and back pains and suggested I should get a smiley belt (smileybelts.co.nz if anyone else has these problems -I'm still waiting for it to arrive but feel free to ask me at a later date for my opinion on it).

After not being happy with my old mw and now feeling completely confident and very happy with the new mw I would recommend to anyone to swap mws, go with your gut feeling!

I would hate to think what might have happened to my unborn baby with the missed strep b (although old mw might have caught it before I go into labour so can't say she would have missed it completely)

I think women should spend more time choosing a midwife and feel comfortable changing.


Jessaroo and Candkids; maybe some mws dismiss pregnancy illness and pains because mws often see women in extreme pain/middle of full labour. This doesn't mean that we should suffer because our mws aren't understanding.

Thanks again for your support.