WWYD?

Hi everyone,

Ive just found out im pregnant with my 3rd baby.I have a condition called Factor 5 Leiden which means im more prone to bloodclots than other people, especially in pregnancy.With my other children i was told i had to be under specialist care at the hospital, so was monitered by a team of midwives and then whoever was on at the time was who delivered baby.I had the same scenario in both Aucks & Chch with each baby.
Now pregnant with the 3rd id like to see if i can find my own midwife, so that i get to know them all the way thru.Also by going thru the hosp, i never had a point of call until my referral would go thru and be seen eventually around 16-18wks.
Ive already been to my GP and shes told me i will have to go thru the hosp, and said i will have to wait now for a letter which could be some weeks.
Would you try and find a midwife that could take on a high risk pregnancy?Or wait it out to go under hosp care again?(must add never had any probs with clots in either of my other other 2 pregnancies)
Apparently the main concern they have is post birth, due to having to inject blood thinners for 6wks, however i found this all fell to pieces in the past,the hosp passed me on with 89 needles, and the GP wouldnt look after my care as id offically been thru the hosp, so i found i had 1 follow up appt at the hosp and thats all-was very dissappointing.

Thanks Kellz, think i will phone around.
Is it true tho that they only get paid if its a vaginal delivery?My last baby was breech and i had to have a c-section, GP says that means its highly likely ill have to have another.

i went through the hospital for the my first 2 pregnancies and with the third i to decided to find an independent midwife. Frankly it was the biggest mistake i ever made! I got much better care before, during and after through the hospital. this may be because i chose the wrong mw though so i would suggest you ask lots of questions of the mw you choose and make sure she is willing to stick with you. i found too when going trough the hospital that when i did need to see an OB i didnt have to make separate appointments or anything or go anywhere else, it was always held at the same place.

I was high risk and was under the hospital and they were fine if I had a independent midwife. I had the hospital midwives which were ok but I didn't really have anything to do with them until after the birth as was seen every fortnight by the doctors. If I have another baby then I will get an independent midwife even though I will be seen by the high risk team.
I think you should find a midwife and could still be under the hospital. The biggest problem may be finding a midwife that will take on a high risk case.

I had a hospital mw with my 12 year old and i had the same mw all the way through. I wasn't happy with the independant mw I had at the time so I rang the hospital to get some advise. The lady I had was awesome and was there through the whole birth. I had a couple of doctors at the end. After I went home she visited every week for several weeks. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.
I first saw her at 10 weeks and then every 4 weeks after then every 2 weeks then finally every week. In the last 6 weeks she came to me.
You could possibly ring your hospital and ask them if there are any independant mw who would look after you. The hospital usually has a list.

I was told once that a mw gets a certain amount for each pregnancy. Then the cost of the care etc is deducted sort of. So the more complications you have ie a c-section, the less she ends up with. I have no idea how accurate this is though.

Get a second opinion!!

Keira, where in NZ are you? My pg with DS was very high risk, due to previous preterm labour, ended up with placenta previa and bedrest, had an irritable uterus and also have protein s deficiency which is similar to your clotting disorder so was using clexane. I had an independant mw the whole way through as well as seeing the ob at the hospital (Waikato). My MW was amazing and when I wasn't in hospital she would see me often, in between my ob appts. When I was in hospital she would come and see me aswell even though she didn't need to but would just say hello and make sure I didn't have any issues. She was there for the birth (emergency c sect during the night) She also came postnatally, for the first 4 weeks to the hospital as DS was in NICU and that was just for me as I had the c sect but then when DS was discharged she came to my house for a few weeks until we started seeing plunket.