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Many women enter this season in their life with little understanding about their options around the care choices they can make for this journey. For many families they follow the guidance of systematic care models like the NHS because that’s what everyone does and appears to the road most travelled in pregnancy. Book at the GP, see the community midwife you are allocated, have scans, turn up and have a baby, discharged home with minimal input & off you go.
But did you know there is a turning tide of women opting to walk this journey with a different kind of midwifery care? Many women are seeking out privately practising Midwives, otherwise known as Independent Midwives, who offer something different to the families in their care.
An Independent Midwife is a registered health professional who is governed and accountable just as those who work within mainstream maternity care models. They are able to provide much more personalised support options for you and your baby, working from an evidenced based focus and putting you at the centre of the process.
Independent Midwives offer guaranteed continuity, enabling you to see the same professional every time, plus access to planned birth at home, which is now often restricted within the NHS due to staff shortages and funding issues. The families they work with receive exceptional care, focused on personalised relationship-based continuity and choice centred decision making. The Better Birth’s study highlighted that a continuity style of working had the best outcomes for mums and babies, and the way in which Independent Midwives can work makes this the focus of their care.
Independent Midwives offer huge value with their services, seeing the women in their care for significantly more time across their pregnancy journey. Working around your needs to provide in depth education, physical cares, and the ability to work to meet your needs and choices without being limited by time or hospital policies that might not fit with your preferences.
‘Continuity of carer’, which means seeing the same small team for every appointment and then to attend your birth, was meant to be a gold standard worked towards by the NHS. Sadly due to the staffing crisis and funding, the target was suspended in September 2022.
This way of working makes room for your to really understand your body and make time for positive understanding, concentrating their work on gaining the best physiological response for your birthing body, reducing labour times, and increasing your chances of spontaneous labour thus increasing positive outcomes.?
Independent midwives are also available to support your birth in hospital should you wish, and arrangements can be made for them to provide this care alongside your local hospital.
For many women, the knowledge that their birthing body is best left alone to work in a physiological way makes them aware that home is often the best place to facilitate this; and with NHS maternity staffing resulting in home births nationwide being suspended, Independent Midwives provide guaranteed access to this service with collaborative working with local hospitals being offered should they need it.
The freedom to birth on your own terms is one of the key aspects of independent midwifery that women are seeking out. Being given the choice to navigate their body and baby without the pressures of the medical system offering interventions, is often cited as the reason for rejecting the NHS model. This way of working puts women back in charge of birth, with a trusted advocate in their corner through their independent midwife.
Women who choose this model of care receive exceptional standards, receiving clinical cares such a blood tests and scans through their local NHS hospitals (although there are also alternative options too) with the remaining care provided with your independent midwife, navigating the journey with you, helping you to make informed decisions and supporting those choices. Independent Midwives work for you, putting you and your needs central to all we do, returning to true meaning of the word ‘Midwife’- ‘to be With Women’.
Booking an Independent Midwife, is all about you, finding her and meeting with her to make sure she is someone you feel you can gel with and trust then arranging the service you would like to book. This service comes with an investment, but one that many families report as invaluable.
Fees vary depending on the services you request. Ranging from £1500-£10,000, Independent Midwives offer payment options and flexible instalments, so if you are looking for birth on your terms, this might be the option for you.
Bailey is a privately practicing midwife in the North of England, based in West Yorkshire providing cares across the region and into the North West.
She established Your Private Midwife Ltd after a long career as a Homebirth expert within the NHS. She believes that birthing instinct arem on the rise with women across the nation seeking out the unique service and offers homebirth services, #birthlikeaboss pregnancy education, long term postnatal support & so much more.
You can book your birth with Bailey direct at www.yourprivatemidwife.co.uk or follow her for more homebirth support & tips @your_privatemidwife over on the ‘gram.
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