There is a lot of negative talk around elective caesareans.

The ‘too posh to push’ narrative . I’ve never actually come across someone who was ‘too posh to push’

The ‘it’s major abdominal surgery, WHY would you choose that??’ narrative…..

Everyone KNOWS I love a good placenta .

I know there are many people who don't, but placentas are absolutely amazing......enabling a baby to grow in utero, keeping it nourished, oxygenated and safe from bacteria, viruses and toxins to the best of its abilities….

So, when to call the midwife/when to go to hospital.

This is such a big anxiety inducing topic for many! Midwives get this question all the time…..

Shit scary!!! Most women dread it, for fairly obvious reasons.

So, some tips…..

Peeing after birth. People tend to anxiously anticipate the first poop but forget that the first pee can be a little tricky too sometimes…..

Here is why not:

Once we have birthed our babies, the uterus contracts and uses its muscle fibres to tie off the vessels that supplied blood to the placenta during pregnancy and thereby reduces in size massively….

I often hear birth stories with accounts of cords being cut before the baby’s body is even born, usually because a tight nuchal cord was discovered….

For most people who are planning a homebirth and already have children, the question of what to do for childcare or whether to have children present for birth or not is a big part of birth planning….

WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU WANT TO PAY FOR INDEPENDENT MIDWIFERY CARE WHEN YOU CAN GET CARE ON THE NHS FOR FREE 🤔🤔🤔?

It’s a common misconception about people fully advocating for pregnant and birthing people.

But I have never met anyone who hates intervention indiscriminately…..

I think every independent midwife (and TBF also some NHS midwives who work within continuity provision) will know the absolutely joy that is having repeat clients!

I think by now everyone has taken note of the ‘knees in, calves out’ positioning that can help open the pelvic outlet (of course midwives who are into physiology have been aware of this forever, right😬? )…..

I would like to talk a little about intrusive thoughts in the postnatal period.

Intrusive thoughts are made up of unwanted and distressing thoughts and images, that are hard to dismiss and that tend to recur…..

Nothing chaps my hide more (this is a lie, there might be some things that annoy me more) than evidence based practice being used as a stick to beat birthing people with.

How?

Surely evidence based practice is a good thing?

I can’t speak for other IMs but I always feel like the relationship between an IM and their client is a really special one.

We often end up as friends, we usually stay in touch! We certainly at the very least very much appreciate *each other*!

We don’t talk about afterpains a lot.

Like many things postnatal, they are somewhat shrouded in mystery, something that gets talked about only ONCE THEY ARE HAPPENING 🙄 but once they ARE happening, EVERYONE and their dog can tell you about them in great detail 😂👀….

A common saying thrown at people accessing pregnancy care, but in my opinion this saying should NOT be in a midwife’s vocabulary…..

People who live with previous trauma often (always?) have a hard time accessing pregnancy/birth/postnatal services appropriate and safe for them 😢….

Sometimes in pregnancy, during birth or after (or in life in general), things happen that change the course of your plans. This can feel incredibly upsetting, and completely destabilising….

I get questions about how to do placenta prints quite often so…….here goes!

Once your placenta is born, chill, you have plenty of time to do a print. It would be a shame to stress in the immediate postnatal hour or two or three, you can chill placenta in fridge event until the next day or so to crack on with it…..