At Private Midwives we can give you expert help and guidance to create your perfect birth journey and experience, whether you are looking to have a home birth, water birth or hospital birth we can discuss all the options available to you to ensure you get birth support that is right for you.

Many of our clients opt for a home birth. However, sometimes, homebirth is not what you prefer and you want to have your baby in hospital. So, why should you chose to have your private midwife accompany you in hospital?

Well, your midwife is on call 24/7 from 37 weeks of pregnancy. She can come to your home and support you in early labour. She can care for you there and advise you on the best time to transfer to hospital.

Once in hospital, the NHS (or HSE in Ireland) staff will be your lead care providers but your private midwife is there alongside to help them and help you and your partner. We all know that the hospital staff are extremely busy and often, they are unable to stay with you at all times. Having your private midwife there with you, means she is focused on just you, no one else. She will not leave you, so you have a trained midwife with you all the time to ensure you get the birth support you need.

You will know and trust your midwife as she will have seen you for antenatal care, she knows what you want, what you don’t want, what is important to you. She can advocate for you, make suggestions, assist with some elements of your care (washing, mobilising, position change, massage) and ensure that all options are explained to you in a language you understand. If you need her to, she can make suggestions on how those options impact on your choices for care.

During times when the hospital staff are outside the room, your private midwife will be keeping an eye on you and baby to make sure everything is ok. If need be, she will get them straight back in.

Her priority is the safety of you and baby and a positive birth experience. Your private midwife is used to working alongside hospital staff to ensure this is in place. With gentle, professional and constructive challenge if needed, they can make sure your care is safe and appropriate for you. We are often asked how hospital staff view the presence of a private midwife. Well, in all honestly, normally  they are viewed as a welcome support and appreciated for the value they add. Everyone just wants what is best for you. So your private midwife and the hospital midwife will work together to ensure this happens.