Labour and birth care

Your midwife will support and care for you during your labour and will help deliver your baby / pēpi.

Franklin Midwives provide continuity of care and will try hard to be with you for the labour and birth of your baby. 

Times when one of the midwives may not be available would be

• If we have provided many hours of care and your baby has yet to arrive - this is usually if a labour is slower than anticipated and your care needs the involvement of the obstetrician at Middlemore. In this situation having a very tired midwife provide your care is not ideal and we would hand over to a well rested midwife.
• If you have a complication which makes having an employed midwife more familiar with the level of care you require. We will try to provide support in such cases.
• If you are having an elective caesarean section - we will try to attend if you would like that but women in labour must take priority
• If you need to birth at Middlemore due to complications or an induction of labour and there are women birthing who have no complications.

A lead maternity carer midwife must prioritise primary care (normal and straightforward) while secondary care can be provided by the employed midwives. If there is a woman having a primary birth, we must provide care as there is no one else to do so. If you have higher needs then the employed midwives can provide an excellent standard of care. It is important that you understand that we also support home birth and each home birth needs two midwives to be present.