No midwife coverage this weekend!

[janerose]

I am SOOO not happy right now.

Went in for my 38 wk appt today & was told by the midwife, "Don't go into labor this weekend. There is no midwife coverage until Monday morning when the office reopens." :

This is just really unacceptable & they will be getting a letter from me once I've delivered. There are 3 midwives in this practice. Why in the world do all 3 of them have to be scheduled off at once? The practice I went to for DD1 in VT only had 2 and I NEVER went without midwife coverage.

I'm also irked because they keep trying to schedule my weekly checks with the OB instead of the midwives because "Gee, the midwives are really booked up since it's only a week away..."

HELLO! You're *midwives* of course you have clients who are scheduling only a week away. Why don't you save some freaking slots in the schedule for those of us who are getting ready to deliver any day now. : I could have easily gone the last month of my pregnancy without ever once seeing a midwife. As it was I did see the OB/GYNs twice around Christmas because 2 of the 3 midwives were on vacation and there were no slots for the remaining one at all.

This extra irks me because back in my WOH days medical office management, scheduling, billing, etc was my career. I know darn well there is NO excuse for this except poor office management & scheduling practices. And I like all 3 of these midwives too. It's just the scheduling stuff is way out of line.

Uggghhhh....so anyone who wants my labor vibes for this weekend can apparently have them. I'm obviously hoping to not be using them until Monday morning.

Holly

[pbreffe]

I getting pretty pissed off at the scheduleing at my midwife's office. There are 4 midwives. The one I always see is a good friend and she will be delivering me regardless of whether or not she is on-call... Problem is that she is popular.

A couple weeks ago I had to wait to make an appt till a Friday late afternoon. Now because of that there are never any appts with her because by the time I come in for my appt that late on a Friday she is completely booked for the week. It really makes me mad because they know she is delivering me!

So next week, two days from my due date I won't be able to see her! Maybe I won't even need that appt since it isn't with my midwife!

I'll keep my fingers crossed that you don't go into labor this weekend.

[MacKinnon]

I am also having scheduling problems with my midwife. My midwife is only in my area once every other week, well, the opposite weeks she doesn't work on Thursdays, so my appointments end up being 4 days apart, then 10 days apart. If I can get in! Alsoo, I recently found out that in the event my midwife can't deliver me it is an OB in her practice that will! I always assumed it was the other midwife who provided back up, she did in fact for my DD's birth. But there is some issue between the two of them now and they are no longer providing backup for each other! I've never met this OB! Altough my midwife reassured me that she is not going on a vacation, leaving town, etc. and barring a true emergency, she will be there.

It is totally unacceptable for all three of the midwives in your practice to not be in town! I can't believe that they would schedule things that way... Hang in there until Monday...

[skueppers]

Do they let you schedule appointments more than a week in advance? At my OB's office, I've been able to schedule my weekly appointments a month in advance -- if I went into labor before one or more of those appointments occurred, they would have just opened up the slot for another patient. And of course they keep slots available for last-minute appointments and for emergencies!

Sounds like they need some help with their office management...

[skueppers]

One of my pet peeves is health care providers who keep you waiting for long periods of times before seeing you.

If it happens every now and again, sure, I can understand that emergencies come up. But if I have to wait an hour every time I go in -- I find someone else, no matter how much I like the health care provider otherwise.

[peaceful_mama]

Wow.....I am lucky!
There are only 2 midwives where I go, and there is no such thing as not being able to see 'your' midwife. (well, they tell you it's a possibility if you made your appt. and she's delivering someone else, but there is no such thing as not being able to schedule with 'yours.')

the only thing I had to do was go to see her once 2 days earlier than I otherwise would have, in the week between X-mas and New Year's, because she was the one on call X-mas, so she told me at the appt. she was going out of town for the weekend to have the time with her family that she didn't get. Fair enough.

She also told me when I first met her that each of them deliver at least 95% of 'their' patients. I am praying I don't fall into the other 5% or less, cause I *love* my midwife, and well, I'm sure her partner will respect my birth plan and all, but my few encounters with her have not impressed me personality-wise. (I guess that's what you'd call it, I posted a few months ago about how I called when the other one was on call one night and I was bleeding--at 22 weeks. Turned out it was a side effect of GIO...but it was scary, cause it seemed like a lot. Anyway, she just did *not* impress me at all--just said 'oh well, we can't do anything anyway, call back if you start cramping or something.' I just KNOW my midwife would've handled it a lot differently. Probably in part though because she knew I'd just found out baby is a girl, and from the moment I found that out, she became my daughter Sophia.)

Anyway, I *still* have never said anything to my midwife about that call, sometimes I feel like I should just because I REALLY don't like the idea of her delivering my baby because of it........would you??

[MacKinnon]

Originally Posted by zakers_mama

Anyway, I *still* have never said anything to my midwife about that call, sometimes I feel like I should just because I REALLY don't like the idea of her delivering my baby because of it........would you??

I had a similar problem with the "other" midwife when I was PG with my DD. At that time in their practice you saw them both and whomever was on call delivered you. After a couple of issues with the "other " midwife, I requested to just see my midwife. I did just see her and explained that I wasn't comfortable with her partner. I did tell her what happened and why I wanted to see just her. Well, as luck would have it, my midwife had a serious personal crisis the night of DD's birth and couldn't make it. I was delivered by the 'other' midwife. Things went wonderfully and I wasn't upset (well, when they first told me that my MW wouldn't be coming, I cried, but it was fine after that).

I am back at their practice for this birth and they have changed so that you only see one of the MW's for your entire pregnancy and birth, barring any scheduled absence or emergency, which is extremely rare. But now, they aren't even providing back up for each other, so I would have an OB that is unknown to me deliver me if my MW can't come this time.

Anyway, all that is my long answer that, yes, I would tell her. I feel that if you are really uncomfortable and *really* don't want her partner, you should tell her so that she knows to make every effort to be there. Plus, if her partner is making her clients uncomfortable, she probably would like to know. I hope you get your midwife!