Consultancy Midwife Appointments

I offer a consultancy or second opinion service. 
My hourly rate is £80/h for face to face and £60 for online.
Mileage included up to 1 hour or 50 miles.

MEET AND GREET CONSULTATION

Independent midwife consultation

If you would like to meet face to face before hiring a package book a meet and greet consultation at home or online. If you then go ahead and book a package I will discount the price of this visit from the package price.

 

£100 for a 60 to 90 minutes face to face consultation
£80 for a 60 to 90 minutes online consultation

ONE OFF ANTENATAL

Midwife appointment

 If you need a single antenatal check or a birth preparation session. For peace of mind, discussing your care, issuing of a MAT B1 or any other concern.

£200  per 2h face to face midwife appointment

£150 for a 2h online midwife appointment

ONE OFF POSTNATAL

Independent Midwife appointment postnatal

Breastfeeding support, help with caring for your newborn. Please note that breastfeeding assessments online cannot be as accurate as face to face.

 

£200 for a 2h face to face midwife appointment or as required

 £150 for a 2h online midwife appointment

£200 for a NIPE check

 

BIRTH PLAN

Midwife Birth Plan

Would you like to talk to an experienced midwife both in hospital, birth center, community and homebirth setting about your birth plan? Are you unsure about how the system will react to your wishes? Do you want some help drawing up your birth plan with realistic expectations?

£180  per 2h face to face midwife appointment

£150 for a 2h online midwife appointment

BIRTH DEBRIEF

Baby midwife

Are you currently pregnant and want to go through the notes from your previous pregnancy to understand what happened to be able to plan this pregnancy? Or you have recently had a baby and would like a second opinion regarding the care you have received? Once you have requested the notes from your hospital you can book an appointment with me to go through them.

 

£180 for a 2h face to face midwife appointment

£150 for a 2h online midwife appointment

 

BIRTH CHOICES

Midwife Birth Choices

Have you suddenly been told you are high risk and that you are not “allowed” to have a homebirth/“normal” birth, or have you been told you need to be induced and be subjected to a number of interventions? I can help! We can review the evidence available together and I can provide you with the studies that you can share with your care provider to help them understand your choices.

I will require a weeks notice before I see you to be able to gather specific evidence around your case.

£180  for a 2h face to face midwife appointment

£150 for a 2h online midwife  appointment

Hello! My name is Irene Vine and I am an independent midwife  covering Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge and East London. I provide full antenatal, postnatal and birth care including homebirths and outside of guidelines care. I am passionate about supporting women achieve a birth experience where they feel empowered, heard and understood. If you would like to experience the best possible care with unrushed appointments and a private midwife who is always at the other end of the phone, give me a call! I cover most cities and villages in East Anglia, such as Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Cambridge, Harlow, London or Southend.

Resources For Fetal Heart Monitoring

1.When did we start monitoring babies in labour?

For more high quality evidence around fetal monitoring please visit Kirsten website here, an obstetrician with a PHD in CTGs. https://birthsmalltalk.com/

In this post she discusses intermittent auscultation: https://birthsmalltalk.com/2023/08/23/what-is-intermittent-auscultation/

Hear her talk about the lack of evidence behind CTGs in this podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1eXZY973Oxbs1ducavpSAk?si=872f8c4077be4ba5

Post on the history of fetal heart monitoring: https://birthsmalltalk.com/2023/08/09/listening-to-the-fetus-the-history-of-fetal-heart-rate-monitoring/

Cochrane review comparing CTG to intermittent ausculation (CTG increases interventions
): https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006066.pub3/full

Does CTG use improve outcomes for high risk women? https://birthsmalltalk.com/2024/10/16/the-story-behind-our-paper/

2. How should we use intermittent auscultation in labour?

These are the NICE guidelines for fetal monitoring in labour: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng229/chapter/Recommendations

Midwife researcher and lecturer Rachel Reed has a brilliant article and podcast about this where she unpicks the evidence around the recommendations for intermittent auscultation protocols here https://www.rachelreed.website/blog/listening-to-baby-during-labour

and podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3sJeIR3xUOr20EBRGilHxl?si=818537594dd04457

The WHO recommendations for intrapartum care: https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/260178/9789241550215-eng.pdf?sequence=1

3. How does intermittent auscultation detect fetal distress?

For more on normal and abnormal heart rate monitoring watch this explanatory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni48bbtiZgs

4. What happens if there are concerns with the fetal heart rate at a homebirth?

NICE guidelines for fetal monitoring in labour: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng229/chapter/Recommendations

5.What is better for fetal monitoring in labour: a Doppler or a Pinard/fetoscope?

To read about the research and the experiences of midwives using a fetoscope/pinard antenatally and in labour check these links out.

Short facebook comments compiled in this magazine here: https://www.midwiferytoday.com/mt-articles/wisdom-of-the-midwives-issue-131/

Midwives perceptions of fetoscope vrs Doppler Tanzania https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-018-1736-y

Midwives experiences of Pinard use Norway https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266613822000407

Defense of fetoscope article by American midwives

https://hearthandhomemidwifery.com/blog/fetoscope-a-tool-of-the-midwifery-trade#:~:text=Fetoscope%20uses%20go%20beyond%20just,birthing%20person%20and%20the%20baby.

A Cochrane review that compares Doppler and Pinard use in low income countries: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008680.pub2/full

For a compilation of research that compares the use of Doppler to Pinard check this link: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/content?templateType=related&urlTitle=%2Fcentral%2Fdoi%2F10.1002%2Fcentral%2FCN-01110791&doi=10.1002%2Fcentral%2FCN-01110791&p_p_id=scolariscontentdisplay_WAR_scolariscontentdisplay&_scolariscontentdisplay_WAR_scolariscontentdisplay_action=related-content&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_mode=view&type=central&contentLanguage=

6. What if you decline some or all fetal auscultations?

Is fetal monitoring essential?: https://birthsmalltalk.com/2024/11/06/myth-busting-3-fetal-monitoring-is-essential/

7. What to bear in mind about intermittent auscultation in labour?

Examples of womens experiences of fetal auscultation in labour: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871519224002658#bib14