Hi Amanda, I’ve been meaning to get in touch to tell you how we got on with the cord clamping. Our gorgeous girl, Rae, was born on 7th January. It was so helpful to be able to reference you when I had the meeting with the midwives about my birth preferences. That midwife told me she didn’t think optimal clamping for RH negative women was possible but would take it to her supervisor and find out for my next appointment (I think that was at 35 week)s. I also asked for optimal clamping if I had to undergo a C-section .I was told by the same midwife this was absolutely impossible and would be dangerous as I could haemorrhage. The midwife wrote on my birth preferences ““early cord clamping essential in C/S to deliver placenta and control bleeding”. I researched this and contested it at my next appointment and brought along guidance from WHO and American College of Obs Gyn guidance. The midwife at this appointment (37 weeks) she didn’t know whether optimal clamping was possible for RH Neg women or for C-section and it seemed the previous midwife had not sought advice from her supervisor on cord claiming for RH negative women so there was no word on that. Due to an oblique lie I ended seeing a doctor who I asked about cord clamping for C-section. She said some doctors in the hospital do it, some don’t but that if I asked I should be able to get it. Since it seemed impossible to get a clear answer from the hospital on any of this (and I was exhausted trying) I ended up printing out evidence from WHO and ACOG and putting it in my hospital file to ensure it would be with me along with my written birth preferences when I went into labour. As it turned out, Rae’s birth was perfect, exactly what I wanted and more, and we ended up with a wonderful midwife (who our doula, Krysia, knew) who had no problem taking a blood sample from the placenta and waited for white, as per my birth preferences. I’ve written to the hospital to detail my experience around this (and some other issues) and a meeting has been arranged for two weeks time. I feel the midwives I spoke with should have been clear on international best practice and their own hospital’s practice on cord clamping so they could correctly inform my preferences. I am also questioning why practice differs amongst doctors and what the difference is based on, if not evidence. So I guess we will see how the meeting goes. Apologies for the probably typos in this, typing between Rae’s naps! Thanks so much again for your help. I appreciated it so much.
Best wishes, Louise
Mia Tiongson Phillipines
We waited 4 hours before cutting the cord
