Antenatal care

Pearl Ward
Green Zone
Level 4

Maternity Care Unit
Monday to Friday: 8am to 8pm
Saturday: 8am to 5pm
Sunday: 9am to 5pm

Community Midwifery Teams
All Saints: 01634 973141
Castle: 01634 717755
Riverside: 01634 382108
Swale: 01795 879100
Team Connect: 01634 974526

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COVID-19 in pregnancy

Your care in hospital

Pearl Ward

Pearl Ward is the antenatal ward where most pregnant women and birthing people are admitted should they require treatment, observation or induction of labour.

It is staffed by both Midwives and Maternity Support Workers who will be there to care for you. They work closely with the Obstetric Doctors to provide a multidisciplinary team approach to your individual care.

Why might you be admitted?

Pearl ward care for women from 14 weeks of pregnancy. Admission may be for several reasons including bleeding, raised blood pressure, operative procedure or for the induction of labour process to start. Whatever the reason for admission we will try to ensure the same member of staff cares for you so that you get continuity whilst you are here.

What happens while you are on the ward?

Depending on how many weeks pregnant you are we will:

Check your observations (temperature, blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate)
Listen to the baby heart twice a day either with a CTG (a machine that records your baby’s heart) or a handheld Doppler
Your care will be reviewed regularly, and a plan of care made with you

You may leave the ward whilst you are admitted but we ask that you let a member of staff know and keep your mobile phone with you.

Antenatal Outpatient Services

Maternity Care Unit

Our Maternity Care Unit (MCU) is an assessment outpatient ward for women who have a variety of pregnancy related issues from 14 weeks gestation until the onset of labour. Women with concerns before this gestation should contact their GP or out of hours service who may refer them to the early pregnancy assessment unit (EPAU).

Please phone us first to refer in for assessment so we can ensure you are seen in the right environment for your needs.

Our self-referral system for the MCU is a telephone triage service called Call the Midwife. This offers support and advice, which is open 24 hours a day. On occasions it may be more appropriate for you to attend your GP, Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) or community midwife for further assessment and this will be advised at the time of the call. The telephone number for Call the Midwife is 01634 825277.

There can at times be high volumes of calls, but every call is registered and we will call you back as soon as possible.

The MCU is open from Monday to Friday between the hours of 8am and 8pm, Saturday 8am to 5pm and Sunday 9am and 5pm. Our service operates 365 days a year. Outside of these times all women will be referred and seen in Obstetric Triage, which is on the delivery suite.

Antenatal Clinic

Our Antenatal Clinic Department runs a wide variety of specialist clinics for women with specific health needs in pregnancy. This includes diabetes, high blood pressure, mental health and previous complications of pregnancy. Your community midwife will refer you to one of these if applicable at the time of booking.

You may be offered a virtual/video clinic so that you do not have to come for a face-to-face appointment.

Community Antenatal Care

Our team of Community Midwives and Maternity Support Workers provide care for women and their families during pregnancy, birth and after the birth of your baby. Care is provided within local clinics and at your home.

Women who experience complications in pregnancy or who have a medical condition prior to pregnancy will also be referred for a hospital appointment with a Consultant Obstetrician, who specialises in pregnancy and birth. They provide specialist input to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both mother and baby.

The team will provide useful information for ensuring a healthy pregnancy on things such as healthy eating, exercise advice, smoking cessation, mental health wellbeing and breastfeeding. We also offer Active Birth Workshops to aid preparation for labour and birth and a ‘Bumps to Bright Babies’ class which offers education and awareness around building relationships and responsive parenting. These classes can be booked in advance through your community team.

We offer personalised care that is aimed at supporting women and their families to make informed choices for themselves and their babies.

You may be offered a virtual/video clinic so that you do not have to come for a face-to-face appointment.

Our Community Teams

All Saints Midwifery team covers families living in Chatham, Lordswood and Walderslade and are based at Lordswood Health Centre.

They offer midwifery care from:

Wayfield Family Hub
White Road Community Centre
Oaklands Well Being Centre
Lordswood Well Being Centre
All Saints Family Hub.

Call: 01634 973141

Castle Midwifery team covers families living in Rochester, Strood, Wainscott, Hoo and Isle of Grain and are based at Keystone Centre, Rochester.

They offer midwifery care from:

Delce Childrens Centre
Gun Lane CC
Strood Family Hub
Keystone Centre
Halling Medical Practice,
Hoo Wellbeing centre.

Call: 01634 717755

Riverside Midwifery team covers families living in Gillingham, Rainham, St Mary’s Island, Upchurch and Newington and are based at Parkwood Health Centre.

Riverside Wellbeing Centre
Deanwood Wellbeing Centre
Gillingham (Woodlands) Children and Family Hub
Twydall Children and Family Wellbeing Centre
Balmoral Healthy Living Centre
Saxon Way Children and Family Wellbeing Centre.

Call: 01634 382108

Swale Midwifery team covers families living in Sittingbourne and Sheppey and are based at Sheppey General Hospital.

They offer midwifery care at:

Sheppey General Hospital
Sittingbourne Memorial Hospital
Children’s Centres at Milton, Murston, Woodgrove, Grove Park, Seashells, Beaches and Ladybirds.

Call: 01795 879100

Team connect Midwifery team covers families living across the whole of Medway and Swale.

Team Connect offer enhanced continuity of care to those women who require additional maternity support.

Contact number: 01634 830000 ext 5834

Specialist Maternity Care

Infant feeding

Hayley Clinton leads a developing team of health professionals to provide infant feeding services. Their aim is to address any feeding issues and to give support and advice regarding feeding, growth, development and bonding within the family unit.

At Medway Foundation Trust, we are proud to be a Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative Level 3 accredited unit and we work hard to protect, promote and support positive infant feeding practices and relationship building, throughout pregnancy and during the postnatal period.

This begins from the very first appointment with your midwife where we will introduce you to the world of pregnancy and the development of your unborn baby, including our Grow My Brain campaign.

A cartoon of a mum reading to a baby in her tummy with the words

Grow My Brain

Grow My Brain aims to improve the interactions between families and babies from pregnancy and beyond, therefore improving brain development and positive attachments that can impact a child throughout their life.

Find out more about the Grow My Brain campaign

During the antenatal period you will signposted to our antenatal classes by your midwife. Classes cover what to expect, infant feeding, baby’s brain development, newborn behaviours and also preparing for labour and birth and the immediate postnatal period. Even if you have had a baby before you are welcome to attend, after all each and every pregnancy, birth and newborn are unique.

The importance of relationship building

Building a happy baby leaflet

Skin to skin contact information

The first few days with baby

Beside You – Supporting breastfeeding in Medway and Kent, many useful resources

The Breastfeeding Network – An independent source of information for parents

La Leche League UK – breastfeeding support from pregnancy onwards

Global Health Media video “Attaching your baby at the breast”

Start for Life – Feeding your baby

Mental Health Services

Having mental health problems

Most people are surprised to hear how common mental health problem are in pregnancy and after having a baby.

It is thought that 10 to 15 women in every 100 will suffer from depression following childbirth. Many more women report feelings of anxiety and depression antenatally – anything from 10 to 25 in 100.

Pregnancy can be an anxious time for most mothers to be. It may be that your midwife or doctor, when they first saw you in pregnancy, asked the following questions:

During the last month, have you often been bothered by feeling down, depressed or hopeless?
During the past month, have you often been bothered by having little interest or pleasure in doing things?
During the last month, have you been feeling nervous, anxious or on edge?
During the past month, have you not been able to stop or control worrying?

Many women will feel this at some point in their pregnancy and it’s good to talk these feelings over with someone whom you trust and feel comfortable with.

You may need more specialist help if you are experiencing some of the following:

During pregnancy

Are you extremely anxious about your pregnancy and really dreading giving birth, especially about having or not being able to have a caesarean section?
Do you fear for your baby’s health and life during your pregnancy or shortly after giving birth?
Have you suffered with depression or postnatal illness before? Did you have symptoms of depression or anxiety during this pregnancy or a previous pregnancy.
Have you found that you are increasingly trying to avoid certain situations in order to help you and your baby feel safe? This might involve carrying out some rituals such as washing your hands or counting to check that you have carried out tasks you normally do without much thought?

Postnatally

Do you feel you are a ’bad’ person or a ’bad ‘mother rather than thinking you have a kind of illness?
Do you have horrible and distressing thoughts about yourself and your baby? E.g. visualising terrible things happening to your baby, caused by you?
Are you worrying a lot about your baby’s health and welfare?
Do you have fast moving thoughts which don’t go away, especially when you try to sleep?
Do you have thoughts you feel you could never tell anyone about?
Do you think about knives and other dangerous objects?
Are you unable to enjoy your life, have you lost your sense of humour since having the baby?
Have you felt ‘not right in yourself’ since the birth of your baby and find you are hiding from others how you really feel?

Did you whilst pregnant have severe anxiety or extreme fear about a possible caesarean section?
Does your mind keep playing the birth over and over?
Do you avoid talking about the birth or birth stories?
Do you feel preoccupied about how you were treated at the birth?
When you think about or are reminded of your birth experience, does your heart race or do you become anxious?
Do feel so angry about how you were treated, that you fantasise about shouting at or hurting the staff who delivered your baby?
Did you feel numb after having your baby (like he/she wasn’t really yours) and has this numbness not gone away?
Do your memories of the birth come and go in your mind quickly and repeatedly?

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