Maternity activities in Caithness

Antenatal activities

• You'll have your booking appointment and regular check ups with your midwife. Home visits can be arranged if needed.
• You can have your routine ultrasound scans for pregnancy.
• Early pregnancy scanning and screening - offered by dedicated screening midwife.
• Early pregnancy services and support of early pregnancy loss. 
• Face-to-face obstetric consultant offers local antenatal clinics and Near Me appointments when required. 
• Aqua-natal relaxation classes at the local pools. 
• A midwife who is trained in non-medical prescribing can prescribe you medications if you need them.
• Your Infant Feeding Support Worker will discuss feeding.
• If you need extra checks, such as blood pressure monitoring, blood tests, CTG monitoring (continuous baby heart rate monitoring) or diabetes screening, these are all available at Caithness Community Midwifery Unit.
• Antenatal preparation for parenting and birth sessions, to support families either individually or in small groups.

Unscheduled midwifery care 24/7

If you have any concerns like altered baby movements, pain, bleeding, or think you might be in labour, care is available locally:

• phone 01955 880 330 - available 09:00 to 17:00 weekdays
• phone 01463 705 284 - out-of-hours: Raigmore Maternity Triage

A midwife will assess if an ambulance transfer with a midwife escort is required for you. 

Birth and postnatal care

• A birthing pool is available. 
• Local birth options - you can give birth in the Community Midwifery Unit or at home. 
• Infant feeding support is offered routinely by all staff. 
• Our team will support local Community Midwifery Unit births, or home births with personalised care plans that reflect your choices, preferences and needs.
• Our staff can carry out a newborn pulse oximetry if there is a screen. 
• Your midwife will support your contraceptive choices which include injecting implants locally.
• Baby massage sessions. 
• Routine post-birth care will be offered to your family in your home environment. 
• Our staff can provide hearing screening checks for your baby. 
• Midwives can carry out routine examinations on the newborn (Newborn and Infant Physical Examination - NIPE). 
• Dedicated Infant Feeding Support Worker to support you and your baby.