Midwife or consultant led care?

[Chocolatemolehill]

Hi ladies.
I'm 10 weeks pregnant with my first baby (IVF pregnancy after years of trying, treatment and two miscarriages) and have been referred by my GP for a mixed midwife/consultant care at UCL Hospital as a high risk pregnancy (I've had subchorionic haematoma and bleeding).
I hoped somebody could explain to me how the antenatal care works as I have no clue - I only have my first midwife appointment next week.
Is a mixed care the same as being consultant led? I was told at UCLH I can only see a consultant if the midwife refers me for a specific reason so I worry I will actually never see one!
If it's not the same can I opt for being consultant led? (That would be my preference) How do I do this?
In consultant led care do you only see a consultant rather than a midwife or is it both?
Thanks in advance for your help!

[Mogz]

I had mixed care up to 36 weeks (raise BMI, hyperemesis and liver failure!) and what happened for me was that I saw my MW for all the usual appointments (I think there is a list of what appoitments to expect on the nhs website somewhere) and then saw the consultant two/three times each trimester for extra health checks and discussion about how everything was progressing. I expect I would have seen her more often if she'd been worried about how I was coping. I also had a lot more scans than is usual after 20 weeks to check growth.
If you don't hear from the consultant inviting you to an appointment just ask your MW if she can find out what the process is and to jog it along a bit for you.
Congratulations and best of luck!

[Writerwannabe83]

I'm under shared care with midwives and consultants and the treatment I have had has been amazing. I'm actually being monitored by my Midwife, my Consultant Obstetrician, a Cardiologist, a Neurologist and a Specialist Nurse I have appointments all over the place, they make me dizzy!!

I see a midwife at the routine appointments at the GP surgery just like any other pregnant woman and I see my Obstetrician every 4 weeks. When I have my appointments with her I also have a review carried out by the hospital midwives, just routine urine checks, weight, blood pressure/pulse readings and they listen to the baby's heartbeat. I see my Specialist Nurse, Cardiologist and Neurologist every month too.

It was quite overwhelming at first, all the focus on me made me nervous and I didn't like seeing the words High Risk plastered all over my notes but my whole team are absolutely amazing!! I've had a few issues so far (currently 22 weeks) and the care I have received has been so thorough that I have absolute complete faith in all of my Doctors. My Consultant Obstetrician is just lovely and so reassuring.

I always knew I would be under Consultant Care and as soon as I told my GP I was pregnant (when I was about 5 weeks) my GP contacted the hospital straight away in order to book me an appointment with the Consultant who I saw for the first time when I was about 10 weeks pregnant I think.

Congratulations on your pregnancy

[Writerwannabe83]

And I meant to say, like Mogz I am booked in to have a scan every 4 weeks to check the baby is growing as it should be

[MrsOakenshield]

I had consultant-led care and as far as I could tell it meant that I had the usual midwife appointments with the odd appt with the consultant obstretician.

[Chocolatemolehill]

Thank you ladies. It all sounds great!
So I guess I need to check with the midwife next week what the process is right?

[thecakeisalie]

Firstly congrats on your pregnancy and sorry to hear how much you've been through to get here.

I'm under mixed care for a raised bmi and I can honestly say having consultants appointments have always seemed to be a waste of time for both me and the consultant. I had one consultant appointment at 20 weeks, I have another booked for 36 weeks. I will also have growth scans at 32 & 36 weeks, see the anesthetist at 27 weeks and have a glucose tolerance test at 26 weeks (this I'm happy to have to ensure I haven't developed Gestational Diabetes). So I see the midwife for all my regular appointments of which I've had more than a low risk pregnancy. If any problems arise from those appointments e.g. high blood pressure they will refer me back to the consultant.

It's mostly a complete waste of everyone's time for me as I have had a straight forward pregnancy each time so a consultants appointment usually goes along the lines of - is everything's going well - yes, do you have any questions - no - ok well we'll see you in x amount of weeks.

I can understand how the appointments would be reassuring for you though so it's worth asking what to expect in terms of your care. I guess for me I resent being classed as high risk simply because of my bmi. Good luck with it all :)