to want some ante-natal care?

[Pandora2016]

I may be, being a bit PFB about this.

I'm expecting my first. I'm around 9 weeks. I went to the GP at four weeks and was told that the midwife would ring me to arrange things within a fortnight.

I've heard nothing. Is it too early to go and prod them a bit?

[Happyandhungry]

I am now 33 weeks. We paid £99 for a scan at 8 weeks because we wanted to. NHS is 12 weeks as before that there is a high chance of miscarriage unfortunately so they wait til 12 weeks to scan you etc as NHS funds only go so far, if they scanned and treated everyone is very early pregnancy it would not be "economical". If you're that worried then i would recommend private scanning etc its a very nice experience and they're all ex midwives generally. Congratulations x

[allowlsthinkalot]

Here we have booking in after the 12 week scan.

[Mungobungo]

Im sick of waiting around for midwives. I now theyre busy but so am I, I'm waiting 1 hour late for an appointment. Yet if I was late 10 mins they aren't supposed to see me? Initially they were on time, but I keep getting different midwives, and this latest one as lovely as she is makes me wait 1 hour?

Totally get the frustration but have a think about this a bit... MW has 20 min appointment slots (most have less), first woman is 5 mins late, then has problems. Spends 10 minutes on phone to refer them for investigations, then still has to do a full check. She's now late. Midwife's dilemma - does she rush the next appointment to catch up or does she accept that she's late and carry on? Of course there's no choice - every woman gets their 20 minute allocated time, some get more. Or do you expect that when you go in with a problem that she tells you she can't help because the next 6 women will be waiting too long?

Personally I'd rather be waiting but knowingness that I'd got her full attention and know that if I need extra care I'll get it.

Oh! And midwives hate running late and keeping people waiting and they also work through their lunch breaks to catch up. And they then go out and do visits and bookings after clinic so running late in clinic also means that they're usually late home with no lunch too. It's not great I know, but it's all we've got and antenatal care is often not textbook and straightforward.


Back to the OP, you should have had contact by now. I recommend that you contact your local hospital and ask to be put through to the community midwives office and go to them directly as you should be being scanned around 11-13 weeks. Do chase them but don't go through the GP, go straight to the midwives.

[bridetobe17]

That all sounds crazy! In Ireland it's called combined care (between GP and hospital) once you've been to the gp to confirm pregnancy they send a letter to the hospital of choice to preferred consultant, within a week a letter is sent back to you with first hospital appt,(depending on location)usually around 12 weeks but can be later depending on the hospital, mine was at 12 weeks, had dating scan that day and test for group b strep, they tell you when you need to see your GP again, anomaly scan at 20 weeks, ultrasound at 24, 28, I had gd diagnosed at 28 weeks and was scanned every 2 weeks up until the birth and the weeks in between I was at the GP just for check ups

[EssentialHummus]

Yep, chase. I'm in S. London - self-referred to midwifes more or less at the point of conception, then followed up when I still hadn't heard anything by 8 weeks. I was lost somewhere on the system between a referring hospital and the local midwifes, it turned out. Round here booking in appointments can be as late as 12/13 weeks.

[Werkzallhourz]

It is not pfb to chase up your booking in appointment at all.

Where I am, you book in at 8 weeks and the community midwife does your bloods, tests a urine sample, takes a full medical history, does your weight and height and discusses your care and birth options with you while organising your 12 week scan and explaining the NT scan and blood test. She also organises jabs for you.

All this is necessary so the midwife can organise care in time and ensure the local ante clinic at the hospital runs in a viable manner. Again women can gave a range of problems that need picking up early: STIs, drug use, diabetes, blood disorders, a family history of miscarriage or multiples etc, any cervical surgery or procedures.

Crikey, I have very high risk pregnancies and I inform my consultant as soon as I get a bfp! And that's completely normal for women with my condition.

Op, chase up your appointment. It's not unreasonable at all.

[mschee]

I'm currently 12 weeks 4 days pregnant with twins.I have been waiting for my first appointment 3 weeks now. I went back into the unit to find out what the issue was and can you believe, all they could tell me was that they don't know why I haven't received any correspondence. They Made me fill out the form again and asked me to wait to be contacted.
I'm now looking at The Harley Street Fertility clinic to do my scans. I cannot sit around and wait on them to mess up again.
Has anyone else had this issue ?

[Klaptrap]

Get proactive and call them ASAP!

I think the process varies by area - I had to see the GP first, who arranged my scans with the hospital. But I had to phone the midwife myself separately to make my booking appointment.

[Musicaltheatremum]

Orchid and Dropyousword. I thought that too about the pre eclampsia at that stage. It just doesn't happen.
It does vary by area, go onto your local hospital website and see what it says about pregnancy and booking. Where I am it's all self referral although we can refer them and the midwives write to us for the patients general health information which we then send on. There is a wealth of pre pregnancy advice on the NHS websites too although I usually give a run down of the basics if a patient comes into me first.

[Runningupthathill82]

OP, if you haven't already, chase them up.

But I wish people would stop scaremongering and saying the booking appointment "is at 8 weeks", as if it's an indisputable fact. All that will do is make the OP think she's missed something when,chances are, she's right on schedule.

All areas do it differently. Yes, some areas might book in at 8 weeks. Here it's 10. I was booked in at 10+5 and the scan appointment for 13 weeks was made then.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, OP.

[DirtyHarrietOnABike]

Pandora2016, have you checked with the hospital? I think self referring is allowed specifically for pregnancy by law. I can't find the law now, but a google search for 'pregnancy self referral' brings back lots of self referral forms on different hospitals websites.

[PegsPigs]

Yes as Sweet says. She was still pregnant but wanted to discuss the pros and cons of trying for a vaginal birth after her emergency c section. If she was going to have a c section it's usually booked in for 39 weeks (mine was) so discussing her options at 38 weeks was cutting it fine! Especially as she'd been chasing since 24 weeks because I'd told her that's when I had mine done.

[Katarzyna79]

oh ok thanks for explaining that :) sweet

[SweetTeaVodka]

Katarzyna79 VBAC = vaginal birth after caesarean - women who have had a previous caesarean are offered an appointment to discuss the pros and cons of a vaginal or caesarean delivery in subsequent pregnancies.

And an appointment at 38 weeks is part of the normal schedule - yes you are "term" from 37 weeks but a normal pregnancy can last anywhere from 37-42 weeks so of course if you are still pregnant they keep seeing you! (Apologies if I have misunderstood your comment "what's the point of seeing her at 38")

[SweetTeaVodka]

Doesn't hurt to chase things up. Either something has gone awry and chasing things up will help it be corrected or they will reassure you it's all in hand. Things seem to vary a lot by area at this stage so if you know someone at the same GP practice who is/has been pregnant they could advise you if it's normal for your area.

In my area you self refer to midwife and book in at 9-10 weeks, scan at 12-13 arranged by midwife at booking in.

Been the same both pregnancies, in my first I'd been admitted to hospital for IV rehydration and anti-emetics (hyperemesis) and had two early scans (first during admission to rule out twins, second as there was a concern that needed following up but turned out to be nothing) before I ever saw a midwife - nothing the community MW could have done would have made a difference at that point anyway.

Agree its ridiculous to suspect pre-eclampsia at 8 weeks.

[Mousefinkle]

I had my first scan before my first midwife appointment with my three DC. First MW app was at 12 weeks, scans were at 11, 8 and 10 weeks. Let the GP know I was pregnant the first two times and they sorted it, third time used the email system. All three times I got a letter in the post maybe two weeks before the appointment. You should be seen before 12 weeks though so if you haven't had a letter by the time you're 10 weeks I'd call them.

[chumbler]

So have you called them?

[DropYourSword]

Orchid, so you think that the doctor made that up?

The doctor was seriously misinformed! Pre eclampsia just doesn't occur that early in pregnancy. Not nice for you to be feeling unwell or have to worry. But honestly, if your doctor even considered this could be pre eclampsia at this stage they're an idiot.

[maydancer]

In this area booking in appt and scan is on the same day at about 12/13 weeks.

[PastaLaFeasta]

Definitely chase them, you need the 12 week scan and there's lots of advice the MW will share at this stage - although if you are fairly switched on you may already know this. You will have blood tests, urine sample dipped, blood pressure checked and maybe a chance to listen to the heartbeat - very exciting for the first time and reassuring too. I was very impatient and anxious and didn't know the conception date, I booked private scans and was 6/7 weeks each time. You seem pretty relaxed in comparison and not PFB. But don't let them forget, often with the NHS you have to be assertive or you get nowhere. It's a bureaucratic monster and people make mistakes.

[Pandora2016]

We're not allowed to self-refer; has to come through the GP. Assuming it's to do with funding etc.

[BaskingTrout]

Yep, all fairly normal I'm afraid. But do chase them. I chased my 12 week scan date as I hadn't had the appointment letter by the time I had reached 11 and a bit weeks. And I think I will probably have to do the same for my 20 week scan, seeing as I am now 18+2 and I've not heard anything.
And I've never seen a gp in either of my pregnancies, just self referred to the midwife for booking. It seems there is a lot of variation.

[Pandora2016]

Orchid, so you think that the doctor made that up?

[orchidnap]

Suspected pre eclampsia (and stroke) at 8 weeks?

[BestZebbie]

It is probably worth calling - we nearly missed our first scan because someone (midwife or hospital) dropped our paperwork out of the system at some point after first registering the pregnancy and we were too polite to chase it up until there were only a couple of weeks left. We might have started chasing sooner if I had realised that the scan has to be done at one very specific point in pregnancy to be any good for the nuchal fold test and isn't just for 'dating' (I knew exactly when we had conceived so didn't feel much urgency over that) and seeing the baby.