or should I be expecting more from my midwife appts?

[HollyGoLoudly]

Hi all, this is my first pregnancy so not sure if IABU about what to expect from midwife appts.

I'm 24 weeks but only had 2 appts (one of which was the booking appt and one last week). Felt at both like they just wanted me in, check blood pressure, check urine, make next appt and get me out the door.

For example, I self-referred to the physio dept a couple of weeks ago as I am having some pelvic pain, and tried to tell her about this but she didn't seem at all interested, didn't add it to the notes, just said something vague about 'yeah that's a common problem' and then moved on. Wasn't asked how I was feeling, if I had any questions to ask etc.

Is this usually how they go? Having a pretty easy pregnancy but I did have a few general questions I wanted to ask at the last appointment but was ushered out the door before there was an opportunity. Also thought I would have had more appts by this point? Last one was 23 weeks and next one isn't until 27 weeks.

Thanks in advance for advice!

Same here for both of my pregnancies.

That's the 21st century NHS, it's not Call the Midwife levels of personal interaction and care.

When you get to thirty weeks the appts are every 2 weeks.

Thanks guys, guess if there were any concerns I would be getting seen more, just wanted to check if this was the normal run of things :-)

Yeah sounds pretty standard. If you want to ask something or have any concerns then you need to be pretty pro-active and vocal about it, don’t wait for them to ask you. Unfortunately they don’t have the time tof sit and go in depth with every patient so if you come across like your doing fine they will just crack on with the basics and that’s it. As you’ve already self referred for physio I guess she feels like your on top of what to do so doesn’t feel the need to discuss or anything?
My midwifes were all fine but none of them we’re particularly attentive or had the time to actually get to know me or build any trust or whatever, it was all very basic in and out at every appointment.

I don't want to be horrible or upset any midwives, but from my own personal experience of my appointments with midwives, keep your expectations very low! Do ask for anything you need and make sure you get it though.

Every Trust is different.

For a first pregnancy I see women as follows

booking at 8-10 weeks
12 week scan (with sonographer and screening team, not midwife0
16 week appt
20 week scan (with sonograoher, not me!)
24/5 week appt
28 week appt
34 week appt
and every 3 weeks from there til 40 weeks, then weekly if still pregnant.

So not that different to what you've had. We only get a v small time slot for each woman, so by the time you've done BP, urine dip, checked general health, palpated, listened to fetal heart, arranged next appointment, you have precious little time for anything else.

I do, however ask women if they have any questions, and cover a variety of topics at each appt as set out in my trust protocols. Which means I rarely run to time and never get breaks. It's impossible to give each woman the time she deserves, do everything you need to clinically, run bang on time and have your own breaks.

In terms of appointments it sounds pretty normal for a healthy and straight forward pregnancy. It will differ from region to region but in my maternity pack it says that for a first baby you will have up to 10 appointments in total for your first baby:

1. Booking in at 8-12 weeks
2. 15-16 weeks
3. 25 weeks
4. 28 weeks
5. 31 weeks
6. 34 weeks
7. 36 weeks
8. 38 weeks
9. 40 weeks

10. 41 weeks (if needed!)

I'm 25 weeks this week and have seen my midwife probably 5 or so times already but I have high BMI and was having issues with high BP so she wanted to see me more regularly.

If you have any questions make sure you are assertive! I find it astonishing that she didn't even ask how you are feeling... surely that's important??

I had that with my first, felt very much like a conveyor system. I felt very much they took me at face value (married, planned baby, etc, =low risk) and just didn't care. It also meant that I received no support for what I think was antenatal depression and I received my first support from my gp instead when I started crying when he asked me how I was.
I moved area mid pregnancy and it was so much better. I'm now on my second pregnancy and it is the same midwife and she remembers conversations and listens and gives me no indication that she's clearly on a tight schedule and isn't finished with me until I indicate I'm done.

Not really sure what my point was, other than it can be the luck of the draw and it can/should be better.