Or is this antenatal care not good enough?

[murkoff]

First baby, high rusk pregnancy. 34 weeks.

I’ve had a telephone consultation with midwife at about 7 weeks.

Then 12 week scan, then 20 week scan. Bloods done at 28 weeks. Then 32 week scan.

Surely I should be regularly seeing a midwife and be having some sort of consultation about giving birth? I’m starting to get very stressed and anxious.

I'm sure you already have, but have you called them or the hospital to ask what the hell is going on? I'm so sorry - that is just unacceptable "care".

If it’s a high risk pregnancy you should have had an appointment with a consultant by now. You need to phone midwife and check that. High risk normally means extra scans too.

I was heavily pregnant, as well as being high risk, at the start of lockdown and all of my final weeks appointment and scans were cancelled or converted into a phone call. It made me incredibly anxious I felt so confused. I gave me them a call and voiced my concerns and was able to see a local midwife and was referred to some live posts being done by the midwives at the hospital to run through the antenatal class type things.
Please speak up if it's making you anxious, hopefully there will be something they can do to make things better for you

What is the risk as this probably determines the kind of care you need?

It doesnt sound like substandard care unless the scan & blood tests have given cause for concern.
Have you spoken to the midwife about your concerns?

I hope everything goes well and you feel less stressed going forward.

@murkoff Not uncommon at the moment unfortunately. Currently 38.5weeks with higher risk pregnancy.

Midwife over phone - 8 weeks
12 week scan/20 week scan
First met midwife - 28 weeks (then spent a week chasing up an Anti-D injection because she wouldn’t give me it as it was “too early”)
32 week growth scan
32.5 week midwife appt scheduled - she was a no show and I then spent weeks phoning everyday trying to chase up care
Eventually they changed my midwife as they couldn’t get in touch with her
Met my new midwife at 35.5weeks
Next appointment not until 39 weeks 🙄

You will have an appointment to discuss the birth etc at 36 wks right?

Have you been told you're high risk?

No it's not adequate, I hope you've rang them to ascertain when your appointment will be?

This is definitely a postcode thing as I am also heavily pregnant with a high risk pregnancy and I have had all appointments face to face. I had numerous early scans, a procedure done at fetal medicine which DH was able to attend for the full time, 20 week scan and a 28 week scan which again DH attended, and am now having face to face midwife appointments every 4 weeks until 32 weeks at which point they will change to 2 weekly. I haven't had a single appointment over the phone yet and my hospital is a city centre one in a tier 3 area.

I hope you get some further support OP.

Of course I have raspberry I didn’t decide this myself!

But what if I give birth at or before 36 weeks? It’s not unheard of. I feel completely unprepared. But I’m glad selfishly it isn’t just me.

(Sorry to be clear, my 4 weekly appointments started after my 16 week midwife appointment and will continue until 32 weeks when they will change to every 2 weeks).

The nice antenatal guidelines specify birth discussion is at the 36 week appt.

Yanbu, that’s really poor. I’m 32 weeks pregnant and have seen my midwife about 6 times in person. It’s shocking that you haven’t met yours even once, especially with a high risk pregnancy.

I would call maternity services and explain your concerns, this isn’t good enough.

I’m really shocked at how bad it is to be honest.

You'd normally also have an appt at 16 and 25 weeks which appear to have been missed. However Rcog have said because of COVID some appts can be missed, may well be those.

If you are not happy with your cate then ring your midwife and discuss it. Any birth preterm labour would be classed as high risk in itself. Are you high risk for labour, pregnancy or both?

And I have also already gone through my birth care plan with the midwife as I need some additional measures in place.

I don't know if the reason you are considered high risk though determines the level of extra care you receive, it may well be different for different risk factors I suppose.

Have you read my post thatwentbadly?

What midwife?

It's poor care even for a low risk pregnancy. I'm not from the UK and where I am from you have regular appointments with a consultant gynaecologist at least once every 8 weeks and regular blood tests to check general health and to spot any potential health problems that could affect pregnancy.

I've sailed through both of my pregnancies here in the UK with next to none care and had a hard time to convince midwife to check my babies heartbeat when I was 2 weeks overdue and anxious. It's not on.
Press for more.

Its difficult to advise without knowing what the risk is.

2nd pregnancy the risk was gestational diabetes. My blood sugar was checked more regularly and I had 1 extra scan.
3rd pregnancy was twins. 2 extra scans birth plan in place from 32 weeks. When I was 36 weeks I saw midwife weekly for a quick check up as twin A was breech. At 38 weeks c sec booked for the following week.

I know you must be very stressed and the only way to solve it is to speak to a midwife.

@murkoff

Have you read my post thatwentbadly?

What midwife?

The one you spoke to at 7 weeks. That's presumably at your GP and the one who would be coordinating everything/who you would go to for general concerns.

I agree by the way - terrible care. I thought it was quite bad in my area too as mostly on the phone so no urine check, blood pressure, fetal heartbeat etc but at least they check in with me every month or so!

Sadly, it seems that only COVID matters in terms of healthcare.

No, no - you're right.
Just an absolute joke to be offered at even you were low risk.
Research Sarah Wickham, she's a wise woman. Might help you decide if you want to discharge yourself from the hospital's care and choose another.

Ring the hospital and ask to speak to the community midwifery matron.

Or the consultant midwife

Or the head of midwifery.

Don’t do nothing and please don’t google Sarah wickham and withdraw the little care you have had. You are high risk and you DESERVE better.

I've sailed through both of my pregnancies here in the UK with next to none care and had a hard time to convince midwife to check my babies heartbeat when I was 2 weeks overdue and anxious. It's not on

That is not the norm. Midwives will always take a mother's concerns seriously in late pregnancy and tell you to check the kicks etc.

As for not seeing anyone, I had 12 and 20 week scans and I think I had 4 weekly then 2 weekly then weekly appointments right at the end. Hardly "next to no care" and I was only 30 and low risk. Not sure when I had my first appt with a midwife now.

As for the OP, there should be a midwife team for your area. You need to call them. If you don't know how to contact them speak to your GP.

That does sound like it's not enough. I'm not sure if the changes are due to cuts or covid but 7 years ago in my area it was booking at 8-10 weeks, dating scan at 12-14 weeks, midwife at 16 weeks, anomaly scan at 20-22 weeks, gp at 25 weeks (for first time mum's only), midwife at 28 weeks, midwife at 31 weeks (first time mum's only), midwife at 34, 36, 38, 40 and 41 weeks. The midwife at my booking said that was the minimum and it I had concerns at any time I should ring them.

It depends on why you are high risk with regards to extra hospital appointments. With my eldest I was only high risk because of my asthma so I had an extra appointment at 13 weeks with a junior dr and that was it. With my 4th baby he had a lot of different medical problems diagnosed at the anomaly scan so I had loads of extra scans, appointments etc. We even met with a psychologist to talk about future bullying etc before he was even born which was a bit bizarre.