Antenatal Care Gone Downhill?

[Ruffpuff]

What do you think about the current state of antenatal care?

For those who have a gap between children, or have experienced having a child a few years ago and more recently, has the experience changed?

I’m curious as to what others think. I had my first child 6 years ago and I’m now pregnant again. I’ve noticed differences already, but I’d like to know the general consensus whether positive or negative.

Feel free to add anything about postnatal care too if you think it’s relevant.

Voting:
YABU: It’s better
YANBU: It’s worse

Mine are 4 years apart, younger one is a year old. I was consultant lead and high risk both times with lots of monitoring which I think makes a difference and antenatal care was pretty good both times, I can’t think of any differences.

Postnatal was worse the second time, really truly shocking with hindsight.

I had my daughter in April this year, she’s my first baby so nothing to compare to but my antenatal care was honestly amazing I couldn’t fault them at all, the care when I was in hospital both during and after birth was amazing, I couldn’t have dreamed of better from both midwives and consultants (and having seen the news about poor care I was so worried about this), and postnatal care was mostly really good too. I know lots of people have bad experiences now but mine really was very good.

First child in 2016, some good, some bad things but definitely more attentive antenatal care. Second baby pregnant in 2019, born early 2020 - care was fine, certainly not bad but booking in only over the phone which seemed a bit shit to me. Third baby born 2023, pretty good antenatally. I had nice community midwives seeing me antenatally each time, but the midwives postnatally for the first few checks were pretty useless each time. I probably just wasn't high risk enough to spend the time on (as we both were, in fact, fine) but I felt a bit abandoned.

I had my first early 2022, I'm now pregnant with my second.
I definitely think the care has gone downhill, probably largely due to staff shortages which I know are a big problem in our local area.
In the time since my last child, the system has moved from paper notes to the badger app - which I suppose is good in that you have easy access to your medical notes but the amount of questions I had to answer about my previous birth was nuts - they had absolutely no record about anything. If I'd have had miscarriages or a still birth I would have been fuming at having to relive all the details because they can't migrate information.
There is a certain risk with my pregnancy that my midwife refuses to acknowledge because 'the computer says no' despite that being contradictive to RCOG guidance and what is says on the NHS website!
I'm hoping the 12 week scan will give some clarity but I already feel frustrated by my midwives blase attitude and at one point I had to wait ages for her to take blood because she couldn't remember what it was for and couldn't take it without telling me why she was taking it.
Just didn't give me much confidence and she's only temporary due to staff illness so I'll probably have to repeat everything next time with a different member of staff.
My previous midwife was just so lovely and experienced and really made you feel reassured about any concerns, she retired just after and I was gutted.
I already know from others in my area that post natal care has reduced massively so I've got that to look forward to as well.

First baby in 2017 and had a home visit from the community midwife a few days after birth to check all was okay.
Second baby in 2021. No home visit; I had to lug the baby and me to the hospital a few days after birth for my first check-up, which wasn't that great with stitches! I definitely noticed the decline in postnatal care with my second.
My care while pregnant and for the birth was better with my second, mainly because I was at higher risk the second-time around, and I did feel more listened to by the midwives than with my first. Good luck with your pregnancy.

I've only had one in 2022 but I thought the post natal care (after leaving hospital, 3 days) was rubbish. Felt abandoned and like the midwives, health visitors cared about the baby rather than me.

Yes it's gone appalling, it was brilliant when I had DD in 2007. Yet still people keep constantly getting pregnant

You can request a different midwife.

Well everything else has. Why would this be any different?

It's been a few years now but I was amazed at the quantity of antenatal classes on offer ie practically zero. I had one of my children abroad and I had a 2.5 hour antenatal class every week for 6 weeks before the birth. In UK I was offered 1 class 2 weeks before child was born - and didn't need it as child was born before said class 😂. Also had 5 days in hospital there - here you're kicked out in the middle of the night! And weekly checks of me and baby for about 6 weeks. Here i got 1 health visitor visit and she was looking over her shoulder the entire time!

@Lifeglowup I didn’t know this, but I don’t think I want to do that. Thanks for the information though.
I’m just having a challenging pregnancy and it’s making me feel very negative in a way I don’t usually.
I was just venting on a bad day.