Rant alert: forgot to mention how annoyed I am with my 28 week care....
I had my blood tests, Lucozade, & Anti-D appointments at the hospital last week as my surgery doesn't do the Anti-D any more, so they sent me there for the lot. When I saw midwife at surgery next day the results weren't back, not that surprising as it wasn't quite 24 hours. Was seen by two (TWO!) midwifes who didn't seem to know the ropes very well and didn't explain to me why there were two of them (training, perhaps?). When I queried it they said they were covering for that day, but didn't normally work at my practice. (That's five different midwives I've seen so far this pregnancy, and never had the same one twice - hence my surprise at seeing two at once.) Before I left they said I should contact the surgery this week to ask about the bloods results.
When I went online yesterday to double check my appointment time for this morning (baby brain is really kicking in for me just now, so I'm paranoid about every arrangements I make) there were four appointments listed for me in all, two of which I knew nothing about! As well as the whooping cough jab today, and my 31 week midwife visit in a fortnight, they had booked me in for an extra midwife visit this week and another one next week. I asked the receptionist in person this morning, and explained to her that I didn't need the two middle midwife appointments, it must be an error (stupid - perhaps I should have just kept at least one of them, and used it as a bonus opportunity to listen to the heartbeat again). She said 'are you sure you don't need to see the midwife this week? It says here you are 40 weeks pregnant'. I assured I was only 29 weeks, and we both laughed and cancelled the two errant appointments. Still, I was quite annoyed at the midwives - if they'd got that information wrong in the system, what other errors could have been made with my notes?
When I saw the nurse right afterwards for my jab, I asked her if my blood tests had come back. I'm quite anxious to know if I'm anaemic, as I've had ongoing problems with my iron levels even before pregnancy and have been on extra iron since the booking in. She was quite obliging and looked at my file but said there was nothing showing on the system since my booking in last November. She told me I should ring the hospital to find out, and while I was at it, to ask them to send a copy of the lab report to the surgery (and the 20 week one). Since I didn't have my midwife notes with me, we couldn't really check whether there was a paper printout in there. And she is not a midwife, and was already doing more than she was supposed to for me. So I thanked her and left. When I finally got through to the phlebotomy department at the hospital on my fourth attempt (having been variously transferred or asked to call a different number), the nurse I spoke to was rude and patronising:
'We normally only tell you the results if there is a problem'
(OK, no one told me that, the midwives told me to call, and then the practice nurse specifically told me I should call you and ask)
'Well, they must have had them, and we normally only tell you the results if there is a problem'
(So there isn't a problem then? I can be sure about that? It's just that the nurse said I should call you).
'Well, well done for calling. Please don't worry. Bye'.
I was so angry and upset after I got off that phone! It didn't help that I was already at work by then. Nnnggrh am so annoyed. I'll have to ring the surgery or midwife tomorrow when I've calmed down a bit, and ask them to sort it out. Or possibly wait another 2 weeks for the next midwife appointment for more info.
If you've managed to read this far, I commend you. Apologies for the rant, I just needed to get that off my chest. I'm sure everything is fine, as they said. But would it hurt them to be a bit more organised and pleasant?