February 2019 part 4

[maxiflump1]

New thread ladies... not long until the first 12 week scans.... mines a week tomorrow!

I'm also in Scotland and I have to say that the maternity care so far has been amazing(my gp is rubbish but that's different) from a full maternity pack including a chunky book of development stages, free pregnancy vitamins, free scan pics in my area (we give a donation) the app and all being well will receive a baby box a few weeks due date.
Until I read all the difficulties some of you have had I thought the care I've had was normal every where! It's crazy that places can't get it right!

@twiglet - I got my pink notes and a few leaflets in a plastic wallet - that's it! Lol. I'm going to send off my prescription exemption form now I've had my scan and when reading it, it said to put it in the envelope I got with the form - I didn't even get that! Lol.

The midwives and staff at the hospital been very nice but it certainly sounds very different x

@booxox it sounds like you’re in an incredibly tough situation. Part of being a good parent is doing the right thing for your child and it sounds like that’s very much what you’re thinking about. I hope you’ve got or can get some support irl and manage to escape the abuse. Wishing you all the best.

@welshweasel congratulations on another boy!

@Lookingforadvice123 hello neighbour! Are you planning to go to UHW to give birth? Not sure if the NIPT test for high risk results is just a Welsh thing at the moment or nationwide. I remember reading something at work about it (Wales specific) but that was a few months ago so I can’t remember exactly what was said.

@booxox wishing you lots of luck for the future, you have to make the right decision for you and I hope you can get sorted, you have your whole future to look forward to xxxx

we haven't had any early scans and our dating scan isn't until 13+1, but we haven't felt the need to have any early ones. But I think we'd be tempted to have an early gender scan @IndiX as we're dying to know!

@chocpop I'd be tempted to call the hospital and ask if they've received a request for your dating scan, then you'll know how far along the process you're stuck.

@Yakadee I don't have access to an app, my hospital is still paper based.

@twiglet Every time I go in they are throwing vitamins at me! And yes, all the reading material is great. I'm so excited about my baby box too!

Oh and yes our scan pics were donation only - there was a little box in scan room so I bunged in a fiver as we got about six or seven pics!

I've been pretty impressed with my care so far too. Self referred to the midwives, got my booking appointment at 8 weeks, she sent off the prescription exemption form for me which arrived just under 2 weeks later.

Scan appointment arrived in the post a couple days after booking in for 11+6 which was on Tuesday ('upgraded' to 12+1). Just got home to a letter with my test results (not as good as Celebelly haha, but still low at 1:8000) and I've got my 20 week scan date which is on the 18th Sept when I'll be 20+1. I was hoping it would be earlier as the range is 18-20+6, but can't really complain.

All the best for tomorrow @hayleyfx, I've got my fingers crossed for you x

My care has been absolutely faultless, everything from midwife to GP to sonographers has been amazing.

Just had my nuchal translucency scan. Baby was very chilled this time and sucking its thumb!! 😍

The sonographer realised we were really excited about it sucking its thumb and gave us three different prints (I didn't even ask!), normally you just get two of the same photo.

@jeanzbeanz that's gorgeous!! Do you have your official EDD now?

I feel like I'm the last one, I haven't even had my booking appt yet - it's next Wednesday. 😞

Really great to hear such positive stories of maternity care. Its been 3.5 years since my DS2 was born so I'm wondering if things have changed at all!

@celebelly yep I've still not finished the first bottle midwife said here's another there is a gap before your 16 week appointment!

@jeanzbeanz they are great pictures!

@jeanzbeanz how lovely, what's your due date? Xx

It is rather cute isn't it!!
I don't think anyone's changed my EDD on my notes (still at sometime in Jan from my LMP) but according to the two scans I've had it's 5th Feb.

@jeanzbeanz Oh wow, I had no idea they started sucking their thumb so early!

@undercoverlauren me neither! I'm amazed that it has that level of coordination!

Oh that's so cute jeanz! Love it.

Hi lanalawr! Are you Rhiwbina too or just Cardiff? Is this #1 or #2 (or more?)?

Yes the UHW was fantastic for DS in fairness, I was midwife lead and the rooms are great, had a private room with an en suite after so DH could stay too. And the midwives were so lovely and held my DS for about 4 hours while we slept as he cried every time he was put down the night we stayed. That 4 hours was so important as I hadn't slept for 2 days!

Good luck tomorrow @hayleyfx Really hope you get some good news lovely xxx

Lovely scan pic @jeanzbeanz!

Think @maxiflump and I are both up for 12 week scans tomorrow - feeling pretty nervous

Eek @Cheery1 can't believe it's tomorrow: fingers crossed for both of us!

@hayleyfx will be thinking of you tomorrow. Lots of positive vibes winging their way north of the border for you xx

@Celebelly. I also have the app but my midwife team must be hopeful as nothing is ever updated. They don’t answer the phone when you call them and they don’t return any voicemails that you leave. Does not bode well for the actual labour itself!

@Lookingforadvice123 not Rhiwbina but close. This is #2 and I was in the MLU for DD. It was mostly brilliant although I didn't find the feeding help any good to be honest. Their approach to that was to try to get DD latched on (badly) for me rather than helping us to learn how to do it for ourselves. Unfortunately that caused the beginning of the end of bf for us due to damage caused in the first 22 hours. Everything else about it was great though. What number baby is this for you?

@maxiflump1 and @Cheery1 I'll be joining you in the 12 week(ish) scans tomorrow!

Baby #2 for me DS is 2 and 7 months, how old is your DD?

Weirdly this is the exact feedback I gave my midwife at my booking appt on Tues - I didn't get much help with BF at all, neither in the hospital or at home. I managed to do it for 4 weeks which I was happy with as I was so much happier as soon as I stopped, but I do wonder if I would've carried on for longer if I'd had more help. I think that's the downside of a straight forward birth where you're only in hospital one night. A friend had an EMCS and was in for 5 days, she made sure she had so much help with BF though so by the time she went home she was super confident with it.

Good luck to all those having scans tomorrow, and HUGE good luck to hayleyx. Will be thinking of you x

Thanks everyone for the advice! I luckily managed to get through to the maternity dept. at the hospital which put me through to outpatients and I finally got my date. Booking appointment and scan are both next Wednesday! Was a bit of a rush getting shifts swapped in work because of the short notice but everything is all good now, finally! So happy.

Is there anything in particular I need to do/bring for this scan (as I didn't get a letter with any instructions)?

I think if my GP midwife ever gets around to ringing me, I'll find it quite hard not to be sharp with her. While it's not her fault that the letter got lost in the post/messed up on their end, it was her job to sort it out and she left me in the lurch/didn't bother. Not on.

Anyway, here's hoping everything is okay and the wait was worth it. I'm so scared though!

Also for anyone wondering about if I wanted screening to have been carried out- ideally, I would have liked it. However, I'm from NI so I don't think it's routinely offered unless you're high risk because of the whole abortion issue here. I'll have to look into private options and see what options are available, though. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot of extra cash so I really can't afford any tests that are in the hundreds. But what can I do?

I didn't know that about the tests in NI, choc. I think I'd want to know even if I was sure I wouldn't terminate. Seems unfair you don't even get a chance to prepare yourself if you're living there.
I actually really don't know what we would do if our blood tests don't come back as favourable but either way I'll be glad to know.