Scan you see it yet? Due in Jan 09

[fourlittlefeet]

Am keeping us in antinatal rather than in preganancy so newbies can find us! Have posted for tink on her thread.

x

Hi all,

Sorry, no time to catch up with reading list, will try to do it at the weekend.

Just wanted to check in and tell everyone that I had my 12 wk scan yesterday and all is well.

Couldn't believe how much he/she had grown! The sonographer was lovely, best one I've had. She talked us through everything she did and even gave us a couple of extra pics for free cos the first one she printed wasn't that good. She was amazed how lively the baby was, didn't sit still for a second - totally manic! (I blame the iced drinking water!)

Got a fantastic picture, but will need DH to help put it on as I don't know where he's put the camera and the scanner is offline.

On the down side - we were kept waiting an hour and a half before anybody even spoke to us and were there for three and a half hours in total despite only having a quick dating scan, spending a couple of minutes having blood taken and less than 10 minutes with a MW! There was only one other couple in the waiting room and they didn't get called in either, despite their being 5 midwives hanging around at the desk!

Oh yes - the sonographer asked what gender our other kids were, nodded, asked if we will want to know the sex at 20 wks, (we said yes) then referred to the baby as 'she' all the way through after that! Comments like "She's going to be a good dancer isn't she" and "She's certainly stubborn" (when she refused point blank to turn around) etc etc. Don't actually mind which it is, but she has certainly raised my curiosity!

my scan is a month away - you think you're going bananas!!!!

Oohh scan excitement! MissHairspray & Moosemama, sounds like yours were lovely!
Periwink - you make sure you get in there soon, they must've made a mistake, don't let yourself get lost in the system. Good luck with it lady

Ok, well I had a shock today when I noticed my LINEA NIGRA!!!! Blimey I didn't get it til well into the 2nd trimester last time, and here it is already. Please can you check your bumps for lines and reassure me that I'm not completely abnormal?? my bump has really popped out in the last week, but still, this is ridiculous..

Spink - did not even know what Linea Nigra was - had to google it! Maybe as this is my first pregnancy - I do not have the line yet on my bump but will definetely be keeping an eye open for its appearance.

Moosemama - 3.5 hours is a long time to hang around, good to hear baby is well.

Moosemama, eek at that horrible wait. Hope ours isn't too bad this afternoon. I couldn't believe how empty the antenatal units seemed to be on Wednesday, it was always packed on my appointments there, and there's a recent memo pinned up in one of the offices about how crowded it regularly gets which was only a month old.

gr8 news mm with scan mine is in 10 days time. midwife in 5 days time @ this time cant wait to hear heartbeat
i cant see the line on my bump i look massive.
keep feeling windy type fluttering sure it cant just b wind keep feeling lots of fummy feelings

Hi everyone - scared1976 - let us know what happened with your booking appointment - have you rung them?

Got my first scan next Friday morning - went for the private nuchal fold/dating scan option. If I waited for my NHS '12-week' scan I'd be over 14 weeks and I can't wait that long!

My bump has popped out too - the bobble holding my trousers together is at full capacity all day now - last week I was still letting it out gradually as the day progressed

Energy levels are back up - hurray! (though this also makes me paranoid - stupid eh?!) I'm catching up on all the housework I've let slide, and, as DP is at Glastonbury, the first thing I did was change the sheets so I've got a lovely, fresh, clean bed all to myself

Hope everyone is well and has a lovely weekend!

have decided that i am going to get angel doppler to hear babys heartbeat nxt month from amazon

oooh what is an angel doppler? are they good?

i just called about my late august scan date. spent all day trying to get thru to antenatal which was not answering. finally called complaints line of hospital. nice lady called me back and explained that it was "unusually busy" and thats why my booking appt was going to be at 5 months. she said as i am local, i may get prioritised. i give up.

i feel very lucky to be able to afford a private scan, but it shocks me that the nhs is this bad. am reconsidering now whether i should have the baby privately. arghhh

scared - this is really really bad. Am I right in thinking that if you hadn't had your private scans, you wouldn't have seen anyone till you were 5 months?

Have you had your booking appt with midwife where they take a history & steal about an arm's worth of blood? You'll be missing out on a lot of routine tests/checks if not - even if you decide not to have them, you should be offered them at the right time.

You may not feel like going into battle over it, but if you're not able to see anyone till 5 months, this is probably illegal and you should kick up a fuss!

I feel very that you have to pay for what should be routine care.

Yes that is totally correct. If I didnt have the money to go private, I would see NO ONE, have NO SCAN and get NO TESTS until I was 5 months according to the current appt I have.

I live less than 100 metres from the hospital in central London - this is not the middle of nowhere (not that this would make it better).

Im really appalled I have to say. And now I feel guilty that if I make a fuss to bring my appt forward, some poor lady that cant afford the tests and scans privately will get bumped.

It has made me very uneasy.

scared - I agree this is
You might be able to gain access to your Trust's maternity policy on their internet site which should have max waits and things on, which might help you put a case across - like Aniyan, I am appalled that you would have been seen too late for screenings etc had you not been able to go private.
Sorry my last post was a bit flippant - I just expected you had got 'lost' and would quickly be seen now you've made them aware you're there... I can't believe that's not the case.

thank you so much for the advice! i will definitely check if there is something on the website.

I'd be uneasy too, scared. All my socialist principles go out of the window when it comes to my ds and this new little potential person - if I was in your situation and I could afford it, I'd make the decision now to go private for the peace of mind.

Very tricky situation, but the most important thing is that you can relax and enjoy your pregnancy.

Let us know if we need to start digging up legal ammunition for you to use with the hospital, if you want to take it further with them!

Thank you! A lot of my girlfriends are docs so will probably ask their advice. In the meantime I think Im going to not stress about it too much. I have after all had a nice scan, and my wee one was looking good!

Good luck to anyone else trying to go to St Marys though

Good idea, scared - talk to your friends and try and chill out - like you say, you know everything's okay so far with the little one .

Are any of your friends obstetricians that would do a delivery for mate's rates?

Have a good weekend.

scared, sounds like the way to go! FWIW, have you seen the birthing centre at St Mary's? looks great (it can only get better from your current experience!)- the mw-led bit - each room has a double bed so your partner can spend the first night with you and baby? And has en-suite facilities too? luxury!

I have obviously had nothing to do, so I had a look on the St Mary's site and they don't seem to have public access to their maternity policies & procedures. If anyone is interested in general guidelines for antenatal and maternity care though, here are a couple of links!!

nsf maternity care

NICE guidelines

good lord! (unforch my DH snores like a train, so I might well send him home though

Hi everyone,

Haven't been around for a while, have been away with famly and then been manic at work. Missed all the chats now and have been trying to catch up with it all.....

So sorry to hear about trying and tinkis, its such a worrying time it must be devastating.

mel - twins that is amazing... my DH will be so envious he really wanted twins (crazy man) i am sure you will be great but i will stop slightly short of being envious of you if thats OK! .

happy i have my scan on the 7th July too.... i can't wait, it will be such a relief to see a healthy baby and it will be so nice to start telling people. I have now condifided in my boss (he's cool, dead camp - he burst into tears and hugged me, and a really good friend as well he has found out how long we have to keep it a secret as to not impact my half year appraisal he doesn't want to risk me bei$ng a victim of crap pollitics! bless him) he caught my team gossiping about me yesterday, they think i might be pregnant but are too scared to ask in case i am just getting a little fat! Charmed and relieved obviously!

I cannot believe they can get away with making people wait 5 months for a scan..... that is apalling, we are in london too and had the option of 3 hospitals is there any chance of switching to another hospital? Failing that get the legal stuff out i say!

My DH wants one of those angel droppers too.... i am not sure.... i have visions of waking up every morning with him holding it against my belly just to check its all ok still.... he is sooooo excited!

poorbuthappy thank you for posting the scan on from that website, i am 10 weeks too, i can't believe how active it is looking at that scan, its amazing.

Great reading all your news, i am doing Ok not so nauseus now although i have certain routines that seem to keep it at bay so maybe i am just managing it better - either way not about to break them yet to find out. just had a really bad week at work 3 12 hour days in a row, plus a london commute and so i am in my PJs on a friday night curled up with the laptop dead on my feet and have set DHs expectaton that i will not be moving from my bed tomorrow morning! Hope my little one is OK though, have been really worried and paranoid, so looking forward to the scan now. Congrats to everyone who has had a successful scan, i am made up for you.

Catch you all again soon

Scared - how many weeks are you now? You should definately be booked in by 12 weeks as you need blood tests done at 12 weeks to check for immunity to things like Rubella and generally check you out. Are there any other GPs at your doctors who you could see or just your rubbish one? If there is a decent one there then they should be able to get things moving for you.

I know quite a few people in London who have gone private for exactly the same reasons as you. That includes a friend who is an NHS physio. It really isn't good enough that you should have to pay for care that should be free though.

me and bean are great did you mean ticklelist

hope you all have good weekends and glad scans have all had good outcomes.Shocked at the bad treatment of some of you by the hospitals.As Harry Hill says "F I G H T !!",when he says which is a better option.
chocsolot-made a mistake.my scan on 10th.anyway good luck with yours and glad your boss is so supportive.
take care
Happy and Snugs xx

scared, I think you need to make a fuss. And can you find a better GP? I'm sure a good one would actually help push within the system. I appreciate you're on the doorstep, but is it worth finding out about other NHS hospitals? UCLH?

I'm only a few miles from you and I can't really believe that St Mary's can't help you sooner while the Whittington is able to offer me rescheduled bookings at the time they're needed.

My scan was reassuring, but I'm going to have to go back to have another one as part of a combined test, because I'm not 11+2 weeks based on my LMP date (start of last period), I'm 9+4 from today's scan. Baby is there, there's only one and he or she is alive, heart beating well, dp got a much better look than me and was explaining what the photo shows. In my first pregnancy I had the scan at 12+2 and those few weeks obviously make a big difference.

My due date is 26 January and I've another appointment on 15 July.

It's disconcerting to find I haven't passed that 10 week milestone but it sort of makes sense. In my first pregnancy I was surprised that LMP date and scan date matched and not so surprised when ds was a bit slow to come out, I'm hoping this time round my due date might be more accurate. Otherwise I guess I'll be having a February baby. (My mum's reaction was that we don't have January babies in our family, which made me laugh).

evening all
grumps over. not enough food basically . have lost half a kilo in the last week. sorting that out by polishing off a toblerone as I type. LooseyC we have scans on the same day. gosh this next fortnight is going to go slowly!

Scared, am on your behalf, but nothing to add really as the others have said it all really. London. cuh.