What happens at midwife discharge appt?

[philbee]

I had my baby at a further away hospital and have been discharged back to my own community midwives. They've come twice and said I have to go to the closer hospital (where they're from) for the final appointment to be discharged. Baby is 10 days old, I'm still recovering, so this seemed a bit rubbish really. I went along today and was told it was going to be a two hour wait, just sitting in the waiting room, so I left again. What do they do at the discharge appt? Baby was 9lb, has only lost 10 percent and I can get her weighed at the hv clinic anyway. Will they do anything else important or is this just for their admin purposes? Just wondering whether I need to bother persisting with it really.

I very surprised u had to go to them especially if its your first baby. Mine have always come to me although they did suggest with my second that I went to the clinic but I said as I had a 14 month old I would rather they came to me. Have u had the hearing test done and heel prick done? I think they just have a chat, weigh baby and generally check everything is ok.

TBH not a lot just the same round of questions; maybe a quick feel of the tummy, weigh the baby. I think I may of been given a letter for the HV which I promptly lost in the process of moving cities nobody ever asked about it so probably unimportant. You'll probably get a chaser phonecall.

I have to say well done you. I'd probably of endured the two hour wait feeling increasingly annoyed/ miserable for a five minute appointment and wished I hadn't!

Ok. Now I'm feeling worries there's something wrong with DD2 and I should have waited. There's no reason for this of course. Just paranoia. But tbh I am not confident bfing in a waiting room really, and the thought of having to do it several times, plus cope with crying, settling etc. was just too much. I tried calling to find out when was a quieter time but no one answers. It does seem like a rubbish set up. It's my second child, so I feel a bit more confident, but it's still not great, and because it's the weekend DH is busy looking after DD1 so he can't really come with me.

It sounds like a weird set up, I don't blame you for coming home. As long as you are both (you and the baby) getting the medical care you need I would just leave it - it is up to them to discharge you, it's their procedures not yours

I would just leave it, and if they contact you say that you are available if they want to visit you, but otherwise you will continue to have the baby checked at XYZ clinic. It would only be an issue (IMHO) if they were worried you were avoiding checks for some reason, which is not the case.

As others have said- ask them to come to you. Explain that it's not convenient for you to be waiting for hours at the hospital with a young baby and another child at home.

When I was discharged they just asked about baby- feeding ok, plenty of wet/dirty nappies, etc. Then me- asked if any signs of PND and checked my stitches for me. Then took my notes and left. So not really an essential appointment unless there's anything you're worried about or want to ask them.

Will do. I saw my friend this morning and she said she never went either. I can't believe many people do tbh.

Have you still got your hand held notes

At our discharge appts, we generally check mum (all the usual post natal stuff etc) plus baby - feeding, cord off, weight above birth weight. If all ok then discharge and take back notes (apart from red book) and give discharge summary to GP and health visitor