Looking for some insights/advice about what NHS post-natal care looked like for people. Specifically the post-birth visits from the community midwife and health visiting teams, because I've heard some really conflicting accounts from friends and relatives who've had babies in recent years.
Some have said health visitors and midwives have turned up unannounced or not at all, or the community midwife teams haven't visited them at all, but administered care and advice over the phone. Or that they've been given a window of time when to expect a visit, and had to wait indoors accordingly.
The reason I ask is because our baby is due to be born in March 2026, but - due to various delays with selling and buying our house, plus finding contractors to do it up - it's likely our new home will be a building site by the time baby arrives and we won't be able to live in it.
So we will most likely be living with my parents (who are only 10 minutes away from our new home), rather than at the address the hospital, GP and midwives have for us, etc.
Due to this uncertainty, does anyone know if it's possible to request that all of our post-natal appointments could happen in-clinic, at the hospital or at the children's centre we've been to for our various antenatal appointments instead? Or at my parents' house instead?
I know it would be easier to have home visits during the post-partem period, but my parents have said they're happy to ferry me and baby around to any post-birth appointments, if my partner isn't able to. So that's no issue.
I don't want to opt out of having the help of the health visitor or midwives at all, but wondered if there is a way to do so to accommodate how up in the air our living arrangements will be when baby arrives and to remove some of the uncertainty about when visits will happen from proceedings.