getting advice on pregnancy and birth before ttc

[baddyfreckleface]

I am just starting to think about ttc again, (my dd is now 17 months) and have been looking for info on pre-eclampsia (had severe PE, in and out of hospital from 35 weeks, and emergency c section at 37, dd in SCBU and i was on bp tablets for about 3 months) and have now ended up scaring myself!

i know my dh is reluctant to have another, mostly because of last time so i want to look into things first before i discuss it properly with him, so that i have some answers. And so that I know how i feel about it.

i read on mn someone saying that they met with consultant to come up with a pregnancy and birth plan before ttc, but she had had a much more serious and tragic outcome than me. I dont know if it is something I could do or not?

I also dont know who to discuss it with first, do i go to my gp about it ( i am not ill so feels silly)?, or do i speak to my hv? also we have since moved so would the gp have access to my medical records from hospital, as i think each case has lots of differences so dont want him to just give me the generic "oh it happens, some get it again, some dont - you will be fine" that i got when i asked just after having my dd.

after my dd i had a debrief at the hospital about what happened but i didnt get my notes. am i right that there is a charge to get them? i feel a bit like i missed most of what happened and just got carried along for the ride a bit, IYSWIM?

sorry for length of this, i am not very good at concise and to-the-point!

TIA

I'm sure your GP would be able to get your notes from your first pregnancy & birth. And they would be in a better position to refer you to a consultant.

I wouldn't have thought a HV would be much help.

Good idea trying to work it out before hand.

I wrote to my hospital and got all my maternity notes from my previous pregnancy (for about £30) and re read them myself as soon as I found out I was pregnant because I had a crap pregnancy and a traumatic delivery and I wanted to be more in control this time from the start. I know my circumstances are different to you but it's probably a good place to start as it's factual.
If you could get your GP to get them then you wouldn't have to pay.

thanks for the advice. Hevster, i am sorry you had such a hard time. I am going to make an appointment with my gp and see if he can get my notes too. I am also worried about making the decision about vbac or planned c section. There is so much info its a bit overwhelming! And i need to look into what the hospital is like here too. deciding to have our dd was a lot more straightforward!