16wk midwife appt- did your DH come?

[Aworryingtrend]

I will be having my 16week appointment with the midwife at my GP surgery soon. I was wondering whether or not to take DH? He has been to all appointments at the hospital so far and is very keen and involved, but if its just going to a be a wee/weight/bloods check then it probably won't be worth it? Or will we get to hear the heartbeat?

1st pregnancy so I am unsure.

TIA

Hi, My DH is very keen and has been to all scans and any hospital appointments I've had but there really is no point in having him there at MW apps, I literally go in give them my wee pot, have bp checked get asked a few questions about general health and then lie on the bed whilst the feel and measure my tummy and listn to the babys heart rate - in and out in about 5 minutes - 10 max if the baby is moving and they can;t find the heart rate. I really wouldn't bother taking him if I was you.
HTH??
Xx

Last time around they listened to the heartbeat at 16 weeks but I couldn't hear it even though the midwife said she could identify it.

But they didn't bother this time around and I think that's fairly standard practise now. Saves unnecessary worry if they can't find it.

So otherwise it's just a really boring routing appointment involving yet another pot of wee and some blood pressure being taken. So not really anything interesting for your DH to see/hear.

I don't know about your NHS trust but ours don't do the heartbeat until after 20 weeks as it can be hard to find and they don't want to panic any mums.

My DH hadn't come to any of my "normal" midwife appointments (only scans) until last week which was my 40 week check (and that's because we expected to be allowed a S+S and we have a nearly 4 year old who was with us). He's not coming today to my 41 week check. The reason being you get your BP checked, maybe some blood taken, wee sample and a feel of belly (later down the line your bump will be measured) so personally we didn't feel it was worth him missing work for that.

x posting!!

I had the doppler at mine recently but it was very faint. This is my 2nd time round and i think DH came to one of my appointments last time as it fell in the school hols, but otherwise only came to scans.

They are just routine, BP, urine, feel of bump. Take him if you want but I wouldn't have thought it was worth missing work for.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, as I suspected not worth him taking time off work just to see my wee get tested!

My DH came to my 16 week appointment just because I wanted him to meet the student midwife as she will be attending the birth, also I knew it would be the first time we heard the heartbeat so was lovely for him to hear it too. I would say your DH may like to go along for hearing the heartbeat as it is special but generally he wouldn't need to go to your other appointments as they do tend to be urine, blood checks etc although you do normally get to hear the heartbeat at every appointment.

Hope that helps!

Oh and they need to see your bump so don't wear a dress with some snazzy zebra print pants underneath like I did.

:o blacktea

DH didn't come to mine, though mine was the hospital. Interesting, of all the people in the waiting room, only 1 had their DP, 2 of us were alone, and about 6 women brought their mums :o

DH didn't come to mine (yesterday) or the first scan (couldn't). To be honest, he's pretty useless when it comes to pregnancy, great dad but doesn't seem to realise pregnancy is hard work - don't feel sorry for me, I'm over it.

It didn't occur to me to take for this reason but also because I already have a toddler and, sadly, going to an appointment on my own without toddler or husband is, to me, thrilling... Plus my MW is ace so it was also the opportunity for a girly chat.

The appointment probably lasted 20 good min but there was a fair deal of chatting...

She did listen to the heartbeat and found it but, technically I was 17+2.

So there, up to you. If you DH is uber keen and that you don't mind, why not?