absolute beginner- help please

[MooMe]

Hello all
This is my second pregnancy- my LO wasn't born here (we moved to the UK 5 years ago), and seeing that my GP surgery are absolutely rubbish (they never answer the phone!)- please help me- what do I do now?

I've looked online everywhere but everyone seems to just naturally know what to do and I need an idiot's guide on how to do what!

Do I contact the surgery and book a doctor's appointment? Do I book a nurse's appointment? Or is there a special midwives surgery that I need to contact?

I know the first ultrasound is preformed on week 12- that's a LONG way away- what if I want to have a scan before that? We have private insurance if that matters... And the second scan is week 20? how do I book it? how far in advance? other than these two appointments- is there anything other than routine weighing?

Any help and knowledge will be MASSIVELY appreciated.
huge thanks!

Congrats!

Call your doctors and tell the receptionist. Most places make you see the doctor, but I think some places might send you straight to a midwife. Anyway, they make you an appt and the GP/mw fills out some forms and books you in for a) your booking in appt with the mw, at about 10w, and b) your scan at 12w.

If you want to have a private scan beforehand you can, but I don't think private medical insurance will cover it. Private scans are around £100.

All my scans were just organised - at the 12w one they booked me in for the 20w one.

But you do need to keep calling your GPs, I know they can be rubbish at answering the phone sometimes, but everything comes from them.

You'll have several apps with the midwife following your booking in appointment. They will ask for urine samples each time and will take blood to test at some of them. How many weeks are you now? It's agony waiting for the first appointment though
I'm 4+3 and have an aaaaggggeee to wait to even call to get the first appt ( this is my second too)

No routine weighing here, unless there's some particular concern, gosh where were you before??
As other people have said, you need to go through GP surgery, they will usually accept that you're pregnant if you have done a test yourself and pass you on for the regular MW appointments.
The scans are for medical reasons 12-ish for dating and some basic checks on development and 20 weeks for anomoly scan which checks for various things including downs (all this is optional of course). Most private insurance policies don't cover maternity but some do but probably not extra scans for non-medical reasons.

Personally I'm not 100% confident in souveneir scans as tho ultrasound is considered safe in general, you need to be sure sonographers are competent and there is generally a lack of evidence either way.

www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/Radiation/UnderstandingRadiation/UnderstandingRadiationTopics/Ultrasound/

I had an extra early scan in hospital and loads of people do have extra scans without any hint of a problem of course.

Best of luck x

Because I was living in an area different to the one I gave birth to, I had to organise antenatal and birth care w/o a GP managing it. I did transfer GPs to new destination but they were shite, and totally gobsmacked and incompetent when I asked for a home birth. I looked at the hospitals local to where I was going to be living, and self-referred - community midwives are run from hospitals, or at least they were where I moved (London). I gave birth in a birth centre, in the end, and didn't have any GP care antenatally. What I mean to say is, if your GP is crap, look at local hospitals which run the kind of unit you are interested in and self refer.

If the gp are no good at answering the phone, I would go there in person. Once you have got your initial appointment then they will make the next one as you leave.

I'm sure you will feel a lot more confident about your care here once you have met your midwife.

All the best.

Thanks ladies, this is tremendously helpful!
I am 4+6 now- at the very very beginning...
I came from the US- every appointment included weighing... Glad to hear they don't do it here, because that was v v stressful (you have gained 4 ounces since you were last here tsk tsk tsk)
The reason I want to do an early scan is just to make sure it's not ectopic and that there's a heartbeat. I know it's silly, but I would rather do so.

Will try all of the helpful tips here, and thanks again everyone!

They do weigh you on booking.

The early scan is, I think a nuchal translucency one. I never had one. You do need to book in early with the midwife to be in with a chance, or it's too late to schedule one.

Good luck!

I'm sure you will find many answers to all your questions on here.

Yes, there are a series of appointment which get closer together the nearer to term you get. They seem to be more focussed on blood pressure, which gets measured every appt, than weight.