Moan about my pee covered handbag :(

[flowerpotgirl12]

Hiya,

I am basically having a moan about the one specimen pot you get to pee in for 9 months, and the fact they aren't allowed to empty it, which wouldn't have been so bad had she put the lid on properly (I didn't think to check) so I had a lovely pee covered handbag when I arrived to work!! Ok rant over, although seriously how much can those little pots cost that you can't get new ones???

What tone? I'm sorry your handbag got covered in wee, really I am! It's the sort of thing that usually happens to me. But I wasn't necessarily aiming my post at you, but at all the other people who were horrified at the thought of reusing their pee pot.

Slightly different - my baby did a wee in the midwifes handbag when she was getting weighed at 6 days old. They'd stripped her off and were carrying her over to the scales when she decided to go in midair, straight into the midwifes open bag. Whoops.

I've been using the same one, sometimes they empty sometimes they don't, the first time they didnt empty it I didn't realise as she popped it back in bag so I had it swishing around in my bag a good week! ☺

Isisisis revenge!!! :)

Reusing the pot should be fine - as others have said, tip it down the loo at the gp's surgery and give it a wipe with some loo roll, then give it a rinse when you get home. When you have a baby you are going to have to deal with wee, poo, vomit - a urine sample pot will seem mild by comparison with a nappy explosion up the back and down the legs.

But - I do think the midwife should have put the lid back on the pot securely before giving it back to you, and I would definitely assume that the lid would be safely on when I was given a full pot of wee, so I don't think you are being unreasonable to have a moan about your pee-soaked handbag, flowerpotgirl.

LolaCrayola and ZeroTolerance The NHS isn't free and why should pregnant women have to accept low standards because healthcare is paid for out of taxes instead of insurance?

Having a paper cup to pee in is hardly expensive, actually it is probably much cheaper than using proper pots, and if the doctors office has a bathroom I fail to see why it is necessary to have pregnant women peeing in a pot at home and carrying it with them. I think it is foul. A paper cup can be recycled too while the pots are often not.

But it's also foul to have to carry a cup of pee through the surgery.

Yup. I get mine back full too.

I'd be happy to empty it myself and reuse. But a few words on sterilisation would be a good idea. I ended up debating with DH about whether soapy water would create a chemical anomaly! May have over thought it :-)

It is free at source want2be, which is what I said in my previous post.
I often ask myself the same question about the low standards of healthcare in the US.

Lola I guess you know about American healthcare. Do you live here? Have you used it? The majority of people on MN who complain about American healthcare have no experience of using the system. If they used the system here they would never tolerate the terrible care provided by some in the NHS.

toby The bathroom is in the middle of the exam rooms and on the other side of a door where the wait area is. They also have bigger cups for those at the end of their pregnancy. All in all I think it is a good compromise.

Yes, I have lived in the US for many years. The NHS is over stretched, underfunded and often poorly managed. But nothing compares to the horror that is the American healthcare system! Have you direct experience of the NHS?

Yes I have experienced both systems as a patient and my mother was a nurse. As a patient the overall care I recieved was substandard at best. I had a serious riding accident and had surgery to insert plates into my back. I was then put on a 3 year wait list for physical therapy. There was an expectation that I would go private because, you know horse people have money! When I lived in London I wasn't able to register with a GP that was close to where I lived or where I worked. When I was sick and needed medical help I was forced to see a private doctor or go to A&E. Also, why do NHS workers think sick people don't need help outside the hours of 9-5 or think it is acceptable to walk around with pee?

Here in the US I have had excellent care. When I arrived I was told I need an annual medical check up. The first one saw me walk away after a 5min appointment with the nurse with a script for physical therapy. I couldn't walk down stairs and now I can. Through two pregnancies I have had excellent care. With DD I had preclampsia and they tried their best to allow me to have a natual delivery. I ended up with a CS which was performed by the same doctor who had seen me from my first appointment. DS was born 19 months later by the same doctor who managed my pregnancy from the start. As I had preclampsia I had an additional check at the PET unit at 36 weeks. With DD they did the 3D scan at 19wks and found her heart wasn't forming correctly. I went back at 25wks and they were happy with the development. Many of my friends are going private for these scans because the NHS doesn't offer them.

Finally, my mother was a nurse and worked in renal unit in the North West and then London. The shifts were a nightmare with a haphazard array of early, late and overnights. It was impossible for her to work while we were children because they were not willing to work with her. She returned to Canada and her shifts were set on a monthly basis. When she turned 55 they moved her into an admin role. She has told me she regrets staying in the UK for so long. She said working in the NHS was draining because she was around some of the most negative delusion people who are closed to change. She would manage 2 patients in the UK but in Canada she would manage 6/7 patients at the same time because they used technology to monitor people. She said this gave her time to nurse people properly.

want2bsupermum, whilst I appreciate different points of view, I do feel like the NHS is getting a bit of a rough ride. The NHS which is free care for all, in most cases is excellent, yes they may cut costs by not giving new pots etc. which I have moaned about, but I would rather that than not having the service available. I think for a service which asks no payments is exceptional and have witnessed first hand with people I know, how fantastic they can be, no system is ever perfect but they are damn good. My mum currently works in St Thomas's hospital as a nurse and has done the best part of 15 years, she has her shifts a month in advance and she managed to work part time whilst we were younger in a more local hospital and they were fine with it.