Monitoring mothers over 40...

[Shellywelly1973]

I'm 40. Dc6. 38 weeks. Apparently my hospital has a policy of monitoring mothers of 40 & above 2/3 per week from 37 weeks onwards.

I was told yesterday when I went for an appointment that I should have been monitored before my ante natel appointment. No one told me!

I realistically can't get to the hospital 2/3 times a week. Apparently I wont have any more appointments with my community midwife. I'm supposed to be using the birth centre at the hospital but I don't feel confident due to lack of information...ie on website it says I need to bring my own sieve & mirror but no one has mentioned this to me.

I hate hospitals & I promise myself every single time that I won't go back!!

Anyone else have similar experience?

TIA. x

I'm 40 and 37 weeks-am seeing MW again at 38 weeks then having baby by cs at 39 wks. The monitoring they're suggesting sounds a bit intense-do you have another condition which means you need close, regular monitoring? I've got gest diabetes but my last appoint with them was 36 weeks and they are happy for me to have no more Appointments now (although I think it would be different if I was having a VB).

I know you've got a lot on and fitting in 2/3 appointments a week in will be really difficult!

Thanks for the reply.

I have an under active thyroid but it's been well managed from the beginning of pregnancy... No symptoms etc.

On Tuesday the consultants clinic over ran by 3 1/2 hours! I got a parking ticket. Was starving, exhausted & seriously stressed as I had to organise child care etc. 3 dc, in 3 schools, 2 with SNs...logistically nightmarish!!

I fail to see how that is good for me or the baby. I feel like they won't 'let' me be normal. When the Dr realised I wasn't going to do as she advised, she said ' Your baby, your choices & -you have to live with any consequences'. I replied, ' Yes, exactly!'.

I absolutely hate that hospital!

hi shelly

not exact same situation but i have type 1 diabetes so there are general concerns for same reason (evidence suggests placenta of women over 40, those with diabetes etc degrades earlier on average, so increased risk of stillbirth).

at the hospital im at standard protocol is to get out the calendar and book an induction date at 38 weeks without discussing what your preference is offer induction at 38 weeks. in my case since my diabetes is very tightly controlled and this is my second straightforward pregnancy they are kindly "allowing" me to go slightly over dates. i am also "offered" twice weekly monitoring from 38 weeks (offered in such a way that if i were to refuse the offer i would probably get phoned to inform me that they wanted to bring induction forward).

my hospital is an hour away, has diabolical parking andfrequently involves sitti g around for many many hours waiting. total pita.

in your circumstances i would definitely try to negotiate down to once a week (protocol for over 40s does tend to vary considerably many dont have this monitoring) explain that you understand the risks but as a single parent of 5 children it just isnt feasible.

trouble is with these things, once something is suggested, it puts that little niggle of fear in your mibd and you feel like if you dont do it something bad will happen!!!

first para should read placenta degrades!

Hi, early 40s here. 4th baby.

At booking in MW told me i wouldn't need consultant care, and she'd just see me every 4 weeks at the surgery. Then at 38 weeks she suddenly said i should have been seeing the consultant regularly from 28 weeks (she couldn;t understand why i hadn't had a letter from hos.) and booked me an emergency appt. where the consultant sprang the 39 week induction policy on me First i'd heard of it!

Upshot is that now a second consultant has said i'm healthy enough to be given a couple of sweeps this week, then left till my due date for induction (this Tuesday coming) 'Monitoring' has never been mentioned other than to see the MW each week for the last 3 weeks. Would have been a right pain to get to the hos. 2/3 times a week. It's an hour and a half round trip, and yes, the parking's expensive and awful!

I've only got to 40 weeks once so no one has mentioned induction apart from when I was about 19 weeks & it was sort of 'dropped' into the conversation.

Best bit is I didn't choose this hospital. I was diagnosed with a very severe underactive thyroid only 4 days before I got my bfp. I had been referred to an endocrinologist at that particular hospital. They involved the Obstetrician & my GP did the referral without discussing it with me.

Too be very honest every hcps I spoke to, told me it was very likely i would have a MC. It was at my 20 week scan I realised I was having a baby!

My last pregnancy 6 years ago, was very straightforward. I didn't see a Dr or GP at any point during or after the pregnancy or birth. If all this was about my thyroid I would be fine but it's about my age. I was 40 in September... 16:weeks ago!

Same here Shelly. 42 and nearly 37 weeks with DC4.

My hospital really likes to go to town on us over 40's!

I was told at 18 weeks that I 'wouldn't be allowed' to go to my due date! Well I've never reached it before anyway as DC's were all at least a week early.

I thought last week would be my last hospital appt. but my consultant was on holiday and the doctor standing in nearly had a fit when she heard about my booked home birth. Got told I'd have to come back this week to see consultant and 'agree a delivery method.' !!!

I know the baby is large but then all my babies have been, but I'm now super stressed as I'm half expecting them to (at best) suggest an early induction and at worst a section. And yet the pregnancy has been totally straightforward! As you say - we're not allowed to be normal.

I just can't believe they're trying to make you come in 3 times a week. It feels not so much like care as harrassment and the worst of it is they do it at a time when you're at your most vulnerable - then they play the 'you're not thinking of your baby card.'

Hope you manage to work round this somehow Shelly. I honestly don't know how you manage. Sending you lots of sympathy and warm wishes.

So glad to find this thread. Expecting dc4 in 4 weeks, just turned 42.

Amazed at the hospital 's response to me just because of my age. I was given a pack to read for oap mums which stated there are more of us than ever. That's not true, the highest incident of over 40 mums was just after the second world war. It also said there is double the risk of a stillbirth. Looking at the actual statistics 0.3% of pregnancies in under 40's end with stillbirth, so over 40? 0.6%. I'll take my chances.

I too was told early on it would probably end with a mc, and at the 12 week scan, despite good blood test results told I had a 1/5 chance of a chromosomal abnormality. This was corrected after cvs showed everything was fine. All this however has made for a very stressful pregnancy, and unnecessarily so

I too am hypothyroid, but it is under control and has never been an issue.

my body can clearly cope with pregnancy and I try not to let the scaremongering stresse out too much

Hi, I'm 41 and 36+4 with DC1...but I'm in Belgium. I'm getting exactly the same care as anyone else. My age has never even been mentioned. All pregnant women here see their gynaecologist throughout pregnancy rather than a midwife. I had my last monthly check last week at 35+5, and they now get a bit more frequent; my next appointment is at 38+2, and after that I think they'll be weekly. (And thank god I don't have to go to the hospital for them; I just go to my gynae's office). I'm no more a candidate for induction than any other woman, and my gynae says she wouldn't worry about it until 42 weeks.

Wishing you all the best, OP. I've seen some of your other posts and it looks like you have a lot to deal with

Hi. I'm 45 and 26 weeks pregnant with DC4.
I've been told I'm consultant led care and will be induced on/by my EDD due to my "advanced maternal age" but not given a date or definite time frame for it yet.
I've been booked for a GTT the week after next and an extra scan to check growth at 28 weeks but I don't know how appointments will progress from there, last time I saw my midwife she said to book in with her at 31 weeks as I will be seen at the hospital at 28 wks.
Having had multiple miscarriages between DC3 and 4 and also seen a mum at my daughter's school (in her early 30s) recently go through a stillbirth when she was fullterm, I'm paranoid about things going wrong and if I'm advised to have an early induction or offered extra monitoring I'll be happy to go along with it.
I've had forceps delivery with DC1 and natural deliveries with DC2 and 3 though they all went over term, between 4 and 14 days. I wouldn't want to have a CS but if they tell me it's the safest way of getting little one here I'll agree like a shot, I don't think I'll relax till he/she is safely delivered and in my arms regardless of how/when!

Hi Morien !

I'm 40 plus 1 month and have had to have consultant led care just due to age.
However my consultant is great and said I'm much healthier than lots of youngsters and saw me at the beginning and transferred all my care back to the midwife .
I would have been allowed to get past due date but I'm having a c section due to a large baby and a previous c section otherwise my trust seem good at using there discretion and treating people as individual cases and not blanket policies

Why would you need a sieve and a mirror??

Hello Irish!

Hi there this is a really pertinent thread for me. I'm 42 and 37 wks tomorrow. Have had to fight so hard through my pregnancy. Like Juliealpha I was put in a high risk category for chromosomal abnormalities. I didn't have an amnio but had the harmony test (a blood test that I think looks at your DNA) it came back that now I was very low risk.
I gather that with women over 40 there is only a marginal increase in placental insufficiency but have been booked in for induction on my due date. I'm having a sweep at 39 weeks and if that doesn't work will see if I can go to 41 wks. I also have GD (but am diet controlled) So I'm fighting on two fronts.
The difference in protocal re:- older mothers varies enormously from trust to trust. I've fought tooth and nail to avoid excessive monitoring etc and the majority of my care has been carried out by my GP.
The constant threats that you must do as we say or sth awful will happen are exhausting. The obstetrician let rip last week about all those women out there not doing what the drs tell them. My midwife said that's because we're grown women and we're not thick.
Of course I don't want to put my baby at risk but neither do I want to be treated a certain way just because it's protocol. Another midwife told me off the record that if you try and break the rules they will come down on you like a tonne of bricks and it all comes down to whether you have the energy to fight them.

Hello I am 42 and will also be induced at 38 weeks - this is standard procedure at my hospital. Sadly I did have a stillborn baby so get a bit of extra monitoring. They do this extra care for a reason and have never felt it was unnecessary. I always think its better to be safe than sorry