Ante natal care - does this seem right?

[Juno77]

I'm wondering if I am missing something...

I am 25 weeks pregnant.

I have seen a different midwife at all 3 of my appointments.

I was told in my booking appointment that I would be sent to see a consultant regarding my ELCS. Heard nothing since.

I don't have a hospital to go to. They've just said it could be one of 3.

I haven't had a MATB1 form.

I haven't been given any information on ante natal classes (not that I intend to go anyway)

Is this normal?

I think it depends where you live. Ask for the MatB1 next time you go in. Remind them about the ELCS. I often had to remind mine about things e.g. 'didn't you say you were going to...' and 'what happens with...?' Think I got antenatal info after 25 weeks. I did get to choose which of 3 hospitals though- but was told it could change if they were full when it came to it. I was lucky enough to see the same lady for every apt except the first and the 38 week, but I think this really does depends where you live.

No hospital sounds a bit bonkers, surely you must be 'booked' somewhere? Do you know who/ where to ring if you experience eg. reduction in movements, bleeding, all manner of other symptoms of pregnancy complications? Consultant to discuss ELCS is normally 36/40, expect to ask for MAT B1 and AN classes but the hospital thing bothers me a lot!

I have a friend who is pregnant, obviously same city, and she hasn't had any of these issues.

Admittedly she is planning a VB but she got her MATB1 at 20 weeks, she has seen the same midwife each time and has been attending classes for a few weeks now.

It's odd! I don't know if I should just relax and leave them to it but I don't want to miss something.

I've already been told that I am 'too late' for maternity pay now as should have handed this certificate in (though I assume that my employer won't actually deny me maternity leave)

I have the phone number for the community midwives (voicemail) but that's all.

You have the consult for ELCS until up to 40 weeks? Really? What happens if you go into labour before then?!

'too late' for maternity pay?! surely not?!

I thought MATB1 had to be given in 15 weeks before EDD - cant you see the doctor tonight and get him to jiggle the date by a few days to hand in tomorrow?

You only get your MATB1 around now anyway, so ask at your next appointment.

Antenatal classes you probably get the information around the next appointment too. I'd say it is your friend who is quite unusual if she is already attending antenatal classes so early. They try and do it towards the end of the final trimester- otherwise you forget too much and too much can change in your circumstances (obviously a lot of things can also change at the last minute!).

3 different midwives - par for the course in many areas. But you should have a named hospital. Are you in London by any chance?

In Lydia's post, 36/40 means you normally see the consultant at 36 weeks for an elective, not that you see them somewhere between 36 and 40 weeks. 36/40 is a shorthand way of expressing how far along you are. So 25/40 means 25 weeks, etc. No idea if that is correct though as I'm afriad I have no experience of sections.

Er, I'm not sure you are "too late" for maternity pay, depending on when you intend to go on leave. You have to give them 28 days notice plus your MATB1 form. See this website for details. Phone your midwife team and insist they do you a quick appointment to get your MATB1 form!

My next appointment is the end of February.

You are meant to hand in the MATB1 form 15 weeks before your EDD. That was last week. I rang and they said you get it at 20 weeks or thereabouts. I will be 30 weeks at my next appointment?

Oh, 36 out of 40! Ha ha, sorry. Was confusing. Seems rather late is all. What if I went into early labour? Strange.

I am not in London, but appreciate that different midwives might be normal. I hadn't thought much of it, other than my friend and I were comparing and she seemed to be coming out a lot better off than me!

No, the requirement is to notify of pregnancy, etc. You can be required to supply the MATB1 but failing to give it by 25 weeks affects absolutely nothing in terms of entitlement official gov.uk linky

That website says this:

You must tell your employer you want to take SML at least 15 weeks before the beginning of the week your baby is due.

So that deadline was last week. I need to give 28 days notice, which means that if I get it at my next appointment, and give it to my employer, I can't go on leave for another 28 days. Which is the 28th March. Not what I was planning, but hey ho.

The thing with very early labour is that it throws all the plans out of the window anyway. They normally don't schedule an ELCS until about 39 weeks if they can, so even if you had it set up, labour at 36 weeks would throw a spanner in the works.

Why do you need an ELCS? If it's for particular medical reasons which make it risky to wait until 38/39 weeks they might do it earlier.

It's for medical reasons but not physical ones.

What about your scans? 13 week one?

I was told by my MW that i wouldn't need to be under consultant care. Then at 34 weeks she suddenly announced she'd fucked up and i should have been seeing one since 24 weeks! She was more worried about ''getting her bottom smacked over this'' (her words) than my health, it seemed to be honest.

I got a hurried appt. at 35 weeks. Only 11 weeks late then!

I would get in touch with your head of midwives in your area and ask them to check into your case.

No, two different things.

Notify employer: by 25 weeks. Tell them you are pregnant and when you want to start leave. You can do this as soon as you want - this afternoon if you want to!

Provide MATB1 : basically as soon as you can after you get it.

Oh Juno I had that problem! I didn't know about this whole deadline thing with MatB1 and Maternity pay. I handed mine in 10 weeks before DD and was told in no uncertain terms I could have leave but no pay!

Anyway I digress;

This does sound depressingly normal OP doesn't make it right though.
Time to open a can of whoop ass!!

Ok, so in the jargon it's a 'maternal request' section (not that that's a particularly helpful phrase)? I would be pushing to get that formally agreed earlier than 36 weeks if you can as some hospitals/consultants can be a bit resistant.

I'd get onto the midwives about the referral ASAP. Call that number you have and go from there.

I've had 12 week and 20 week scans.

Pursuit this is what my HR department have told me. That I needed to inform them of my pregnancy, and provide proof, by last week.

InPursuit, did you get SMP but not additional maternity pay? The .gov link is quite clear that you only need to give 28days notice to get SMP, so I hope your employers didn't get out of organising SMP for you?

Juno - I am afraid HR departments can be notoriously inaccurate on this. They are right about the notification, wrong about the MATB1

Yes, though BrightonBell makes a good point. Company enhanced maternity pay can have whatever rules it likes as long as they are very clear and upfront about them.

That's good about the MATB1 form then. I will just hand it in when I do get it.

HR tried to wriggle out of paying SMP OMP the lot.
Luckily for me I'm in a union who basically fought a battle to the death on my behalf and I did get full pay in the end.

I agree that if its a maternal request section you need to get it agreed and booked as quick as you can. Resistance is common and delay tactics aren't unheard of unfortunately

So what should I do about this section then? I've called the midwives and someone rang me back and said that an appointment was made for me in April and they couldn't make it any earlier.

I am a bit worried, probably because I 3 people I know recently go into premature labour (so the reality that it could happen is prevalent in my mind).

Also if they are being at all weird about it, and time runs out, and I go to term and go into labour..

I think you need to get some advice from the women who know all about this. There are some long running threads and experts.

Also bear in mind though that, if you do go into premature labour, it will be an emergency section (so dependent on the availability of the operating theatre, etc and possibly subject to waiting/delays, things moving faster than theatre is available) in just the same way as anyone else. So you need to have worked through that too.

I think if you have strong mental health reasons for wanting an ELCS you are going to need to start pushing by the sounds of things.

pemguins Will it be though? I mean, if I were to go into labour one day, would they just ask me? Or if I turned up at the hospital and said I need an emergency section, they'd just go ahead with this?

I am fully aware of the procedures involved in both EMCS and ELCS, and don't mind which one happens. I am only bothered that the hospital might not know when I arrive!

I don't think the prime time for that discussion is during labour.