Consultant led care experiences ?? What's different

[Cakehan]

At my booking in appointment yesterday I was told ill probably be under consultant led care for the rest of my pregnancy- came as abit of a shock
I'm 21
I have low blood preassure which causes me to faint - however this is currently managed well by common medication
When I was 18 one of these fainting attacks developed into a seizure and I have had 2 since.
Despite not having any appointments or attacks for over a year I'm still technically under care of the nuerology and cardiology teams at my local hospital.
This is why I was shocked- I have been fine fr a year and they havnt even wanted to see me!
But basically I'm disheartened because where I live there is a midwife led unit - recently done up and really nice where I wanted to give birth. But now I'm told ill have to go to another hosptal which isn't known for being great and has ALOT of births a year.

So what's different about consultant led? am I being silly to be upset or is it a better experience ? Will I need more check ups? I feel some women will benefit from this- whereas I'm fine !

It sounds to me like they are being very careful in your case. Unfortunately the things you describe might not be an issue in day to day life but having a little one growing inside of you puts extra stress on your body which ultimately means that these things need to be monitored in case they deteriorate.

I can't say for sure, because I don't know the policy in your area but I would imagine there could be some negotiation as to your birth choice depending on your medical progress throughout the pregnancy.

Ultimately they have to do what is best for your health. Low blood pressure and seizures can get worse in pregnancy, but equally IF they are well managed (which is what consulatant led care is) they might not be an issue.

I would ask at your first appointment about the possibility of the midwife led unit as a birth choice so they know that is something you want to consider. They might say no, or they might say that it is a possibility depending on pregnancy. Either way it is ultimately about keeping you safe.

I was under consultant care also for seizures and cardiology issues

I haven't had a seizure for 8 years (I have epilepsy) but they still wanted to monitor me closely.

I was very stable in both my health conditions at the start of my pregnancy but by the time I hit 19-20 weeks my health started to deteriorate in both areas and I had to have a treatment plan put in place. Pregnancy has the potential to cause all sorts of issues in ongoing health problems and this is why it's important you are closely monitored. Just because you feel fine now and your health status is stable, that doesn't mean you will be fine throughout the entire pregnancy.

Whilst under Consultant Care I saw my Consultant every 4 weeks and had a scan every 4 weeks - which was obviously lovely!!

I was scanned so regularly due to me being under Cardiology. So e conditions can potentially affect the blood flow through the placenta so my scans were to check the baby was growing properly.

Congratulations on your pregnancy

I would be thankful they're being so cautious with you. I'm under a consultant and it's fantastic. I can be sure there's nothing he hasn't seen before, and that I'm being looked after by someone at the top of his field. I think it's fantastic that they're trying to look after you, it sounds like they're really on top of things!

Everything that has happened to me has been the same as the MW would do, except with a few extra tests on my health (in my case bloods and scans).

I have never been given the impression they'll be any excessive intervention for t

The sake of it. They just check I'm OK.

I even asked and was told I would be advised re birth at the "normal check up time" I.e. evidence based.

I'm under consultant too. I only saw them for the first time yesterday (at nearly 18 weeks). They only really talked about stuff that relates to my age, not the stuff that relates to my actual REAL high risk thingy (clotting in my past). I got myself worried about it in advance, thinking that consultant led = intervention birth blah blah, but I think that even though I'll need to be in a labour ward, I'll be in the same state as I would be otherwise. I'm going to get a doula, so I have the same person all the way through, but other than that, I'll just go with whatever is suggested.

Just to add that I recently discovered that despite being consultant-led I could still ask for an appointment with midwife, and it was booked for me, no questions asked, if anything they were encouraging me to do so.

I was consultant-led in all PGs (complications in first, careful monitoring in subsequent ones).

It meant I had all routine appointments at the consultants community clinic (only one day a week) but in a local-ish health centre and was seen by the same team of (usually hospital-based) midwives who went with the team to that clinic. AFAIK the midwife bits of the appointment were exactly the same as you'd expect from any MW team, but I saw a doctor as well (usually just an in-and-out, as they double checked if everything was Ok). I had a lot of extra scans, and they could make the appointments on the spot for me (suspect true of processing any other additional tests).

The level of care during PG is not related to the kind of birth you have. I delivered in the MW led unit. Having impressive red consultant's handwriting on my notes at 39 weeks saying 'suitable for MW delivery in home from home unit' probably saved a lot of fuss on the day as no-one then felt the need to plough through the very thick set of notes to work out whether I could be there.