Those first 12 short weeks...!

[simonjhardy]

Hi there folks,

According to our GP, my wonderful GF is just into her 7th week. Now, one of the questions my GF has been asking is...

Why does our hospital wait 13/14 weeks or so before any kind of interaction with the mother to be? Is this normal? The concern she has is that she's not really had any information in these first few weeks of pregnancy and she just really wants to check she's doing all she can for the pregnancy.

I've tried to reassure her that this is normal, and that different hospitals/trusts have different ways of working (combining booking visits and 1st tests/scans etc) and that it's all perfectly normal, but any settling advice you can offer would be lovely.

Hi Simon,

Congratulations to you both!

Sorry to hear your gf is having to wait so long for any contact, but in the meantime she might find it useful to check out the pregnancy section on mumsnet and the NHS pages on pregnancy for a bit of reassurance - I've copied some of the links below

www.mumsnet.com/pregnancy
www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/healthy-pregnancy-diet.aspx
www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-pregnant.aspx
www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/vitamins-minerals-supplements-pregnant.aspx

Hope all goes well with her pregnancy :)

Congratulations Simon : ) 13/14 weeks does sound a bit late as she should have a scan around 12 weeks. Midwife services are different around the country but for me I saw a GP immediately who got me into the system. That triggered the scan appointment and meant I had a contact in case anything went wrong (eg. I had some early spotting and knew I could talk to the GP about this). I also then had my first midwife appointment, a "booking in" appointment, at 10 weeks. They leave this so late because some pregnancies don't get this far, sadly, but if you make it to 10 weeks you have a good chance of it continuing. My GP told me when to book this booking in appointment too. If you have been to your GP and the systems are different, then unfortunately that's how it works where you live. The good news is that all she needs to be doing in the first 12 weeks is taking folic acid (or another pregnancy supplement) and resting a lot. Symptoms like sickness and bloating might kick in soon but there's very little any medical professionals can do about this. For extra info, you could both download the Babycentre My Pregnancy app, which I really liked for weekly updates in the early days when a lot is going on with the baby, and sign up for pregnancy update emails on the NHS and Mumsnet websites. They're really nice to get every week. And then just look after her well : ) and it sounds like you're doing this already.
If she wants to know the system where she lives, maybe give the GP a call and find out when she can expect her 12 scan and booking in appointment.
good luck with the rest of the pregnancy!

I had to self refer to my hospital and then didn't get booked in until 12+4, or have my scan until 13 weeks (I also had to chase up those appointments myself as they had input my address wrong and I hadn't received them). Even though I'm supposedly high risk as I'm old and fat and a first timer, no one seems particularly bothered about seeing me even now at 21 weeks!

I basically just bought some pregnancy multivits and avoided booze and anything particularly raw or unpasteurised, downloaded a pregnancy app (which helpfully told me what vegetable my baby resembled week by week) and hoped for best (with regular bouts of freaking out). Oh and joined the appropriate Antenatal Club thread on mn.

Good luck!

Congratulations. I am first time too. I had to self refer - ie contact the hospital where I want to have the baby - my gp's surgery told me to do this when I called them.
The hospital then sent me a date for a booking in appointment with the midwife at around 8 weeks and a first scan at about 12 and a half. The other appointments are made as you go. This is pretty standard procedure as far as I have read.
Sounds like you need to locate your midwife service and get a booking in date and make sure that your scan isn't too late - no later than 13w 6 days according to babycentre UK, another good web source of info.

Thanks all!

Sounds like the norm (not going as far as to tell her I told you so!!).

I think the main reason she's a little unsettled is that she's French and things run a little differently over there ;)

Thanks again all!