Arranging childcare for antenatal appointments? High risk so frequent scans.

[Graciescotland]

How does everyone else manage? I have a soon to be 2yo and a 4yo, neither of them very good at sitting still. DH has done as much as he can but will be travelling for most of next month or two. No family support where we are and well everyone works. Fairly rural so hospital an hour away and I don't know anyone local to it.

I'm having scans every two weeks and sometimes I've had to be there more than an hour and a half mostly waiting around by the time I've seen sonographer +midwife/ consultant. Can't schedule appointment times convenient for me as they are too busy (which I totally get). Is there a solution to this, I was thinking about a babysitting service, maybe at the local soft play as waiting rooms are no place for boisterous boys but it seems a little unsafe somehow.

That sounds really hard. I had a scan yesterday and took my 3yo DD but DH was there and it was ok. Can't imagine taking two and so frequently.

Sitters.co.uk do minimum 3 hour bookings at about £6.50/£7 per hour, so that would be £20 per time.

I had lots of scans and appointments and took my 2 year old DD with me, and saw loads of people with children.

Can you strap the younger one into a buggy with a bag of snacks and give the older one an iPad or something?

(Just in case you can't find a babysitter)

I had monthly scans and there was a ban on any children in scan rooms. We managed to arrange family but otherwise DH would have had to do it. If that's not an option the professional service probably the way to go.

Any creches at shopping centres or leisure centres?

From the amount of people I've heard of having similar issues it would be an idea for hospitals to have creches. Could also be used for people going in for minor ailments or visiting when children might not be welcome.

Might be worth talking to your midwife, it depends on where you live whether there is a government service that can help you or not.

I would love it if the hospital had a creche it'd be so convenient just to pop them in. I have seen other people with kids waiting but always with a partner. We did take DS2 to one scan with DH and they ended up in the corridor. We had waited more than an hour to be seen though which I don't think helped.

This just made me realise how lucky we are my maternity hospital has a staffed creche to leave dcs in, I've had to take dd with me a few times when it's been closed, lots of others seem to be in same position at my hospital, officially they say no kids but if people are stuck they don't make an issue of it, plenty of books, small toys and games on my phone has got us through

I would love a staffed creche. It would be super convenient, my only real option seems to be a babysitter at 20 quid or putting them both in nursery for a day at 65 quid to cover lunchtime appointments.