Induction date, sweep and antenatal care query

[carlene1987]

Hi all and apologies in advance for the large, ranty post.

I'm currently 40+5 days pregnant with my first child and upon seeing my MW on Friday she rang my local hospital and was told that the only available slot for induction is Xmas eve, a full 14 days after my EDD. She said she'd try to get an earlier slot for me at my next appointment on 19/12 (I'll be 41+2) but I can't see much success coming from that. I understand that maternity units are busy (especially my local hospital) and you can't be overly choosy (we are very lucky indeed to have the NHS) but I would love to be able to avoid induction on this day. Hopefully I won't have to be induced and baby will come along on his own before then but I can't help feeling like he's just going to hang on in there and make me wait. I know it just sounds a bit bratty to be selective about your induction date but my MW had been telling me from the beginning that "they wouldn't be cruel enough to induce on Xmas eve" and the policies had changed so they'd usually induce at 41 weeks if you chose to do that. If she'd been straight with me from the off then I could have prepared myself and planned to have a separate Xmas day at a different time, but leaving it until now when it's too late to plan anything and I'm so unbelievably hormonal seems even more cruel. This Xmas was always going to be very difficult anyway after losing 2 very close relatives so the thought of spending it away from my family, in hospital is devastating.
Does anyone have any experience with this please or advice on what I could do to try and change the induction date?

I also asked my MW if she could do a sweep for me at my last appointment (40+2) and she declined, saying that she couldn't do one until 41 weeks and it "was her registration on the line". My best friend is a MW and has worked within the same NHS trust. She says this is rubbish. My MW has been very unprofessional from the word go; swearing at most appointments ("F" words), using her personal phone, etc. She said she would do a sweep for me at 41+2 which seems late to me since almost every other person I know who is at the same stage as me has/will have already had their sweep.

I've also had on/off issues with my blood pressure for the latter end of my pregnancy with a preeclampsia scare a few weeks ago. She took my BP using a BP machine and regular cuff and my diastolic read 107. She tried again with a larger cuff to see if it made a difference and it read 103. She then tried immediately after with a manual stethoscope and cuff and said she got 88. I'm a student nurse and know that this can't have been fully accurate and funnily enough the cut-off for the MWs to worry about BP is a diastolic of 90. She has proven to be the kind of person who will say/do something to avoid work. I feel cheated and like I'm not being appropriately cared for. I have put off saying/doing anything about her for a while but at this stage feel like she has lied/acted unprofessionally one too many times...not that she should have at all.

Any advice or words of experience would be muchly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I can't comment on induction questions as this is my first and I'm a long way from that.

However with regards to BP if you concerned (which I think you should be) go to you gp? If that not possible can u phone the labour/maternity wards for further advice?

Hope everything works out for you
And for your losses.

Is there no way you can see another midwife? Could you complain? is there a number for the midwife office could you speak to someone more senior?
If you are concerned about your blood pressure I would make an appointment with your gp and explain your concerns.
Regarding your induction I would refuse that date and ask her to let you know when a date becomes free this will happen loads and loads of women have a induction booked in an don't end up using it because they go into labour naturally.

Finger crossed for you that you don't need and I'm very sorry for your losses

If you feel the MW has been unprofessional, you can complain.

If you are worried that she didn't measure your BP correctly, go to your GP (take a wee sample if you can).

If you can't get an appointment and you're really worried about it (or anything else), call triage/labour ward - there's usually an antenatal assessment area where they can do BP, bloods, check baby over etc. They are also the people you will need to negotiate with about an early sweep/induction etc.

Not advocating lying about symptoms, but I've known women to say they have a headache or something in order to get checked simply because they had a nonspecific worry and needed someone to reassure them.

It would be a shame to spend such a difficult time of year away from family - you may find that they are sympathetic if you call them up and talk.

You need to contact the supervisor of midwives for the hospital that you are booked in at, this doesn't sound at all right.

She should be able to do a sweep at any point after 40 weeks, some may even do it a bit earlier, depending on circumstances. It sounds like she can't really be bothered about the induction and is fobbing you off. With my first, I had a sweep at 40+6 and was booked for induction at 41+3. They shouldn't wait until 42 weeks to start as it can take a while.