35 weeks today , what can i expect to happen next ?

[hodgepodgepanda]

First time so not sure what to expect,but feel as though I know absolutely nothing about what's yet to come

My midwife hasn't even discussed a birth plan with me yet so I haven't a clue what my options are such as wether I can request a Cesaerean due to my severe anxiety .
I have a scan at some point in the next two weeks which im told is to just 'check everything over' - is this normal ?

I now have to see my midwife every week though I haven't a clue why it's changed from fortnightly to weekly

I woke up rather stressed & needing answers , my midwife isn't the most talkative of people so thought I'd ask some experts

Hi hodgepodge, congratulations! Don't worry about having lots of questions/worries, I imagine it's all becoming very real now!

If I remember rightly I had a double appt at around 36/37 weeks to discuss birth plan. Although that feels very late I suppose there's no point doing it sooner, as if you went into labour prematurely you wouldn't be following your choice of birth plan anyway. Is there an outline of your appointments and what each one is for in your notes? It was in the front of my book.

It's normal for the appts to become more frequent at this stage, and to have a last scan. They really are just checking baby is doing fine, try to relax and enjoy the extra opportunities to take a look and listen to the heartbeat.

Have you had antenatal classes yet? I had the ones provided by the hospital and found them very helpful and informative about what all the procedures are at my hospital.

Do try to speak to your mw about the choice to have a c-sect. I have no idea whether that's an option but she should at least listen to your thoughts and advise your options

I haven't bothered with Antenatal classes as I've barely been able to leave the house thanks to SPD etc

I'll have a look in my notes about the appointments , Thanks

Your anxiety would be alleviated by gaining some knowledge. See if your hospital offers a one off day ante natal course - DH and I went to one for couples and it was incredibly useful for first timers. Having had no ante natal education and an unhelpful midwife, I'm not surprised you're feeling anxious. Although you won't know exactly how your labour and birth will go (there's no way to predict) it does help to know the possible scenarios. Good luck.

My local hospital doesn't offer the Antenatal classes as they are done by the local sure start and they are fully booked as I did enquire last week about them

The NCT do private classes, but you have to pay. They do it over several days or ones over a weekend. If that's not for you I'd have a look online as I'm sure Babycentre or other mums sites will offer online courses.

It's certainly worth looking into the various types of pain relief - one of the key things I learnt was that if they want to give you the Syntocin drip to regulate your contractions you should probably ask for an epidural as it makes your contractions feel sharper. I can attest to that being correct as I was unable to have an epidural for the first bit of them giving me Syntocin.

As a ftm you will tend to have more appointments from now on than someone who's done it before. In my area the maternity notes carry a lot of explanation about stuff, it's not just there for them to record information. My notes state how often the routine appointments will be. I'm not sure what the extra scan is about, but ask them straight out to tell you why.

I've requested a csection thus time. I had an appointment at about 24 weeks to discuss options with the consultants and will be having another at 36 weeks to confirm my request and book it in for a specific date. It's the ideal time to bring this up with your mw and get things organised.

If you're anything like me taking control will help you chill out.