Mixed Messages!

[MissTwister]

Hello all, I saw a consultant yesterday and a midwife today who had decidedly differing opinions on things!

The consultant said my BP was high enough to require monitoring every week (130/80) which is a huge pain considering I measure it at home and it's always fine and this means I will have to take a day off work off a week to do this at the doctors/ hospital as the appointments are in the middle of the day. The MW seemed very perplexed by this and also measured by BP at 120/69 today.

Secondly the consultant said I was measuring 30 weeks (at 29 weeks) and today the MW said I was measuring 32 weeks - that's a big overnight growth!

Lastly the consultant said my Gestational Diabetes Test was normal and that was the end of that but today MW said it was borderline (7.5) and sent off my urine for glucose testing.

Is there anything they agree on?! It's so annoying as it has resulted in another slew of appointments/scans. Of course I want to do what's best but it seems there's not actually any issue and I have a lot of appts, am averaging a couple a week now - as someone who panics about all this it's not helping!

Any advice?

Yeah I get this.

At 26 weeks I was measured at the hospital as 29cm.

My midwife measured me at 28 weeks and got 26cm.

She was like "oh well they measured that wrong, your baby can't have shrunk"

When I saw the consultant on Monday, I was measured as 32cm (I am 30 weeks)

So clearly she was wrong!

Also, I had eclampia with my first DC, and pre-eclampsia with my second DC. Consultant said as I have a new partner, my risk is higher.
Midwife said new partner means my risk is lower.

Now they are some serious contradictions!

It kind of makes you consider the balance between how many real problems are found versus how much stress and worry haphazard monitoring causes

Yes I get this too and it's so frustrating. It tends to be discrepancies between consultant and midwife.

4 weeks ago I was told my iron was low and my urine was clear

Today I'm told my iron is normal and my urine had signs of cystitis last time and still does today.

It did make me worry actually

A friend of mine didn't have any feedback from her blood tests and it turned out she had gestational diabetes and no-one told her for weeks!

The measurements can really differ depending on what position your baby is in.. That's why the current way of measuring is total nonsense!

My blood pressure was 131/65 a couple of weeks ago, (at 24 weeks), but doctor and midwife both saw it as fine. It's checked regularly and varies. I think the same will go for the uterus measurements, they are all varying factors throughout the pregnancy. I was measured at 27 when I was 24 weeks. I have measured myself and I'm measuring as large still (if not larger !), but I'm not too worried as the midwife will measure me each time anyway.
People measure differently. My last midwife measured from a totally different point to my mw this time. But as long as the person measuring is consistent, it shouldn't be too far out. Different people measuring will always be different measurements. As well a baby being in different positions!! Don't worry too much about measurements.

As for gtt results, it's good to know your mw is being thorough. Try not to worry about it.

Being consultant led is a PITA, isn't it? The only good bit is the extra scans. I think, ultimately, your consultant ranks highest and will have the final say.

With measurements, my MW has always deferred to the growth scans, she says they're more accurate than her tape measure. So I'd take the consultant more seriously than your MW.

I had my last growth scan yesterday (35 weeks), the consultant said she was happy that 'baby isn't misbehaving', that was probably all I'd see of her until birth. So if all goes well, you'll only have another 6ish weeks of this rigmarole to get through.

Isn't there some scheme where you can measure your BP at home and send in the results? A day off a week just to take a BP snapshot seems OTT. Might be worth asking?

Ah they can agree on nothing, seriously. I had midwives looking at me like a ticking bomb when my bp was still 150/110 4-5 days after my son was born and warning me I had to "relax" or it wouldn't come down, while a medic told them I was grand, that they were causing it by checking my bp every hour and checking it at stressful times e.g. when they held me up to check it while my baby was crying due a feed in special care. I had a consultant tell me it really should've come down straight after delivery, the public health nurse said she often sees women on meds for 6-10 weeks after birth to bring it down. I was also told not to take Difene because it can affect blood pressure, one particular midwife kept telling me this, all the others disagreed with her completely.

I was told that the risk of pre eclampsia with another partner is the same as anyone else. I was told that the numb patch above my c section scar was totally normal, I was also told it was probably a pool of blood...wtf?

Teeste I do measure my BP at home, I bought a fancy machine and everything and regularly take it and log it in my hospital notes. The MW was perfectly happy with this, which is why it's so annoying the consultant says I have to go in and do it. They use the same machine!

Foggymist I sympathise, they took my BP in hospital the other day when they were monitoring me for reduced movements and then wondered why it was a bit raised. I wasn't at my most relaxed at that point in time, strapped to a machine, worried about baby!

Don't get me started! Checking my bp day 3 after emcs delivery, after a 2 hour breastfeeding marathon in special care unit with unbelievable uterus cramps during it, knowing they'd be mad when it was raised and lo and behold it was, duh!!