Disappointed with midwife services

[bme13]

Hello! I am 7+2 pregnant with my first, I am in my early twenties and it was rather unexpected but my partner and I are really excited and happy about it, our little one is due mid september.

However, I went to my booking appointment a few days ago and my midwife told me that as it will be my first child it is the policy in my area to be induced in hospital once you reach the due date. She was really patronising, I'm not sure if this is because I look around 14/15 rather than my real age. I have always wanted a natural birth at home, and she made out as if this will not be an option at all. This has made me apprehensive and worried as I really don't want to have to give birth in hospital and would much rather let things progress naturally. Has anyone else been told this? I live in South London.

She also said I wouldn't get my first ultrasound until the end of March, at which point I will be over 16 weeks, is this normal? I am really disappointed.

Any opinions/experiences.advice would be great!

No, this is not what I would expect.

First scan 12 to 13 weeks, induction two weeks after due date, unless there is a medical reason to induce earlier.

Im in my early twenties and my son is now 9months old. I wasnt told anything about having to be induced which i find odd that they would even mention that. My ultrasound was the normal date although i had to have 2 emergency ones due to complications. If you have had a normal pregnancy so far and are healthy i dont see why you shouldnt be allowed to home birth. A midwife could always be called or if (hopefully not) a complication does arrive you can go to hospital.

Isn't 16 weeks too late for the nuchal and bloods tests? And you've booked in really early. Sounds terrible. The induction stuff sounds like nonsense too.

Could you ring the appointments number in your maternity notes and check that they can't fit you in earlier? I book all my own scans, so it should be fine.

Sounds very very strange. I would suggest giving a call to antenatal clinic and speak to a midwife over the phone regarding your queries

I'd contact the head of midwives in your are regarding the scan date if you get no where with yours. That is really odd re: being induced, where I am they actively encourage homebirths and don't induce until 12 days overdue, and that was my first.

She cannot make you do anything - your birth choices are yours alone. She obviously thinks she can ride roughshod over you because you are "young". Induction for a first birth is also rubbish. They can recommend induction but they CAN'T insist. Your body, your choice.

Your first scan should be 12 weeks. Speak to the Head of the midwifery dept, change catchments if necessary.

I would investigate this further. I would never suggest that you decline an indication which is medically advised, but you are perfectly within your rights to decline an induction which is not medically necessary.

To be honest, I would be very surprised if there has not been some kind of misunderstanding here. I'm not suggesting you have got it wrong, but perhaps the midwife has explained it badly or even got it wrong herself.

That sounds rubbish. Unless you've got any medical reasons that they wouldn't advise a home birth (and even if you do, it's still your call) it seems odd to rule it out so soon.

By the way, you don't have to use your nearest hospital you can choose any. Might be worth moving if you get no luck with complaining.

No that doesn't sound right at all!

You should have your 12 week scan before 13 (+6 I think?) weeks really to be able for them to complete the tests.

It's completely normal to go over by 2 weeks so inducing on your due date is complete crap too!

I would call and request to change/speak to another midwife who knows her arse from her elbow!

It's also your choice if you wish to have a home birth.

She sounds like a really bad midwife, the induction thing and the late scan date is totally wrong, you need to call a supervisor of midwives at your hospital and hopefully they will arrange another booking in appointment for you that will be much much better, I think you have just had some bad luck with her, most of them are lovely and know their stuff.

Nothing to add, just...

Don't accept it. If you have no joy by calling up the head of midwives, please come back. I'm sure there are plenty of midwives here who can advise you where to escalate a complaint to.

I thought it was standard to be offered either a dating scan or a nuchal scan at around 12 weeks. We chose a dating scan and had this around 12 weeks. Then there is the anomaly scan at 20 weeks.

As for the inducing thing, that does sound very weird. I've never heard of anyone being induced bang on due date unless for medical reasons. If you are healthy with a low risk pregnancy and baby seeming ok then there is no need for induction until around 42 weeks. I should add - induction is also an option - you do not have to agree to be induced.

I would do as a pp suggested and contact the head midwife. I wonder if there's been a misunderstanding and your midwife didn't explain something clearly?

One thing I would ask is if you've arranged the nuchal scan and bloods? 16 weeks is too late for that so I'd definitely enquire about an appointment for that.

Thank you for all your responses! I will certainly be investigating my options for a different midwife, which is a shame as this one is a two minute walk from my house. She didn't instil me with a lot of confidence to be honest, as she calculated my due date as 4 days later than any of the calculators I've used online, and I didn't adjust the cycle length from 28 days.

She also insisted that the next time I buy vitamins/folic acid I buy the pregnacare plus ones, despite the fact my tablets have all the same things (I checked) and I take a separate omega 3 capsule with them, and these two packs came to less than half the price of the pregnacare one, I am not keen on spending money unnecessarily for a brand name. Can midwives be sponsored to push brands?

I haven't told my parents yet, as I know they will be disappointed, but now I am tempted to tell them sooner than the 12 weeks when I was planning to as I know they will want to fund me going private for scans etc. which after this I am more than keen to do!

You should get folic acid medication free from your midwife

Just to check, are the vitamins you're taking formulated for pregnancy? Might seem a bit of a silly question, but actually the levels need to be different: check with a pharmacist if not sure. (I don't take Pregnacare, I got a different brand off Amazon: it's much better and certainly not expensive!)

I could have literally posted the same thread myself. I am also having DC1 and at booking last week was told not to expect scan before 14 weeks as "everyone is really busy at the moment", home birth not an option and if you'd had a baby before you wouldn't even be asking this as you gave no idea how painful it is and what your body goes through. She also advised that codeine and diazapam are fine to take throughout my pregnancy (I binned these weeks ago!)

Needless to say I've changed mw completely to a different clinic altogether.

You will not necessarily get Folic acid free on prescription but you are right you don't need the expensive branded stuff, lots of people say the pregnacare ones don't agree with them anyway. Folic acid and vit D are currently the only suppliments recommended by the NHS anything else is a bonus and probably unnecessary if you have a balanced diet.
Being induced on your due date is also complete rubbish. Unless there is a medical need that is highly unlikely, they will recommend it if you run something like 10-14 days over though.

Nope this midwife sounds like she is going against guidelines. I would get in touch with the supervisor of midwives as this sounds very odd. Good luck with your pregnancy.

Utter rubbish. You can have baby where you want! They cannot insist on anything!

If for some reason there is problems e.g pregnancy diabetis or any complications then they will recommend things.

I had diabetis (never had before or since) was recommended hospital. And would be induced only after due date . But they gave me all the reasons so it was my decision.

Your body your choice

Which healthcare trust are you under? I'm under what was the SLH, which I think is now the Kings' trust, and I had a scan at 13ish weeks, one at 20 and am due one at 32. I know a number of people who had homebirths with them too, even for first babies.

You don't have to stay under the same hospital for your care; go back to your GP and ask to be referred somewhere else if you're not comfortable - I switched care at about 9 weeks last time around as I was seeing a consultant at one hospital for recurrent miscarriage but under another hospital for my maternity care.

My midwife just advised me to take folic acid of 400ug and vitamin D. I bought the pregnacare liquid and that has really helped my energy levels but it tastes exactly like feroglobin - just make sure whatever you take doesn't have Vitamin A in.

I got my folic acid from savers before I switched to the pregnacare. Think they were £1.

She is talking out of her backside!

I had a private scan at 8 weeks (which is when we found out we were having twins) and a gender scan at 15+3. I am having mcda twins so I now get scanned every 2 weeks which is lovely to see them more often. I really think all pregnant ladies should be scanned more often, especially between 20-40 weeks.

Congratulations on your pregnancy - hope your next midwife has a clue!

Make sure you're taking SPECIFIC pregnancy ones as other ones might have vitamin A in them (huge no=no)

The only reason i can think for you not being offered a 12 week scan (within the right time frame) is that you have refused nuchal? But even so you should still be given a dating scan...

If you havent then kick off a huge massive stink because from the sounds of it you are young and when i naively bounced into my nuchal scan at just turned 22 years old (thinking therefore there would be nothing wrong) my daughter was diagnosed with a terminal condition (not downs) so it isnt just a downs screen... had i not gone i would likely have had an unexpected miscarriage around 16 weeks or been told about the problem at the 20 week scan - both of which would have made an unbearable situation even more heartbreaking...

I dont say this to scare as it is an incredibly rare situation but dont allow them to fob you off with no 12 week scan on the nhs with a trained sonographer!!!!!!!!

If you want to test for downs etc you need your first scan to be at 12 weeks - you should also have blood tests before then, 10 weeks I think?

My initial appointments were also booked automatically by the midwife really late - scan for 16 weeks, booking appt at 14. I called the hospital and rearranged the scan, because if it's not at the right time they won't be able to do the test. No one tells you that at the time, thank goodness for Google!