Want to see midwife tomorrow but can I?

[justanotheryoungmother]

Hi everyone,

Today I posted earlier because I had lower back pain (30 weeks pregnant) and coloured discharged; I went to the hospital, everything was checked and the only issue was they said there was protein in my urine and I may have a UTI - I have to call back in a week to find out the results. I was fine with that.

Since tonight, I've not been able to get off the toilet and I've been violently vomiting (I've eaten nothing that can upset me, very sad things like sanwiches) and no-one else is sick in my house (five other relatives including DP) so it's only me. I also have quite bad pain on top of stomach. I want to see my midwife tomorrow but I don't have her personal number and I don't know if I ring for a safe day appointment if I'm guaranteed one for the midwife? Do I have a right to see one on the same day? I'm just really worried

I've rang the hospital and they said they think it's just a bug and I don't need to go in- nevertheless, I still want to see a midwife tomorrow

Poor you. Did they check your blood pressure? Would definitely get checked by midwife tomorrow. Do you have a headache? X

Is your midwife based at your doctor's surgery? If you call and ask for a call back from midwife she or one of the community team will fit you in. In my area there's a drop in midwife clinic at another health centre for ad hoc advice. It is likely to be a bug but seeing the midwife will reassure you. Keep your fluids up in the meantime.

Yes I would want to be checked if I were you, to rule out pre-eclampsia. What was your blood pressure at the hospital? Do you have any vision problems or swelling (ankles etc)?

Do you have any drop in clinics in your local area? You could ring the antenatal ward to find out. In my area there are drop in clinics every day Monday - Friday for 2 hours each day.
Otherwise maybe it's worth phoning the maternity triage again in the morning when a different midwife is on duty to see if they will see you and if you don't get anywhere phoning your GP for an emergency appointment.

I would say see GP. If you have D&V it wouldn't be advisable to go to the maternity unit, and pain at top of bump/abdomen sounds very gastric. Sounds like gastroenteritis which is unbelievably common in pregnancy.
Make sure you keep well hydrated. If you can't keep Fluids down then A&E would be the place.
Hope you feel better soon

You should not have to wait a week for results of a urine culture, especially if you are pregnant as uti in pregnancy can be very dangerous. You should have been given an antibiotic anyway just in case. Can you phone the maternity unit at your local hospital?

Emma, that's not the latest advice (according to my midwife anyway) considering the potential side effects of antibiotics in pregnancy (now thought to be linked to the development of childhood allergies). I was told that asymptomatic UTIs in pregnancy generally aren't dangerous. Obviously symptoms such as pain while peeing or lower back pain should never be ignored.

I'm sorry semaphorically but that's not the case. Current nice guidance recommends treatment of asymptotic utis in pregnancy due to the increased risk of complications such as pyelonephritis and premature labour. The majority of antibiotics are considered safe in pregnancy. I agree I may have been hasty saying they should have given antibiotics before the second test results come back but I definitely think 7 days is too long to wait and the results should be prioritised for a pregnant patient. It's one of the reasons why they check urine samples at each antenatal appointment so that they can pick up utis that are not causing any symptoms in mum.

No it doesn't. The NICE guidelines are here for asymptomatic bacteriuria - take a culture and start antibiotics only if needed based on what the culture finds, which is what they've done. OP has protein in her urine, not UTI symptoms.

I hope you're feeling better OP.

Yes it does say to treat asymptomatic bacteriuria.
It states that if bacteria is found in the urine when it is cultured treat with antibiotics even if the patient is asymptomatic (ie has no symptoms of an infection such as a fever, pain on urination, abdominal pain, cloudy urine)
Protein in urine can be an indicatior that bacteria is present.

Sorry for the hijack of your post op, hope you are OK.

When I had protein in my urine and a suspected UTI (no other symptoms) I was given antibiotics on the spot. The doctor then called as soon as the urine results were back to confirm it was a UTI and to check I had finished the course. I wouldn't have been at all happy with waiting a week with a suspected UTI when pregnant!

OP- you definitely need to speak to your midwife, if only to try and help put your mind at rest. They can then assess over the phone whether they want to see you, I imagine they will say they do want to. I hope you feel better soon.

Hi op I'd go get checked out straight the way. My sil had this problem and ended up in hospital on iv antibiotics for an infection which started as protein in the urine. Like you they told her to wait and she started being violently sick, couldn't even drink water. She had severe back pain too.

Don't want to scare you, her twins are fine but she was really not well.

You need to be checked right away. If you don't have a UTI you need monitoring for dehydration.

I am in the US so it is a bit different here because you have a doctor monitoring your pregnancy. You also don't wait a week for a UTI test when pregnant (it is 12 hours as considered high priority).

Also, OP doesn't have UTI symptoms but the exact same symptoms I had when an undiagnosed UTI reached my kidneys. I wasn't pregnant and was as sick as a dog, with D&V, clammy and back pain. Not saying she has a kidney infection or a UTI, but being that she is pregnant it needs to be further investigated ASAP. This isn't something that can wait until the morning.

OP - go and get seen by a doctor now. If your midwife or GP group has an out of hours number call them and tell them. If they don't answer go to an OOH clinic or A&E if nothing else available. It is very serious for your pregnancy if you have a UTI and it isn't treated.

Also, have the strep b test closer to do your due date. There is an increase in risk of strep b infection in the baby when you have had an UTI in your third trimester. Here in the US the strep B test is at 34 weeks. If they don't give you the test it isn't expensive to do it privately (I paid GBP40 for my friend to have it in the UK). You don't want to take the risk of having a baby who has a strep b infection.