1st time mum to be looking for some advise

[imreadyforababy]

HI

I'm 8wks pregnant and have had my first appointment with my GP and then one with the midwife. At no point did either check if i was preganant ie do as test. Neither did they examine me take blood or do anything apart from asking me lots of questions.

The midwife said she didn't need to see me until after my 12 week scan. I don't have a date through for the scan is this normal, how often is everyone else seeing the midwife.

I feel i have heaps of questions for the midwife now that i hadn't thought of at the time but won't get the chance to ask until after 12weeks.

Any one had similar experience is this the norm as i say 1st time for me so don't know what to expect.

Thanks

Hi Imready

In my limited experience its unusual for them not to want to do their own test, but you are lucky to have even seen a midwife - I didn't see one till after my scan.

They pretty much do leave you to it at what feels like the most important and certainly the most scary time. But don't worry - you have mumsnet at your fingertips!

My Dr didn't do a pregnancy test, just referred me for the 12 week scan, did my BP and said I would get an appt through for the midwife...which was at 13 weeks. It seems like a big anticlimax at the time but its normal. They're not as excited as we are!

yes, agreee qith the others it's pretty par for course.

I think when you are pregnant for the 1st time, you feel you need attention early on, just because it's such a huge thing in your life (I know I did - I expected them to constantly monitor me )

The fact is tho, that they're right. You will be fine. If you have any questions, that's what Mumsnet is for!

Absolutely normal.
The Boots-type tests we all buy are as good as anything the doctor / mw can do.

12wks isn't far off - it'll fly by!
Meanwhile, bug us with all your questions (try really specific thread titles to attract the maximum no. of posters ) and read all the stuff the MW gave you - took me weeks to wade through it all.

absolutely normal...never had a pg test except the ones i did myself...and go with mrsb's advice, ask everything here...i wish i had known of this site earlier, i only discovered it when i started contractions and wanted to check whether it was labour or not!

Same here.... a real let down if it's your first. I went to see gp, she referred me onwards to midwives at hospital. I've got my first scan tomorrow (at 11+6) and still don't have a booking in appointment with the midwives. I've had real trouble sometimes even believing it's true, and that the nausea I'm feeling is down to some tummy bug, or worse still, my own imagination!

If you need advice, you can get loads here. I've had a million questions, most of them answered by someone on here with far more experience than me!

Hope the next 7 months go well

xx

This is perfectly normal.There's no need for your GP to do his/her own pregnancy test but you are of course perfectly entitled to ask your GP to do so. I did not even go see my GP, I just called him after I got the positive pregnancy test result and asked for a hospital referal. There's no need to do blood work this early on unless you have specific health issues they would need to moniter from the beginning, such as diabetes or something similar, and even then I'm not sure how early on they would do this.

There's no need to see a midwife or your GP until your next scan unless you experience anything like bleeding, spotting or serious cramps. Even at the 12 week scan they will only do blood work if it is part of the nuchal scan evalution, otherwise it will just be a scan. The truth is, in a healthy woman there's no reason to see you often until the middle of the second trimester and mostly in the third.

You should have been given a number to ring the midwife on should you have any questions and then you can call anytime you are unsure about something or worried. I would call and check when your 12 week scan is, since I'm assuming your hospital does the 12 week nuchal scan and the appointment will be there with them. You won't really be properly seen by a midwife till you are about 16 weeks or so and even then the appointments that you will be going for during most of the second trimester will most likely be done with your GP if you are going with shared care on the NHS.

I also thought before I got pregnant and knew about these things that they'd be seeing me on like almost a weekly basis, not quite sure what I thought they would want to see me for but that's what I thought! I understand being surprised they really don't want to see you for a while, I was the same. They really don't want to see you until much later on. You are simply too early into your pregnancy at this stage for there to be anything for them to see or moniter, it's normal.

Thanks for the advise, i did think that i would see the midwife heaps but i'm glad it normal not as i was panicking i was being neglected lol.

Iv been reading through lots of other posts ect and almost all my questions have been answered.

Might give them a call about the scan appointment but apart from that i will leave them alone for now!

Thanks again