Booking appointment and First scan. At 14wks 4days!

[Momma22]

I'm currently almost 11 weeks pregnant. Have seen the midwife at my gp surgery about 2 weeks ago. Not for my booking in, basically just for a chat and to be given a few leaflets. Was told I'd get a letter from the hospital and my scan and booking apt would be on same day.

Had a letter through from the hospital this morning, my booking in appointment will be when I'm 14wks plus 4! Said nothing about my scan? Called to find out why so late? Of course it's a Saturday so the maternity dept midwives aren't in, but spoke to a midwife on postnatal who was lovely and able to shed a little light on the situation. She said that even though it's not specifically stated in the letter I would be being scanned that day, and also they dont count your first scan as the official dating scan, they actually date your pregnancy at the 20 week scan. I was concerned that 14wks4 would be too late to check nuchal translucency, so asked about that, she said they don't routinely carry out NT tests at that hospital, however if you're in the right time frame they will check it, If not it's just the blood test and that's that? She said I'd have to call back Monday when the maternity dept midwives are in and see what they could do for me, so I'm going to do that ...

So different to when I had my first baby? I had my first DD in England and I'm now in Northern Ireland, so either they do things differently over here or a lot has changed in the 3 years since my last baby ...

If that's the only app they have available and they're just really busy then there's little i can really do about it, but I'm gonna push for at least the week before so I can get the NT looked at at-least.

Do you ladies not think 14wks plus 4days seems very late for booking in/first scan?

I’m at the Ulster for this pregnancy as well OP- I had my booking and scan at 10 weeks back in August. When the midwife was doing the scan I asked if she was going to measure the NT and she awkwardly said they “didn’t do that here”.

Very annoying given this is a matter of course throughout the rest of the UK

Also, I went for a private scan at 7 weeks at Window to the Womb in Lisburn- the staff there are absolutely lovely and if you’re considering going that route it’s well worth a call to them if you have any questions.

@dinasaurkisses think we probably will go window to the womb for a gender scan at some point.

How far along are you now? Have you had your 20 week scan yet? Did they give you a due date at your first scan? Oh and are you planning on having your baby on the labour ward or the home from home unit? Sorry for all the questions 🙈

Sorry misspelt that @dinosaurkisses I meant, lol

Haha no problem!

I’m 17 weeks now- we went to the Lisburn scan place for an early scan at seven weeks because I just didn’t feel pregnant yet.

My 20 week scan is in a few weeks, but I had a sex scan last week because I couldn’t wait to find out. Baby Bond on the Lisburn Road in Belfast have an offer on their gender scans at the moment- they’re £20 cheaper than Window to the Womb in Lisburn. Both are lovely places, not much difference in what they offer.

I’m planning on the Home From Home unit as long as everything goes straightforwardly- I was due to have my dd in the Mater MLU but had to be transferred to the Royal because I wasn’t progressing quick enough, so a big draw for the Ulster was that their labour unit was attached!

There’s a video on YouTube where a midwife does a really detailed tour of the whole Maternity unit at the Ulster- there’s a link on their website. If you haven’t watched it I really recommend it, it gives a good idea of the (v impressive) facilities and put my mind at rest that it wasn’t going to be like the Royal!

I had DD in April in the Ulster. I've posted about this on a similar thread recently, here's what I said:

Buried in the info I was given was that it's possible to request a blood test, and that it's offered as standard to women over 35. Can't remember the name - not the harmony, maybe the combination test or quad test or something like that? I got the impression that it's similar to the blood test done alongside the 12 week scan in the rest of the UK. Obviously since it doesn't have the info from the scan it's not as accurate but it's better than nothing.

I requested it and while the hospital seemed surprised given we've no particular risk factors, had no problem getting it. The midwife explained that if the result showed a high risk, we'd be referred to the fetal medicine unit at the Royal, and that if we decided to terminate we'd have to travel.

There's also the option to have the same test as the rest of the UK done privately which is still much cheaper than the harmony test - about £90 iirc.

I will say that I found the Ulster to be excellent - I had a failed induction and EMCS and they took excellent care of me and DD. And indeed DH! The classes etc offered during pregnancy were also excellent. If you're planning on using the home from home unit I'd recommend the active birth workshop.

My first thought was that it's linked to abortions/lack thereof and that seems to be the consensus online.

Oh, and I had a private scan (baby bond on Lisburn road) at 8 weeks and booking appointment at 10 weeks. At both of those the CRL was correct to the day. I was also certain of my dates. They still brought my due date forward 8 days at the 20 week scan as they take more measurements then. I didn't want them to change the date as I figured the baby just took after tall DH. Turned out I was right, funnily enough.

@dinosaurkisses thanks for letting me know about baby bond, think I probably will book there for the gender scan, save myself a few quid.

I'm also planning on having my baby at the home from home unit, I've actually already seen the video on YouTube that you mentioned, it was really helpful, and it looked a really lovely place. I considered the Mater MLU but didn't go with it in the end for the reason you mentioned, didn't want to have to be transferred to the royal if something didn't go to plan, whereas atleast with the Ulster it's all in one building.

Did you not have a good experience at the royal? Hopefully you have a better experience at the Ulster.

All the best with everything anyway, thanks for answering all of my questions x

The staff at the Royal were great, it’s just an Old School set up so six women to a bay, showers and toilets a fair walk away (important after birth!).

Can’t fault the post natal care at the Royal, but I think the Ulster’s more modern facilities give women the best chance of as much of a restful recovery as you could reasonably expect after giving birth!

@LivLemler so if I request the blood test it will be given regardless of whether or not I'm high risk? I'm under 35 and as far as I know low risk at this moment in time. I would rather know whether or not there was a relatively high risk of Down's syndrome etc as early as possible, Because if heaven forbid that was the case I think I'd need the time to mentally prepare myself for that outcome before baby's arrival, rather than having to deal with the shock later, ifyswim?

I really hope they get my dates correct if they're dating the pregnancy at the 20 week scan. I was induced with DD, and I'd rather not be induced again, she weighed a very average 7lb8 at 2 weeks overdue so I often wonder if they had my dates correct? And if the whole induction was really necessary?

I would be really interested in going to some of the classes! Especially the active birth workshop you mentioned. I also read online that the Ulster offer hypnobirthing classes, I'm really keen to give hypnobirthing a try so I'm definitely going to look more into that one!

@dinosaurkisses the royal sounds a bit like the hospital in manchester where I had my DD, loads of women in a bay, shared bathrooms, really strict on partner visiting, so was left on my own 90% of the time, also quite old, dingy and smelly in general lol.
However the midwives were all lovely and helpful, if not a little overstretched.

If the royal's similar to that then I'm pleased I've chosen the Ulster.

Yes, in my experience you just have to ask for the blood test. I'd already had my booking appointment so I phoned up, but you can just ask at your booking appointment.

Yes, we did the hypnobirthing. Tbh, a bit airy fairy for me but I thought it was great that it was offered. I'm afraid I think the classes might just be for first timers so you might not be offered them.

I found out i was pregnant at 23 weeks and they were never 100% about my due date as after 12 weeks baby's vary drastically in their measurements

Hi @Momma22 just wondering if you did end up having the blood test mentioned in the end? I'm going to the Ulster for my booking in / 12 week this week and I'm keen to have the screening though I'm not quite 35. Thank you!