How many midwife appointments did you have with first baby?

[CobaltRose96]

Hi all,

I'm currently 21 weeks with my first baby. Thankfully it has been a relatively problem free and low risk pregnancy so far.

I had my booking appointment at 9 weeks and an appointment at 16 weeks as well as my 12 and 20 week scans. All fine, thankfully.

I've received a text from my midwife telling me that my next appointment is not until the 6th of December, at which point I'll be almost 27 weeks (26+5 to be exact). However, I've read online that you should also have an appointment at 25 and 28 weeks with your first baby.

Is there any truth to this? As a first timer this is all very new and confusing to me 😂

Do your trust not give you a list of expected appointments? Where I am it really isn't many.

Nope, they didn't.

From memory I've had booking, scan, 16, scan, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34 and 36 so far.

Do you have your notes? There should be a green book inside, and somewhere in that is a chart that shows all the appointments you can expect (there are a couple more for FTMs), with blank spaces for you to fill in the dates.

Got my pack out to check.
Booking before 10wks
16wks
24
28
32
36
38
40

It's common to do 'shared care' between the midwife and GP for low risk care and the 25 week appointment tends to be a GP one. They should have told you that was the schedule if that was the intention though to make sure you made an appointment at your surgery.

My midwife team only held appointments at my surgery every second Thursday so it was common to have appointment a week early/late.

For whatever reason they can't fit you in at week 25 so its week 26 instead. For women having normally progressing pregnancies it doesn't make any difference really.

Thanks all, I've looked at my green notes and it does indeed say I should have appointments at 25 and 28 weeks.... Perhaps it's like PPs have said and my '25' week appointment is the December one.

My local health centre is notorious for messing up appointment dates and times though (in both of my midwife appointments so far I was told one time and then accused of being late when in fact the appointment had been booked for an earlier time and I'd been told the wrong one), which is why I'm being extra cautious!

Mine were at 24 weeks and every four weeks after that (with bloods at 28 weeks) but one or two of them were a week late. The 24 week one was just a quick check of BP and urine and listening in to the heartbeat - I don’t think they even measured me that early on.

I would just ask about it when you go for the appointment in December and check they haven’t missed anything. And obviously if you do feel unwell in the meantime then contact your midwife.

I agree with PPs that it's probably just a late appointment.
My midwife works a Thursday morning at my GP clinic.
Literally 9 am till 1pm.
I think 4 hours a week is going to fill up quick, my booking in appointment was later than they wanted but it was fine, and my 16 week appointment is booked for when I'm 17 weeks. Everything is running smoothly at the moment so I don't it'll affect me too much.

I think it might vary based on which NHS trust you belong to.

I'm currently 40+3 as a FTM - on the inside cover of my maternity notes there is a list of appointments with which week they fall in and who you are meant to see.

FTM have more appointments than other women but in my trust the responsibility falls to the mother to make them.

Generally, I make my next midwife appointment before I leave the previous one. Scan appointments are sent directly from the hospital and GP appointments are made by the FTM with their surgery (my surgery has quite long waiting times for pre-bookable GP appointments so I need to do this 4-5 weeks in advance).

HTH

Where I am the 25 week appointment is with the GP.

Mine have followed the NHS guidelines exactly www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/antenatal-appointment-schedule/ with the addition of a scheduled routine growth scan at 36 weeks which is normal in my trust (kings london)