First pregnancy and no appointments for 11 weeks?

[shastamn]

Hi everyone! This is my first post on Mumsnet (though have been reading it for advice for ages).
I'm looking for some advice as I'm week 6 o my first pregnancy.
I found out I was pregnant 2 weeks ago. I called my GP to book an appointment and the receptionist told me I don't need to come in to see a GP but instead to choose the hospital I "want to go with" and register there. I found the maternity page on my closest hospital website and registered. I just got a letter through the post yesterday (about 2 weeks after I registered) and my first appointment is a blood test scheduled for when I will be 11 weeks, followed by the first dating scan a week later when I will be 12 weeks.
This is my first pregnancy and I don't have many friends with babies so I don't know what's normal or not, but it seems strange to me that I will get to week 11 without speaking to any professional about my pregnancy? No one to tell me to take folic acid and vitamin D supplements, no one to talk to about my vegetarian diet, no one to reassure me that it's okay for me to keep running... obviously I get all this information online but I suppose I would just like to speak to a medical professional about all of these things. Plus this week my morning sickness began and it's really bad and I'm feeling quite down about it and don't feel like I have many people to talk to...!
Any advice is much appreciated!! Thanks :)

Unfortunately that's typical where we are too - I'd assume down to stretched resources but I agree it's poor, especially like you say for things like folic acid, smoking etc. Congratulations though! And if there is anything in the meantime in my experience you can go to your gp for advice.

To be honest I think that’s not unreasonable and so much information is available online nowadays (NHS website) if something is unusual (bleeding etc) then you just contact the doctor then.

Until 12 weeks baby is pretty small, and my hospital only took over questions and problems from midwife at 16 weeks.

For instance you say about folic acid, you are already aware of this so you don’t really need anyone to tell you?

Medical people will only repeat what’s available on the NHS site anyway

People who are trying are usuall taking it while they are TTC

Sorry this must seem harsh I’ve had my first baby 3 weeks ago so I know what you mean!

Sounds normal to me! This is the nhs schedule: www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/antenatal-appointment-schedule/

Tbh unless you have a high risk pregnancy you are pretty much left to get on with it.

Thanks everyone!
I agree it's not unreasonable at all as I know how stretched the NHS are. I suppose I was just looking for reassurance from someone who has been pregnant before as everything I've read on the internet including the NHS website does says to book an appointment with your GP as soon as you find out so they can give you information etc.
I'm sure all will be fine and I'm eagerly waiting my first appointment!

Yes I found this disturbing too. After my booking appt at 9 weeks (should have been at 11 but dates were off) I found a checklist in my notes with lots of things like 'discussed diet', 'infofmed about antenatal classes' etc with all boxes ticked. Nope, didn't discuss any of them! Sadly you are supposed to educate yourself on the internet, with all the dangers that poses to those less able to read critically.

Here they do your booking appointment and scan on the same day- I'm 6.5w atm but mine won't be until I'm 11w 5d. The letter came with a few leaflets about drinking and smoking, and the referral form I filled out had a big section in capital letters about starting to take folic acid and vitamin D supplements as soon as possible. Unless there's specific concerns I don't think there's that much else they could tell you at this stage.

Doesn't really bother me; I'd rather just have the one appointment so I'm not making multiple excuses to get out of work before announcing. I'm having a private scan at 8w which will hopefully break up the waiting time and give me a bit of reassurance.

I hope I didn’t sound harsh OP. Ideally we would be held a lot more.

I can tell you my trust was amazing at th established labour stage all the way to discharge and my baby was also in special care, all the nurses looking after baby were like angels.

So I do think pregnancy care is weirder than I imagined but once labour starts it’s better.

My experience only !

Happened to me too. I thought I’d see someone straight away to talk about vitamin supplements, dos and donts, what to expect, and just generally get some official support and reassurance. But no. My first appointment wasn’t till about 10 weeks. Imo it’s really important to make sure women know stuff like no hot baths or blue cheese etc, and to let them know what symptoms to expect and what will happen step by step. But we are just left in the dark to google it and take a guess about which of the info we read online is correct and reliable.

It is totally normal, in fact I was just telling my colleague last week that finding out you are pregnant becomes a bit of an anti-climax...you can't really tell anyone as it's too early and your appointments don't start until 12 weeks! You start to wonder if it's really happening!

I think it's strange too - you have to trust in whatever pregnancy test you've picked out to confirm your pregnancy for months!
At the same time, a lot of pregnancies (sadly) end in miscarriage so I suppose they don't want to organise appointments and get people's hopes up too early either.

I had to go to GP to be referred to midwife but then got nothing until a scan appointment letter....I knew I'd not had my booking appointment from what I'd read on here (so would have no green book for scan). Phoned hospital 'oh no don't worry you see a midwife after scan' (you do, but not for booking!). GP said same then three days later got a letter directly from the community midwives for booking appointment...! At 10 weeks. Unfortunately unless there are any problems you won't have much medical contact til then because of the chance of early miscarriage. They assume you will Google/NHS website then tell you it all again at booking. It does get better once you're 'in the system' though, I'm two scans, two sets of bloods, a urine infection, and three midwife appointments in and all have been fine and logical.

Congratulations OP

I had my booking appointment at 11 weeks, which is bloods and meeting the midwife, then scan at what turned out to be 13 weeks. Never saw a GP as you self refer here to the midwives. You can definitely ask for a GP appointment about help for your sickness so don’t put off asking for help with that till you see midwife.

I know what you mean, no one double checks you’re pregnant these days and they take your word for it from a home test, can be disconcerting!

Use the great info on the NHS website, get yourself a book about it all or an app on your about the different stages through the weeks. If anything really concerns you, bleeding or pain (sure neither will happen!) then contact your early pregnancy unit.

I've had 2 DCs and such different experiences. With number 1 i started the pregnancy in UK but moved to USA half way through. I found all the appointments in the US a big PITA.

With number 2 I was in UK again and I was so relaxed i told my GP i couldn't be bothered to see midwives and would rather just see him. The GP and I were just so relaxed and he didn't even weigh me through the whole time. It suited me much better.

This was all pre internet and I did all my learning from books - What to expect when you're expecting. I don't know if that's still around.

I agree and as a FTM I was confused what appointments were normal and it was abit of a anti climax as PP mentioned. Especially as you try and keep it under wraps until 12 weeks.

A little different here (I’m based in the North) I rang my GP surgery and they gave me the local midwife number to self refer which I did, I then had an information session which was like a group session with other pregnant ladies ranging from 6 - 12 weeks. It literally was around 15-20 minutes in which they spoke about which foods to avoid, take folic acid, handed leaflets out and checked my weight/height for my BMI and asked me to think about which hospital I’d like to use.

The next appointment was my 8 week booking appointment with a midwife which was very paper based and she took my bloods.

I then recieved a letter in the post for my 12 week scan at the hospital I choose. Since then I’ve had a 16 week appointment with my midwife, 20 week scan, 24 & 28 midwife appointment (which lasts around 15 mins) I’m 30 weeks now and have another appointment with my midwife next week. I also have another scan at the hospital at 35 weeks as I have a low lying placenta.

One thing I found odd was that nobody actually confirmed to me “yes you’re pregnant” I was convinced it was an error and what happened if I wasted their time in going to these info sessions and booking appointments! I was even thinking I was mistaken until I seen my LO rolling around on the screen THEN it felt real! I took a lot of tests but I guess I was just waiting for somebody to tell me!

Congrats anyway OP!

I know what you mean. You see a lot of American films and shows etc where they have lots of appointments in the same time-frame and it seems vaguely anticlimactic that no one wants anything to do with you until the second trimester (by which point folic acid no longer matters as much)! I booked a private scan for eight weeks so I could check pregnancy location and that everything was going smoothly.