Booking in appointment - what to expect

[Miller2]

I have my booking in appointment on 29th March. This is my first pregnancy and I have no idea what to expect. Can anyone shed any light on what will happen etc? I will be exactly 9 weeks on that date. Will they do a dating scan? And is that the same as the 12 week scan or is that an extra one?

It's very common in some communities for people to marry a cousin. They get yeses all the time. They need to know because it raises the risk of some genetic disorders.

The "is he the father" question is also not frivolous. They need to know the health history of the biological father and they don't make any assumptions about who may be accompanying you. People use donor sperm, people have confessed affairs resulting in pregnancy, people form new relationships after getting pregnant. It's also more common than you'd think for a patient's husband/boyfriend not to be the biological father, which is partly why if you are accompanied by a partner they will usually make him step out for a while (the other reasons are to check you are safe at home and give you domestic violence resources, and to check whether you have any pregnancies, births or terminations that your partner doesn't know about).

May go with my mum just to ease boredom whilst waiting for bloods etc. They warned me it can take 3 hours. Nothing she doesn't know about me anyway. Thanks everyone, feel much happier now I have a better idea.

CountessVonBoobs now you’ve said that, I do actually know a married couple who are cousins. They’ve known all along that they cannot have children, due to the risk of genetic disorder. They didn’t even occur to me at the time of reading the post.

On a side note my midwife asked me if I ever felt unsafe at home IN FRONT of my husband. An important question to ask, (and I am perfectly safe) but I still question her decision to ask in front of him.

You dont get your blood results then and there. In fact I dont think they tell you anything about them unless there's something to flag.
I got a letter a week and a half after my appointment telling me I was resus negative for example.

Yes I was told blood results will come back for 15wk appointment, but they will ring if anything serious found before then. My 15wk appointment was booked at the booking in too - but I had to wait for scan letter from hospital.

They did dip urine there and then to check it for something (might have been infection or sugar) but I think they sent that off too for more analysis.

Some areas seem to split it into multiple appointments though - it is all very confusing!

I had mine this morning. In my area we get our notes posted to us in advance and have to fill in as much as we can. I filled in a lot and it still took 70 mins to go through everything.
I got a phone number to call to book my scan and that's it.
They won't do a scan as you have to decide what scan you want, dating only or combined which looks for probability of some genetic issues. Combined takes longer and at my trust you can't book a dating scan and then change your mind to combined as there won't be time.

In my area you have to see the gp to get referred to the epu at the hospital which seems like a waste of gp's time to me but that's when we get given our notes. The first scan (unless there's other issues) is 12 weeks and the midwife books it in straight after the booking in appointment so we get the letter the next day. Bloods here are taken straight after the 12 week scan and we get a letter with the downs chance on, don't here about the rest unless somethings wrong.