Midwife Care

[sammykins80]

Hi Everyone, I am 10 weeks pregnant and very nervous as it's my first baby at 39. I'm desperately trying to do everything right but still learning as it's all new to me. Looking for your thoughts whether I am being unreasonable please.

As we were TTC, we found out early on that I was pregnant and excitedly booked a doctors appointment the next day with a long list of questions. She curtly told us that she has a 10 minute medical appointment and we should speak to the midwife who has an hour and referred us to our local one.

The midwife then called me that week and seemed lovely - I explained to her how nervous i am and that i had loads of questions and she said that I'd be booked in to see her at 8 weeks which seemed fine. I also explained to her that my family have had some horrific experiences at one of the hospitals local to us so could we please discuss my choice of hospital when we meet and she assured me that we could.

A week later, I woke up with the onset of a coldsore and as i suffer quite badly with them, wanted to know if i could use Zovirax before it took hold. I asked the pharmacist who told me to ask the midwife so, not wanting to disturb, i sent a text to the only number i had and didnt get a reply for 5 days. No big deal i thought - we're all busy.

However, i turned up to my first appointment to be told that my midwife was off sick and someone else would be seeing me. The person I saw appeared to be quite inexperienced and when she asked me about my hospital choice, I asked if we could discuss it and she said that she had never worked at either but i needed to choose.

She weighed me and said that as i was 30BMI, i would need a larger strength folic acid and that she would leave me a prescription at my doctors - but didnt.

She also advised that if my scan appointment hadn't come through in 10 days, i should call my midwife.

So, Thursday of last week as advised - i called my midwife not only to ask about my appointment but also to discuss some other concerns I have and symptoms i'm experiencing that i'm concerned about. Her voicemail referred to a green booklet and that the triage number to call for emergencies is on there - i wasn't given any such booklet.

She didnt call back so i called her again on Friday (24 hour later) and asked could she please call me back before the weekend - no call back so I called my GP and he gave me a prescripton to help me with one of the symptoms i'm struggling with.

But, it's now Monday afternoon and I still havent heard from her and still have no scan appointment. Am i being unreasonable and should i just understand that she is busy but in which case, who should i call if i have a problem?

You need to find out how to contact your local team of midwives. You should have been given your maternity notes at your booking appointment which would have the number of. If you don't have them I would ring the GP and ask. I only saw my actual midwife once in the first few months, she was poorly then on holiday etc but it didn't affect the level of care I got. You should have another appointment booked in for after your scan. Maybe 16 weeks? I can't remember exactly

thanks - the person i saw told me that the notes had all moved to an app and got me to download it while i was with her - the problem is that the app doesnt have any contact numbers on it - it has e-leaflets but none of them contain contact information. She gave me two mobile numbers to call which were hers and my midwives but neither call me back when i call

With some trusts you only get midwife care (so access to their number etc) after your 16 week appt. My midwife told me at my booking appt that up until that point, I should contact my GP with any issues and they would refer me on to the EPAU if there was anything serious that needed to be checked.

Your GP should be able to help with symptoms etc up to that point. They may also be able to chase your scan appointment for you. For what it's worth, I found it much more 'hands on' after the 16 week appt!

If you Google 'community midwife office' for your area it might come up trumps, OP. Ours is basically a hotdesking situation for the team but the same admin staff answer the calls and filter them in the right direction. Individual midwives do have weird working patterns and I only saw the one I had at booking again at my 25 week appointment! But if you can find that office number somebody should be able to help of you call them. Hopefully they will be able to give you contact details for the EPAU for early on and maternity triage for later, as well.

If google turns nothing up it's possible your doctor's receptionist or a more considerate GP might be able to dig the numbers out.

As for scan appointment if you know which hospital it will be at you can ring them to see if they have an appointment BUT I suspect hospital choice needs declaring first. I think my GP made my scan referral as that came through before anything from the midwives.