PG and totallly clueless - what do I do now?

[PinkMartini]

Hello
Can anyone help = got a BFP having been on the TTC No 1 threads for a while.

I realise now that I haven't got a clue what to do now.

I'm only 5 weeks (according to BBC EDD calculator due 21/3/08) so it's obviously very early days.

I'm assuming there's a lot of waiting to be done - I don't really have any traditional symptoms - boobs are sore and am exhausted and I have twingy AF-like pains.

Should I be doing anything else? Making appts with anyone? Finding whether NCT classes are oversubscribed?

Or just wait until 12 weeks?

TIA

Congrats!
have you made contact with your midwife?

CONGRATULATIONS!

How brill! So jealous!

Just enjoy it!

Lots of xxx

Congrats PM!! I got a bfp a short while ago too!

You need to go to your DR who will confirm pregnancy and book you in with the midwives.It differs slightlyfrom area to area but DR would be the forst step.

congratulations!!!!

make an appt with your gp who will work out due dates and make 'booking' appt with midwife.

so exciting!!!

oops crossed posts!

Hi tasja - no, I don't have a midwife. Should I make an appt at the doc? (I tend to avoid my surgery, they're not very nice)Will they find me a midwife?

Hi ChelseaMum - we spoke before on the "glamour" threads! How are you?!

Even more crossed posts!

sorry, thought you went to docs. yes, you need to go to doc first, and they will give you a number of the midwife you have to call and make an appointment with. she will give you books and stuff you need to know

FYI Pink Martini - before going to the doctors do some research on which hospital you'd like to go to - a post on here to that effect might be the best way - or do some googling.

They will ask you then and ther where you want to go, and it's best to have some information or you may end up making an uninformed choice you'll later regret - as I did! Not unfixable, but a hassle you could do without.

If your experience is anything like mine the Dr will be completely uninterested - they may not even do a test themselves and will just assume what you've done is accurate. It came as quite a shock how little will happen until 12 weeks - sad but true. (I spent the frist weeks until 12 weeks convinced that it was all a huge mistake, and they would say at 12 weeks that I wasn't pregnant and was just an idiot... and apparently am not alone in this!)

They'll probably refer you to the hospital who will contact you (eventually) about a booking appt. and possibly a 12 week dating scan.

I found this all really shocking, as clearly to us it's REALLY important and THEY very much act like it's no big deal...

In fact, if everything goes well, nothing very much happend after the 12 week appointments either... so yes, lots of waiting - but it does get better later on!

HUGE congratulations BTW...

DB
xx

Nothing happens until 20weeks. that's just my opinion.

Thanks sveryeone. Much appreciated - haven't got a clue about hospitals - so thanks for the heads up.

I went to my nurse practitioner, shes nicer than doc, she sent memo to mw. mw wrote letter to me saying she'll be round on x date at x time .When she came round she took details from both sides of family history and bits of info about yourself .Then she asked if i wanted nuchal scan, i said yes. She sorted that out, date came through post. She also advised me to book my bloods around the 15th week. Had that done with mw .she also let me hear babys heartbeat.
Then she booked me in for appointment to do with after 20 week scan.(?) She also sorted out date for 20 week scan, which came in post and i have it on the 15th Aug.
Too much info????
So looking forward to it now. Still feels like a dream.

Designer why would your GP need to do another test - the available tests are extremely accurate what a waste of everyone's time and money - but of course we know that all GP's are crap don't we ?????

Ooh Mac Doodle - did that really deserve a ?

It's terribly bad for your blood pressure, you know.

FWIW I don't think all GPs are crap, but mine certainly was, and has been consistently through all the trauma that we've had to deal with in this pregnancy.

And yes, I would have expected some kind of confirmation from them... they're a bleedin' doctor. They might have also at least attempted to ascertain my dates accurately by enquiring about cycles etc. which would have prevented a hell of a lot of heartache for us further down the line.

I wasn't given any information about what would happen next, and when offered a choice of hospital and enquiring what their recommendation was the reply was "well, to be honest they're both as bad as each other" which was not only extermely unhelpful it was also totaly inaccurate.

They didn't even say 'congratulations'.

I was just making PinkMartini aware of the possible pitfalls - forwarned is forearmed, and all that. She may well be a lot more fortunate than I was, and have a helpful doctor who actually gives a damn. Unfortunately amongst my pregnant freinds this has proved to be the exception rather than the rule.

So rather than jumping down my throat for passing on my experience in the hope of helping, why don't you try and offer the lass some help.

Or just bog off.

DB
xx

pm - I think the hospital thing must vary on your area - i've been given the choice of three (worzel will start a thread for you in a sec) the dr today said it didn't matter now which one I picked as it could be changed later.

you do need to see a m/w and have a few scans and blods taken at about 12 weeks - checks for various things incl your iron count, full blood count and if you request it HIV - I think it does various others as well but those stand out for me from memory.

and lastly get your bottom over to the march thread if you've not already - we're a friendly bunch and there's lots of us so you're more than welcome

(ow82)

Charming - just a constant thread though MN is of crap GP's - well mine is fab and I know plenty of wonderful ones - tarring all GP's as crap on the basis of ones experience is not helful or useful ...
Am sorry yours was awful and sorry your pregnancy was a bad expeience but honestly how is doing another test benficial to anyone and how does it prove a good GP - waste of time - surely spending that time talking to the woman would be better spent ?? Anyhow I didn' even need to see my dr MW did all paperwork and booking in and gave me lots of info !

Hi and congratulations! Like everyone has said, make an appt with your GP and he/she will take it from there with the midwife. And like ow82 said, please come and join us on the Due in March 2008 ante-natal thread! We've had 4 (I think) new joiners today already - the more the merrier!!

macd - that varys on differnt areas - my old area didn't require anything wiht the dr this new one does, i've had good doctors and bad. but this isn't the time and place for an arguement about gps and their compatantcy (sp)

ooh and I didn't say congrats to PM.

Macdoodle - I'm not tarring all GPs with the same brush, however, most of my pregnant friends have some kind of expectation of their GPs which simply haven't been met - maybe that's why it's a 'constant thread' here.

And yes, maybe a second test is surplus to requirements, but some kind of reassurance wouldn't have been too much to ask, I don't think.

And 'talking to the woman' would have been great, but that didn't happen either. She asked me when my last period was made a note on the computer, and then said "that's it, you'll hear from the hospital in due course." I was in there for all of 2 minutes.

Glad you've had a great experience and your GP is lovely, unfortunately, this isn't as common as we would all like. My post wasn't just based on my experience, as I've said, but on several friends' as well. Therefore I think it's worth warning someone who's asking for info about what CAN happen.

Would love to know how you got to a midwife without seeing your GP...

Sorry for the "bog off' but your hostile attitude when I was just trying to be helpful p'd me off no end.

DB

p.s. Pink, Sorry for hijacking your thread with a row... hope you have a great experience with your GP just like the everso fortunate Mac...

Awww.....just go and see the Dr and tell them you are pregs...they shouldn't do a test as they tend to say that the tests you buy over the counter are pretty accurate. They will advise you further and put you down on the midwife's list and then it goes from there

You can CAT me if you want (you have mailed me before anyway) and I'll send you my mob no if you want - can text me with any preg queries - I just lurrvvve the whole preg thing and giving advice/tips!

A good book I read was The Best Friend's Guide to Pregnancy...not medical but totally tells it like it is and I loved it!

hi PM!

I also remember you... I decided to have an independent midwife to follow my preganancy and had both NHS and private scans.
Was planning to have dd in birth centre but ended in a NHS hospital.

I loved the closeness i developed with my midwife and felt very much looked after.

Do your research and follow your instincts....

Enjoy your bump!