Health Vistor Visiting

[Bellie]

Not sure if I am worrying unnecessarily, but I had a phone call today to let me know that my health visitor is coming to visit me at home tomorrow.
I am 36 weeks pregnant and not planning a home birth so is this usual?
Also what will they be looking for/asking me?
Has anyone else got any experience of this.

Sorry if this is completely irrational and this happens routinely but I have not heard of this before.

it does happen routinely in my area. it was all quite benign and chatty really. i think the main reason she came was to give the government info stuff on babies/childcare etc before the birth when I might have time to read it.

I call it he slum check heppens in b ham and wiltshire
u think they check youlive in a house not a box!

routine chit-chat to introduce herself and explain what HV's do

Mine came to see me with dd1 - I think my midwife had tipped her off I was a bit unhappy. She just introduced herself and was quite pleasant.

Pretty hopeless afterwards, but there you go.

mine came both times just after the midwife had stopped her home visits (around 10 days, because i'd had c/s and needed stitches out, then dd2's bellybutton stump didn't fall off for ages...) and it was just usual stuff - advice about safety, feeding, vaccinations etc, nothing v heavy. also when she came about dd2, she wrote in dd1's red book v advanced language skills

no you are not paranoid, i was exactly the same when i had a visit at around the same time, hv was really nice but before it i was so worried as in the past had suffered from depression and was convinced they were checking me out to see if i was a fit mother - in hindsight it was really nice to meet Mary my hv who was very sensible un advice type of hv

Thanks everyone for the reassurance -Fleurie I suffered from depression before and at the start of my pregnancy and it did cross my mind that they could be checking up on that, so thanks for your re-assurance.
Am less worried about the visit now thanks to you all

Hi Bellie

Many health visitors due rotinue antenatal visitsThey will just introduce the health visiting service and check that you have no concerns.They may go through your medical history and just chat.It also means when they come out postnatally they dont have to go through details about the health visiting service.They will also be familiar to you .

Hi Bellie

I just saw your message, and although it's late, thought that it might still be worth responding.

Don't worry about your hv coming out to visit you. In some areas they do antenatal visiting and in others they don't. It's actually so that you can get to know each other and she can explain the service that's offered after the birth and give you information about imms etc while you still have time to read it and think about it.

Many years ago, eg 80 years ago, hv's used to inspect housing because so many people lived in poor and insanitary conditions eg earth closet and drinking water from a well. They no longer ask to see around people's houses and are only interested in hygiene if there seem to be serious health and safety issues and believe me, things have to be BAD for this.

Your hv may be aware that you've had pnd in the past and might have made a special effort to see you antenatally but this would only have been to support you. Did you discuss your previous experiences with her? If not, then it might be worth giving her a call. If she know's that you had a bad time previously then she'll probably offer you more support and this usually includes home visits which is better than going to clinic if yours is anything like mine.