First DR/Midwife appointment

[Echobear]

Morning all! Got my BFP last Wednesday and confirmed by a clearblue digital on Friday. This is my first so needless to say I'm over the moon albeit pretty clueless!

I called my doctors surgery this morning to get the ball rolling with them and the receptionist said they don't see anybody until they are 8 weeks so i am to hold fire and wait a few weeks and then come back to them again and fill out forms. It just took me by surprise as the NHS website says 'You should see a midwife or GP as soon as you find out you're pregnant.'

Is this normal to have to wait so long?? Maybe I'm just overexcited lol.

This is normal. Even when you see the Gp, unless there’s any major issues, they’ll just refer you to a midwife who will see you around 10 weeks.

Yes that's normal! I called up when the test said 2-3 pregnant and didn't see them until 8 weeks on the dot.

Congratulations!

@Originalusernameunavailable ah thanks so much!

Thank you @latheritup 😊 it's all new and confusing lol

Firstly congratulations!! I imagine it's slightly frustrating not being able to see a GP sooner. You could consider booking an early pregnancy scan. You can buy them on Groupon for around £40.

@butterflyflower1234 thank you so much! I think i actually will go for an early scan, I know there are alot of pros and cons from these from reading other threads. But I was thinking just going for it around 8 weeks too so I will see what happens first!

Not normal at my GP.
Even though they don't see you and you do a self referral via the doctors for the midwife I was about 3-4 weeks and they sent it off. Had my first MW appt at about 8-9 weeks.

I didn't see the GP at all, just self-referred to the hospital on their website.

I didn't see midwife till 9 weeks, however they got the appointment booked in at about 5 weeks because they could apparently get booked up.

I saw my midwife at about 5 weeks for the antenatal appointment and she will book in everything you need etc x

I didnt see my GP at all, I self referred to the community midwives. My GP took a distinct lack of interest TBH.

My 1st midwife appointment was at 9 weeks I think. Its called a booking appointment, where they ask you a load of questions about general health etc, take your blood, test your urine and book your scan.

I also had an early scan. I know there are loads of people who say it isnt worth it, but I found that seeing his heartbeat at 7 weeks gave me a lot of comfort. Dont book the scan for for any earlier the 7 weeks though its so tiny its unlikely you'll see anything.

Thank you everybody!!

@Letsallscreamatthesistene yeah I was thinking of going for the 7/8 week mark for the early scan. Thanks for the reassurance! It seems strange this massive thing is happening to me and I have to wait weeks before even speaking to a healthcare professional lol I know it happens to so many different woman everyday and it's maybe not a 'big thing' to doctors, but still 😂

Congratulations on the BFP!!

I had a similar experience -- booked GP visit at around 7 weeks, ended up being seen by a medical student interning at the practice rather than the GP himself (!) then midwives weren't interested in seeing me until I was finally offered a booking appointment at 10w (by which time it was a scramble to get a 12w scan booked in).

Mind you, I ended up transferring to another GP practice a few months later because I found the midwife team attached to my first GP worryingly careless (forgetting to give me anti-D medication at 28w was the last straw) -- and it turned out to be the best decision of the whole pregnancy as midwife team at new GP were amazing. It's early days for you yet, but hopefully you might have that as an option if you do continue to feel that you're not getting the treatment you need?

I wasn’t seen by myGP either, just referred directly to midwife, who I saw at 8 weeks.

I know there’s nothing to be done before then, but it is strange to have this huge life altering thing happen to you and then you just carry on on your own for weeks! (And im a doctor myself!)

@theghostofmargerykempe thanks lovely 😊 oh I'm glad you got sorted in the end! I will have to see how it goes but hopefully they will pick me up when I'm 8 weeks! I will maybe call them again at 7 weeks to see if I can even fill out the forms.

@Nelbert19 it really is a bizarre thing to just carry on as normal!