36 week scans bring cancelled

[UnilakTea]

Morning! Just thought I'd let you know that atleast in my area of Kent they are cancelling 36 week scans unless your high risk!

@UnilakTea are you in East Kent
I would ring the ward and ask for the matron so you can discuss any worries ahead

Pre- eclampsia is important. It's not diagnosed by ultra-sound or blood tests.

And for some women, those checks aren't happening at all and for others they're happening less often than they would under normal circumstances. It is not unreasonable to worry about that, and question whether some hospitals are cutting things back too far.

I absolutely think BP and urine checks are important. Doesn't need to be in hospital or even face to face.

Tbh hopefulhalf your posts have done very little to provide any “perspective” as you put it - in fact if your role is what you say it is quite alarming that you feel able to comment so incorrectly about processes that women here are very familiar with. You are talking incorrectly to women about things that they are experiencing right now. I wouldn’t presume that you necessarily know how every process works throughout a hospital, but that fact that you feel confident to post and despite getting so wrong, and while doing so telling women that they should be grateful for removal of things that were previously considered basic standards of care, is far from reassuring about the decisions being made about how to resource different areas of a hospital.

@hopefulhalf risk factors may be predictive, but they are not determinative. I had no risk factors and a "textbook" pregnancy until the fundal measurements indicated a potential problem which was then diagnosed via a scan. If my issue had been missed (which they would have been via a telephone appointment) and I'd been left to go to 41 weeks there is a very real possibility my baby could die. I just hope you don't come back to tell the women that lose their babies because problems are missed through lack of routine screening that they shouldn't make a fuss because it was thought their pregnancies were healthy.

I do not have access to urinalysis or blood pressure monitoring products, and nor have I been advised to do so by anyone

This is bad. You'd think they could at least send out the urine dipsticks and get people checking with those for sugar etc.

@hopefulhalf

Scans also check placental blood flow and can give a bit of info on if the baby is tapering off on growth and if the placenta is ageing

25 years ago you died from breast cancer or ovarian cancer. Now there are other new methods of controlling that.

Your comment about 25 years ago is insensitive.

I'm so glad your second pregnancy is low risk

I've almost died in my first pregnancy
Second pregnancy my son started to stop growing and I had steroids as a precaution

Scanning can be very helpful to prevent extra deaths. What's to argue with about that? If there was a guarente that the mothers had been isolating totally for over 2 weeks and then they went to an independent location for the scan, that would be best wouldn't it??
Why don't they just ask the families to ensure they have isolated properly before the scan so that it can be carried out with less risk of infection.

Kent is keeping them for high risk pregnancies. Just removing them ‘as standard’ which makes it more important to let midwives know of any changes in movement.

Can you ask your midwives for urine sticks to dip as a uti can also bring on early labour can't it

@GrumpyHoonMain that's good news but I'm sure there are also women who's baby has suddenly gotten massive or the placenta has suddenly gotten old that would benefit from a scan too 😭💔 this is a terribly difficult time
I will always be high risk so wil always Be scanned and reviewed regularly

@kittykat7210 if you can't get hold of your midwife to discuss and no other help is forthcoming then you just have to impose yourself on the maternity assessment unit. It isn't ideal, but if you are genuinely concerned there is a problem and no one is helping you may have no other option. Where women report reduced movements or other problems they are still checking urine, doing bloods, checking blood pressure, organising scans, doing CTG monitoring etc. Not ideal, but if that's the only way you can get your baby checked in person by a midwife when there are indications of a problem then you have to do what you have to do

@hopefulhalf you STILL have failed to answer my question so I’m going to put it in capitals just so you are fully clear on what I am asking

IF WE DISCOVER THESE PROBLEMS BY TESTING OURSELVES WHO DO WE CONTACT AND WHAT DO WE DO IF THEY DON’T BELIEVE/TRUST OUR TESTS?

GrumpyHoonMain I think that that is clear for everyone now, but it isn’t going to stop women who did have them booked in originally worrying.

Your midwife or GP ?

I can't believe there is no midwife on call or availible at all in places. If all else fails call labour ward ?

@hopefulhalf

As I have already stated, and if they don’t believe us? Which happened during my labour with my daughter in which both of us could have died (and this was without any pandemic)

Kitykat I'm not really sure what you are asking me ?
I am not a midwife, my suggestions would be :
Take a picture of a urinalysis stick (not difficult to get it right, just like a pregnancy test) and email to the midwife/doctor.
Similarly the display of a digital BP machine ?
I think there are going to be "cold" GP surgeries so perphaps some checks will be done there ? But not scans.

The point is that there is no process

It’s all very well saying “you can monitor at home”. Well, women are not being consistently told to do so, are they? Certainly not across all areas of the country. “You can buy BP monitors and urinalysis strips online” - who is advising women of this consistently, and who is providing them to women who can’t afford them? The NHS which is currently trying to focus on getting sufficient PPE equipment for its staff? What processes have been put in place for women to report and have problem results followed up? Nothing. A vague “call your midwife or GP” is not helpful - if the process is going to change such that women are expected to monitor this themselves, there needs to be a procedure in place for these things, otherwise it’s pointless because women with problems will still be missed.

And it’s absolutely fine to say “it’s too early to know how this should best be managed” - but in that case allow women to express how concerned they are at basic care being withdrawn and don’t make out that they are being ungrateful and feeble by worrying

I see what you mean Ivinghoe Beacon, but also women need to be autonmous to some extent. Locally midwives are still doing socially distanced home visits so could drop off supplies if needed. But obviously don't know about other areas.

@hopefulhalf, isn't claiming to speak on behalf of the NHS, she just gave her opinion on the current situation and offered some advice on what you could do i.e. call your midwife or GP if you are monitoring from home. I think its a very stressful time for many people, pregnant women included and maybe this is leading to people responding quite forcefully on this thread. I'm not sure that's necessary.

In fact if your role is what you say it is quite alarming that you feel able to comment so incorrectly about processes that women here are very familiar with.

It is extremely worrying.

@hopefulhalf Also bizarre that you spend your valuable day off goading and upsetting women on a pregnancy board, when 1. you're not pregnant yourself and 2. you have shown that you have very little understanding about how pregnancy care works.

I have no issue with purchasing BP monitor and urinalysis sticks but what about women who can’t afford to purchase them?

My point is these tests/scans must be relevant to care otherwise why were the NHS offering them to ALL women before the pandemic?!

When this is all over I have no doubt that unfortunately some women will suffer the consequences of reduced monitoring and what are they supposed to do? Just suck it up and see?

I understand no one could have predicted this but what I don’t understand is why everything else has come to a grinding holt and that’s not just maternity that’s essential life saving treatment, why are they being sacrificed?

They keep reporting that ICUs have not reached capacity so why is this virus having such an impact on the wider care of people?

There are things such as mental health check ups, extra support and some midwife and consultant appointments which can be done over the phone if it is for reassurance or information purposes only BUT what I am saying is that I’m not even getting that... if this crisis continues long term lives will be lost and not from COVID but from lack of ESSENTIAL scans, tests etc.

No, @hopefulhalf came onto a thread full of anxious pregnant women to say that we shouldn't question how our care is affected, because Shamima Begum had it worse...

Agree completely with you @Luckyme30 and I don't understand why we are being told to basically just suck it up