First antenatal appointment

[Rosa986]

Good evening,

I am pregnant with my first child. I am confused on the normal process for initial antenatal appointments. I have spoken to my GP on the phone and they referred me to a hospital but since then I have not heard anything. I am approx 6 weeks pregnant.

Would my 12 week scan be my first appointment? Do you speak to the hospital before that time?
Thank you!

Appointments with midwifes have changed due to covid. Your first appointment is called your booking appointment and is now over the phone. You may not see your midwife until 20+ weeks if this carries on.
I saw mine at 8 weeks and it was just to take blood, blood pressure, weight and health questions. Your midwife should be in touch soon xx

Normally the first appointment you would have would be a 'booking in' appointment around 8 or 9 weeks then the 12 week scan.
I think in the current situation, the booking in appointment is now being done by telephone so, yes, your first face to face appointment will probably be the scan.

I was referred 4 weeks ago and also heard nothing! I'm 8 weeks now, but older, high risk and no kids. I realise things are different, but maternity services are supposed to be open, but maybe that have had staff illness. I rang their team and the receptionist said to try again next week.

I want to know whether my local hospital offer NIPT if combined test is high, otherwise I plan to have it privately at 11 weeks while I wait for the combined test and test the NHS offer.

OP and @Elouera depending where you are in the country the normal procedure is not to see anyone at all until 10 weeks for your booking appointment.

I got appointments for my booking appointment and my 12 week scan within 3-4 days of each other through the post.

If you are over 40 and/or have health issues you will then get a consultant's appointment through the post which can be anytime for 13-15 weeks. If you are then put under the consultant's care they will give you, your own individual timetable of appointments with various medical practitioners.

If you only see the community midwife then you should get your maternity notes with a timetable of appointments in them.

Obviously with Covid-19 more of your appointments will be telephone appointments.

One big issue is that it damn near impossible to get through to the Community Midwife team - you need to use the telephone number they give you - and your GP's practice cannot help you contact them.

@BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup- Thanks for the info. Does that mean that you are either consultant lead, and have appointments just with them, OR midwifery lead and seen by them instead?

All my friends had kids 10+ yrs ago, I don't have kids, so it great to know what the process should be going forward.

@Elouera I am consultant led.

I had my booking in appt (before Covid) and was referred as high risk due to medical reasons. I had my first appointment with the consultant around 15 weeks and have a second appointment with them at 28 weeks.

My midwife appointments were still booked as normal (i.e 16 weeks, 25 weeks, 28 weeks etc) so the consultant appts were extra not instead of if that makes sense.

Obviously it's different now with Covid so several appointments are being cancelled or changed to telephone appts but that's the normal schedule. Hope it helps.

@Elouera and OP - if you are consultant-led the obstetrician will decide on your own individual medical history what antenatal care you need. There is no norm as it depends on whether you have any underlying conditions.

Women 40 and over who haven't had a child within the last 8 years are automatically put in the consultant-led group but it doesn't necessarily mean you will have more medical appointments than a first-time mother.

Be aware that the maternity unit will not have your full medical history, which can be annoying when you are on the postnatal ward as you will find doctors saying stuff which doesn't reflect what is in your medical history. Someone I know discharged herself after a doctor in the specialism she was under saw her, as those on the maternity unit were trying to keep her in just in case there was a complication.

If you are midwife-led then you only see the community midwife.

Sorry, I should have clarified I meant 'normal schedule' in terms of the midwife appointments.

The consultant side is unique to each individual depending on their own needs as PP said.

The midwife appointments run concurrent to any consultant appointments though. They are not a replacement.

Thanks all, great info. I will be consultant led for sure, just waiting for a booking appointment and a scan date currently.

I was actually told by my consultant to ensure the different medical appointments were on different weeks to each other as they were all doing basic health measurements. (Obviously if you need weekly bloods then you can't do this.)

Depending on the agreement with the GPs in your area, your GP may be involved in your antenatal care as well. This makes it easier if you have to see them for anything else as they are less likely to fob you off with "the midwife will deal with that". Midwives can't write prescriptions.

I have my booking in appointment a week on Monday, by which time I will be around 8 weeks. We did part of it on the phone today and then the rest is in person. When I phoned maternity services they set up that appointment and my first scan.