No 16 week check, no return call from midwife now 20 weeks

[keepyourdistance]

Should I be worried or pushing for contact from my midwife?

First time Mum, 12 week scan was fine and I have my 20 week one tomorrow. I contacted my surgery to arrange my 16 week check who asked me to contact my midwife which I did but have had no response to messages.

As I am well, as far as I know I thought under the current circumstances it isn't urgent but questioning that now as everyone else seems to have had a phone app.

Thanks in advance for your advice x

@1990shopefulftm & @sel2223 Ah, just me being an eager first timer then! Thank you both for replying, that's really helpful to know!

Re urine tests - my midwife said that they can be unreliable or give false positives depending on what you've eaten recently so best not done at home. She did recommend getting a BP monitor though (I got an Omron one as they're supposed to be good).

(NB i am not an expert just repeating what the midwife said, obviously do your research and make your own judgement)

Re buying your own urine dipsticks: I'm sure they're not perfect and not as reliable as the tests the midwife does but, bearing in mind the alternative is not having these tests at all, I find them worth it for my own piece of mind.
I'd rather get a false positive than carry on for months, blissfully unaware of a potential issue.

Chase it but do not expect much- my 16 week appointment was a 3 minute phone call, she asked some basic questions and checked I had my 20 week scan appointment date.

@Luckyme30

In my experience they'll pick up just as much as any midwife appointment would. Obviously a scan will pick up other things, but the midwife appointment will just be BP/dipstick

Hi.
I'm in the same boat ish, phoned to ask about my anti D injection to be told they are busy and will ring me back a week later still waiting. So looks like im not getting it and obviously not getting my 16 week phone call either. I'm annoyed because having a home birth would prefer to meet midwife before D day. Hopefully it settles down before then.

My mw says they're only seeing people at 28 weeks now xx

Sorry ladies but I think what you're going through is a disgrace really. I am 11+5 today so not that far yet but had so far phone app at 8+2, face to face with blood, urine, bp, weight at 9+3; I will have a combined scanning at 12+1 and a consultant tel app at 13+2. So so far I don't feel impact of it all but it seems as many of you I will most likely receive just scans and some care towards the end of PG.

I have 3 friends working in NHS hospitals (London and Midlands). From what I can hear from them, and we speak weekly, after an initial surge in covid cases at the end of March up until mid April, it's all gone pretty quiet. All planned treatments or OPs have been postponed or cancelled to create more capacity. It's gone to the point where they seem to be actually bored on their wards. For example, 24 bed capacity on my friend's ward and just 5 patients, full staffing levels, bank hours were actually ceased because of lack of demand.

I am actually pretty angry with how NHS is handling this crisis because due to the pandemic craze (not that I minimise its severity) we seem to have large swathes of population left to their own fate.

Our maternity care shouldn't be affected because midwives are not really involved in covid cases. What's more, they cancelled some services such as GTT at 28 weeks ( I was informed that they would test me for GD from blood only), home births, 16 weeks app,and I heard of 24week apps also being cancelled. So at least in theory, midwives should have it easier not harder. It took my midwife an extra minute spent on disinfecting my chair and the desk for me. She barely answered my questions and her responses were short and vague. I actually found that the box in my maternity notes was ticked where she didn't actually mention healthy eating to me at all during the app.

What it is then that leads to such an appalling state of care? Aren't we actually quietly allowing this state of affair to continue by sitting quiet because in our minds all NHS is bravely combating covid19 which I know first hand is not true?

@NinaNeedsToGo

As your name suggests, you need to go.

You obviously have no clue about staffing in hospitals, regardless of how many COVID-19 cases there are.

Please, stop spouting rubbish.

My mid wife unit are just doing all the urine tests etc you'd normally get at the 16 week appointment at the 20 weeks scan but you shouldn't be missing the telephone appointment at 16 weeks, that's terrible care x

@NinaNeedsToGo I don't disagree that there are some aspects of healthcare (inc maternity care) which have been negatively affected by the virus and that it needs more attention, but your pregnancy care so far sounds pretty standard - most people (pre covid) had a booking in appt at 9 weeks ish, scan at 12 weeks and further midwife appointment at 16 weeks. In my experience it did feel very hands off and a bit like no one cared in early pregnancy, but that's not just a covid thing!

@AsSurprisedAsYouAre they always book pregnancies in at that time it's totally normal. My booking in ten years ago was at 9 and a half weeks and my current pregnancy was at 9 weeks also. They don't see anyone before then because of early miscarriage being most common between 4 and 8 weeks

The 16 week appointment isn’t technically medically necessary, the risk of developing anything like pre-eclampsia etc. so early is very small. However if anyone had any symptoms of it or any other problems, UTI etc. they could of course contact the midwives and be assessed at any point in pregnancy. This is the rationale being that particular appointment being cancelled or switched to a phone call. You should have your anomaly scan coming up if you haven’t had it already and at that point you will also see a midwife who should check you over and answer any questions you have. I appreciate it’s a worrying time when things are changing so rapidly and it appears you haven’t been fully informed as to what your trust is currently doing in terms of antenatal care. If you have any worries there is always a 24/7 number that you can call for support, even to simply ask a question. The midwives understand that women are worrying right now and will be happy to help in any way they can. X