Feeling unsupported

[mumtobewithanxiety]

I'm consultant lead due to my previous pregnancy ending at 21 weeks with a critical heart defect.
After this awful time I had a follow up meeting with a consultant to plan my steps for next pregnancy (she knew I'd be trying again)
She said she would scan me at 12 weeks, do a heart check at 16 weeks (to give some reassurance) then scan me at 18, 24,32 & 36.
I'm currently 16 weeks pregnant,
She cancelled on me for my 12 week scan so I was put with a sonographer, fair enough no problem at all, a little sad I couldn't meet with her to chat about my worries etc. At this appointment I booked with my midwife what I thought was going to be my 16 week scan, my consultant was in the next room, midwife spoke to my consultant (a little sad consultant couldn't come and greet me just to see how I was doing) midwife came back in after speaking with her and she's not scanning me at 16 weeks anymore. Again I didn't question anything and pushed for as close to 18 weeks as possible , they managed to book me in for bang on 18weeks. Now Just had a letter again today saying she's cancelling my 18'week one and rescheduling for 20 weeks. The main reason for my plan by my consultant was to try and detect any heart abnormalities before getting to a point of it being too far ahead again which would mean if things went like before It would be history repeating itself (touch wood it's not going to go that way)
So far I've only seen my 12 week sonographer and spoke briefly on the phone to a midwife that didn't read my file before phoning me in which I had to explain my previous losses. I'm a high risk pregnancy and just feel I needed to vent on here

Hi OP, I'm sorry you're not getting the care you need. I'm in a similar position in that I'm pregnant again after a TFMR at 19 weeks later year for a neural tube defect. I too was promised extra scans, and in particular a 16 week scan to check for the condition. I'm only 9 weeks but fetal medicine have confirmed I will be receiving these still. I think you should contact either your consultant or midwife, and explain that waiting any longer past 18 weeks will affect your mental health, as well as the procedure for TFMR being even more traumatic after 20 weeks if things go wrong (obviously I hope everything will be fine). Please don't suffer in silence, and let them know how you are feeling x

@1stbabs
Thank you for your reply, sorry to here about your TFMR and and congratulations on your new pregnancy
I'm awaiting for a call back tomorrow and will be pushing for a scan before 20 weeks.
I know it's busy with everything going on but I've been counting down the weeks and days for my 18 week scan and yes your right my mental health is affected, especially when I had a plan in place set by my consultant, I was focusing on this plan and it was getting me through this pregnancy, I'm not normally one to go ballistic but I just feel like I'm not getting the support I was promised.

Thank you! So sorry for your loss too, and hoping these will be our rainbow babies. My fingers will be crossed for you tomorrow, as you say obviously things aren't going to be exactly the same during a pandemic, but at the very least they could bring your anomaly scan forward. Let me know how it goes x

@1stbabs managed to get a scan for tomorrow for a heart check on baby, consultant isn't available so I'm with a head sonographer x

@mumtobewithanxiety ah that's such great news, shame it can't be with your consultant but still much better than waiting. Fingers crossed it all goes well for you x

@1stbabs scan went great. They were able to reassure me about the baby's heart. Feeling positive

I'm so pleased for you! Wishing you a lovely uneventful pregnancy 🌈 x

So glad everything went well