@firstbabybell I too have been shocked (perhaps naively) about the lack of contact or interest from healthcare professionals during pregnancy. My pregnancy app and blood test forms are currently showing 3 different due dates as a result of having spoken to one midwife at 8 weeks who recorded it wrongly, and then someone correcting the error in some places, and then the sonographer giving me a new due date at 12 week scan.
Not once has anyone asked "how are you?" or "how do you feel?"
My trust will also be discharging all low risk women 6 hours after birth (quite pleased about this as I would likely leave of my own accord as have no interest being in hospital with baby without DH, unless there's a problem) but they have also cancelled all postnatal visits. So neither a midwife nor health visitor will come to see us after we've been discharged.
I understand that pregnancy is not an illness, but it is an enormous physical and mental undertaking which can affect almost every aspect of one's life. It's shocking to me that knowing that continuity of care (and caring generally) makes a huge difference in terms of how people feel about birth, and afterwards, that they have stripped back these services so much. I won't see a midwife face to face until 28 weeks. Truth be told, I feel uneasy about giving birth supported by people I have never met and who know nothing about me, or the journey I've been on to get to this point.
I even considered hiring a private midwife, but if we are only allowed one birth partner, I'd want that to be DH, so apart from the extra pregnancy support, it wouldn't be worth it in the current circumstances.