First midwife appointment

[VanillaSpiceCandle]

First post so here it goes. I’ve got my first midwife/booking in appointment today. I have phone appointment to do medical history and then a face to face later this afternoon. I’ve got a really short list of questions to be asked but wondered if I’m missing anything. My mum can’t remember what it’s for as it’s been over 30 years since she had a baby. Would love to know what you found helpful too. Thanks in advance! Here’s my questions:
Is an IVF pregnancy higher risk and why?
Overdue smear test since IVF treatment - can I have this now?
How will a retroverted and bicornate uterus affect birth?
Birth choices - how to choose and book?
What can I use instead of migraleve?
Booking 12 week scan
Gestational diabetes - which month does this start from?
What kind of back and abdominal strengthening exercise can I do?

They ask you soooo many questions
Your health, your families health, your partners health, their families health.
Previous pregnancies (full term or otherwise)

Weight, urine, bloods, BP, carbon monoxide test.

For me they booked my 12 week scan and 16 week midwife appt there and then.

Personally for my medication questions I was directed to GP.
Birth choices come much later if NHS

Good luck :)

If you have already done medical history this will most likely be bloods and urine.

That is a lot of questions and they’ll probably cover some of them anyway (especially birth options).

As for smears I am fairly certain you will have to wait until after the birth (maybe 6 weeks after - not certain).

Thanks both! The phone appointment is today at lunch and the face to face in the afternoon.

Shame about my smear test. I got my reminder letter during my IVF treatment so will be over a year late if I have to wait until the baby is born.

Starting to feel real now

Hey!
A lot of questions they ask you!
About you and partner, family history of illnesses etc.
I had an ivf pregnancy and I told them at the booking app.
Not sure what it’s like in your trust but my hospital wouldn’t allow me to go over due date due to it being ivf and I was induced at 40 weeks.
You’ll also need to know dates of fertilisation for your 12 week app so they can do the risks of downs etc.
You’ll have to wait for your smear.

With respect OP some of those questions would be better researched in the NHS website as the first midwife appointment is a barrage of questions and details that they need to collect so you might be struggling to squeeze them all in. I'd certainly ask about birth options if she doesn't ask you during the appointment (I was asked if I want the same hospital again, but I won't get any further discussion about this until nearer the time, I think it's your 32 week appointment as they have a much better picture about how your pregnancy so going. I was low risk til 40 weeks then became high so you never know). She should refer you for your 12 week scan so mention that if she doesn't.

Your IVF question I would have thought would be better discussed with your clinic or consultant (I've never had it so don't know process, sorry). The migraine question will probably be better answered by your GP, but she will ask you about migraine and headaches anyway so you'll get chance to mention.

You won't be able to have a smear until 12 weeks PP if I remember rightly from mine. GD is covered on the NHS website and Google/YouTube will give you all sorts of exercises I would expect, I was more worried about sickness and fatigue at that stage so I never looked into that 😂

Honestly it's fine, it feels like you're giving your life history but it's all info that's useful in planning the weeks ahead. Actually one thing to think about is if there is any history of genetic disorders, heart disease, blood clots and similar in you and the father's blood relatives. That stumped me the first time as I didn't know a lot about DP family medical history and I hadn't realised it would be worth researching in advance. It was no biggie, just asked me to double check before my next appointment and let her know anything significant.

Can't have your smear until 12 weeks postnatal.
They book your scan you don't do anything.
You'll have a GTT if you have any risk factors for it around 24-28/40
Any medication q's you'll be directed to ask a pharmacist or GP.
Birth choices? That's totally up to you to choose, they'll discuss different options with you later on in pregnancy.
Your booking appointment IS you booking.
If you're IVF you'll probably be shared care between midwife and consultant. The later would be the best person to ask about your uterus and additional complications due to IVF.

Midwives do the 'normal' ,low risk care . If it becomes abnormal at any point your directed elsewhere.

Thanks everyone, I’ve read so much conflicting advice on IVF pregnancies it’s unreal. Some treated as high risk and some not. But along with my abnormal uterus I also have other abdominal organ issues.

@8dpwoah the IVF clinic doesn’t tell you about pregnancy! In their words, we don’t know about that part, talk to the midwife. Which is fine but after being signed off as a patient post viability scan there’s nothing they can advise.

@Junebean9 thank you, that makes sense re midwives for low risk pregnancies. Obviously it would be great to be low risk and my midwife was so lovely on the phone. After a fresh round of IVF with complications I’m sick of going to the hospital every other day so fingers crossed I can stick with the midwife.

To add, after my 12 week scan I get a letter for an app at 15 weeks at the hosp. I was asked if I wanted to be midwife led or consultant led.
I chose midwife as I was deemed as low risk and didn’t see the point taking up hospital apps when I was generally fine.
So all depends on the complications you had and your uterus

@Moonshine11 that’s good to know, thank you. Good to know there’s some element of choice but I suppose we will see. Just looking forward to getting my final due date now having had it changed twice so far!

Congratulations on your pregnancy OP! I have a retroverted uterus and it pretty much just made earlier scans more tricky, that’s all. My 12 week scan had to be transvaginal to get the rest of the measurements.
Generally a retroverted uterus will tilt forward as baby grows, so becomes less of an issue. I’ve been told it won’t have an effect on actual birth. Unsure about bicornate though, but there’s probably a lot of other information online.
The booking appointment is very uneventful and quite boring in my opinion! But use it to ask any questions. Birth options aren’t discussed until 34 weeks plus generally as things change x

@VanillaSpiceCandle I'm an IVF pregnancy too. Same as PP my trust won't let me go past 40 weeks (as there is tiny increased risk of the placenta failing after that time in IVF pregnancy). I have other minor risk factors so I am consultant led however all that means is 3 more appointments (2 of which were over the phone) and 2 extra scans so dont worry, nothing like all the IVF appointments!

@Carefree1 thanks for letting me know. Yes I’ve read it probably won’t be an issue - I don’t think the bicornate has much of an impact. It makes sense to have another transvaginal scan for the 12 week. Had so many I don’t even care any more!

@IndigoNC I love hearing about IVF successes. I didn’t know about the 40 weeks so that’s good to know.

Just had my phone appointment and weirdly we did discuss birth choices and which hospital I wanted to give birth in which is nice. She’s classed me as high risk so she’ll send through an appointment with the consultant to discuss some issues. A shame as it would have been nice to stick with her.

Got my face to face appointment in a couple of hours. Not looking forward to getting on the scales after the weight put on from IVF and OHSS

Thanks everyone for your advice and help and good luck in your pregnancies.

@VanillaSpiceCandle you'll still get midwife appointments too, the consultant ones are just extra