Third trimester midwife appointments

[sarah13xx]

How many appointments do you have in the third trimester?

I had a 28 week appointment then nothing til 34 weeks, so 6 weeks without seeing anyone. Then saw on the nhs website it should be every 2 weeks after that but because of covid that’s forgotten so I have nothing til 38 weeks now, so another 4 weeks without seeing them. I’m having a section at 39 weeks so that will just be the week before he arrives. This doesn’t really seem much to me. Obviously you look out for signs of things like pre-eclampsia yourself in the meantime but would it not be safer to have more routine blood and urine tests even? 🤔 just wondering if this is right across the country. I’m in Scotland x

28, 30, 32,34, 36 then every week

I’m in Scotland, mine have been booking appointment at 10 weeks, then consultant by phone at 16 weeks, and from now I have midwife appointments at 22, 28, 32, 36, 38 and 40 (at which point if labour hasn’t started I’ll be induced). So the only 6 week gap is between 22 and 28 weeks, after that it’s 4 weeks then 2 weeks. It seems like you’re not getting enough appointments to me.

I fell pregnant October 2018 then gave birth in summer 2019. My first appointments were around every month I think. At 28 weeks I found out I had GD. I went to the hospital for that for the diabetic midwives and I think that was monthly but towards the end was every week or two for growth scans and to book my induction which I had at 38 weeks.

After 16 weeks I had a midwife appt around every 2 weeks.

I think it's shocking tbh that they have done this to pregnant women.

@kikisparks yeah it definitely does sound that way! I fully presumed I’d have a 36 week one until I was leaving my 34 week appointment and she had booked me a date for the end of next month for the next one 🤔 I think it’s probably my hospital (or all the hospitals in my area) being really strict about visiting compared to a lot I have seen on here and they also seem to be really limiting what appointments you get

@CupOfTPlease wow that is a lot! That’s kind of what I expected by the third trimester though, definitely didn’t think you’d be going 6 weeks or a month at a time without any checks 🙈

@Sept2021xxxx no way! 🙈 That’s a very casual arrangement! I have the badger notes app and she told me to fill in the questions on that for my birth plan. Luckily I’ve done a lot of online research etc so kind of know what the options are for some things but if you didn’t have a clue I don’t know what you’d write on it 🤔 she’s phoning me at some point to discuss it but didn’t sound overly optimistic about having time anytime soon. My friend was in labour at 34 weeks so I kind of wanted to prepare before then but obviously not 🙈 no ones asked how I’m feeding either and I was considering doing colostrum harvesting but I doubt it if I’m not seeing them again til 38 weeks and they seem to encourage you to do it from 37 weeks

@sarah13xx I’ve read a few people have access to that but I didn’t get given it 😂
I don’t want a mega in depth plan just something that says id like some pain relief 🤣

My 28 week appointment wasn’t my usual midwife and I got the breast is best lecture 🤣 I was just like seriously can we just not, I don’t want to put that pressure on myself just now I’ll see how things go once baby arrives

You can buy syringes and harvest colostrum yourself, just takes a bit of practice (or another pair of hands to catch the drops).

@Sept2021xxxx the health visitor phoned me to introduce herself and said she’d see me at day 10 but she asked how I was feeding. I said bottle but would like to potentially give colostrum in the syringes if I have it. Of course she then heard breastfeeding and went off on a 20 minute speech about how formula is made in a factory and how you don’t realise when you’re pregnant but you’ll just really love this baby and want to do what’s best for them. It put me off even saying about the colostrum thing if my midwife asked (which she didn’t anyway). I think people are well aware by now of the pros and cons of the two choices. We don’t need to listen to that 🤦🏼‍♀️ I said to my friend and she said she just firmly said bottle with no doubt about it and no one has tried to push her into it. I think if you give them even a millimetre they take a mile 😂

@SwayingInTime I think that’s what I’m going to do, a bit wary about starting it at 37 weeks anyway when I’ve heard it gives some people contractions but will maybe do it from 38 weeks and see if I get anywhere with it

@sarah13xx my normal midwife handed me a leaflet at my booking appointment and said this is for breastfeeding have a look at the benefits but as long as baby is fed that’s the main thing but last week I got the whole lecture about it reducing breast and ovarian cancer but I’m just totally undecided and would rather see how things went 🙈 What date are you due?

@Sept2021xxxx I saw they had big stand up displays at the hospital the last day I was there for a scan saying about reducing the risk of cancer. I’m not going to know how I’ll feel until I physically have him in my arms to decide. Every story I hear about someone who’s up every hour during the night and is just generally miserable seems to be about someone who’s breastfeeding. I don’t feel like it’s for me right now but maybe my brain will totally flip.. who knows 😂 he’s due 10th august