Midwife checking heartbeat at 16 week

[GemLooper]

Hi all. Looking for experiences of 16 week check up and whether midwife did/didn't check heartbeat. Anyone's midwife refuse to check?

Mine did. It took about 5 minutes to locate him. I just remember watching the clock and watching the tress move in the wind. I never felt so panicked in my life until that moment.

Thankfully she did find the heartbeat. I wanted to cry with relief.

Mine did- but it was a few years ago now!

No, hasn't been mentioned yet. Apparently I'll be 28wks next time I'll get to see her again which seems a long time to wait for a high risk pregnancy - I'd already been hospitalised by that point in my first pregnancy :(
I have my 20wk scan next week so hopefully will make me feel a little better about how it's going.

With DD midwives checked for heartbeat at every appointment from 20 weeks. With DS she checked at 16 week appointment but did explain that she may not be able to find the heartbeat, it did take her a while but she found it in the end. With current pregnancy the midwife asked if I wouldn't mind the trainee midwife trying to find the heartbeat at 16 week appointment. I didn't mind as I could feel baby moving away so wasn't worried if they couldn't find it. In the end it took trainee midwife ten minutes of attempts to find it and then the main midwife found it after a minute of trying.

I’m a midwife. The nice guidelines say we should not listen to the fh routinely. The reasoning behind this is that it has no diagnostic or predictive value…..simply tells you there’s a heartbeat at that moment. there have been cases where women have had reduced fetal movement but not reported it because they were reassured that the heartbeat was heard at an appt the previous day.

I do get that argument but feel it’s also quite paternalistic. Women are generally intelligent enough that if this is explained to them they will understand and act appropriately. 🤷‍♀️

I wasn't sure whether my midwife would listen for it at my 16 week appointment but she did & found the heartbeat immediately. Like literally she put the Doppler on my stomach & immediately there was a heartbeat. Didn't warn me there could be a potential difficulty to hearing it, but I was aware of it anyway because I've talked myself out of buying a Doppler for this reason.
Tbh I was a little surprised it was so easy & now wondering if it was actually the baby's heartbeat!

The midwife has listened to the heartbeat with the Doppler at each of my scans from 16 weeks but it looks as though this varies wildly from trust to trust.

Just wanted to update with my experience. I had my 16 week check today (at 16+3) and she checked the heartbeat but couldn't find it. I had felt very noticeable movements (it's my second pregnancy) at 15 weeks and none since so she was trying to check heartbeat to give me reassurance. Luckily the MAU were happy to see me straight away (midwife did say that some won't scan at 16 weeks simply for no detectable heartbeat as it's quite unreliable). Got a scan straight away and everything was fine.

I’m glad you were seen for a scan. Where I work we’re strictly told not to listen in routinely for the fh partly due to this. The early pregnancy unit wouldn’t accept a referral if we couldn’t find the fh at 16 weeks so you’d have to wait till your anomaly scan to find out if everything was ok which would be a stressful few weeks.

My 16 week appointment is telephone only so I don't expect I will get to hear a heartbeat!

I'm a community midwife. I don't check for a fetal heart at 16 weeks as you are more likely to not pick it up than you are to be able to. It causes unnecessary stress and worry for women when you can't find it (or it takes a while). It doesn't tell you anything other than at that moment there is a heartbeat. It also puts massive strain on an already unfortunately overstretched service when you can't find it, as you then have to act on it because of the woman's distress.
The doppler probe has to sit over the back of the fetus to pick up the fetal heart. The fetus is so small at that gestation, can you imagine how difficult it can be? You can struggle to pick it up at 25 weeks, sometimes you can struggle at term if baby is in a difficult position. It is good luck if you can get it at 16 weeks, particularly if a woman has a raised bmi or other variation in physical anatomy (such as fibriods, bicornate uterus etc).

We don't auscultate at 16 weeks due to the possibility of not being able to find it.

If we couldn't find it, at my trust triage and EPU wouldn't see you just because we couldn't find the FH. So you'd then be left worried. Triage and EPU then tell us off for trying to find the FH which creates more unnecessary work for them doing reassurance scans.

That sounds quite cold and clinical, I'd love to listen in for everyone, but I don't love the anxiety it can cause women.

I'm 17 weeks and 3 days today, I just had my midwife this morning and she checked babies heartbeat. I'm a plus size mumma and heard it perfectly. Some will and some won't. My midwife told me from my first appointment she will be checking babies heart beat at 16 weeks as I've had previous losses. I suffer from depression, anxiety and ptsd from losses so she likes to give me that extra reassurance between scans ♥️

Ours do 18 week appointments not 16 and they do.

Mine didn't, she said they didn't check so early so I assume it's a Trust by Trust difference. I did have a private scan the same week and heard the heartbeat there so I wasn't as bothered as I might have been otherwise!

I didnt get heartbeat at midwife until my 24 week appointment

@covidcorvid

I’m not a midwife but I agree that seems paternalistic - I think women are more than capable of understanding the limitations of the Doppler checks!