Due March 2023 - thread 3

[TeddyBeans]

New thread for ladies due Feb/March 2023.

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They’ve mentioned covid booster to me a couple of times, but when I asked about booking it they just said I’d need to wait until I was invited to have it. So does it still just come about by age group?
Called GP today to schedule the other jabs but they confirmed that they’re not doing and covid boosters.
I think I’ll have to just turn up and see which vaccine they have on the day and decide on the spot. I wouldn’t want to risk the side effects from last time (tachycardia). 😔

@iratepirate I tried to book through the GP and they only had one clinic day which coincided with my 20 week scan and other plans that day.
So I booked on NHS website for a pharmacy near me - www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

@iratepirate I'm not sure if they'll roll it out by age group in time. but right now you can have it if you're +65 or pregnant or have certain medical conditions. I.e. they're starting with the most vulnerable again and pregnant ladies count in that category.

@iratepirate you just have to book through the NHS website. You tick the box saying you're pregnant and it should let you book now. No waiting for age brackets or anything. I could choose between my hospital and local pharmacies.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

Thank you @LittleAcorn20 I didn’t realise. I’ll have a look. Booking midwife just said “shouldn’t be too long until they’re onto your age group” so I was just going to wait 🙈

Thank you for that @LittleAcorn20 all booked now.

@Bobduncan I’m also 15 weeks and about day 7 of COVID. No I just received a notification through the badger app saying to book in for a booster and then I had to go online and book in over the NHS website.

This might be a silly first time mum question (sorry!) but how is everyone able to get in touch with their midwife so easily? I haven’t been allocated anyone specific (so haven’t got a phone number besides the hospital emergency one) and have been told to just use the badger app for making notes to read out at my next midwife appointment. But there is no communication channel in between appointments, so I haven’t been able to tell midwife about my COVID or any other problems I’ve been having. I thought that was normal but I might be missing a trick?

I haven’t been assigned to one yet either @MattyM5 its just blank in that part of the app.
CoulD you try calling the maternity unit / midwife unit if your hospital has one and ask them from there? Do you have a 16wk apt with midwife booked? Ours is done thru GP surgery.

Got my 16 week appointment today, I don’t see the point because they don’t listen for the heartbeat in this trust so it’s basically just urine test and blood pressure

@Room4onemore and what if ur blood pressure was high or there was protein in your urine? There would be a point to it then. Midwifes have to make sure u are well throughout ur pregnancy as well as baby

@laurenfeelingsick i have a consultant appointment this week as well

@Room4onemore my midwife also talked me through upcoming appointments, antenatal classes, numbers to contact if needing assistance and I also picked up my notes. I'd rather have too many appointments than 2 few tbh

I didnt get a 16 week app because im consultant led every hosp is different theres probably a reason they need to give you one.

I was processed a bit late to have the 16wk midwife apt. They told me at booking not to bother with it as there wasn’t anything important they’d do in that one which they wouldn’t cover that day. But I can see the sense in the 16wk if it’s been a few weeks since your last apt.

Hiya,
I've just had a shitty appointment with the consultant. This is baby number 5 for me. Baby 1 was premature and low birth weight. I've since had 3 babies born at home no complications- two of them weighed 7lbs 3, the other 7lbs 9. However because of baby 1 I've always had to have extra scans towards the end, but have still been considered low risk.

The consultant told me ive had 2 low birth weight babies. I said no just the one, and she got really stroppy with me and said "I know my job you've had two". I asked which two and apparently according to a new growth system they have just started using my third baby (7lbs 3 - born at 41+1) is considered low birth weight when he hasn't ever been before - he's almost 5!!

She said because of the new system and my history of supposedly multiple small babies I am now considered a high risk pregnancy and in her words "will not be allowed a home birth". She's also booked me in for the glucose test even though she said my BMI was fine and I've never had any previous issues. No idea why I would need that.

She was really rude and abrupt with me.
I do no that actually I can give birth where ever the hell I want, and if I decide to have another home birth I don't need her permission and they have a duty of care to send a midwife out to me. However I can already tell she will make it difficult.

I was completely blind sighted and she pretty much had a go at me every time I asked a question as if I should have known all the information already.

A hospital birth won't work for me at all, unless it's an elective c section. I give birth very quickly - generally around the 45minute to an hour mark from first contraction.
One of the main reasons I have always opted for home births is because there's no way I'd get to the hospital in time. If I go into Labour when DH is at work by the time he got home the baby would be almost out, let alone sorting out childcare and getting to the hospital which is 30 minutes away on a good day - but traffic can be mental considering its literally next to a football stadium.

Her attitude was crappy. I didn't even mention the spotting yesterday because she completely threw me.

I'm seeing my MW tomorrow so will talk it all through properly and ask more questions.

Anyone have a clue why I would need the glucose test if my BMI is considered fine, and I have no history of diabetes?

Sorry for long post just feel really deflated.

@alotoftutus oh I'm so sorry the consultant treated you that way. That's awful! Could you make a complaint about them to help yourself/ others going forwards?

Just been she said she didn’t see the need to see me as I have everything the same done and more with the consultant

@alotoftutus the glucose test is just a test. I would see it as a benefit to you to have more things checked 🤷‍♀️

@alotoftutus wow what a shitty appointment! Hope your midwife is better at actually listening to you tomorrow. I was under the impression that everyone got a GTT at 28 weeks regardless of their BMI. I had one at 12 weeks and will have another at 28 weeks because of high BMI and family history of diabetes/gestational diabetes

@alotoftutus ahh i also had a rude consultant app. Im worried about the same things my Dp works nights i love 30 mins from the closest person i can drop my kids to and then another 45 mins to hospital. I was told no home birth (never had one before) and not aloud in birthing centre.

Oh yikes those consultant appointments sound stress inducing! Sorry to hear they both weren't very helpful not what you go in expecting!

@alotoftutus That appointment sounds awful, so sorry you were treated like that.

I know some Trusts do the glucose test as standard if you're 35 or over. Not sure if you are. You can query it though. I was referred for one with my first baby and when I asked why (after agonising about all the chocolate I'd been eating) it turned out I'd been mistakenly referred because someone had ticked the wrong box for my ethnicity!

These consultants sound like nightmares! I have my first appt on Friday and I'm getting a bit worried. I've had 2 c sections, gestational diabetes in my last pregnancy and my first was 10lb5....going in telling them I want a vba2c in the midwife unit should be fun 😂😂

@TeddyBeans I don't think everyone has one as standard, I didn't in my first pregnancy. I think it's dependent on your risk factors for developing it e.g. BMI, family history, ethnicity etc.
I hope I don't have to have one this time again, it sounds really nasty 🤮

@alotoftutus what a horrible appt, that sounds so negative. I hope you've had chance to calm down now and like you say speaking to your midwife will be good for a second opinion. I'm sure you can maybe request to change consultants or at least raise a complaint at the way your appt was handled via PALs at the hospital. I had a lovely consultant in first pregnancy. Got my first appt this time round on 31st Oct (I'll be 22.5 weeks so seems quite late but 🤷‍♀️). Hope they're nice.
If you feel happy to share your experience of homebirth, I'd love to hear it. Our hospital is 35/40mins away and I'm terrified of the car travel (didn't have to do it last time as I went in pre-contractions for unexplained bleeding and stayed in for monitoring). My labour was short with my daughter. Did you hire a pool? What did you do with your other children during the labour? Have them at home or send them to family/friend to look after?

@LittleAcorn20 fair! I didn't know any different tbh. It's not the most pleasant test but I found the drink was actually more palatable this time round than the old style super strength caprisun ones from when I was pregnant with DS