16 week midwife appointment

[Beautyangel1]

Hi,

Just wondering what happens at a 16 week midwife appointment.

Will they listen to the baby's heartbeat?

It seems so long of a wait in between the 12 week and 20 week scan!

Some do but many trusts don't as it's unreliable to find at 16 weeks. They'll just dip your urine, might checks your bloods and go through the 20 week scan with you to ask if you want it or now, not everyone asks for screening. They might weigh you also x

They did at mine - plus urine and BP

At mine with both pregnancies they let you hear the babies heartbeat. There was some paperwork to, blood pressure check etc.

They will check your blood pressure and urine and perhaps talk to you about the whooping cough vaccination etc.
At 16 weeks they don’t usually check the heartbeat as it can be hard to find but I requested my midwife do it due to previous losses. She was happy to do it but with the caveat that she might not find it and it doesn’t mean anything is wrong and they can’t refer you for a scan at that stage as it’s not unusual.
I already knew all that and wanted her to have a listen as if she couldn’t find anything I would have booked a private scan but that’s due to my past.
Your midwife might have a listen if you specifically ask but will just make you aware the baby can be hiding away still at 16 weeks!

My health board your 16 week appointment is a quick 5 minute phone call which I'm not happy about. I'm 12 weeks and saw a midwife at my scan on Thursday and then that's me until 22 weeks and they do a house visit so don't really do any checks on me... just the house 😂🤦‍♀️

I had my 17 week appointment last week, it was just blood pressure,urine check and whooping cough vaccination. Next appointment at 24 weeks is where they'll start listening to and measuring baby

At my 16 week appointment with my dd (in lockdown) midwife listened to the appointment I'm now 24 weeks with my second child and the midwife listened to the heartbeat at my 16 week appointment this time too.

Had to provide a urine sample, blood pressure discussed previous labour and birth, referral to consultant and birth options clinic (due to previous emcs).

Listened to heart beat at mine too!

I'm a midwife and I offer to auscultate the heartbeat at 16 weeks

Thanks everyone

@littlemissalwaystired so can I request this?

I just had mine (I was actually only 15 weeks, I had it a bit early) and we listened to the heart beat. But she made it very clear it was ‘just for fun’ and she couldn’t guarantee we’d find it especially as my uterus is still quite low. She did find it though.
Otherwise just general urine sample, talked through blood results, carbon monoxide test, check blood pressure etc. It’s not a very exciting appointment!

NICE guidelines recommended they dont has very unlikely they can hear heartbeat at 16 weeks, however the guidelines state they can listen at maternals request 😊 i requested it as i was anxious and midwife did it... She couldn't hear the heart beat for good few minutes then did hear it a little.. So i would ask them if u want to listen 💕

My trust don't listen in until the 25 week appointment, or 28 week appointment if you're a multip. You can request it at 16 weeks, they can also say no.

16 week appt is urinalysis, BP, go through blood results, ensure you have anomaly scan booked, discuss vaccinations and other health promotion topics, then also ensure you have relevant contact numbers etc.

Mine was blood pressure, urine dip and booked the rest of my appointments up until the end. Oh and carbon monoxide test. I asked about trying for the heartbeat but she said no. Didn't go through bloods/screening results just said I have a normal blood type.

For us the 16 week appointment is mainly for information giving and making appropriate referrals ie GTT, Anti-D, social support.

I don't offer to listen in as like pp said we can't refer for a scan/to the assessment unit if we don't find it, and I'd rather not make women more anxious.

My midwife offered to listen to the heartbeat. She did warn me that if she couldn’t find it she wouldn’t be able to refer me for a scan, but said she was confident she could find it. And she did, straight away.

Then as others said, urine dip, blood pressure, general chat, etc.

Mine also was just urine dip, BP and general chat about if I was feeling ok etc. booked whooping cough vaccine. She wasn’t going to listen to heartbeat but I had my 10 year old with me so asked so she could hear it. She agreed without a problem but did say she might not find it and they don’t usually do it this early. She found it easily though

It's all very trust dependent - I listened in at 16 weeks this week, couldn't find the heartbeat and the reg did a scan there and then but that's often not the case, I just happened to be based in the hospital and there was the loveliest doctor on. I play it by ear and have a frank discussion with the woman. There's a big difference between auscultation on someone with a BMI of 20 vs 45 when the baby is so little.

It will vary hugely by trust. In my trust they always check heartbeat at 16 weeks and if they can't find it they send you straight to the hospital for a scan. This happened to me a few weeks ago, all fine, baby just curled up. But some trusts won't listen for heartbeat so will depend where you live