Babies due April 2023 Thread 6

[Skylark1990]

Just starting a new thread for everyone 💕💙

@Releasethehoundss youre in the States aren’t you? Here they do the ‘triple test’ - they take the hcg and Papp A blood readings, your age, the NT measurement and use it to calculate your ‘odds’. Anything more likely than 1 in 150 and the NHS will do the NIPT but it’s a bit rubbish as ‘chances’ are just that - someone has to be the 1 in 1000 don’t they? My odds were good at 1 in 2300 but I want a definitive answer, for my own peace of mind. that’s the issue with NHS care - it’s ‘one pathway for all’ and there’s not a lot of choice if you don’t like what you’re given.

Thank you ladies for clearing up that confusion...

@Cuppasoupmonster yea I'm in the states. I understand that funding is an issue but the health of pregnancies and families is paramount. It seems like you'd need to have high(er) risk factors to get it done on NHS, but what about those people with no risk factors, young, no previous history etc. who go on to have late term findings of life expectancy altering/limiting congenital defects. It seems like there should he a more inclusive way to screen everyone who wants it.. But who am I to talk, we don't even have maternity pay.. Unless you've saved up to stay home, have a partner that works so you can, or work in an undustry where maternity pay is an incentive of the job, then after 6 weeks (8-12 if you have medical reasons) you have to go back to work. If you dont, then you have no money, plus your employer can give your position to someone else... The regulation is governed by the federal government and is dependent upon the size of the company/corporation, but there is absolutely no gov funded maternity/paternity pay across the board. 🙄

@Releasethehoundss i think here it's more that people expect everything to be free on the NHS. We don't pay for health insurance and births don't cost us a penny. I think we're pretty lucky really that the only cost of pregnancy is optional things like NIPT and private scans. But it would be great if NIPT was available free for everyone on the NHS soon.

🙄 I typed a whole ass response @Cuppasoupmonster and the website went berserk, and my response disappeared.. Lame. Anyway, I was only going to say its so weird to think of NOT paying for healthcare... So many people here go without because they aren't in employment that offers healthcare and they cannot afford private plans.. We had to go all the way to D.C for a hearing so my husband could keep his insurance after he got sick and was being forced out of the military after almost 19 years... They wanted to wave him out the door with sweet fuck all... If we hadn't been able to keep his insurance he would not be able to afford his meds which are a few thousand a month... Lunacy 🙄.

@Releasethehoundss theres ups and downs to NHS care vs the insurance models in other countries. I’m part of a few pregnancy Facebook groups with USA members and it baffles me to see them ‘recruiting’ for an obstetrician or midwife - here you just get allocated one! But the upside is it doesn’t cost us a penny, unless add ons like private scans and NIPT. And the triple test catches the majority of Down’s syndrome pregnancies. Of course when I say ‘doesn’t cost a penny’ it’s funded through tax but to be honest I doubt I pay enough in tax to cover all my medical expenses as I’m a relatively low earner with numerous medical conditions.

@Pommy1 congratulations 🥹🥰 my best friend had her gender scan today too and she is also having a girl!! What a good news day xx

Plus, if you do have a baby with medical conditions the NHS will treat them, so there is that way of looking at it as well.

@Releasethehoundss that is totally normal medical report writing language. Doctors/medical people, especially the non clinical specialties, say things like clinical correlation advised, or consistent with, to cover themselves because almost nothing is 100% but I’d read that as pretty much certain.

@Cuppasoupmonster that is so good. Here there are some resources for families with children with disabilities, but not many. I remember we used to have bake sales to help pay towards the cost of my husband's former coworker because even the military insurance didn't pay for some of the things the child needed. And this child could not even breathe unaided or sit up. The entire command was always taking up collections and things of the sort to help the family so the child could even get the type of wheelchair they needed... That's when I found out there is a life time 'cap' on benefits for insurance through the military... I was shocked to learn the family had already reached that cap! And the child was elementary school aged!

@Lapin387 thank you. I am understanding that now 🤦 y'all already know I'm not the brightest when it comes to medical terms 😂. Of thst report, i understood the date and the name of the lab that processed the blood work and nothing else 😭

Ladies who gave my advice last night re the NIPT I just want to say thank you all so much, I went and got it today and feel very much like it was the right thing to do. The lady ended up messing me about a bit (not intentionally at all) and I had to go back later today so to say sorry she gave me a free scan and it was so amazing 😭 she talked through everything with me, showed me so much more and I have the most
gorgeous video of baby waving!! She also said if she had to bet on it she’d say boy but still a bit early to tell. We’ll know next week from the NIPT anyway!

@Skylark1990 I’m on it but haven’t posted on it, weirdly I find it harder to follow and I don’t recognise peoples names!

@Pommy1 I’m absolutely over the moon about your NIPT results and congrats on your gorgeous girl!

Has anyone booked onto an NCT class yet? I feel like it's too early to book onto one (I'm 13 weeks), but don't want all the places to go!

@AliceinSlumberland your scan sounds amazing! how lovely.

I haven't heard from my hospital so I think that means it isn't bad news, just need to wait for the letter now to find out the risk.

@appleandcheese i have! They get booked quickly in my area so wanted to make sure we got onto the one we wanted :) nice to have something ticked off too

@Skylark1990

oops sorry @Skylark1990 mumsnet went really weird there, don't know what that's about!

I meant to reply to @appleandcheese
I thought about booking an NCT course as I didn't do one last time and I've recently moved house and don't know anyone here. But I thought it might be a bit weird if I'm not a first time mum, plus we have no evening childcare so wouldn't both be able to go. So it seemed a bit pointless! I'll just have to stalk baby groups and latch onto a group of mums instead!

@Springblooms08 Good to know, thank you! I think I just needed some encouragement 😂

@ancienthouse the NCT website says they do refresh courses, so may be worth looking at those? I was hoping it would introduce me to some locals mums too, as can never have too much of a support network.

@appleandcheese I thought about it but wasn’t sure as I’m having an ELCS so wasn’t sure it was worth sitting through all the other birth stuff. Did a search and they don’t even do them in my area anyway so that’s that 😂

@AliceinSlumberland I guess that makes the decision for you then haha!

Thanks all, just booked. ☺️

I’m not doing an antenatal course this time, mainly because of money - they’re a couple of hundred quid I think? I might do a hypnobirthing type course though and I’m quite sociable so will probably suggest a WhatsApp group if there are any mums that seem friendly!

I did NCT last time and it was great for meeting a good group. For birth prep I found the hypnobirthing course best, as well as reading a couple good books.

I have a few mum friends nearby who are also pregnant or have had babies and will be off for part of the time I am, so grateful I'll have a few friends dotted around while I'm on mat leave again who are in a similar position! Baby groups are also great for meeting new mums.

Plus once we are a bit further along we can do our WhatsApp group and be a support for eachother online at least and you never know, perhaps some of us are relatively near to eachother!

Evening ladies, i was going to start teaching everyone but incase I miss anyone I will say a HUGE collective thanks to everyone who has chatted to me since joining, chewed the fat most days and showed themselves to be wonderful humans. I was genuinely eager to get online to let you guys know that the NIPT results were low risk, and that we are having a little girl. I don’t have blood related family around, and we haven’ttokd many folk due to being such a high risk pregnancy. The effort you guys put in is awesome.

Thank you to everyone who has shared the love, but especially today ✨✨

Oh I was also thinking pregnancy yoga would be a good place to meet people!

Have yet to find a good pregnancy yoga course near me tho