Concerned I’ve slipped through the cracks?

[KellyJellyfish]

I’m 15+3 weeks pregnant with my first, due to finding out quite late (10 weeks) it’s been a bit of a rush with appointments. Luckily I had my 12 week scan on time but my first booking appointment was initially cancelled and the rescheduled phone appointment just never took place. On the day of my scan I popped into the ward to see if any midwives were about and fortunately found one who apologised and said I had slipped through the cracks and gave me me first booking appointment then and there.

since then I haven’t heard anything though, on the NHS website it says I should be having my next appointment with the midwife at 16 weeks but I haven’t heard anything from them since 12 weeks.

I also don’t have all my blood results back (taken on 18th July), I got the important ones back fortunately (T21/18/13) but the rest (blood tests for me) still all say ‘not published’ on BadgerNotes. I’m also aware it’s around this time I need to discuss whooping cough vaccine.

What should I do? Should I wait for them to contact me or should I call? And who should I call? I can contact my GP via the usual method, but the only number I have for the midwives is the emergency one for women 20+ weeks.

As this is my first I have no idea if this is normal and I just need to wait, or if this is abnormal and I need to do something.

the midwife hub number will be online

search your local nhs trust + midwives on Google and look through the results. It will be published on one of the nhs pages. If you can’t find it, call your GP and see if they have a contact.

and then you just explain to them what you have said here

Book you whooping cough at your usual gp surgery.
Ours do it rather than the midwives.

In my experience I've had to book the 16 week one myself (after that you book the following appointments there and then with the midwife)

Just ring the GP and say you need to book your 16w midwife appointment and they'll book you into the clinic.

Also, bloods they'll contact you if there's a problem or just discuss at the 16w appointment

Do you know where the community midwives in your area do their clinics? You’ll probably need to book your own 16 week appointment - a process which should have been explained at your booking but it sounds like it was a bit of a rushed job.

There is probably a process for checking and publishing blood results that has yours stuck in limbo. It sounds like they are quite short staffed so it’s probably on the bottom of the list of things to do at the moment. If anything was majorly wrong, it should have been flagged by now by the screening department (unusual antibodies, infectious diseases etc.) Seeing as you’re so close to 16 weeks, I’d probably wait until that appointment to discuss the results.

You don't need to discuss the whooping vaccination, you just book it at 16 weeks.

I’d phone the GP surgery and book it yourself. I think that’s pretty standard but probably hasn’t been explained properly to you due to the faffing in your booking in appointment. You usually get told your blood results at the 16 week appointment.

Our GP surgery also offers the Whooping Cough vaccine and we get it through them rather than the midwives doing it. No need to worry too much about it as you can get that done pretty much throughout your pregnancy once you hit 16 weeks, the only benefit to getting it done so early that I can think of is that you know you’ve had it and won’t forget to get it done.

Definitely chase up. I had to do a lot of chasing in my second pregnancy. It’s a pain but I think midwives are short staffed everywhere.

Unlike lots of others in this thread, in our area, the GP has nothing to do with antenatal appointments or whooping cough vaccine. This is all sorted directly with the midwives who run the various clinics directly and they wouldnt necessarily be held at your GP surgery, but potentially another local one. Maybe because we are in London? Anyway, if you go onto the hospital website and look up maternity services, we have a general contact number to call. It might not be on your notes but it might be on the website.

Similarly in my area GP's have nothing to do with antenatal care and whooping cough vaccine.

Find where your local community midwives work out of and phone there. If you really can't find that info maybe call maternity outpatients at the hospital and ask where you can contact community midwives.

I had my whooping cough vaccine straight after my 20 week scan at hospital so it may be similar in your area.

You can google your local midwife unit number, your gp usually won’t deal with any pregnancy related issues anymore. If there was a problem with any of your blood work you would get a phone call, otherwise they just let you k ow at your 16 week appointment. Whooping cough vaccine is booked through your GP surgery, and can be done anytime from 16-32 weeks so don’t worry about that one you have loads of time. Your 16 week appointment should have been booked at your booking in so I would give them a call.

It’s different everywhere so I would try and find a number to call.

our trust does 16 week appointment over the phone and only get the appointment time a couple days before. They tell you at 16 week appointment your results are ok, if there was any issues someone would have contacted you a few days after you had the bloods done.

I would definitely try and get in contact though to find out what your trust does as you don’t want this worry every time

Thanks all, I found a number online, they only had an answer machine but I left them a message, hopefully they get back to me!

I think you’re right and because my first booking appointment was fumbled I actually missed out on quite a lot:

(From NHS website)

Your midwife or doctor should give you information about:

• how the baby develops during pregnancy Nope
• nutrition and diet Does ‘eat healthy’ count?
• exercise and pelvic floor exercises Nope
• antenatal screening tests Yes (T21/18/13)
• your antenatal care Nope
• breastfeeding, including workshops Nope
• antenatal education Nope
• maternity benefits Nope
• your options for where to have your baby Yes

Your midwife or doctor should:

• give you your handheld notes and plan of care Nope
• see if you may need additional care or support Nope
• plan the care you'll get throughout your pregnancy Nope
• identify any potential risks associated with any work you may do Nope but not relevant
• measure your height and weight, and calculate your body mass index (BMI) Yes
• measure your blood pressure and test your urine for protein Yes for blood pressure, Nope for urine test
• find out whether you're at increased risk of gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia Nope
• offer you screening tests and make sure you understand what's involved before you decide to have any of them Unsure
• offer you an ultrasound scan at 11 to 14 weeks to estimate when your baby is due Yes had same day
• offer you an ultrasound scan at 18 to 21 weeks to check the physical development of your baby and look for 11 rare conditions Yes 20 week scan booked
• ask about your mood to assess your mental health Yes but needs more discussion due to medical history and family history on PNP
• ask about any past or present severe mental illness or psychiatric treatment Yes briefly

And no mention of the need for me to book future appointments, oh dear looks like I missed a lot lol

@KellyJellyfish an app called BadgerNotes has replaced the handheld notes in the majority of places now. At your booking appointment they should have asked you a lot of medical questions about yourself and family history. That’s how they asses your risks for things like GD and pre eclampsia. Most of the information used to be given in leaflets but again now it is all on the BadgerNotes app for you to read, as is your care plan.

Most of those questions would have been answered for the midwives at your booking appointment. You’ve had booking, 12 week scan and screening tests done which at this stage is the same almost have. You do need a 16 appointment booked in so contact the midwives to get that booked in. You should also have a 20 week scan so get that booked in too. Then you will have caught up.