Has anyone COMPLETELY foregone ante-natal treatment?

[expatinscotland]

I reside in a rural area of Western Scotland - Argyll.

Last year, I became pregnant and the treatment was truly appalling - I've had two children in NHS Lothian/Edinburgh.

I suffered a missed miscarriage, and the treatment only made matters worse.

I saw a total of about 8 different midwives at the two hospitals where women in this area have a choice of giving birth and every one of them were horrible.

My own GP even said he hates crossing paths with the midwives here.

Now I am pregnant again, and tbh, I'd get better, more compassionate treatment from most jakeys I've met in pubs around here.

Has anyone just not told their surgery they were pregnant at all?

The game plan is to have a private scan in Edinburgh at 8 weeks and 20 weeks - no GP referral required at one clinic I've checked with there.

Then to go and stay with my SIL in Edinburgh at 37 weeks until the baby's born.

I'll just go to my old surgery as soon as I get there (DH won't be able to join me straightaway because of work and DD1's being in school, so I'll have SIL and MIL as company during the birth) and give birth at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

I'm 37 and this is my fifth pregnancy (I've had two miscarriages in the past).

If anything starting going wrong with this pregnancy, I'd as soon take my life in my hands and drive through to Glasgow than set foot in Inverclyde Hospital (I've lodged a formal complaint against them) or Royal Alexandra.

I can't see a problem with what you have suggested, except blood tests for iron levels that sort of thing.

Congratulations btw Not sure how I missed that one!

i can see why you would want to forgo antenatal care

the two things that would make me think twice about doing so are this:

regular BP and urine checks are important to pick up things like pre eclampsia and gestational diabetes

and palpation to find out the lie of the baby, although i suppose once you arrive at hsopital in labour, they will palpate you and find out what is what......

altough i guess if you felt unwell you could go to a&e or doctor's surgery

not something i would personally be comfortable with , but i can see why you would want to do so.

could you come to some sort of arrangement with your GP, that he or a practice nurse could do the checks for pre-eclampsia/diabetes later on in in PG? as other than getting monitored for PE/GD I don't see anything more that mws would be likely to do.

And sorry you are put in this position by inadequate treatment.

Thanks, possie.

I had anaemia whilst pregnant with DD2, but I could tell because I was just so tired.

I think I'll just stick with our plan.

I've never had that triple test with either girl and wouldn't have it this time round, either, since we'd continue with the pregnancy no matter what and anything like anencephaly should be picked up at the 20 weeks scan - which they don't offer here, anyhow.

I know I don't have HIV or Hep C, either, I just got tested for that again when I went for ERPC in December privately, and I'm Rh positive.

I just have zero trust in the excuse for antenatal trust here. None at all.

My confidence is non existent.

I never even know such excuses for competence existed.

is there no way of your gp doing your antenatal checks? does he have to refer you onto a midwife.

What is your GP like? If he's said he hates crossing paths with the MWs he may be happy to do all your ANn care (or is there a practice nurse?) TBH, they don't do a lot at the checks do they?

See, the problem is I don't even want to tell the GP in case they refer you to the midwives here.

I bet you can get a supply of those p*ss-on testing sticks and do those yourself. I remember with DS1 they actually expected mothers to check the colours on a chart before their AN appointments at the hospital!

I love our two GPs, though. They're terrific!

Even if they refer you, you can just ignore anything they send.

yes, I agree with soupy. tho could get awkward if mws in expats area do home visits!

Explain everything to your GP then. If they know the history and think the midwives are sh*te they may be more than happy to accommodate you.

that's true, soupy!

the policy here is that, even if you do a hundred home tests, they still make you submit a urine sample to the surgery and then send it across the water to a lab to verify you're pregnant.

then, when i had spotting, the first thing the cow midwife at hospital asked me was, 'are you pregnant?'

why the fuck do you think i'm here, you dozy bint?

i said, yes.

she had, how do you know?

wtf? i should have walked out right there.

i've met more competent tramps.

expat, im sure that if you explained to gp he would do all your antenatal care for you. you dont have to do anything you dont want to. although iirc you have a tilted uterus dont you?

They can't make you do anything - with BabyDragon I refused to have a GlucoseTT because I knew I'd fail it and be herded into hospital appointments and refused my homebirth. I "cheated" my way through the urine tests too.

LOL @ "iirc you have a tilted uterus dont you" Do you think we know too much about each other on here??

How about going to your GP to discuss the hypothetical possibility of a future pregnancy and whether they were willing to provide care without involving midwives? If you don't like what they say you could decide to go your own way?

All my antenatal care was done with GP (except booking in and scans) I really didn't have an y MW contact throughout.
I dont know if this is something you can request as it seems it was a consequence of miscommunication with the hospital/surgery and my naivety re what care to expect.
It certainly didn't do me any harm.

lol soupy, you may be right!

I'd much rather have either of my GPs!

Thankfully, they don't do a lot of tests up here that they do in England, it seems.

I did tell my GP after my m/c that next time I'd not be having a baby at either of those hospitals and he said he didn't blame me at all and that it was no problem to go elsewhere.

And now as I know I can stay with SIL, that's that part sorted.

How do you cheat on urine tests?

let your Gp know, Expat. He, being nice, wouldn't insist, knowing the history, would he ? If so, insist yourself.
I don't know if you can forego, but I too would like to. Kings College hospital always want me to 'pop up and see them', and it doesn't matter how many times I comment that it is an almost 6 hr round trip, plus waiting to be actually seen, they don't see this as important.

Oh, yes, I've had 'pop round', too. Um, you're 1.5 hours away by car and nearly 3 hours by bus/ferry/train/bus.

I was specifically cheating on the glucose part of the test so I stopped eating all sugary foods and drank stacks of water before producing my sample. I did overdo the water on one occasion which flagged up some other thing on the test. Glucose never cropped up at all though I guess it could have been because there wasn't a problem but it had cropped up in both previous pregnancies so I put it down to cheating.

hi expat, remember you from the due in july thread, glad to see you're preg again.

I would advise you to go to your GP. if, as you say, you trust him/her, tell them what you have told us. no GP can refer you without your permission, or do blood/urine tests etc without your consent.

if anything, if you want, they can refer you to the hospital of your choice, so at least they have your past records. and your GP can do simple antenatal care, BP, urine, doppler for heart beat etc. don't think practice nurses are covered indemnity wise.

your plan should be ok, but what if??....

..good luck. XX

what about an independant MW? I think they cost around £4000 for the whole pregnancy/postnatal care. Just worth a mention.

You can see your GP for all of your AN care and have a home birth; or indeed go elsewhere nearer the time.