Consultant appointment

[thislittlebird]

I received a consultant appointment (I’m 40 with a ivf pregnancy) today, it seems incredibly late but I have no experience of this to know what’s normal.

Can people with experience of this tell me when you normally get to see a consultant? They’re saying they’ll see me at 36 weeks in May 2024 and I have no idea if that’s right but it feels very late in the process to be making birth decisions.

Hiya, I’m also consultant led and was for my last pregnancy too however I knew from the start and had an initial appointment for both. I think it really depends on the reasons why you’re under consultant led care. My first pregnancy I saw them every hospital appointment really due to mental health (a quick 10 minute chat each time) , however this pregnancy I’ve been diagnosed with hyperthyroid secondary to Graves’ disease and my DD was also a small birth weight so from the beginning I had consultant led too.
I’ve seen endocrine clinics since around 25 weeks as that’s when I was diagnosed, however after that i didn’t see the antenatal consultants until my first growth scan with was at 32 weeks, so I basically just see the joint consultants now.

if everything is fine during your pregnancy they will wait until the 36 week mark and here they will also discuss birthing options if you haven’t already with your midwife

if any issues arise during pregnancy they will 100% being your appointment forward

hope this helps; also congratulations!! X

If anything came up I’m sure they’d see you earlier. If it’s just an appointment around the birth then 36 weeks is about right. They don’t tend to do much about the birth itself before then

If you are 40 then the appointment is probably to offer earlier induction of labour (usually offered 39/40 weeks if you are >40). Sometimes they book late so they have all the scan/ blood results etc. So no need for an earlier appointment really unless you have other problems.

Thanks for all your replies. It seems quite variable on a case by case basis, so good to know they'll make adjustments if needed. It's early yet, but the midwives told me today this is to decide when to have the baby after a 36 week scan and I can request to be referred to a birth options team when I have my sixteen week appointment. So I'm glad I asked!

@selly29 and thank you, it was a long time getting here!