30 weeks no movement

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Hello!
I haven't felt movement regularly at all throughout this pregnancy. I can maybe feel the baby move once a week if I am lucky.
I had a emergency scan at 25 weeks when I brought it up and all is well and saw the midwife who said weekly checks on the heartbeat was the way to go to monitor that everything is ok. I've also had a extra growth scan and all is well.

I'm now at 30 weeks and went for my regular fetal heart rate check today and the midwife kept saying to me I should really go to hospital if I can't feel anything or anything has changed but in all honesty nothing much has changed in the last 5 weeks. I have a anterior placenta which is thought to be the reason why I can't feel the baby and even on the scan the baby moved and I still could not feel anything.

The midwife today kept saying that really we shouldn't be doing weekly checks anymore that I should just call the hospital (a 45 minute drive from the community hospital) and to go when things feel different or movements change. But I'm baffled, I can't feel movement so she is basically saying I should take a chance and just hope that baby is fine and growing? Not sure if I should insist on weekly appointments now when it was their idea in the first place! I should say it's a different midwife I saw today from my usual

Any thoughts? Has anyone been in this situation before ? Would you just stop going weekly and just hope all is well? I feel a little bit like I'm being ridiculous and should just will the baby to be doing well and wait for my usual routine appointments to check growth and just pray all is well?

I would, and did, go every single time.

Every time I was anxious, every time the movements changed. Every time.

The midwives were great and fully supported me.

If you are worried go get checked.

If you aren't feeling your baby move please phone triage and go to hospital to be monitored if they tell you to

Ah I should say they literally just heard the heartbeat so they know all is well, I just don't really understand the ongoing plan particularly.

When I spoke to the hospital about it at 25 weeks, they said that some people don't feel the babies at all and that weekly checks would be offered but this midwife seemed to be saying I shouldn't bother was all. I don't have any concerns about the baby right now, they are being monitored every week since week 25.

If you don't want to go weekly and get checked, or when you realise you've not felt baby move for X days, then it is your choice.

But you have to understand the risks and consequences.

I was exactly the same. The midwife was adamant baby would get in a pattern but never did.

Definitely ring up to check but it's always worth getting seen.

No I don't think you understand, I want to go weekly but the midwife is saying perhaps I don't bother as her advice! I don't really know what to do about it.

I am 100 per cent saying I would prefer to get checked every week but this midwife was really pushing me to not bother but I don't understand if there can be any other plan

Ah sorry, I did get it wrong. Just go in and say you need clarity.

Thank you so much for this. I will keep pushing them to do the weekly checks, the midwife just got me really paranoid just then that I was being completely unreasonable

I had an anterior with my first and I was in and out the hosp getting checked constantly.

From what you've said, I take it that your MW is saying to stop the weekly checks of heartbeat and to get checked at hospital instead.

Yes your right, thanks so much. I'll have a proper chat with them about it all at my next appointment and really push for them to make a plan.

I had an anterior with my first and never had a pattern of movement. I was constantly at the hospital! He was totally fine, but please just make sure you go to the hospital if you're ever worried x

I'd be saying no to that suggestion and that you want weekly checks and push however much you need to. You're not being unreasonable at all. I do wonder if she was saying that you need to get a more thorough check regularly at the larger hospital instead though.

Listening to the baby's heartbeat only tells you that the baby is OK at that precise moment in time. It has no predictive value. So it's useful in cases where a woman normally feels regular movements but hasn't felt them as normal today. Because if the baby is ok, it's likely that after listening to the heartbeat, she will soon feel the regular movements again and have that reassurance going forward that the baby is still OK.
In your case, if you normally only feel movement on a Monday (I realise it won't be this regular, but for the sake of argument), and they listen to the heartbeat on a Tuesday, there's no way for you or anyone else to know how the baby is doing on Wednesday, Thursday... until the next Monday when you feel another movement.
In your case I think a weekly scan would be more useful, in that they could at least look at the placental function and blood flow to the baby and provide you with some reassurance to cover you for a few days going forward until you hopefully feel some movement.
Have you had any obstetric input, or are you under a midwife-led team?

I’d go weekly.

I wouldn’t personally report to triage for reduced movements if they haven’t reduced and you’re not really feeling anything, but that’s probably informed by my hospital having a three-strikes policy. You should always go if you’re worried. It must be really stressful to not have much of a baseline to compare to, and I’d want the weekly checks to make sure all was fine.

Just remember it's your baby, not theirs. Some midwives just don't care. I was crying as I'd not felt my baby move and they couldn't find the heartbeat. She was such a cow to me. It was only by sheer fluke that the baby hung on and the sonographer the next day was excellent otherwise I wouldn't be shopping for his birthday gift now.

They're very unlikely to give a weekly scan and resources are stretched enough.

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Op, do you get a ctg? Maybe they think that'll be more useful.

What's the 3 strikes rule?

Some midwives get it wrong.

I had 2 at a 18 week check up tell me it's normal not to find a heart beat at that gestation.

A private scan later confirmed my baby had been gone for 10 days.

A dear friend of mine told me, when I had my first, you're their mum, you know best!

That niggle of doubt you feel inside you, that’s your mother’s intuition developing. Never be afraid to ask for help, seek out the checks you need. Better to go and be told all is fine than to risk it and miss something.
If you want to maintain your weekly reviews / checks, maintain them.

Sounds like that midwife’s opinion is off on this one - I wouldn’t listen to that and just strongly state you want the weekly check. Your baby your say. I’m 28 weeks and have seen 3 different midwives now or my normal checks ups (and more for other appointments) - their calibre varied massively! One could not have been more experienced and lovely, another I cried in the car after the appointment because she just didn’t listen to a word I said - thankfully she was just temp cover. So if you disagree with what yours is saying, you’re not hysterical, you’re allowed to not agree & have a say in your care. And frankly they should not be pressurising you to give up those appointments. You also have a right to a second opinion on NHS. Well done! Not an easy one to navigate!

See I would take it that the midwife is more advising you to go and get checked properly everytime rather than rely on a once a week check with her?

I read that as the midwife saying that you should go in to the hospital triage for ctg checks now whenever you feel not happy with the movements. The midwife only has a snapshot with listening to the heartbeat, that doesn’t check anything else than that 30 seconds in time. A ctg can pick up the baby’s heart rate, pattern, make sure it passes the checks, see how much they are moving and you being more conscious of movements. They can be anything from 15 minutes to an hour. If you are still not happy at the end or if the ctg doesn’t pass they may offer to redo the ctg, to admit you or ask you to go back the next day/week etc.

Ctg’s are likely the better option for you at 30 weeks. I went in with my son for it, and also in this pregnancy I went in at 30 weeks because I wasn’t happy with feeling a nudge at most every 4-6hrs. Since then I have a bit more of a pattern or at least more frequent movements.

Call your maternity assessment center up and explain your concern with movements.

I get what you are saying OP.

I just had this.

Midwife would say ask how is movement, I would say can’t feel anything.

They say well you need to go to hospital every time that happens. And I say well what then. I live in the hospital? Because the moment I leave I also still have no movement.

Thankfully everything was fine and have a baby girl now 🥰

But if you are in doubt and think you should go then absolutely do!

If it had even crossed my mind I would have. But I somehow just felt confident they were fine and that I would know.

Not sure how true that would be about someone just knowing! That was just a belief I had. Perhaps to help me get through it without an anxiety breakdown. So probably best to ignore me and you should just listen to the health professionals absolutely. But I 100% get what you are saying.

Sorry you're experiencing this OP.

I had the same in my first pregnancy with an anterior placenta. I read a lot on here and other online sources about how it shouldn't make much of a difference but it really did with me (I've got a posterior placenta this time and it is a completely different experience!).

I didn't feel anything till 22/23 weeks and even then was only light and sporadic. I never felt strong kicks, never had a 'pattern' could go very long periods with nothing at all. I certainly couldn't ever see anything from the outside or have someone else be able to feel the kicks.

Every time i had a scan, there she'd be whirling around on the screen, kicking like crazy, yet i couldn't feel a thing - which is the oddest feeling ever that you can't feel something so major going on in your own body.

I was in A LOT with reduced movements in the third trimester. I established my own system to decide when to go in (which I don't really want to say on here as it shouldn't be used to influence anyone else - you have to go with your own gut on this).

The last few weeks I was actually offered daily monitoring which basically meant I could just turn up anytime without the need to call first. I didn't go in every single day but felt happy that was an option and I could go in anytime I felt I needed to.

DD is now a very lively and active 4.5 year old.

Go as much as you need or want to if you are in any way worried.