Midwife told me to reuse urine pot due to shortages

[igotbills]

Has anyone else been told this? I was given a pot to takeaway from my booking appointment with the instructions to sterilise at home and reuse when I need to bring in future urine samples.

I may be a bit embarrassed as it's my first pregnancy but it also has to be first morning urine meaning it's going to look dehydrated when I pass it over (sorry for that image) but is this something you just get over? 🤣

And I suppose they just empty it and pass it back for me to pop in my handbag!

I really hope when baby arrives I don't need to rely on mumsnet for advice as I'm dreading using it for anything important now

You would be a fool to rely on any sort of social media for advice on anything important. Ask questions, look at the answers sure, but make sure you critically assess everything you are told. When your baby arrives you will be given all sorts of unwarranted advice. Some will be great, some not, and some downright dangerous. This is true of MN just as much as random strangers in the street.

Sooo I may or may not be reading some of these replies out at work...

Was absolutely not what I had planned, but some of these replies have been fabulous

One of my colleagues has said, "yeah this is why I don't like accepting cuppas from people I don't know that well"

Post about not being able to wee into the bottle and wanting a cardboard pot to pee in

Those objecting to taking their used pot home in their handbag, how did you get it there?

Also, trust me, over the next few years you are going to get well acquainted with all sorts of bodily fluids. The idea of a bit of wee safely contained in a pot won’t phase you.

Ah right. I was assuming the urine test was being done at home hence the jug.m

😰 Deeply hurt.

Most hospital trusts don’t want the urine being tipped down the little sink available in the consulting room so I think that’s why they don’t dispose of it there and rinse it out for you

Is this your first pregnancy? Cos I think you’re being a bit precious. Just remember to keep a ziplock bag in your handbag next time & rinse it in the sink in the loo first.

Yeah it's my first pregnancy, which is why I've asked mumsnet if this is normal (which was answered within 5 minites)

I've repeated about 7 times now that I'll be rinsing the pot and popping it in a plastic bag

If you're going to stay on mumsnet (which you should. The good far outweighs the bad) you have to learn the fine art of not giving a shit. Read something needlessly shitty? Ignore it. Not every post needs a reply or a moment in your head.

In fact, if someone is actively trying to be a twat then ignoring them irritates them far more than any reply ever could.

So go into the loo and rinse it out 🤷🏻‍♀️
Such a lot of drama about sod all.

There won’t be the opportunity for you to clean it properly your hospital appointment but pop it in a ziplock bag and then sterilise it when you get home - or just put in the dishwasher.

Next summer you will be doing ‘Al fresco’ nappy changes and popping the used nappy into your bag next to a baby vest covered in sick and the wipes used to try and get the worst of the baby sick off the top you are still wearing…

So you’re imagining they all get collected up like a recycling centre, someone puts them through chemical sterilisation process (plastic would melt in an autoclave), taking full biohazard precautions as they’re handling bodily fluids, gets them all completely dry and matched up with lids and sends them back to the midwife centres, so that you can have someone else’s cleaned up wee pot…??. This is why so many things in health care are single use (such as syringes)

Or you could just rinse and reuse your own.

but you haven’t actually said that, never mind “seven times”

the closest you’ve come to that is saying Id just like to wash the pot at the hospital rather than wait hours for it to go stale.

Which reads like you think you wouldn’t be able to wash the pot out at the hospital and instead will have to carry stale piss around. Maybe that’s not what you meant but if so then you don’t explain yourself well at all. 🤷‍♀️. I mean feel free to be snippy and say it’s my lack of comprehension skills like you have to others but when everyone on the thread seems to be thinking the same maybe have a little reflection that actually it’s you not us?

I'm really going to need to stop replying to these, but please read the thread as I've said ill be indeed rinsing it out at the hospital about 8 times now.

I know I'm sounding rude but all I've done is repeat myself about my plans to wash the pot, 5 hours later and people are still coming onto the thread saying "Jesus's why can't this woman just wash her own pot"

About where the drama has come from? Not got a clue, people really have taken this thread the wrong way. It was a lighthearted musing about my first ever midwife appointment. I asked a question which was answered within 5 minutes.

I'll think twice before coming here for anything I actually need genuine advice about

My eldest is 29 and I only had one pot throughout my pregnancy to reuse - I just kept it in a sandwich bag one once emptied and rinsed. When my mum was pregnant with me (nearly 60 years ago!) she took her sample in an empty coffee jar and was told they didn't need that much thankyou

When I started the thread, I really wasn't expecting it to be so controversial as it's become. It was really a lighthearted musing and not meant to offend or upset anyone.

Perhaps I didn't explain myself well, admittedly i wasnt expecting such condescending replies and it's shocked me a bit

I have no issue with reusing the pot, I never did, I just was surprised it's the norm that's all - and theres nothing wrong with being surprised if its something you knew nothing of

A few helpful replies really early on suggested zip lock bags, cleaning in the loo, sourcing your own pots etc. To make it clear now, I'll be doing something along those lines

Why is a bright yellow early morning urging sample embarrassing, or one that has been kept in a pot for a few hours?

To save money!

Totally a silly thing to be embarrassed about as midwives see it all! But fresh hydrated urine is far more pleasant to deal with than stale dehydrated urine

This is a hill I will die on

It’s a little pot with your wee in it. Just let them test it, pour out the remaining wee and wash it with hot soapy water. You don’t sterilise your hands after you’ve been to the loo so I don’t think you need to worry about the pot. You’re being a bit bonkers to expect the hospital to wash the wee pots. Ah… the joys of being a first time mum… you’ll be laughing your socks off about this post in around 9 months time. Enjoy your pregnancy.

This is good prep for readying yourself for the inevitable wee during nappy change or poo bath. A pot which has had you own wee in is really the least gross thing you will be baling with in the next few years.

I agree.

I've had many pregnancies and provided many pee samples and I have never been handed the pot back to be reused. I would be very surprised and think they were having a laugh or something.

If this did happen, I would probably go to the bathroom after the appointment and dispose of the contents down the toilet and pot in the bin then just say I didn't have it with me at my next appointment. They can't refuse to provide a new pot if they want to test your pee!

Also, I have 4 children and just because many things are pretty disgusting, doesn't mean I can't find carrying a used piss pot around in my handbag and washing it to be reused to also be equally as disgusting.

No, absolutely nothing wrong with being surprised if you weren’t expecting it.

the thing with MN or social media in general I guess is that sometimes it’s hard to tell if someone is being lighthearted or if they’re enraged and disgusted and about to complain to PALS 😀. Believe me there’s enough batshit posters on MN that sometimes you just don’t know which way to take a thread sometimes