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!

Oh and a lot of the time people read the first post and respond without reading the thread. You’ll get replies for days telling you to wash the pot out 🤣

Cash the cheque 😂

I reuse my diabetic cat's sample pot and gave done for years. I have a resealable IKEA plastic bag that I soak in Milton alongside said pot and use that to transport it. Not that it has EVER leaked, but just in case...

How humiliating having a bag search and them finding a urine sample. You have to provide them for all sorts of reasons? Next youll be complaining you arent getting enough scans (some areas you only get 12 week one unless high risk) because you cannot comprehend the NHS is on its knees and cant supply little plastic bottles.

Do you also get embarrassed on bag searches if you have tampons?

I think you need to manage your expectations on "grim" because this is just the beginning......

Err what?

Unused sanitary products = not embarrassing at all

Unused/clean sample pot = not embarrassing at all

Used tampon = gross and yes, embarrassing
Pot of piss = gross and yes,
embarrassing

Rinse it and put it in a plastic bag. It's your own pee, it's not going to kill you.

Thanks for your truly unique input, no need to read any of my replies/updates

Agree with the others saying you’re being a bit precious- it’s literally just your own urine not a big deal at all? also no point sterilising the pots they give you aren’t sterile (they’re clean but not sterile!)

I don’t understand. If it your first urine of the day surely you are taking the pot full to the appointment in your bag? So why are you then bothered about it going back into your bag? Just rinse it out after the appointment. Tip any urine left out in the toilet and give it a couple of rinses out. Buy a ziplock freezer bag to put it in both ways and then it is more secure. Or buy a cheap lunch bag type of bag to put it in and then it is not going into your handbag. Sadly hospitals don’t have the time or money to be sterilising it to pass onto another patient. Far better to use have 1 patient 1 pot.

Hopefully she wasn't implying you should do it in the kitchen sink 🤢😂
Sounds gross to me....some things just shouldn't be reused.

If work feel the need to check you bag and find a urine sample then you absolutely do not need to tell them anything about why. They have no right to private medical information (and very few situations when they have the right to search your bag)

Because it would cost money to do that.

I’m sure I used to just rinse mine in the bathroom sink but I’m really not getting why it’s gross? It’s just a plastic pot that had a bit of your own wee in it!

Being asked to provide a stool sample is worse than a bit of wee!

Good luck with your pregnancy @igotbills

Just wash it?

You taking it to the midwife full of wee, what’s the difference between it having wee in and had wee in? (Apart from its now empty). Either way it’s used

They're meant to be single use, like everything else in medicine. No-one should be reusing plastic sample receptacles, not least for the risk of contamination/false results.
I wouldn't carry a urine sample loose in my bag! Wrap in cotton wool and place in a ziplock for transportation and just hand it over like that.

Just read my updates/further clarifications that this my exact plan?

So the difference is I have to take a full wee sample to the midwife - she needs the sample, it needs to be first morning wee, there's no other option (if you get what I mean) throughout pregnancy I need these samples testing for my baby's health (or whatever its for)

Technically, I don't HAVE to take that same pot and put it back in my bag? They cant refuse to give me a new pot if I demanded one

I need to bring her the sample, but afterwards it's my discretion to reuse the pot. That's why it's different

To clarify again, this was a lighthearted musing that quite a few have taken too seriously

Yes, but I wasnt told to sterilise, just to rinse with water and let dry. Not even use soap haha

Take a sandwich bag and pop it in that to bring home. Not that hard.

That's how it was with both my two age 12 and 10. I was never told to sterilise it either just rinse it.

My girls are 20 and 16 and I had to reuse a sample pot through both pregnancy’s . Don’t think it’s a new idea , just take a sandwich bag with you and pop it in the bag before your handbag and sterilise in boiling water

what makes you think you can’t wash it at the hospital? They have loos there!

I had to regularly pee in a jug after birth to measure my urine output. Said jug is now back in my kitchen cupboard for normal use again.

Your differences have gone away from what I actually asked. Yes of course you need to take your wee, it’s mainly to check on your health which in turn can affect the baby’s health. I don’t think you’d have to demand a new one I’m sure if you aren’t comfortable putting a pot that’s had wee in, inside your bag just ask and they’ll give you one.

I was just trying to understand the difference between carrying a pot of wee and carrying a pot that’s had wee in. When I had my babies the midwife always poured the wee down the sink then recycled the pot or binned it I’m not sure but she always gave me a fresh one.

I now use the pots a lot for hospital check ups and they give me a fresh one each time but when I fill it I always put it in a sandwich bag