Has anyone changed PCT mid-way through Ante-natal care?

[Chunkamatic]

I am due DC2 in Feb and will be moving to a new area mid-Jan.

Obviously this will involve changing my ante-natal care to a different provider. Has anyone got any experience of this? Did they insist on you having any of the standard blood tests again? I have my 28 wk blood test booked for a couple of weeks time and I really dont want to have to go through an extra one as I find them rather traumatic!

TIA!

Hi I moved at 30 weeks - it was fine but they did repeat all my blood tests - thankfully as they found out I was really anaemic!
I hope the move goes well for you - try to book a tour of the place you hope to give birth in as early as you can to set your mind at rest - it helped me.

Good luck!!

Oh grrr - why?!! Don't they trust each other?! Did you have to have ALL your bloods done again - like the ones you have at around 15weeks? [going to faint at the thought emoticon]

Sorry to say that I moved at 36 weeks and - yes - they did all the bloods again. They muttered something about needing to have my blood group on their system but I didn't listen properly.

A good tip is to have ensured that either you - or preferably - your DH knows the route to the hospital and the parking situation BEFORE you go into labour.

Ha ha good point! Hopefully i'll have enough time to go and have a look round the possible options (I think there is both a hospital and a seperate MLU nearby) so to make my decisions.

What a waste of time and resources taking them again. I will be making strong objections to this, doubtless to fall on deaf ears! I can tell them what blood group I am, it is written all over my current medical notes - can't they manually enter it in?! argggh!

I changed PCT on my due date. The midwife who did my booking was wonderful. Spent about 2 hours with me and took my bloods. I got an emergency scan as she thought I was measuring too small. They contacted my previous hospital to have previous scans faxed over.

It really should not be a problem for you. One good thing about the Labour govt the introduction of choice for NHS services.

I changed late in pregnancy, they did my bloods again. I was supposed to have home visits (I had changed so I could have a home birth), 2 weeks before my due date I rang them up and they didn't know who I was.

It was all a bit patchy and in the end DS refused to come out and I had an induction (which was quick and fine). I'm still convinced I didn't go into labour on time in partly because I just wasn't that confident about the midwives I'd met.

So I'd say do the tour and if there is an antenatal clinic in the hospital/birth centre etc where you can have your regular appointments (every 2 weeks then every week), go to them there so you can meet the midwives and get a feel for the place. If all the appointments are through your GPs, just go on the tour and ask lots of questions so you have an idea what to expect.

Hospitals seem to vary slightly - eg do they have birthing pools? A birth centre? 'Mobile' epidurals? Big or small postnatal wards (or even private rooms? A breastfeeding counsellor or peer supporters to help with breastfeeding? Set visiting hours / no kids allowed / a bed for your OH to kip on?(sorry no idea what you'd prioritise). I was quite surprised at just how different the places I had DC1 and DC2 were.

I'm just really confused as to why they have to take my bloods again. I find it totally distressing and a bit traumatic - do you think there's a way out of it? Surely the tests I have already had done are on the NHS system - it's starting to really worry me!

Ok well i'll speak to my current MW when I next see her and get an idea.

Omiricon thanks for the advise - I was really happy with the last maternity unit I gave birth at, and since then they have added a MLU upstairs. I'm quite tempted to still try and have this baby there (it's a 45 min drive from where we will be moving).

Right going to stop worrying about it for now... thanks so much for your replies and advise.

Yup, I just changed and they have redone blood tests and want to do another anomoly scan.

I changed for a homebirth as well.