What does the midwife do

[GILLI79]

hi everyone am ten weeks pregnant and i went seeing the midwife yesterday for my booking in appointment, dont know if i was wrong in thinking they did all the tests at the doctors surgery, but she said she had to come to my house and take my blood here. feel silly not knowing but why do they do that and she couldnt do it when i saw her??
And what exactly is she going to do when she gets here?

I think this is a recent thing, and tbh it's probably so they can identify at risk mothers. But don't worry about that, I'm glad they do do it really. They did a visit when I had my son 2 years ago, but not my daughter 6 years ago. It will be very simple form filling, and tbh is more relaxed at home as there's no rush.

A booking appt will probably be the longest time that you see your midwife, so having it at your home means you'll both be more relaxed. You'llget the chance to ask lots of qs, and hopefully be more able to spend time with her talking about everything, without worrying about who is getting futher behind in the queue in the waiting room! You will get the chance to discuss where you want to have your baby, as well as any medical history.

MW home visits are great because you can get on with stuff whilst the are inevitably delayed no frustrated waiting at the surgery.

The MW will visit you at home after baby is born most likely so I think it is quite good that they get to see you in 'normal' mode first so they can tell if you are struggling after.

It's a bit strange that you had booking appointment and then have a separate appointment for blood to be taken. I had my booking appointment at home and bloods taken at the same time this time but they were done at the suregery when I had my son 3 years ago but still in the same appointment.

There is more focus on domestic abuse now as there has been research to show that some abuse starts when women become pregnant so perhaps that's why they want to come into homes more recently?

If you've had booking appointment there won't be many questions to ask or answer I wouldn;t have thought so she'll probably just take blood and ask if you have anything new to ask.

Do they HAVE to come to your house though.

I don't know. I thought it was a bit weird taking blood in my living room but wasn't offered an alternative.

it just seems odd to me that they would say they have to come. They should say 'we would like to come' because they are making it sound like it's madatory otherwise.