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Anyone refused consultant care in pregnancy? UK.?

  • Hi. I'm in the UK and I was just wondering if anyone has ever refused consultant care? I know its perfectly legal but I can't really seem to find much information on anyone else doing this. I'm on my third pregnancy. I had a consultant during the last pregnancy and it was totally pointless. She did absolutely nothing the midwife didn't do when I went to see her. She literally just got some other midwife to take my blood pressure, test my urine and check the baby's heartbeat and off I went. It costs a lot of money for me to get to the hospital because I don't drive and its quite far away so the taxi fare's are expensive and my husband works full time so he has a struggle trying to fit the appointments around his work when its just midwife appointments let alone consultant ones as well (I need him to come because I can't hold two children and have everything checked, its impossible, and they're both too young to sit alone, there's also no other family members that can come). The midwife referred me to a consultant because my two labours haven't been straight forward (one was shoulder dystocia, other was PPH from a partially retained placenta and needed a blood transfusion). But my pregnancies have been totally fine and normal, i've had no problems at all and i'm other wise in perfect health. It seems a bit silly to me because there's nothing a consultant can do to prevent something happening during a labour besides give me an elected c-section which she told me last time won't happen because I'm definitely not high risk enough and its such a risky procedure. So it just seems pointless for me to drag myself to the consultant every month or whatever. However every time i've rang up to cancel the appointment i've been told by the receptionist that she can't cancel it for me because the midwife has referred me so I have no choice but to turn up. So i've tried to get through to the midwife to tell her to cancel it but the only number I have for the midwife is absolutely useless- throughout all three of my pregnancies I have never rang that number and got through to anybody, ever. So i've not gone to any of them. My next one is set for Monday which I definitely couldn't attend even if I wanted to because I have another important appointment that I go to at the same time every week that I definitely can't rearrange. I told the receptionist this and she was very unhelpful telling me that I had to cancel my other appointment and go to this one.. Sigh. So i'm at a loss as to what to do. I also have the midwife on Monday so I think i'm just going to tell her that I really don't feel I need a consultant. My pregnancies have all been totally normal and explain how much of a fuss it is for me to get there. But i'm just scared she's going to be rude or nasty to me, or try and tell me I have no option but to go even though I know I do by law. I also want a home birth which I know the midwife definitely wasn't keen on after my last labours. But i've done my research and I now know of ways to prevent both from happening again, and I also know the chances of either happening again are absolutely minute, they're both extremely rare things to happen. My last labour was all natural and completely normal, it went wrong because they injected me to make the placenta come and so the part of the drug which makes your placenta deliver kicked in too quickly and a part of my placenta wasn't ready to come away, so it got stuck and thus the blood loss. So I now know to have a natural placenta delivery to prevent that occurring again, and that was all that went wrong, the delivery was perfectly normal. So anyway i'm panicking now because the appointment is on Monday and I know i'm going to have to be quite confrontational and get to the point, which is something I've never liked to do. I was just hoping to hear some other similar-ish experiences so I feel like i'm not just being a little fuss pot! lol. Thanks in advance :)

  • Answer:

    It is completely up to you. I had a PPH with my first born and was never even offered consultant lead care with my second pregnancy. The midwife will be fine dealing with you and if she suspects a problem she can refer you. Just because you've had bad luck twice doesn't mean something will happen third time around. Good luck.

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You need tell your midwife what you've told us. Be honest and tell her that you simply can't afford the taxi/bus fares and your husband can't keep taking time off work. Tell her that you will attend her appointments and are willing to review the situation should there be any problems. As to the home birth you are going to find it very difficult to get 'them' to agree to that because of your delivery history. Hope all goes well.

Haggi

The receptionist told you you had 'no choice but to turn up'? Wow. Call her again. Right now. If she tries to feed you that bit of drivel again, just tell her that actually you DO have a choice, and that you WON'T be turning up, and that you are being polite by letting her know that in advance. So she can either cancel the appointment to make room for other people or just keep the appointment in the books, whatever she likes, but you are not going to be there. Honestly, you're letting your life and your pregnancy be run by some anonymous receptionist! You DO realize that, don't you? PS about your midwife: she works for you, not the other way around. Why are you scared that she will be rude or nasty to you? If she wants to keep her JOB, it's up to HER not to be rude and nasty to a paying customer! You are getting way to worked up about all of this. These decisions are simply yours to make. The only reason you are experiencing resistence is that you act so apologetically that the person on the other end of the line instantly has you pegged as a push-over. So they push you over. For THEIR convenience.

Suzy Q

im pretty much in the same situation i said to my midwife i was seeing a consultant on secound pregnancy as said it was point less because they didnt even no why i was there and did same as midwife did now she has refered me again and i told her it was pointless so im thinking of not even going to my appoinments except for my midwifes ones waste of time and bus fare and waiting around for nothing when they didnt even no why i was there in first place. its stupid

Kelly

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