Consultant led care

[Aunty E]

So I have my first consultant appointment in a couple of weeks, and I wondered if anyone could tell me what will happen.

Last time I was under midwife care (and very happy with it generally) but the daft midwife at my booking in appointment got all scared because I mentioned that I've had benign palpitations occasionally and I had a very long second stage of labour with Imogen and referred me for consultant led care. I'm minded to try and explain to the consultant that I'm not a high risk and I don't really need to see him thank you very much. I don't see that he needs to waste his time on me, I'll be fine. It's not like they can prevent newbaby getting herself in a tricky position again and I'm not having a c section unless baby is breech, so I don't really see what he can do iykwim.

 

[mummyzilla]

hiya

Can't really offer any words of wisdome Im afraid Im consultant led care due to previous c sec and pre eclampsia.

Just out of interest what do you mean by benign palpitations? I had palpitations which felt actually more like a skipped heartbeat last night, went to bed late and seem to be fine this morning, is it something to worry about? x

 

[Aunty E]

I have skipped beats quite a lot (a few times a week) and when I'm not pregnant I have a few episodes a year of my heart overbeating, so racing very very fast and feeling like it will pop out of my chest. It's not fun, but it's not painful either. Now I am pregnant I have those episodes a little more often, say once or twice a fortnight. I've had my heart checked out and it's fine, not worth a pacemaker, just a little overactive now and then and it can be more common in pregnancy because of the increased blood volume.

So I would say it's not worth worrying about, but worth mentioning to your midwife/consultant to keep an eye on.

 

[LoolaBear]

im under consultant lead care due to previous c-section and im classed as low risk with him but he still wants to see me.
ive seen him once already and i dont see him again until im 36 weeks.
prolonged second stage can cause alot of distress to baby and even cause harm so im guessing the midwife just wants him to be involved incase things go wrong. like me you may not have to see him very often at all.
at my 36 week appt all hes going to do is ask if i want a c-sec again or not and if not when do i want him to step in and do a c-sec and basically the reason why he might over rule my decision and do a c-sec without my say so really (i.e baby getting too distressed causing harm, my health at risk, baby's health at risk - these are some factors to think about if you have previously had a very long second stage as problems can arise in this time that will mean having a c-sec) xx

 

[Cheryl xx]

I'm consultant led to hun and was with my first. I'd suggest you just go along and have a chat with him and see what happens. He may say he doesn't need to see you again and then you'll see your midwife for the ret of your care, however it will be put down on your notes and they'll be aware of the problem if it occurs again or during delivery xx

 

[Ley]

I'm under a consultant this time too for very similar reasons. I've also had benign palpitations and racing heart. There is a history of heart disease in my family so I was checked out with ecg's and a 7 day heart trace but all was fine.
I also had a very very short second stage labour with my second (45 mins) which is another reason I am under the consultant.
I don't have my first appointment until 25 weeks.

 

[Embovstar]

hi

People are under consultants for different reasons, for me it was high BP. I had this before pregnancy and during.

I met a member of the consultant team at 16 weeks and thereafter, I was seen by the MW's.

Unless there was an issue, I would always be seen by the MW in the first instance.

Nicola xx

 

[Aunty E]

Well I've absolutely no intention of having that long a second stage again I shouldn't have been allowed to push for four and a half hours, but my midwives were inexperienced and the hospital was flooding at the time, so i just got shouted at to push for a long time. I expect next time that if baby isn't out after an hour or two at the most, that they will crack out the ventouse and the forceps again, but I'm not really anticipating a problem this time.

It's very interesting to hear about other people's care plans, I think the plan might be for me not to see him again until 36 weeks, which would be fine I guess.