Does your midwife check your wee properly?!

[loverguts]

This might sound ridiculous but i have had two UTI's which were pretty nasty and went to my kidneys in this pregnancy and both times they have been discovered just a day or two after a midwife appointment where apparently my urine was fine and had nothing in it. I went to the day unit at hospital both times to see a different MW from mine and when they checked my wee on the little stick it has had all sorts of things on it. Would these not have shown up when my regular MW checked my wee the day before? Especially if im having ++++ and not just traces?
I have noticed that she pours my wee on the stick, waits for about 10 seconds and then says its fine, but after asking out of curiosity (haha, i sound like some investigating weirdo) the other MW's have said it takes 60 seconds for most the things to show up properly and even 2 minutes for one of them!
Should my MW not be waiting at least a minute before saying everythings fine?
Has anyone on here paid any attention to how long their MW leaves the stick before saying its all ok?
Sorry for the long post about wee! Just wanted to know if my MW is as incompetent as i think or if shes checking it normally and im over reacting! I am fed up of UTI's and really dont want to have another one missed till its gotten so bad im in agony!

 

[LankyDoodle]

Yes, my midwife is quite laid back about checking my urine. She dips it and throws it away straight away but you are supposed to leave the test strip to 'react'. Some test strips need around a minute to show the results (the ones I have at home do). I explained to my GP that this was happening (and she wasn't always doing my BP but was writing it down), and he took over doing it for a while.

I think you should start seeing your GP or someone different as at our stage of pregnancy, being flippant like this is quite dangerous.

Having said that, a UTI can come on quite quickly, so it's possible (although I would think unlikely) that nothing showed up on your test.

 

[xpatchx]

I take a urine sample everytime I go, as ya should, and most woman at my MW don't, and the mw dips the stick in and leaves it about...20-30 seconds before throwing it away and then says it's fine. But everytime I've had to go to labour ward for any issues, they've found UTI's, thrush, protein. She never seems to noticve them. I think the midwife only really needs to be in the know on it if it's a serious one, which would come up quite early on the test?

Or they're trying to rush us out cause they have too many people to see. I know she talks and asks stuff whilst doing everything to try and limit the time of the visit, I'm only usually there for about ten minutes a time, when we were told we'd get 35 mins. She's just so busy. Only seen her 4 times so far anyway haha.

If you're ever worried let her know how bad you feel and ask if she can double check, or send a midstream urine sample to hospital. Thats what i did! x

 

[nikkia08]

It really depends on which MW i get but usually mine are quite good, they dip the stick then wait a wee bit before telling me whats right or wrong. Yesterday at MW i found out that there is a severe amount of protien and blood in my urine She was quite worried and im going on a strong dose ao antibiotics 2moro Also said i had alot of ketones in it aswell. Sorry but it doesnt seem your MW is checking properly, also i dont think she should be pouring urine on the stick as if there is any problems a sample needs to be sent away for analysis, if she poured too much youd need to give another sample?

I think you should maybe express your concernes to her next appointment, im sure she will understand! I wouldnt be happy finding out i had a UTI days after my MW testing for it. Hope you get it sorted hun xx

 

[mrsraggle]

Mine tends to dip, wait a few seconds and then throw. I didn't realise until reading this thread that most things take up to 1 minute to show so I've never thought anything of it!

 

[KittenKat]

Mine seems to do it properly, its one of the first things she does at a visit. Does the dipstick test then does her other checks before then going back to look at the results. Not last time but the visit before I had leukocytes (white blood cells) in the urine so she had me do another sample to check for a UTI, and when that came back clear for my next visit and they were still present had me do a lower vaginal swab for thrush even though I had had no symptoms, and low and behold I did have thrush so was treated.

Even though my MW can seem ditsy I cannot fault her at all on her treatment of me with the pregnancy (this time or last) and her aftercare is good too

 

[wigglesnemoe]

I have had this with my MW so I now check my own with the sticks and if I think that there is something not right with my sample I then take it to the doctors myself to get it sent off

 

[Lara310809]

My midwife does it quickly too. If they don't have a pee pot, they just get me to pee on the test strip, but I suppose with that, by the time I've washed my hands and brought the strip to the midwife's office, it's had two minutes to show any problems

 

[Natasha2605]

I've been at the hospital twice in three days( friday and monday) with them thinking I was going into pre term labour. On Monday they tested my urine again and found an infection which has been lingering at least two weeks, hence why I was peeing so much. The MW who found it on Monday couldnt explain why it hadnt been detected and she said herself it may not have been checked as comprehensively as it should have been. Sometimes when I go to a normal MW appointment at the surgery they don't even test my urine xx

 

[silver_penny]

There are actually two reasons why you are getting inaccurate results on the test strips that your midwife is doing. One is the time issue. You need to wait the required ammount of time before reading the strips, otherwise it does not give it enough time to react. In addition, your midwife should not be pouring the urine on the strip (or having you pee directly on the strip). This causes the strips to work inaccurately as well, because it dissolves the reagants that are supposed to react with the urine and give you the results. Your midwife should be reading the instructions that comes with the strips.

 

[loverguts]

Thanks for the replies guys, from what you've all said my MW probably isnt doing it properly which is why she thinks my wee is fine when the hospital says otherwise! Think i will have to say something to her, i really hate confrontation though, i am one of those people who go bright red at even the thought of having to confront people and i think its gonna be pretty awkward basically telling a professional they might not be doing it properly! I like the sound of being able to check it myself, might enquire and see if i can do that instead of having to say something but not really sure what she will think! Ahhhhh!

 

[wait.and.see]

I am getting a bit worried as this sounds like a routine check to do.
I am over 30 weeks and have not once had my urine checked.
should i be concerned??

 

[LankyDoodle]

I am getting a bit worried as this sounds like a routine check to do.
I am over 30 weeks and have not once had my urine checked.
should i be concerned??

It should be checked at every antenatal visit. Your urine can hold the first indicator of a problem. Protein on its own can indicate pre-eclampsia. Leukacytes can mean infection, particularly if present with protein and/or blood. Glucose might lead your practitioner to want to test your blood sugars in case of GD.