Anyone here ever gone private for antenatal care?

[WhisperGirl]

Hi girls, this will be baby number 8 for me. I'm really not very trusting of NHS anymore and I would prefer to go private for scans etc. I might have to give birth in an NHS hospital due to cost, but has anyone else gone private for their care up until birth? I'm considered high risk because I use a wheelchair and during pregnancy my mobility slows down a fair bit so they like to keep an eye on me. I just don't like too much faffing around and would be more than happy with just the 2 scans and the odd check up. I don't want to sign any of their tests off or have repeated bloods done for my own holistic and religious reasons and having had 7 babies before I know what I'm doing. I'm also autistic so I really prefer to be as far from a hospital as possible. If anyone can help I'd appreciate it

 

[dairymomma]

I know you haven't had any responses and I'm in the US so I'm not that up to date on how the NHS works with that sort of thing. But I would talk to a midwife at the very least and lay out your concerns. Maybe there's a compromise they can offer-less office visits and more telehealth appointments? Bloodwork done as minimally as possible? And I don't know how it is in the UK but in the US, you can decline any bloodwork/scans you don't want. I would at least do minimal appointments with the midwife or doctor simply so you have somewhat of a connection with them come time for delivery if you do plan to use the NHS for that part but as long as you are healthy and things progress normally, I don't see why it should matter if you go private until the end.

Edited to add that I totally understand your views on not wanting to go to the dr. I have medical PTSD surrounding pregnancy because of a lengthy history of miscarriage and a stillbirth as well as a really REALLY traumatic labor/delivery situation that ended up with a month long NICU stay. This time, I tried to push for holding off on an ultrasound until I was out of the first tri but my dr convinced me to go in because I was potentially carrying twins and some of my labs were showing suspiciously high-for-me hCG levels. I also didn't know my exact dates and I have tiny babies due to suspected growth restriction so I need monitoring to make sure my babies are growing well. But we're talking about my wants/needs for this pregnancy and she's okay with me only having one growth check per trimester, no fetal stress tests unless growth is dropping, and as long as I'm feeling okay, I don't need to be seen any more than necessary until the end. I tend to have my babies early so I'll likely need to go in for weekly appointments starting at 35 weeks but I can deal with that. It's also in my chart that only MY doctor is to deliver my baby and if I want an elective C-section due to the anxiety delivery causes me after my traumatic birth, she's 100000% on board. Having a supportive doctor can make a world of difference.

 

[josephine3]

@dairymomma you might find it interesting to know that we don't have the same midwife or doctor for the appointments and birth... You see a different one every time, and whoever happens to be on duty that day at the hospital delivers the baby lol. Also I think the community midwives tend not to actually work and the hospital we have a different set of labour and delivery people for that!

 

[dairymomma]

Wow. I would really struggle with that. I've had a really bad delivery experience because the on-call doctor wasn't my doctor and he disregarded EVERYTHING DH and I were telling him about how my body does labor, how fast my labor was progressing (it wasn't my first go-round so I knew what to expect when I hit transition), and in the end, my son was born totally unassisted while a nurse screamed in my face because I was yelling through contractions. The dr wasn't even at the hospital yet and to this day, he and that nurse are on my hate list because they not only refused to listen to me at all but they denied me pain management of ANY kind (I was begging for an epidural, IV pain meds, hell I would have taken a Tylenol at that point if I though it would have helped but they didn't think I was in labor 'enough' ) and in the end, my son was born in a very traumatic scary way.

I have had the on-call doctor do my delivery 3 times out of the 5 times I've given birth at a hospital and I totally understand why most hospitals will have their OB staff on rotation in the evenings and weekends. But after everything I've been through and given how high risk I am this time, I just need to trust that the doctor knows the potential complications I'm facing and has at least a basic understanding of my complex fertility/pregnancy history. My doctor told me she'd love to be there for my birth this time but unfortunately, she won't be. She's also pregnant and is due just three weeks before me so the odds of her being there are slim to none. But she assured me that the other two doctors who are taking over her patients while she's on maternity leave are very good and she'll leave good notes for them about my particular wishes when it comes to the delivery. I'm not concerned about them at all as I've seen them both in the past (one is actually my former doctor but I switched to my current doctor a few years ago as he's nearly retired and it was getting really difficult to get appointments with him).

 

[WhisperGirl]

Thanks for the replies girls Yes this is the thing with the NHS. You see whoever whenever. The only fairly consistent one is the consultant I see but even then, not always guaranteed not to be a stand in. The midwives at delivery are all randoms you get to know on the day. They sometimes recognise me as I've had two of my babies at that hospital but I never recognise them