Advice please..

Easypeasey

Hi,

I've a positive pregnancy test. Online calculator has given me rough idea of dates. GP Doctor just gave me a form to register for combined care. No check up, nothing!! That's all I've gotten! From reading online I now need to contact the hospital to book but before that I've to decide on what route to take.. Semi etc

This is all very daunting and scary any advice on what else I should be doing at this stage? And hospital booking what route to go? Is there any benefit to semi v public really? Do you still get free gp combined care with that?

Thanks

seamus

First up, congratulations! You have a few more days/weeks before you have to make all these decisions.

There's actually not a whole lot the GP can do in the early stages, so a check-up isn't necessary. They won't even do a confirmation test anymore if you've had a positive test.

If you haven't already, decide on a hospital. This is kind of a personal preference thing, and it's hard to know. Everyone has heard stories from other women about where they were and will say "no way" to one hospital, whereas another woman might consider that hospital to be the only place to give birth.

The one thing which is relevant in terms of "which hospital" is location. If you live too far from your selected hospital, you won't qualify for the domino scheme where you get to go home early and have a midwife visit you at home.

Your combined care is always free regardless of what route you select. The difference between semi private and public are the facilities you avail of, not the level of care you receive.
Semi-private basically gets you a bed in a smaller ward or room (between 2 and 4 in the ward, as opposed to 8 in a public ward), and your pre-natal appointments will take place in a smaller clinic with nicer waiting rooms rather than the cattle market in public. And you'll get to see the same consultant most of the time - in public you'll be seen by whichever registrar is on duty that day.
Semi-private in the Rotunda you'll also get an ultrasound on every visit, but I don't know if that's standard in all maternity hospitals.

My advice at this stage would be to pick a hospital. Ask any friends who have given birth recently (last 2/3 years) what they think. Don't get stories from people who used the hospitals 10,20,30 years ago, things will have changed and they'll only confuse you. You wouldn't buy a 2017 ford focus because someone who owned one in 1998 really liked it

Also be wary of second-hand stories from your parents about so-and-so's daughter who had a terrible time. Everyone has these. "Terrible time" is 99% down to the specifics of that birth and not the care given in the hospital.

Ulimtately if you don't know which one to pick, the one which is closest to you is the best best. Then look at their website for details on the care, what you get for going semi-private, etc, before deciding if you want to go that route.

Cakerbaker

It may also be worth checking if any of the maternity hospitals run midwife / domino clinics near where you live. You can go to these clinics for your appointments through the public system instead of going to the hospital if it's a straight forward pregnancy. Wait times are a lot shorter at these clinics compared to the public clinic at the hospitals. You go to your GP too for some of your appointments. My only hospital appointment was for my 22 week scan.

Clashmore

Would also recommend, Domino Scheme or midwife clinic if there is one in ur area. I have found it great. Short wait times at appointments.

Clashmore

Easypeasey

Thank you all for taking the time to reply :-) all very helpful.

Moonbeam

That is a normal 1st appt except I never got paper work and i my case I was charged for it every time.
pick your hospital then look at all your options.
I went with the midwife led care for #3 and #4 and it is amazing.

Millem

Easypeasy congratulations!

look up how much your health insurance refunds you for maternity consultants....that might help you decide semi p v public! You can claim 20% back off med 1

Meathcat7

I would have thought that the GP would have contacted the hospital for you. I know that my GP is organising that for me and trying to get me in for an early scan due to my risk factors - high BP, previous miscarriage and my age (44). In fact, I missed a call from the GP yesterday evening asking if she could have a chat with me about my care as I'm doing the shared GP/hospital thing.

Jasmine_16

After my positive test I went to my GP and she confirmed it with her own test.. She then took my height, weight, blood pressure and asked about my symptoms etc. She then wrote a referral letter for me for the hospital, and they in turn wrote to me for my first antenatal appointment.

I've had multiple pregnancies, and it's never been any different for me.

Blingy

My gp didn't even do a test and told me to contact the hospital directly. He didn't charge me for the visit either and said it's covered under combined care.

If you go through some of the pages here there is lots of talk on the different hospitals and different options. Good luck.

Phgirl28

Hi, i just need advise. Any idea How effective is the boots home pregnancy test? I just stopped on my pills last month (March) but I can't remember date of my last period (stupid me I know). I just estimated it could be due this week or the next. Anyway, I thought of buying 2pcs boots home preg test and got faint Positive first time then next day tried it again and it's more visible than the first. I'm still kinda confused though.

Blingy

Phgirl28 wrote: »

Hi, i just need advise. Any idea How effective is the boots home pregnancy test? I just stopped on my pills last month (March) but I can't remember date of my last period (stupid me I know). I just estimated it could be due this week or the next. Anyway, I thought of buying 2pcs boots home preg test and got faint Positive first time then next day tried it again and it's more visible than the first. I'm still kinda confused though.

Sounds like a positive to me.
I always found the first response ones very good. However i got my positive from a Tesco own brand. They all do the job. Sounds like congratulations. Hope that's the outcome you wanted.

Ms. Chanandler Bong

Phgirl28 wrote: »

Hi, i just need advise. Any idea How effective is the boots home pregnancy test? I just stopped on my pills last month (March) but I can't remember date of my last period (stupid me I know). I just estimated it could be due this week or the next. Anyway, I thought of buying 2pcs boots home preg test and got faint Positive first time then next day tried it again and it's more visible than the first. I'm still kinda confused though.

Speaking from what I learned during my college days, generally speaking any positive is a positive, no matter how faint. The test works using a hormone that only appears in your system if you're pregnant, it's never there otherwise. The line might be faint due to it being really early in your pregnancy so I'd advise maybe doing a test first thing in the morning as your pee would be more concentrated.
Also, just as an FYI, I was trying to conceive and bought my 3-pack tests from Dealz for €1.50! They're definitely not as fancy, just a paper strip but they work the exact same, a line appears if it's positive.
If you stopped your pill in March, wouldn't that have been roughly when your last period was, i.e. your free week after 3 weeks of pills normally leads to your period? So if you stopped mid-March approximately, then you would be 6 weeks-ish by GP/hospital counts.

Phgirl28

Blingy wrote: »

Sounds like a positive to me.
I always found the first response ones very good. However i got my positive from a Tesco own brand. They all do the job. Sounds like congratulations. Hope that's the outcome you wanted.

Maybe I'll try one more brand and hopefully same result. I'm just in disbelief as I just stopped from the pill

Phgirl28

Ms. Chanandler Bong wrote: »

Speaking from what I learned during my college days, generally speaking any positive is a positive, no matter how faint. The test works using a hormone that only appears in your system if you're pregnant, it's never there otherwise. The line might be faint due to it being really early in your pregnancy so I'd advise maybe doing a test first thing in the morning as your pee would be more concentrated.
Also, just as an FYI, I was trying to conceive and bought my 3-pack tests from Dealz for €1.50! They're definitely not as fancy, just a paper strip but they work the exact same, a line appears if it's positive.
If you stopped your pill in March, wouldn't that have been roughly when your last period was, i.e. your free week after 3 weeks of pills normally leads to your period? So if you stopped mid-March approximately, then you would be 6 weeks-ish by GP/hospital counts.

Might try one more brand and hopefully result is same. Thanks you

Phgirl28

Tried 2 more brands last week and it's all positive went to my gp and she confirmed it with their own kit. Call rotunda and got the mail for appointment but it's not until July 3. I'd be 13-14weeks then. I thought it will be earlier than that or that's normal?

BriarPatch

Phgirl28 wrote: »

Tried 2 more brands last week and it's all positive went to my gp and she confirmed it with their own kit. Call rotunda and got the mail for appointment but it's not until July 3. I'd be 13-14weeks then. I thought it will be earlier than that or that's normal?

My first appointment in December in the rotunda was at 13 weeks so I'd say it's normal enough

Phgirl28

BriarPatch wrote: »

My first appointment in December in the rotunda was at 13 weeks so I'd say it's normal enough

Thanks very much for enlightening me