How does your practice schedule the final weekly appointments?

[Asher]

Every practice I have gone to in the past at 36 weeks, has gone ahead and scheduled the following four weeks all at one time and given me a card with the appointments on them. It makes it easier this way, IMO b/c they are quite busy.

WELL, this practice does not do it like that. I was told last week to call to schedule this weeks prenatal once I found out what we were doing about NST's and AFI's. Well, I found out late Fri. night so called first thing this morning.

Guess what? ONE appointment available this week and it's at a time that I absolutely cannot be there. :

To be honest, I'm of the mind right now that if they just cannot get me in for any more prenatals and I don't have anything going on that makes me NEED to see them, OH WELL, see you when I come in to deliver! Like I told hubby, I'm not pushing them to see me. If they have a time that I can make it, cool, but I'm not going to move heaven and earth to make an appointment that is inconvenient for our entire family.

I told them to give me a call if they had any cancellations and we'd see if it was a time that I could do it. (Basically any time or day before 1:30 or after 3:45 is doable for our family. I think that's pretty flexible, but I guess not if you're already booked solid. *sigh*)

I cannot wait to have no more babies so I never have to deal w/ this practice again. I hate feeling like that. I've raved about them in the past and had a great pregnancy with them last time, but this time is leaving a LOT to be desired.

[Ldavis24]

Like you said, my MW schedules all the weekly appointments in advance. We did this around week 32 actually so I could grab the times I wanted. Too bad your practice didn't have the foresight to see that scheduling conflicts might occur!
I believe it is pretty standard to schedule in advance but that is just my educated guess.

[~Katie~]

We just play things by ear now after my 36 week appointment that was last week. She basically just said call me if you need anything, otherwise I'll see you when you give birth. That's much different than my last pregnancy where we did 2 week appointments up until birth that were scheduled way ahead of time. I kind of like it though because it frees up time to get other things done. That seems ridiculous that they didn't schedule you in ahead of time and told you to call and try to squeeze in, really poor organizational skills and planning if you ask me.

[triplembride]

yep ours too, ours are already scheduled

[JD5351]

Mine will do it either way, but I've been scheduling mine well in advance because I like to go on Tuesdays so Sweetie can go, and she books up way too fast for me to wait too long.

[Asher]

The lady almost sounded pissed at me that I couldn't make that one appt. Hmmm...the kids would be getting off the bus 5 minutes after the appointment started and my practice is like 35-40m away from home. Yeah, not happening!

She's not the reg. receptionist, but the billing lady. I also told her I needed the # to cancel my NST's and AFI's and she said I couldn't, they had to. I said well, they told me I could last week and I cancelled one NST Thursday. She said WHO told you? Ummm...the midwife! Grrrr!

[JD5351]

Ask her if you'll go to jail if you don't show up. LOL I think they'd prefer you cancel so they can schedule other people during your times, but I'm pretty sure that the cops won't show up at your house if you don't go to the appointment..lol

[Full Heart]

My mws always scheduled week to week but I have hbs. They also have been known to drop by to check on a client. So its a little different.

I think in a big practice it would be a lot easier to schedule appts upfront and then take cancellations then try to get someone in when you know they have to have weekly appts.

[Asher]

Originally Posted by JD5351

Ask her if you'll go to jail if you don't show up. LOL I think they'd prefer you cancel so they can schedule other people during your times, but I'm pretty sure that the cops won't show up at your house if you don't go to the appointment..lol

When I told her the midwife told me, she said "Oh, well here's the # then." Grrr! So I cancelled my NST's and the outpatient L&D said "Are you okay?" YES, that's why I'm cancelling! I didn't cancel the AFI's b/c she said she would def. have to cancel those and they are too hard to schedule so she's going to keep them "in case" I still need them and we'll play it by ear. (can you see my rolling my eyes?) Then she goes "WHAT is going on, anyway?" Ummm...nothing. Baby looks great so we don't need to keep doing all of that stuff. That's a GREAT thing, not something to be irritated about fgs!

Wev. I'm not letting her get to me. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not!

[Smithie]

My practice has you schedule every week after your visit from 36-40, but they seem to have a lot of slots so it doesn't bother me.

Do I need to be seen every week? No. Is it a waste of medical resources? Yes. Am I going along with it to keep them from getting grouchy? Sure thing.

[j_p_i]

I've already got my appointments scheduled through 41 weeks (optimistic huh?). Up until 36 weeks they only did one at a time, but after my 36 week one, we did all the rest of the scheduling.

Sounds frustrating mama - and I know you were frustrated with the practice that you go to already last week!

[mamasurprised]

My MW practice schedules every week from 36 to 40. I also think it's a little much to have weekly appts if things are progressing normally. I like that if you deliver your first babe at this birth center with no complications, with the second (or more) they are much more relaxed with your scheduling and don't keep it rigid at all. You are able to call in your weight etc and just come in when you need to.

[Ldavis24]

Originally Posted by j_p_i

I've already got my appointments scheduled through 41 weeks (optimistic huh?). Up until 36 weeks they only did one at a time, but after my 36 week one, we did all the rest of the scheduling.

Sounds frustrating mama - and I know you were frustrated with the practice that you go to already last week!

my MW won't schedule past the 40 week marker. She said if I get that far "we'll take it from there". I doubt I would go in past 40 weeks except when I finally went into labor. Once a week is more than enough, almost too much but now with possible Pre-e concerns it's good to check urine/bp weekly I suppose.

[RasJane]

I schedule week by week, but I'm the only birth my mw has in May. Well, April, May, June, actually! But it seems the practice is really flexible. In fact, my mw had something come up so couldn't make it to our appt scheduled for tomorrow at the Portland birth center. She asked if she could just stop by my house on her way home today. Yup, works for me.
I also have the advantage of being friends with my mw, so I love getting to see her fairly often. Otherwise I think I'd be irritated by the weekly visit thing.

[the_lissa]

My clinic schedules them one at a time, but if you want to schedule them all at once, you can. There is never an issue with availability though.

[Asher]

Originally Posted by the_lissa

My clinic schedules them one at a time, but if you want to schedule them all at once, you can. There is never an issue with availability though.

See, last week, my favorite midwife was on vacation. Next month, the one I like the least is either on vaca or, at the least, not on call. My last appointment was not even with a midwife that I normally see and we didn't go over much b/c she couldn't (didn't have the rights or whatever).

The biggest concern is that I won't be able to go over my birth plan. That's about the only thing I'll be upset about if I go in labor without getting another appt. I'll just be sure to bring copies with me so they can read it and it'll be fresh in their minds when they see me at the hospital if it comes to that.

[kdtmom2be]

I seem to recall doing week-to-week appointment scheduling last time around and so far this time as well. Partly due to the home-visit they like to do at 36 weeks that has to be done in between other births, so sometimes it doesn't happen quite on time. So, I did an appointment at 33.5weeks, then 36, now 37.5 weeks today (heading out momentarily). So today I'll be scheduling an appt for 38.5 and 39.5 and then nothing after that, we'll "play it by ear" as well. They get antsy when VBAC clients go past 40 weeks and want to see us more often.

[Amydoula]

I made all my appointments 2 months in advance. I'm picky about days/times that I like to go so I've had all mine scheduled till the end for awhile now.

[essnce629]

My homebirth midwives will continue to see me every two weeks up until the birth-- my last appointment was at 34 weeks, then next week is my 36 week homevisit, then 38 weeks if I make it that far. I just schedule my next appointment when I'm there each time and there's usually never really a problem-- I usually schedule my appointments for Mondays.

[Punchy Kaby]

Asher-your MW practice sounds sooo frustrating! You have been having a hard time with them for a ton of different reasons. I really cannot believe they went from insisting on all the tests and then not having any available appt times for you. IMO someone like you would have priority for appts.

I schedule mine a couple at a time. Right now I have my 40 and 41 weeks scheduled, but they always have times available when I want. Geez I hope I don't get to that 41 week one! They like to schedule inductions starting at 41 weeks...