Midwife check-up in the UK- what to expect?

[coffeegirl]

I'm 22 weeks pregnant and I'm spending most of March and April in England with my husband, who's an English citizen awaiting his Visa to work in the US. Anyway, while I'm here we've scheduled a check-up just to be safe (and because it's free since my husband is on the NHS).

I thought it would be with a doctor, but it's with a midwife. Just wondering if anyone in the UK knows what a basic check-up might consist of? I've never been to the doctor in the UK. TIA!

[mamalovesbaby]

Basic midwife check up in the UK consists of a urine sample to check for sugars/protein in the urine. Blood pressure, checking for movement and position of baby, measuring fundal height, and 'listening in' to baby's heart rate with a hand held doppler. It may vary slightly from hospital to hospital, but I am 32 weeks pregnant with my first, and this has been my experience of the standard routine on the NHS so far.

[petra_william]

just gave birth in uk ad had mw care throughout, you dont see a dr unless theres something wrong. generally they check blood pressure, they may take your bloods, check urine, maybe feel the baby and listen to heartbeat

[AutumnAir]

Yeah, it seems to be pretty low-tech, which is nice. I've had blood taken once, urine sample once and then just blood pressure check and feeling the fundus. MWs are the standard of care here unless you qualify as high-risk.

[welsh]

Hi coffeegirl!
I'm going home to the UK to give birth and will be transferring to NHS midwives at 33 ish wks.
Please let us know how you get on with your appointment.

[coffeegirl]

welsh, I will post back here with an update.

Thanks for the replies, sounds pretty basic. Anything special I should do food-wise before I go in (thinking of the urine sugar/protein test now), like not eat sugar or make sure to eat more sugar or...?

[mamalovesbaby]

I just always make sure I have eatten a good breakfast, and drink plenty of water before my midwife appointments, so no you don't need to do anything differently diet wise.

[coffeegirl]

My promised update:

The appointment only took about 20 minutes. Didn't do a urine or blood screen. (They're going to do a urine screen at my follow-up in 2 weeks...one thing that I thought was odd, the receptionist gave me a little plastic specimen cup to take home and bring back at my next appt. with my urine sample. Just seems like something they wouldn't do in the States.)

She just felt to see that my uterus was positioned right and listened to the baby's heartbeat. That was it!