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First Appointments

2K views 52 replies 30 participants last post by  cynnamon 
#1 ·
Who has already set their first prenatal appointment? Has anyone already been seen? I have an appointment in about three weeks. I'll be almost nine weeks along by that point. I know the time between now and then will probably fly by, but it seems like such a long wait right now! I don't remember setting them this far in advance in my other pregnancies, but I could be wrong. I wanna go right now. Lol! I think it will just make it seem more "official".
 
#2 ·
I still need to schedule mine. I want to tour a birth center with DH but he started a new job yesterday so he has no time off and our insurance doesn't start until November. I'm just waiting for a little more information from my DH before I call, hopefully it will be sometime this week.

Joyfulmom I never call right away so my first appointments are always later. I was 11 weeks with ds and thought I was 12 weeks with dd, turned out I was more like 14 weeks. The good thing about going so late with my dd was that we found out gender on our first appointment :)
 
#3 ·
My first appointment is October 1. You're right, it does seem like a long wait! The funny thing is, I don't even typically go in til closer to the second trimester. I guess I'm just impatient this time.
 
#4 ·
I've contacted the local midwifery office I am interested in and will be setting up an appointment tomorrow.
Going into this a second time, I am so glad to know how much choice I have in a caregiver. The first time around I didn't feel as empowered to take the lead in my own prental care.
I guess that's called confidence.
The next step for me a writing up a thorough list of questions for my potential caregivers.
 
#6 ·
No appointments yet, and maybe not for a while. Prenatal care here in Brazil is going to be a little un-conventional. I know a licensed midwife here that speaks English, but she's not currently practicing and she's due to have her own baby in Nov. I will talk to her in the next week or two and see if she's interested in doing it. Otherwise she had mentioned to me before that she's knows a couple of midwives in this area. My pregnancies and births have always been really uneventful, so I'm not too worried about it.

There is no way that I will see an OB here. Brazil has the highest c-section rate in the world. It's up to 80-90% in private hospitals and it's about 45% country-wide. Basically, if you don't show up to the hospital pushing, they wheel you in for surgery. Luckily, midwifery is still legal here and there are plenty of women that can be found to help assist in a home birth. My 3 other children have been born at home anyway with no major issues.
 
#7 ·
My first appointment is Sept. 30, when I'll be 8 weeks. I was a little worried about waiting since my BP has been a little high lately, and I had gestational hypertension with my first pregnancy, but they didn't seem worried.

Sabrazee - I remember seeing a post from you (maybe it was in the "I'm Pregnant" forum?) about some concerns re: the pressure you've been feeling. Any update?
 
#11 ·
Glad everything looks good sabrazee!

We usually don't have our first appointment until 12 weeks, but my last pregnancy I waited until 14 weeks for some reason. It turned out better that way as she could find the heartbeat with the fetoscope easily, and I don't know if she would've been able to at 12 weeks.
 
#15 ·
My first appointment will be just before I hit 7 weeks, which seems to be standard for IVF babies. Just to check how many there are (we suspect twins based on my beta results and the fact that we transferred two great quality embryos) and make sure neither of them are ectopic.
 
#17 ·
Abraisme: 80-90% c-section rates?!?! That's INSANE! I'd be running for the hills. How are people not outraged about that?

I hope you find a like- minded care provider you can trust. :)
 
#18 ·
I'm still waiting to see if I'll be taken on. Midwives are a hot commodity around here and you pretty much need to have them on the phone as you pee on a stick.
 
#20 ·
I just found out yesterday that there is a good homebirth midwife in the town where I live. The extra bonus is that she speaks English! She only takes 2 births a month, so I need to get in contact with her asap!
 
#21 ·
Depending on which midwife we go with, our first appointment will either be @ 7 weeks or 10 weeks. Sooo far away. :p
 
#22 ·
I see my OB on Thursday- but planning a homebirth- just trying to cover testing and screening. I see my midwife on the 24th. I am 7 weeks 1 day right now. :grin:
 
#24 · (Edited)
This thread's been quiet, but I thought I'd revive it.

My first appointment is this Monday. It's an early one (I'll be between 7 and 8 weeks), but this is the same time/appointment where we found out that my last pregnancy (this will be our first child), was not progressing. It was surprising, as I felt very pregnant, but in a day or two after that, the symptoms started to decrease. The subsequent experience including the d and c (I had had a natural miscarriage at home the year before--very early--and it was extremely difficult and painful physically-so decided to go the medical route this time--with great trepidation), actually turned out to be a very important (if that's the word) for me. I had never been in a hospital--as a patient--and had a lot of fear and longstanding distrust of western medicine, but everyone there, especially the nurses, were so kind--I felt very held and cared for. I am a an older first time mom and had already decided (not without some ambivalence) that for various reasons it would be best for me to give birth in the hospital (I rationalize this partially because the area we live and the hospital are progressive and known to be low intervention etc.) So, overall that turned out to be a positive (odd, I know) kind of initiation and exposure to that world, knowing that the next time I would be there would be under very different circumstances!

Anyway, because of that missed miscarriage in March of this year, we are going to have an early ultrasound and I know will both feel relieved to move past this particular appointment. (Though I know there's lots of unknowns and new experiences to come beyond that).

Wanted to share here, to call in healthy, positive energy-
Will plan to report back on Monday what I hope (and feel) will be happy news :)
 
#26 ·
I'm feeling this way too. I'm on my 4th pregnancy and never worried about it this much before. It's sort of like, it hasn't happened to me yet, so I must be due for one. It's also complicated for me to see a doctor here, so I will just have to wait.
 
#28 ·
Good luck to all of you! I'm really looking forward to my first appointment except for the drive. I live up in the Lake George area of NY and my midwives are all the way in Troy. That's a lot of long car rides but it's so worth it they are really the best. I am really nervous though, too. Not so much that it won't stick (although I have had a miscarriage before and it was awful) but I'm worried about labor because my last was really rough and I had to have a c section in the end. My midwife said I am just inside the window between births for a vbac but I have to admit I'm scared. I felt so confident about my home birth last time and it ended up very different than I thought it would. But I really do trust her and I don't trust surgeons or hospitals very much anymore. Anyway, I just hope all goes well. Haven't scheduled an appointment yet I'm going to get my bloodwork and ultrasound up here beforehand.
 
#29 ·
I can relate, I also had a c section and a very different labor than I planned. Now, I'm trying to have a better attitude. I realize that a lot of my feelings after my birth came from my belief that somehow I could prevent this from happening, or that if I'd only made different choices, or my care providers had made diffent choices I could have had the birth I planned for. In the four years since my sons birth, I've really let go of that feeling. Birth is unpredictable, and no amount of planning gives you any sort of guarantee. Let yourself off the hook, and just trust when you get to that point this time around that you'll have the wisdom to make the best decision with the information you have at the time, whatever it is.
 
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