What to ask at my hospital appointment

[Fleur]

I hate to be negative, but the kind of support you are looking for - it doesn't come from the hospital. It comes from the mothers around you, from family and friends, from the fabulou scommunity of women here on BB.
It is hell scary where you are now, and there is the emotional support you are after out there, just not probably where you are expecting to find it.

Go out and look for a Calm Birth class, Lamaze classes, go to birth workshops - your local Maternal Child Health Centre should be a great place to start to look for these too.

Ask as many questions here as you can possibly think of - nothing is silly and nothing has not been asked or wondered by another mum somewhere - there is so much knowledge and support here for you to tap into. I fear though that you will not find this kind of support form a hospital clinic, they sinply have not the time nor resources to spend on Pastoral Care of antenatal patients.

Google Antenatal + birthing classes + Melbourne and you will find some great resources.


The other short answer to your question as to what should be happening now...you do anything and everything you can to prepare your body and your life for the arrival of your baby.
Yoga, Plates, classes, CalmBirth, HypnoBirth, research the pain relief options available - pethadine, epidural, gas, etc, plan your nursery and just generally enjoy your pregnancy!

HTH - what you are feeling is totally normal and I think just about every first time mum feels the same fear and anxiety.

:yeahthat: all of the above!

ok i get it now, I understand your worries.... you do sound a bit lost
It is scary having a baby & what you are feeling is very very normal, but I'm afraid I agree with LS - you won't get what you are looking for from a hospital (although you might get lucky & find a really nice midwife who will provide some comfort & ease a few worries).
A doula is a great idea, as are calmbirth classes if you can.
If not, there is BB

I'm not too sure what the rules are WRT what hospital you go to. It might be worth giving the Mercy a call & asking what happened to the forms you sent?
If you are going to feel better about things going there then that is probably going to be better for you - but then again, hopefully when you have your appt next week & you ask your questions you will get some reassurance & feel a bit better about things anyway.

Don't know if that made sense, I'm a bit foggy this morning but sending you hugs - I'm sure as time passes & you start to get a bit more info from whichever hospital you go to, you'll feel better about things.

ETA - with regards to if you are high risk or not -it's probably better for you to be treated 'normally' , I think it is better for them to assume you are NOT high risk unless there is a reason to think otherwise ITMS? Try not to worry too much

[HollyC]

I understand you are feeling a bit lost. My hospital seems to engage it's mothers to be a lot more, but being private I suppose they need to provide the service or people would go elsewhere.

All that being said, it isn't until 20 weeks that they really start to get into the having a baby stuff. Before that it is all just routine pregnancy checks and after 20 weeks there is more info about giving birth and care and all that.

So at your next appointment, maybe rather than asking your long list of questions you could just ask if there is a time when they go through all that. I would like to think that they intend to and maybe they just aren't up to that with you yet.

But first of all I'd be asking why you have ended up at a different hospital from where you wanted to go. It really seems to be bothering you so best to get some answers.