I phoned up my drs today to make an appointment for next week to confirm my pregnancy. I had to wait til next week coz they wont refer you to the hospital til you reach 8 weeks & I'm not 8 weeks til next week. The receptionist said that the soonest appointment she could offer me would be 21st july so I said that would do & then she carried on to tell me that she couldnt in fact offer me an appointment then because the computer wouldnt let her make an appointment as far ahead as that!! So thinking I had heard her wrong I asked her when the appointment was & she told me that I would have to phone back the week before but that they are shut the monday & tuesday so to phone back on 16th. I know for a fact (because this has happened before) that when I phone back then I will be lucky to get an appointment for the following week. What a b****y joke!! I will be at least 10 weeks when I manage to even get the pregnancy confirmed never mind refered to the hospital (apparently its even worse so they might fit me in before its due!!) I always knew things were bad but this is definately a joke. I cant believe I just phoned for an apointment only to be told I couldnt have one!!! Going private is starting to sound more & more appealing by the second. I havent even told Mark yet coz he'll flip. He already says this is our last coz the NHS is such a joke & that the standard of care is much worse than that of an animal being treated at the vets!!

It just gets worse!!! I phoned up to price a private scan (a bog standard 2d one) & over here it costs £180!!!! Thats such a load of crap when you can get the same in England for £65!!!

Oh Hun, that is shit! Arlene didnt get refered till 14 weeks! and she had her pregnancy confirmed at 4+1!!!!!
My docs is great as its just walk-in and wait but craigavon is terrible! Arlene didnt get her 12 week scan till she was 18 weeks and her 20 week scan till 24 weeks. Its a total joke and its unfair how they rip the ass out of us in N. Ireland as they know we cant do anything but pay their prices as we cant jump on a train and go else where! Also its everything here, grocerys and petrol, everything is far more expensive than the rest of the UK, its time we bloody went to Stormont and told those arseholes where to bugger off!!!!!
Sorry, not in good form and its total balls why we have to put up with this crap!
PS i hope you get an appointment sooner rather than later. xxxxx

The way things are going I'll be lucky to get referred before I have the bloody baby!!! Another thing thats a joke over here is that there are no independant midwives & its impossible to get a homebirth any other way. I'll not be talked out of one this time though coz I want to really look into it as an option (my house is definately cleaner than their stinking hospital!!) & make my own decision instead of one that they have made for me. Oh god this is definately our last. You see even the tought of going through all these hospital appointments & waiting for hours on end is depressing me already xx

Oh God Hilary, did you hear that they now wont let you park your car on the grass verges at peak times and you have to get a bus from Portadown instead??????? Bugger that, im actually considering going to Enniskillen but they dont have a MLU and its as old as the hills but its very clean and always half empty! The only problem is its also 40 miles from here and if we move up Dungannon direction it would be even futher. Its so unfair, id love a home birth too but my midwife just laughed and said no way the last time as no-one has them here EVER!

*beep* that I'll be having a homebirth if all is well & theres no midwife going to be telling me what to do. I delivered Zara myself (with the midwife looking on) & I'll deliver this one myself too. If Craigavon hospital think I'll be trapsing on a bus from Portadown to their stinking hospital coz they cant provide adaquet parking they can think again coz if I cant get parked I'll be rescheduling my appointment. Its getting to be a joke. Whats t not going to be like when Lagan Valley shuts??

I know, i just hope that i will go private with my next as it would definatly be worth it but again it depends on how the money situation is then. x

That's so bad with appointments!! I thought my docs was bad but I think yours beets it!

Hilary if you can you should have a homebirth it is so much better, I had to clean myself up after i had the twins as I was just left for hours in a pool of blood but at home I could just go get straight into my own bath, and the atmosphere is so much better (apart from phil stressing over delivering her lol) and you can choose when people can visit, you can get into your own bed after and best of all you wont have to leave your babies.

The twins were there when Rubi-Mai was born, they didnt see her come out but they saw her as soon as Phil lifted her up and it was so nice that all of us were there and they were not scared at all which I was a bit worried about before! xx

[Modified by: x~claire~x on July 01, 2008 08:05 AM]</p>

Claire that sounds soo much more appealing than having it in hospital, especially as this is likely to be our last.

Well I phoned the drs surgery & asked to speak to the practice mananger & told them that it was unacceptable not to be able to give me an appointment & told them that if they didnt give me one today that I would be writing a letter to the local health trust as well as contacting my local MP & the papers as I thought this was absolutely unacceptable & people deserved to know what a sham things had become & guess what an appointment just appeared out of thin air for next wed!!!! Unbelieveable what you have to go through nowadays.

Mark went mad last night when I told him & he has said that if it is going to be the case that the booking appointment & dating scan wont be til around the 16 weeks mark that we will get a private early scan done as well as the 4d one we had with Zara. Now all we need to do is to win the lottery to pay for them!!!

Do you want to borrow my midwife hilary he is good lol x

LOL Claire, sounds like he did a really good job!!!!

Glad you got an appointment but what a sham! I'd still write to the local MP or papers and show them up!!xx

Glad you got an appointment but what a sham! I'd still write to the local MP or papers and show them up!!xx

I know its a joke & the hassle you have to go through. This is the one part of the pregnancy I am really dreading, the appointments & sat round for hours with 2 young kids just coz they are running late & what not.

That's awful Hilary - really poor service. Have to say I had a much better experience ... I can book with my gp online and if I go on at 8.30 am - can get an appt for the same day - its fab! At the Ulster too - I rarely had a long wait for appointments and in the new maternity unit they have a fab outdoor play area for kids which was brilliant for those ladies who had toddlers to entertain. Guess its down to the postcode lottery again - I don't know what it would be like trying to get a home birth here mind you ....... I'd be too skeered! Mind you ... the speed Rory came, I nearly didn't have a choice!

Hope the pregnancy is going well!

Gill x

That sounds like a really good system. Its such a pity that they didnt introduce something like that here. I have heard such brilliant reports about the maternity at the Ulster Hospital too lately. A girl I went to school with had her wee boy there too & she was saying exactly what you had been saying too. I know it will probably be such a fight to even get anyone to listen to me when I suggest home birth coz when I 1st mentioned it with Amy I was told no way coz she was my 1st, then with Zara I was told not to be soo stupid, why on earth would want to have a homebirth when I had such brilliant (now I'm not sure brilliant would have been a word I would have used!!) facilities on my doorstep!! Well this time I'm not going to be brushed off so easily even though I know it could be a loosing battle that I'm fighting, but they are giong to have to give me some pretty good reasons as to why I cant have one. Why do you have to fight for everything in this country????

Tell them you are not having this baby in hospital and if they ddont agree to the homebirth you you will just phone an ambulance for them to deliver the baby once you know it is too late to be moved, I'm sure they will change their mind lol

lol its in our blood!

good idea claire!!!! What annoys me is the fact that they promote homebirths in some parts of the UK & then in others, like over here, they try to tell us we are irresponsible for even considering one & are putting our babies lives in danger x

WHAT!!!! How dare this happen when I'm away! I cant bloody believe you are pregnant!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

SOrry to hear you are having such a crap time getting seen - hope it all gets sorted out soon.

Its crap here too as you only get one scan at around 12-14 weeks and thats your lot. Apparantly the rest of the country get another at 20 weeks too - I ended up getting a private one at 20 weeks and it cost me £90 - I did get to find out the sex though so it was worth it.

Take care
xxx

So your not putting your lives in danger going into filthy hospitals!!?? lol