goto homepage

When you first think you may be pregnant, contact your GP or local community midwife directly. They will help you to decide where you would like to have your care while you are pregnant. They will also discuss with you where you would like to birth your baby.

Your plan of care will be discussed and agreed with you. Your community midwife may want to refer you to other members of the maternity team. If so this will be discussed with you.

It is your decision how your plan is created and who is involved.

If you are not sure about anything, please ask.

A good tip!
Book as early as you can with you community midwife. If you can before you have been pregnant for 12 weeks. There is lots of evidence that shows that you and your baby will be fitter and happier if you have your first appointment early. Your community midwife will have lots of information to help you, can answer your questions and arrange your scans etc.

Mums-to-be who are expected to have a straight forward pregnancy are known as low risk.

Low risk care is provided by your local community midwife. This Midwife led care can be accessed at GP surgery, childrens centres or maternity hub. Having your baby at home or in hospital are options for all low risk mums and their families.

Mums-to-be who may have had complications while pregnant or in a previous pregnancy will be offered a choice of who looks after them.

This can be provided by both the community midwife and the hospital doctor or just the hospital doctor. Appointments to see the doctor can be at a consultant clinic convenient to where you live.

It is recommended that you give birth to your baby in hospital. Again your care can be provided by both the midwifery and medical teams.

We provide an ante-natal anaesthetic clinic weekly based at Worcestershire Royal and a fortnightly clinic at the Alexandra Hospital.

Obstetric Anaesthetists are doctors who specialise in looking after women in pregnancy and labour, especially those who are at a higher risk of needing a caesarean delivery or who have medical problems that may affect their pregnancy.

Referral to see an anaesthetist when pregnant could be for advice on pain relief in labour, how you would be looked after if you needed a caesarean section or about problems related to epidurals or labour anaesthesia in the past.

The following links provide more information on exactly who should be referred to see an anaesthetist during their pregnancy and specific conditions that may need anaesthetic involvement:

Having a scan is very exciting - you get to see your baby! But it's not just for fun. Scans can tell you lots of information about your baby. They check that your baby is growing and developing normally.

Scans are usually performed by radiographers or midwives who are specially trained in ultrasound and are known as sonographers. The sonographer puts some cold gel on your tummy and moves a small, hand-held probe (a transducer) over your skin to get views of the baby. High frequency sound waves are used to transmit an image of your baby onto a computer screen.

Ultrasound has been used in pregnancy for nearly 30 years and medical research has found no side effects. However, experts agree that it shouldn't be done without clear medical reasons and that it should be limited to the minimum.

A good tip!

When you have a scan in pregnancy you always need to have a full bladder. Please drink 1 pint of water 1 1/2 hours prior to scan. Try not to go to the toilet until after your scan. Easier said than done but it helps your baby to be in the right place. We can then get a good picture of what is going on.

Your first scan is usually done when you are around 12 weeks pregnant. The date your baby is expected to be born will be confirmed at this appointment. The next one is done at 20 weeks of pregnancy. This will check the physical wellbeing of your baby. A scan takes about 15 to 20 minutes to do.

Buying a printed scan photograph

You can buy baby scan photographs for £5 each or £10 for three. We are able to take card payments for your baby's scan photos when you are attending your pregnancy scans at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Alexandra Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital, and now also at Evesham Community Hospital. This is the preferred payment method.

Sometimes we need to keep a closer eye on you and your baby as the baby grows.

If you don't need to see a doctor and are more than 20 weeks pregnant we have a Maternity Day Assessment Unit at Kidderminster Hopspital and treatment centre. Any of the team looking after you can arrange for you to come into Kidderminster hospital for a check-up. This could be your GP, community midwife or your hospital doctor or midwife.

The appointment could be to:

• Provide you with reassurance/answer your questions
• Help with the monitoring of you and your baby using scans, blood tests or baby heart beat monitoring
• Talk you through the results of tests
• The Alexandra Maternity Day Assessment Unit is based next to Ward 15 on level 1.
• At Worcestershire Royal Hospital the unit is based on the Lavender antenatal ward.

The units are open on Monday to Friday between 9am and 9pm. You will be met and cared for by experienced midwives.

Are you expecting more than one baby?

The Multiple Pregnancy Support Group is a specialist group for mums-to-be who are expecting twins or more. The group is run by an experienced midwife. The sessions are held at the Lavender Children's Centre in Worcester and also at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

During a typical session you might discuss topics such as the delivery of twins, positions for feeding, safe cot sharing, routines, equipment and support networks. The group aims to be fun and friendly while packed with useful information.

Come along and meet others mothers to be of multiples and discuss topics of interest such as feeding positions, cot sharing and support groups.

For more information contact Karen Halfpenny on 01527 512103.

#SqueezeLiftHold - Pelvic Floor Workout Programme

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) has designed a new campaign to help pregnant and postnatal women improve their pelvic floor health.

The ‘Squeeze, Lift, Hold’ campaign includes a website with facts, tips and advice to help women recognise the signs of incontinence as well as behaviours to follow to help strengthen their pelvic floor muscles.

A workout programme is available as part of the campaign and features simple, quick and effective exercises that can be fitted in around busy routines.

The three stages of the programme are designed to improve bladder and bowel control, reduce the risk of pelvic organ prolapse, improve recovery from childbirth, preserve and/or increase sexual sensation, as well as maintain spine and pelvis support along with deep abdominal (tummy) and back muscles.

More than one in three women experience unintentional (involuntary) loss of urine (urinary incontinence) in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, while about one in three leak urine in the first three months after giving birth. But the team at LMNS want women to know it doesn’t have to be this way.

By providing easy-to-follow tips and a workout programme of simple exercises taking less than six minutes each day, women can improve their pelvic floor in just a few months, all from the comfort of their own home.

To find out more visit: www.squeezelifthold.co.uk

During pregnancy some mums-to-be suffer with pelvic girdle pain. This is a pain that is often one-sided and may be concentrated in your buttocks. It may appear to jump from side to side or be accompanied by a general back pain or pain at the front of your pelvis.

If you have these symptoms your community midwife can refer you to a physiotherapist who specialise in caring for pregnant women. The physiotherapist will assess you and will provide on-going support and advice to help you manage while you are pregnant.

It is important to maintain a healthy weight during pregancny. We have the Living Well service who offer help and advice to promote a healthy life style for you and your family.

This service can be access by women with a BMI of 30 and above. We will get in touch with you and work with you to agree a healthy eating programme. It will be just right for you, especially as you are pregnant.

The aim of the programme is to help you to control your weight gain while you are pregnant. After you have your baby there will be advice right through to your baby's second birthday.

Your midwife can also arrange for you to be seen by a dietician if, for example, you are diabetic.

• can't feel the baby move when they expect to
• suddenly start to have an unusual pain
• are bleeding
• are suffering from itching