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Preparation for your Appointment

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Please bring any scan or blood results you may have been given by your GP. If this is not your first baby and you have access to your previous notes please bring these also.

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The first appointment is your booking and will usually take an hour.  Subsequent appointments every 4-6 weeks until 30-32 weeks, 2-3 weekly until 36-37 weeks and then weekly until your baby arrives (this however may be different depending on individual requirements).

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Most antenatal appointments will take approximately 30 mins, we ask that you arrive on time, and if you are more than 15 mins late we will need to reschedule your appointment. Due to the nature of our work it can be unpredictable. very occasionally we are called to an emergency that does not allow time for ringing and cancelling all of our clinic, however we always do our best to contact you as soon as possible if we are called away. Please always check your phone on the day of your appointment.

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Your appointment may include some of the following

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  • Blood Pressure

  • Urine Testing

  • Checking your weight

  • Measurement and position of your growing baby

  • Listening to your baby's heartbeat

  • Discussing care/birth plan

  • Referral to other services

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Your Midwife & Time Off

Your chosen midwives either share a caseload, taking turns at working week-about on labour/birth while the other midwife looks after the antenatal and postnatal clients OR has her own caseload but takes off every second weekend and one weekday with your 'back-up midwife' covering during this time.  Please discuss with your individual midwife which way she practices.

We are committed to this lovely job being sustainable for us and our families, as well as providing our clients and whanau with expert, warm and sensitive care.  

How to Contact us

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Being on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week can be exhausting, therefore it is important for you to feel confident about the times to contact us. Please contact us during working hours for changing appointments and non-urgent queries Monday to Friday 8am-5pm. Remember we are on call 24/7 so please respect your midwife’s precious family time and only call outside of office hours for urgent reasons. 

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Please NEVER TEXT us – it is too easy for a text to be missed – texting is unreliable and unsafe. If you are concerned enough to be contacting us outside of appointment times then please phone. Only text us for changing appointment times, otherwise call our mobile phones; we may be out of range doing post-natal visits, off call or sleeping and have our phone turned off. If we are unavailable, the mobile phone will have a message directing you who to call. This will usually be one of your two midwives, but may occasionally be one of the others in the practice. Make sure you have plenty of credit on your phone to call our mobiles, especially when you are close to having your baby. 

 

Call your midwife urgently if

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You have any vaginal bleeding

Your baby is not moving to his/her normal pattern from 28 weeks

You are having headaches with altered vision

You are leaking brown/green vaginal fluid (meconium)

You are having signs of labour before 37 weeks

Established labour – refer to labour checklist as discussed with your midwife

 

For midwifery emergencies or labour calls we are available 24/7 - please discuss this with your midwife.

 

If you are sick with an obviously non-pregnancy related illness (e.g. cold or flu, stomach bugs,) please contact your GP. Midwives deal with pregnancy related issues only. 

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