Hello! Hope everyone is doing OK, I'm up to my ears in boxes getting packed and sending things back home as we'll be back in the UK in less than 3 weeks now!

Anyway, as soon as I come back I'll need to book myself in with a doctor/midwife, as I'll hopefully be having a section at 38 weeks. I've never been pregnant in England so what on earth do I do? I know which hospital I want to use, so I'm guessing I should just contact them directly and they'll sort me out a midwife.. or should I go through a GP? I'm confused!

Any help will be rewarded with virtual chocolate

(sorry for putting this in The Lounge btw, I thought not just pregnant mummies but also anyone who works in a hospital might be able to help too so I popped it in here, but feel free to move it if it's in the wrong place )

I think it's through gp. I changed hospitals when I got pg with this one and they wouldn't see me untill I'd booked in with gp and midwife x

i imagine you would have to go and get yourself registered at docs then take it from there hun x

You'd need a GP first. So register with a GP and they'll advise you

^ Yep, what Kelly said - but it's worth phoning them (or asking someone else to) to register beforehand or just collect forms - and ask over the phone about their own way of doing things?

(I trekked to the gp's in the pi$$ing rain, green with morning sickness, to be faced with a doc who said 'well, it's early days, you might lose it anyway' ONLY to find out that I could have rung the midwives direct because the "changed the system" since I had baby no.1 all of about two years before?!?!?!
Ooops, personal rant there.)

Basically, each area's different and if you can sort it all before arrival in uk all the better so it's worth finding out what they can do over the phone first - hopefully even make you a mw appt for your first week back in the uk. I wonder if they'll want to do another scan and/or bloods for you?

Oh, and you can choose any hospital, it's just usually the closest you'll be referred to and it'll be their mw's who do the community visits after baby's arrival. More of a hassle if it's an out-of-area hospital, then you need the gp to refer you to them I think.

Hth - as if you are this far along missie!! xx

I would also go through your gp get holdof them first then hopefully they can guide you on what to do next xx

Most GP's do their own booking in appointment for all new patients before you are able to use primary care services, (midwifes are primary care) I would imagain that when you call to register at your local GP and you tell them you are heavily pregnant that they will by pass this and book you strait in with the surgery midwifes as well.

It may be worth finding your local GP and calling before you move so that they are expecting you, after all you will be due for a check up at around 30 weeks anyway.

try searching on here

http://www.nhs.uk/servicedirectories/pages/servicesearch.aspx

NHS websites pretty good, you should be able to find out everything here.

I moved gps/drs recently which also meant moving hospitals. I went to the drs and filled in all the forms then said I was pregnant and booked a mw appointment there and then. Probs best as I don't have much trust in paperwork it probs would have taken them a few wks. It was once I saw the mw things got moving. She transferred me to hospital and got my next scan sorted out. Unfortunately I had to go through all the blood tests again and fillings out millions of paperwork again so you'll probably have to do that. I'd say try and get a mw appointment asap. Good luck with the move.

Thanks everyone! I feel a bit less panicked about it now. Yay Banda! Wonder how it will work as at first we'll be staying with my Dad in very rural norfolk, then finding a place in Ely - so would i have problems registering with a GP in Ely if I don't live there yet? I'll probably be able to visit Ely a couple of times a week, but there's no buses or trains anywhere near my Dads house (it's literally in the middle of nowhere - more wildlife than people kind of place) and we won't have a car. My Dad will drive us anywhere, but he'll still be working full time - argh! Complicated!

Will you be in your new place in Ely by the time you have bubs?

If so, I would defo push to get in the local surgery there, that way you are all set with the same midwife xx

You won't be able to register at a GP if your out of the area, it's stupid, I couldn't stay at my GP's once because I moved across the road, literally, but one side of the Road was S7 and the Other was S8 so I had to change, stupid system

You'd be best of just using the same GP as your dad and then transfer when you find somewhere. There will still be midwife services, and in really rural area's they may do home visits, I'm not sure about that tho it is just a guess, but people must have babies in remote areas so there will be something

good luck with the move!

Laura, we will (fingers crossed!!) be in Ely by the time bubs is here, we're planning to stay with my Dad for just a few weeks while we look for a place, so I want to be in my new place by mid May/start of June at the latest, so we have time to settle in before bubs arrives, and get acquainted with the hospital I'll be using, and it will just be good to be there and settled in case things happen earlier than I'm expecting

Jolene, thanks, I had a feeling that might be the case! I think I'll follow your advice there, and get booked in with my Dad's GP then trasfer later if it will only be a few weeks. I have these nightmares of being stranded in the wilderness with no car if things go wrong.. This move is going to be complicated!