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Your pregnancy and antenatal care

Are you in early pregnancy or thinking about having a baby? This page will provide you with useful information regarding how to get in contact with a midwife, and pre-pregnancy or early pregnancy information.

When you find out you are pregnant it is an exciting and life changing time. The maternity team at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust are committed to helping all women and their families to have a happy and healthy pregnancy and a safe birth of their baby.
Our dedicated staff work throughout Buckinghamshire offering a range of services from both hospital and community settings.

We aim to:  

  • work in partnership with you and your family throughout your pregnancy, birth and afterwards, offering all of the services you will need
  • support all women to make decisions about what they want and need from their maternity care
  • provide you with a small team of midwives who will care for you during your pregnancy and beyond
  • offer you a choice of where to give birth. This may depend on yours and your baby’s wellbeing. Your midwife will discuss this with you at you first appointment. Further information can be
  • found on the ‘Your birth choices’ section of this website

 

 

Please complete our self-registration form to inform us of your pregnancy – your GP may already have asked you to do this.

Please click here to complete the form online.

Or you can download the form  as a Word document, then once you’ve completed it, please email the form to bht.maternityreferrals@nhs.net .

Booking your maternity care with us 
4 different options are available:

  • Complete the self-registration form . A member of the team will contact you to arrange your booking appointment.
  • If you live within Buckinghamshire you can contact your community midwife directly, either via your GP surgery or by calling one of the community midwives offices:
    Aylesbury community midwives: 01296 316120
    Wycombe community midwives: 01494 425172
  • If you do not live within Buckinghamshire and you wish to have your baby with us, please call our antenatal clinic team on 01296 316227 to arrange an appointment.
  • GP referral: If you prefer, you can see your GP, who can make a referral

Your antenatal appointments may be held in either your GP surgery, a Children’s Centre, the Wycombe Birth Centre, or one of our antenatal clinics in Amersham, Stoke Mandeville or Wycombe Hospital. This will be dependent on where you live and if you are seeing your community midwife or one of the doctors in our obstetric teams.

Before your first booking appointment with the midwife

Your first appointment with the midwife is known as the ‘booking’ appointment. This is where the midwife completes your maternity notes and provides pregnancy advice and discusses your preferences for your pregnancy and birth. The following information will be discussed with you, and you should try to read the leaflets/websites below before your booking appointment.

 

 

Your first pregnancy appointment (booking appointment) 
At your first pregnancy appointment, which is also known as your ‘booking’ appointment, the midwife will ask you about your pregnancy, medical and social history. The midwife will also discuss with you the type of care available to you, which is dependent on the history you give.
For women who are likely to have an uncomplicated pregnancy, it is recommended that your care be only with the midwife (Midwifery Led Care). If you are at higher risk of complications, your care throughout pregnancy and birth will be shared between the midwife and an obstetric team within the hospital (Consultant Led Care)
This first appointment is a good opportunity for you to ask any questions and normally takes about an hour. Anything you say to the midwife will be discussed in confidence.

Further appointments 
After your first ‘booking’ visit, you will be asked to make future antenatal appointments. If for any reason you cannot make an appointment or want to change the time, it is very important that you telephone your GP surgery or community midwife, or the antenatal clinic where the appointment is. The antenatal clinic number is 01296 838888.

 

 

When a pregnancy is uncomplicated we will see you at the following times:

 

Weeks of Pregnancy  First Baby / Subsequent Baby What to Expect at each appointment  Who you will see 
Before 8 weeks All women Referral to our Maternity Service, either by:
Self-referral or GP referral		 GP or midwife
6-10 weeks All women ‘Booking appointment’ with a midwife  Midwife 
11-14 weeks All women ‘Dating scan’ or combined screening for Down’s Syndrome, Edward’s and Patau’s.  Scanning/Phlebotomist at Stoke Mandeville or Wycombe Hospital 
16 weeks All women Blood pressure, urine, wellbeing of mum and baby. Offer and organise ‘Quadruple test’ if missed combined screening.  Midwife 
18 - 21 weeks All women Detailed scan of baby, looking at: head, face, body, limbs and internal organs. (‘Anomaly scan’)  Scanning at Stoke Mandeville or Wycombe Hospital 
25 weeks First time mothers  Blood pressure, urine, wellbeing of mum and baby  Midwife
28 weeks All women As 25 weeks. Repeat blood test for anaemia and antibodies*   Midwife
31 weeks First time mothers  As 25 weeks. Midwife
34 & 36 weeks All women As 25 weeks plus discuss labour, birth and postnatal care. Final decision about where your baby will be born  Midwife
38 weeks All women As 25 weeks  Midwife
34 & 36 weeks All women As 25 weeks plus discuss labour, birth and postnatal care. Final decision about where your baby will be born  Midwife
40 weeks First time mothers  As 25 weeks plus offer membrane sweep  Midwife
41 weeks All women As 25 weeks plus offer membrane sweep and arrange induction of labour for overdue babies  Midwife

 

*If you are Rhesus (Rh D) negative you will require anti-D at 28 weeks. Your midwife will discuss this with you during your early appointments and plan your care with you. 

If your pregnancy is more complex, your midwife and obstetrician will develop an individualised plan of care for you. 

 

You will be given these at your booking appointment to keep with you during your pregnancy. You should always take them with you when you see your midwife, GP or attend the hospital for any reason. Midwives and doctors will write about each visit you have and ensure your test results are available to you.
After your baby is born, your notes will be retained by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

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