Triage/MW rant

[jenni16]

I've not been feeling too great for the last week or two - constant headaches, dizziness, exhausted, pain in my ribs/back and moving round to the front towards the top of my bump. Well the headache seems a whole lot worse today and just doesn't seem to be going away. My head feels all fuzzy and my vision keeps going all blurred. I've been drinking plenty, trying to take it easy, resting where possible and taken paracetamol which hasn't touched it.

OH ha pestered me all day to ring the midwife as he could see I wasn't feeling well. He also knows that many of these are signs of pre-eclampsia and so not to ignore. Also because my Nan suffered with pre-eclampsia and lost her first baby as a result, I'm obviously a little more wary of it. I eventually rang triage, who just fobbed me off with advising a warm bath, fluids, rest and paracetamol. She kept talking about how to ease lower back pain, but I kept telling her that it's not in my lower back, but in my ribs up towards my shoulder/level with the top of my bump, but she just wasn't listening. She said that because I'd seen the midwife on Friday and everything was fine, that nothing much will have changed since then so there's not much they can do apart from advise paracetamol and a bath etc. I mentioned that my bp was higher than normal but she didn't seem bothered because it's still 'within the normal range' even though mine is usually below normal. I wanted to go in and just have bp and urine etc checked just for reassurance but she seemed against it and said there wasn't any point as everything was OK Friday. Well a lot can change in two days can't it....

On a slightly separate note, does anyone know how the urine test strips work? Do they give an instant result or are you supposed to wait for results to develop? I've had a uti twice so far this pregnancy, neither has been picked up by the midwife when I've seen her a day or two before/after a doctor has confirmed it. The docs seem to wait a few minutes before deciding a result, whereas the midwife literally dips the test, looks at it straightaway then says everything is fine. It just seems strange that she's never picked anything up when the doctors have. Also find it odd that in my first pregnancy, I was under a different area so had different mw's, but almost every urine sample came back with protein or leucocytes, but that hasn't happened once this time.

That turned a bit ranty, but I'm just fed up of not being listened to and being fobbed off and told everything is fine when I feel so rubbish and just know something isn't right. I seem to be losing trust in the midwives which is bothering me as I'm getting closer to birth!

 

[Summergurl]

My motto, always trust your gut instinct. If you're gut is telling you something isn't right then take yourself either to a&me tonight or to the local walk in centre first thing in the morning. Hopefully though it is just 'nothing' and all is ok x

 

[jenni16]

I'm sure it is just nothing, at least I'm hoping so anyway. Just frustrating when no one seems to want to listen. I've said I'll go to the doctors if I still don't feel right in the morning, or call triage again if I'm any worse overnight.
We have to sit and wait for an appointment at our doctors, usually 3+ hours, so I wanted to avoid that if possible with having my 19mo to entertain. But I will of course go if I need to xx

 

[Phoenix85]

The dip tests aren't reliable because they don't sterilise the pots.

They are supposed to send the sample off to be cultured in a lab and it takes a few days to find out if there's an infection.

I had leucocytes at a 16 week appointment when they dip-tested it, but they sent it off and it came back clear. Was told at the time the leucocytes can indicate an infection or can just be due to bacteria in the pot!

 

[Jojo84]

Personally I would call and say you are going in. If they say no, turn up on the maternity ward and bug them until someone sees you.

 

[Emmam1982]

The dip tests take between 20 seconds and 2 minutes to develop, each thing is a different time. If there's more than one out of range it's usually sent to the lab for cultures so you get the correct antibiotics xx

 

[scn]

Universal containers that they give you to pee in are sterile, they become contaminated when the urine strip is inserted because these are not sterile or if you contaminate it yourself by not using the correct technique to pee into it. You should start to pee into the loo then stop mid flow and restart into the container to get a true sterile sample.
The strips take time to develop as Emmam has already said, don't be afraid to question your midwife if you feel she isn't leaving it long enough to develop x

 

[jenni16]

She literally just dips it in the pot and reads it straight away, doesn't give it any time at all. She's away for my next apt in two weeks so I'm seeing someone different, I'll mention it to them and see if they do it any differently. Will be interesting to see if the results are different too!
I'm feeling a bit better this evening, will see how I am tomorrow then decide if I think I need to go in or not. The MW on the phone just didn't seem to take any notice, hopefully I'd get someone different next time!
Xx

 

[babyslog]

Aww hun