What is a booking appointment?

Answer 1

The booking appointment is an initial appointment at the beginning of the pregnancy and ideally should be done by 10 weeks of the pregnancy.

It last anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours (depending on the booking style of the midwife). During this appointment the following history is taken:

medical,

obstetric,

social and

family health history.

Further, the care plan is drawn, and if medical or obstetric history indicates, referrals to obstetric team is made.

Also, with woman's consent:

Blood pressure is measured and set as a baseline for future visits

urine screened for infection or other possible deviations from the norm

booking bloods tests are taken (rubella status, HIV, syphilis, hep B, haemoglobin count, blood group)

dating scan is arranged,

screening for fetal abnormalities is explained and offered

dietary advise given

health advise given

questions asked about whereas woman is at risk of the domestic violence

referrals made if any needed (such as smoking cessation etc)

questions answered :)

Hope more or less I covered most of the booking appointment. The following appointments will last only about 15 minutes, thus don't get frightened by the length of this appointment.

IMPORTANT:

It is very important that women don't hide important information such as number of previous deliveries, terminations of the pregnancies or miscarriages. This information can omitted from the woman's hand held notes in order to maintain confidentiality and will only be put on the hospital notes. Such information is of medical significance and should not be hidden from your midwife (she will not judge you or ask any inappropriate questions - if she does, you have the full right to make a complain not only to your trust but also to Nursing and Midwifery council, as it is a serious breech of duty).