First appointment with the midwife.

The first appointment with the midwife is the start of the antenatal care of the NHS. The National Health Service is a fantastic organisation that essentially means that all healthcare, including your birth, will be free of charge (apart from the monthly tax and National Insurance that your parents pay of course!) It will be interesting to see if the NHS in its existing form will still be around by the time you have to give birth to your children as it is, along with other public institutions, facing a massive onslaught of budget cuts!!

Anyway, so Alessandra goes to the health centre that is (literally!) just around the corner from our house on 15 June 2010. This first appointment is all about a long conversation about the medical history of both sides of the family. At the end of this it is assessed as a risk-free pregnancy, which means that for now Alessandra will not see a doctor, but only a midwife. This of course is massively different from both the Italian and Southern African systems where everything pregnancy related is doctor led!

It is also here that Alessandra receives her Maternity record, which is really a big yellow book which contains all the info regarding the pregnancy. The midwife is quite clear that this book has to be carried by Alessandra at all times in case she has to go to the hospital unexpectedly. Naturally it ends up in the bookshelve, only to come out for the next appointment!

This next appointment  is scheduled for 24 August, and for now there is nothing to do but wait for the little fagiolin to grow!