doctors, midwives, hospitals

Well it's been a week of appointments for me. 5 in 4 days.  These include an ultrasound, consultant appointment, 2 midwife appointments and a hospital appointment. Most were routine appointments, but the abundance is due to us trying to change to a local hospital, and because I'm now at 36 weeks, everything has to happen quickly.  Let's start at the beginning:

1. 12:30pm, February 15th - 36 week ultrasound (actual time 12:55pm)
   This was (most likely) my final ultrasound to track Baby W's growth. He's looking good. Unfortunately he was feeling a little camera shy and we couldn't get a good shot of his face, so we'll just have to wait for the real thing in a month's time.  He's still tracking on the average trajectory (hooray!) and is currently estimated to be 5lb 14oz, which if he continues to put on the average 0.5lb per week, would make him around 8lbs around his birth--which sounds reasonable, right?! He's also still head down, which is good, and let's hope that fibroid is keeping him that way. The fibroid is still showing no growth since 20 weeks, so we're in good shape.
2. 2:00pm, Februarly 15th - consultant appointment (actual time 3:15pm)
   This was a follow up appointment about the fibroid to discuss what measures, if any, will have to be taken during the birth because of the fibroid's existance.  The consultant said, as the fibroid is external and high on my uterus, it shouldn't affect me trying for a vaginal birth (as opposed to a cesearian)-good!.  She suggested that during the delivery, they use 'active management' during the third stage of labor (which is the delivery of the placenta). There is a small risk of extra bleeding so what they'll do is give me a shot which help my uterus to contract faster to quicker delivery of the placenta. I was probably going to elect to have this shot anyway (who wants to wait around for up to an hour more for the placenta come out?!).
3. 2:30pm, February 15th - old midwife appointment (actual time 4:00pm)
   This was effectively my last appointment with my old midwife, Mara.  We did all the normal bits-blood pressure (120/80 - normal), bump size (34 centimeters -normal), baby's heartrate (131 - normal), baby's position (head down-as seen in scan) and he's not started to engage (drop into pelvis) yet-I think this can start anytime soon, and urine (slightly elevated nitrate levels, so she sent off to test for urinary tract infection, but didn't think it was likely as I had no other symptoms. We also discussed our birth plan, which is basically a list of what we'd like to see happen during the birth. I think I'll save the details for another post closer to the due date, particularly as things might have to change when we switch hospitals.
4. 2:50pm, Feburary 17th - new midwife appointment (actual time 2:40pm!)
   So this was my first appointment with a midwife in Bromley. She informed me that I have to rebook with the hospital in Bromley and luckily when she phoned they had just had a cancellation, as there were no other appointments in the next month! No idea what would have happened if they didn't--a waiting list I guess? Anyway, that appointment is tomorrow and I'll have to give a full medical history, etc again as I did in my first midwife appoitnment 8 months ago. *sigh* such a waste of time. They may also go through their referral system for a final decision on whether doctors need to be involved with the delivery (normally midwives do all normal deliveries-and doctors are just on call in case of problems). She did all the normal tests again, everything, including urine levels were normal today.
5. 8:30 am, February 18th - hospital registration appointment
   This is tomorrow, so stay posted!