First midwife appointment
Maternity: care during pregnancy
Your first appointment can also be called your antenatal booking appointment. You will have this within the first 10 weeks of your pregnancy.
If you refer after 8 weeks of pregnancy, it may not be possible to see you for your first appointment before you reach 10 weeks.
If you live in south east London, your first appointment will usually be at one of our community clinics close to your home.
How to get your first appointment
You can refer yourself using our online referral form.
Your GP can also refer you.
Once we receive your referral letter, your first appointment is arranged for you along with your first scan.
It is important that we have the correct address and contact number for you.
Choosing where to have your care during pregnancy is an important decision. Please read the information on our choosing where to have your maternity care page to make sure we are the right choice for you.
How to cancel your care with us
Complete our online cancellation form to cancel your upcoming antenatal appointments.
Contact us about your first appointment
Phone the clinic: 020 7188 2300 if you need to cancel or change your booking appointment.
Preparing for your first appointment
It's normal to feel a bit anxious or overwhelmed before your appointment.
It might be helpful to make some notes before your appointment, so you don't forget anything important you'd like to ask.
You will be offered a range of blood tests. If you have a needle phobia, we'd encourage you to read our information about overcoming your fear.
We will also ask for a urine sample so you might want to make sure you’ve had some water to drink before the appointment.
Your appointment also offers you the opportunity to discuss recommended screening tests including carbon monoxide testing.
Setting up the Badger Notes app
We use an app called Badger Notes. This allows you access to your maternity records.
Before your first midwife appointment, please use Badger Notes to give us some background information. This is so we can we can spend less time on collecting information, and more time talking about your pregnancy.
To set up your account, please email your name, date of birth and mobile phone number to [email protected]
You can log in to the Badger Notes website or download the app on your smart phone or tablet.
The first time you access your notes you will need to register for the service using your email address and a security phrase.
Your security phrase was created when we booked your first appointment for you.
This is your first initial and last name (all lowercase), followed by your year of birth.
Anna Smith born in 1988 would be asmith1988.
If you have more than one last name or it is double-barrelled we will only use the first part.
You will receive a verification code to your mobile to set up the account, which will require you to create a secure password.
If you are using the app on your smartphone or tablet you will also be asked to create a pin number for ease of login for the future.
You are now ready to view your records.
Please go to the pre-booking information section and complete.
During your first appointment
Your first appointment will take around 1 hour.
You will have the opportunity to talk about your pregnancy and for us to take some important tests.
The midwife will ask questions about your health, your family’s health, and your preferences for this pregnancy.
Please be aware that at the beginning of this appointment your midwife will need 10 minutes alone with you.
You can find more about questions the midwife might ask, topics you might discuss, and tests you'll be offered on the NHS website.
After your appointment
Once your booking appointment is complete, your midwife will let you know where you will have your antenatal appointments and give you contact details in case you have any concerns.
If you have either missed or not been told about an appointment, please contact your midwife as soon as possible.
