PREGNANCY: Who I should contact, NEUVOLA or TERVEYSASEMA?

Iloveocean · Post by **Iloveocean** » Fri May 30, 2014 9:51 pm

Hi all,

I suspect to be pregnant and am wondering who I should contact to get appointments and pregnant tests, Local TERVEYSASEMA or NEUVOLA from the beginning?

I reside in Helsinki area, so which NEUVOLA I should contact? And what kind of Laboratory tests I should go through (blood test, ultrasound...etc)? could someone be kind to give me some advice on this matters! Thank you very much in advance!

Kind regards,

Iloveocean

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Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sat May 31, 2014 1:15 am

Iloveocean wrote: I suspect to be pregnant and am wondering who I should contact to get appointments and pregnant tests, Local TERVEYSASEMA or NEUVOLA from the beginning?

Neuvola. Though it is possible it is in the nearest terveysasema.

I reside in Helsinki area, so which NEUVOLA I should contact?

Uhh... How should we know when you don't tell where you live? You don't even tell which city you live in (good grief)...
Most likely the nearest one, although that is most likely based on zip codes or something similar instead of number of kilometers.

And what kind of Laboratory tests I should go through (blood test, ultrasound...etc)? could someone be kind to give me some advice on this matters! Thank you very much in advance!

Go to the Neuvola and you'll learn what they will do there. Most odn't care to do additonal tests on top of them.

misu · Post by **misu** » Sat May 31, 2014 2:09 am

Haven't you taken a preg test at home? You can get them from the grocery store or pharmacy. The plain strip ones without the plastic holder piece usually come in two-packs and are cheap. How far along would you be? You can contact Neuvola but if it's too early they won't do anything - you have to be a certain amount of weeks along until they get any ball rolling with you.

Iloveocean · Post by **Iloveocean** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:33 am

Thank you RIP and Misu, yes I did Pregnant test, and the result came positive. My zip code is 00440 Helsinki, I live in pohjois Haaga area. I think I am now in between 2nd and 3rd week of pregnancy, do you know when will the first pregnant test be carried out? How many Neuvola are there in Helsinki btw? Thanks!

Br,

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 9:23 am

Iloveocean wrote:Thank you RIP and Misu, yes I did Pregnant test, and the result came positive. My zip code is 00440 Helsinki, I live in pohjois Haaga area. I think I am now in between 2nd and 3rd week of pregnancy, do you know when will the first pregnant test be carried out? How many Neuvola are there in Helsinki btw? Thanks!

Br,

Helsinki neuvola (all of them) phone number for reservations is 09 3105 5530, Monday to Friday 8.00-13.00. Presumably they tell you where to go based on your address, but it would seem likely to be Haagan neuvola, Huovitie 5. Call, tell how long you think your pregnancy is and let them worry the right week for the visit (apparently around week 9)

Iloveocean · Post by **Iloveocean** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 9:25 am

Great thank for your response, RIP!

Iloveocean · Post by **Iloveocean** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 6:26 pm

Thank all for your sharing. I will contact Neuvola next week for some tests and guidance?

Have a nice day to all!

Br,

misu · Post by **misu** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:14 pm

I don't know how it was for other people but Neuvola wasn't interested in making an appointment for me until I was something like 9-10 weeks. I went to Mehilainen somewhere in the 5-6 week to confirm pregnancy via ultrasound and then that doctor gave me some sort of paper and told me to call/make appointment with Neuvola when I was at least 9 weeks.

Iloveocean, if you were able to get a positive test at home you are at least 4 weeks pregnant ( it's typically calculated from last missed period). It's still very early so no need to rush or freak out just yet.

interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 12:49 pm

f the Finnish doctors prefer to see the embryo by ultrasound it means they go straight to the visible evidence and skip the blood test (to save money??). Not very re-assuring.

More likely the Finnish doctors know that anything can happen very early in pregnancies and there´s no point in stressing out and doing anything too early. If the OP or anyone else wants to go crazy on 4 week pregnancies, that´s great for them, but it´s very premature.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:22 pm

anna.g wrote:I respect that the Finns have their way of doing things but when it comes to serious health issues (and childbirth is as serious as it gets) that might not be the best way.

Not even close to best. 17. http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablo ... ment-goals

CH · Post by CH » Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:47 pm

anna.g wrote:
interleukin wrote:More likely the Finnish doctors know that anything can happen very early in pregnancies and there´s no point in stressing out and doing anything too early. If the OP or anyone else wants to go crazy on 4 week pregnancies, that´s great for them, but it´s very premature.
That depends on the age / health condition / other issues (hereditary, work factors and so on) of the woman. Each case is individual and should be handled as such.

Like what exactly would require a blood test to confirm pregnancy/check hcg levels, other than previous miscarriages? If there is a medical reason for it, sure, the tax payers will pick up the tab, but to satisfy one's own curiosity... pay for it yourself. And there is no reason to confirm a pregnancy by a blood test as a standard procedure.

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:34 am

anna.g wrote:
CH wrote: Like what exactly would require a blood test to confirm pregnancy/check hcg levels, other than previous miscarriages? If there is a medical reason for it, sure, the tax payers will pick up the tab, but to satisfy one's own curiosity... pay for it yourself. And there is no reason to confirm a pregnancy by a blood test as a standard procedure.
Yet another thread coming down to "I don't want my taxes to pay for [...]".

It generally doesn't bother me but this one is a health topic, so perhaps you can leave your accounting perspective out of it. Besides, Finland has a positive attitude to population increase through childbirth, family protection etc. If you don't want your taxes going towards that, tell your congressman.

All health topics are about money. And yes they, they being National institute of health and welfare, do calculate pro/con/cost on everything and if something is unnecessary/too expensive/not efficient then its not in public health care.
Prove to them that blood test saves more than costs and they may add that to standard neuvola visits. Its all about money.

"being positive" doesnt mean they throw money away on useless tests.

Liam1 · Post by **Liam1** » Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:38 am

anna.g wrote:Yet another thread coming down to "I don't want my taxes to pay for [...]".

It generally doesn't bother me but this one is a health topic, so perhaps you can leave your accounting perspective out of it

I am not sure if I agree with you Anna. Tell me what exactly can the medical staff or the mother do with this information, medically speaking? If it is so the mother can eat healthily / start supplements, wouldn't she have done this anyway after performing her blue line test (don't think mothers get a +ive and say to themselves "I'lll wait until a blood test before giving up smoking!!")? IIrc they may have tested my wife in Belgium and then did nothing except book the same kind of appointments as the Finns did for our 3rd. For our first, I don't think the Swedes bothered with a confirmatory test.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:00 am

You talk like pregnancy was illness

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:23 pm

anna.g wrote: Someone who is a foreigner (i.e. probably needs more guidance than a Finn would) is asking for advice on a serious matter and people here reply without consideration, without a clue on the potential consequences on her condition.

I think OP's question was pretty well covered. If one is not happy with the level of tests done here in the public system there are private clinics that do more test and scans for a fee.

Btw, dealing with health in an accounting way is what the USA do and we all (??) know the results of that approach.

There isn't a single country in the world that offers its whole population the most extensive medical care money can buy. No society can afford it; medical research is too innovative for that. System in USA has been rather well known, having bowed to wants of medical, insurance and legal industries (instead of having governments bureaucrats crunching numbers and saying both "yes" and "no"), for managing to combine cutting edge research, superb universities, very high over all medical costs with rather questionable benefits to the over level of health in the country, compared to many other countries that spend a lot less on health care.

System that should offer at least fairly good health care to everybody or even almost everybody must be able to say "Sorry, expected benefits do not justify the costs. If you want to have that, you pay for it yourself".

Great majority of pregnant women in this country are not sick, nor are their fetuses. The system, that works at least pretty well, has been built on the idea that is more important to try cover at decent level everybody (that is why for example we basically pay for pregnant women that they would have a couple of health checks), instead of offering all the possible tests of questionable value (in accounting sense) to women already taking fairly good care of themselves.

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