WIBU to phone the maternity ward?

[GreenSpace00]

I am 24 weeks pregnant with my second child (9th pregnancy) and have felt baby move since around 17 weeks.

I had felt the baby move less and some minor cramping yesterday afternoon/ evening which I put down to ligament pain and didn’t think much of it as it’s early days.

I’ve woken up this morning and haven’t felt baby and still have the slight cramping.

I’ve read that decreased movement only really comes into play in the 3rd trimester and I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.

Do you think it’s worth ringing? I’m not asking for medical advice, just someone to put the mind in the right place!

Deffo phone

There's really never any harm in ringing. Always ring if you have a concern, even if you're not "sure" you need to. You're not wasting anyone's time, I promise!

Yes. Please call. It’s really important to get checked out where movements seem reduced - even if you’re at a stage where it can be harder to tell, they will want you to call.

Just call anyway.

Call them x

I would call. Can you try drinking something ice-cold or fizzy? That used to do the trick when I was pregnant.

Yes call them; be cautious about drinking something ice cold or fizzy; it can make them move but they might only be moving because of that rather than it showing that they’re ok.
Decreased movement shouldn’t ever happen; the advice is to always call if there’s changes.

Yes please do call. Good luck, hope all’s ok

Call them

I used to get mine moving in the bath when they were being slower. Definitely get checked over though.

Always call. This is your child. Comes before anything else including the NHS work load.

call! Best case baby is fine and nothing to worry about but always worth checking

Definitely call. When I was pregnant with my first I went to get checked for some unusual cramping. All was fine, but the midwife said they'd rather see me 20 times and have it turn out to be nothing, than for me to not come in the one time it might be important.

please call. Hopefully everything is fine but always best to get things checked out if movements have reduced

One of my twins stopped moving and I didn’t know (hard to tell with another moving) - I had to have an EMCS immediately and it’s lucky he’s here at all. Please always call - it’s not worth the risk. Things like drinking cold drinks or wiggling your belly aren’t advised because if your baby only moves to stimulus then that’s not normal movement either. They will not think you’re a bother.

I sort of work in maternity and I was speaking to midwives about this and they felt sure that any woman experiencing reduced movements would always call - they were quite shocked when we did some work which showed there are lots of reasons some women don’t call. They definitely want you to call!

Absolutely call. I called a few weeks back when I was 23 weeks for the same issue. They wouldn’t do the full monitoring at that stage but a midwife checked baby with the Doppler and did obs on me just to check there was nothing obvious wrong. Baby did start moving again later than day but the midwife said I can go in as much as I need to for checking if I’m worried as they’d rather find 1000 healthy kicking babies than have 1 mum at home with a poorly baby who wasn’t going in

Definitely get reduced movement checked.

Call, it's never a waste of time. Even if all the babies they check are fine they'd rather check loads of healthy babies than find one person who needed to didn't go in.

SinkGirl it's odd isn't it, they told me at every appointment to call if I noticed reduced movements or had any concerns but I still felt reluctant to bother them. Something needs to change but I'm not sure what would do it.

No one wants to cause a fuss or waste a midwifes time... Which is admirable.... However midwifes would much rather 'waste' half an hour to reassure you all fine and spot any problems...

Phone them, they will see you immediately. I know you feel like you're wasting their time, but honestly you're not - they want to see you! They aren't in the Midwife business because they don't care if a baby is moving - they want happy and healthy babies and mums. Please call.

Definitely call- better to be safe than sorry. I was in 3 times in last tri with reduced movement. Every time- as soon as they hooked me up to the monitor- my DD would suddenly start moving up a storm in there and I would feel so embarrassed and like some attention seeking time waster. BUT the midwives were always so kind and reassured me I had done the right thing and they'd rather I came in and this happened than I didn't come in and something horrible happened.
I'm sure all will be well- but definitely get checked.

Definitely phone. They'd rather you phone up and everything be fine instead of not phone up and something go wrong.

Just ring. They will take you in a monitor on a machine. I went in twice with reduced movements, all fine. Midwives won’t mind

Always call if you’re worried. They have different cut offs for when they just listen with the Doppler, when they will do the full CTG trace etc but they will know what to do. I went in at a similar gestation for reduced movements and it was reassuring. Do you know the position of your placenta? Mine was anterior which caused me all kinds of bother with not being able to feel movement easily.

All the best to you xx