Hi, belly full, lovely bath, ds2 in bed, ds1 is at his friends cadets bbq, won't be home 'til 9.30 .
Baby is all fine, very wriggly little one, wouldn't play the games we needed! I had to go for a wander as the sonographer needed to get better views of the face and heart, so we were there for ages. The only let down is that I apparently have a low lying placenta which is covering the 'exit'. Last time we had a mw sonographer who was lovely and went out of her way to talk to us both and get us good views of baby, however this lady wsn't a mw, was very clinical and abrupt and had a really poor bedside manner. When she told us about the placenta I asked what that meant, and she said I needed a cs. That was it! I tried to almost laugh it off by saying to DP, "Well that buggers up our home birth eh!", she just said, "well it might not, you'll have to wait util you have another scan. I asked what were the chances of it having moved by then and she said she's not a mw, it's just her job to pass the message on! DP asked if it meant any other complications. She was really blunt with him and sadi "Obviously it causes complications with delivery". We didn't get any decent views of baby, and rather than coming out happy that our LO is healthy we're peed off at her attitude and I'm worrying (after googling, probably unneccasarily) about having a cs. I've had 2 natural, quick, pain free births. The last thing I want is a caesarean! Extra scan in October though, and think I might get them to have a little look when I have my private 4d scan in Sept.
On that note, PJen, all I can do I suppose is reassure you that childbirth does not always mean tears, cuts, unbearable pain etc. I wasn't scared of labour and birth with ds1, but was certainly apprehensive. Expecting the worst pain in the world. I wanted th works. I thought there was no way on earth I could get a baby out of me without screaming for an epidural. As it happened, I didn't realise I ws in labour as the contractions weren't painful. I only went into hospital as they were so regular and I was 40+1. As it happened I wsa fully dilated when teh mw did an internal, and she pretty much forced g&a on me even though I didn't feel I needed it. DS2 was much the same, but far quicker. No tears or cuts either time. Are you doing any ante-natal classes? They can be really good for relaxation techniques. I'm convinced that the breathing I learnt is what made my labours the way they were. If you're worried about tears, start doing perineal massage. I use/have used almond oil from holland & barratt, nothing special. Make sure though, may sound obvious, that you speak to your mw, don't hold back with what's worrying you. They're not just there for the medical side of things, they're there for the reassurance too. And don't forget us, and the rest of MN. I wish I'd had something like this with my boys.
Chloe - yes scan was at QA. Hopefully you won't get the same sonographer as I did. (I think she was dragged in as an extra to clear the backlog as they were running quite late) They do tell you the sex if you want, we didn't so we're having a surprise baby. They've only started letting you know the sex sice maternity moved up to QA. At St MAry's you only had a 16wk dating scan ad they even had signs up sayig they wouldn't tell you the sex.