November 2011 - more hand holding, scans and 2nd trimester chat coming up.....

[Katiebeau]

New thread chatty girls.......

I had a crappy MW appointment too when was 8 weeks. The only saving grace is that she isn't the one that has been assigned to me. I don't get to meet her until 16weeks though. I'm hoping she is a lot better, more organised, and more interested.

If you have bad MS look away now...

Okay I'd like to talk about The Steak Question.

I hate well done steak, but have been too scared to eat steak since finding out I was pregnant. I have read that in USA you can have steak with pink, but that it has to be well seared on outside. Am I clutching at straws here?
have any of you old hands had steak during pregnancy that was pink? What is everyone's views on this? I may well just have to suck it up and take it cremated, I know.

OKay you can read again...

Looks like a lovely day here and I'm off work so planning a sit in the garden with a good book. I have been completely unable to read since being pregnant. Dunno what's wrong with me. Also keep falling asleep when head hits pillow so that doesn't help.

Just a quick one from me again!!

folic it states in the pg book from midwife (managed to get 1 despite being 2nd pg as DS now 6) "fine to eat steaks from whole cuts of beef & lamb rare as long as outsides cooked properly or sealed" hope that reassures you that you can eat it the way you like!!

cali can also empathise with your lack of trust in your MW. They should assume all ok & baby alive unless any concerns otherwise. As for homebirth good luck, it is good she was honest to let you know that it might not be her due to night rota etc but she should have done it more reassuringly!! At least you will have the support of your mum if you have a MW you don't know, it not too bad not knowing the MW (I didn't for DS) as long as you have someone with you for support. X x

Cheers bumpandi I'm now going to scour my book from MW so I can see it in black and white. Yippee.

Then I shall plan my steak dinner. Bloody yum.

What's this book you've got from your MW? All I got was some screening advice and an exemption certificate (and got told not to fill it out until we know the baby is alive sigh)

Morning all,

Can I have a bit of an NHS moan too? I had my booking in appt 2 weeks ago and still haven't received the results of my blood tests, which they said would be with me in 3 or 4 days. The phone number I have been given to speak to a midwife is either engaged or just rings and rings, I have been trying for days to get through. I might go to the clinic in person today to ask for them. I am stressing about everything at the moment and would just like to know my results were ok!

I feel really sorry for so many of you suffering with ms but I haven't been/felt sick at all and now everyone is getting bumps and I haven't got one at all - I'm so worried and don't have my scan until next Wednesday, ages to wait.

Sorry, a lot of moaning, I'd better pull myself together. Good luck to all those with scans this week, there's lots of you so I look forward to lots of good news on the thread.

if you are a first timmer you should be given an NHS pregnancy guide book & everyone should be given a bounty pack as well! MW should give them out at the booking appt but sometimes will give them at the 2nd appt if they have run out!!

Might be easier to phone your GP surgery to find out blood results (they will also be notified & should be able to tell you).

Send the mat exemption off asap as otherwise you are missing out & there is no need to wait for scan confirmation.

(It helps working in the NHS as can access info from colleagues, but I won't defned it totally as it really depends on the area & the staff as to how good the services are!!!)

I haven't even been given a mat exemption certificate!

Don't I need my MW to sign it off first?

I love the NHS - free healthcare is rare and a valuable asset to our community, but if you're a first timer, it's very daunting. I feel lost in the system most of the time! I moved from London to Manchester when at 8 weeks, and if I hadn't done all the legwork my self, I would have disappeared completely off the radar!
I used to work for the NHS myself - and I know just how overworked and paper based the system can be, but still!

I'm from Sweden, have no close family living in the UK apart from DP, so all the questions I have every day is answered by my poor mother (spending a fortune in phone bills) or Google!
I just wish there was more of a "counselling midwife" function available for those who are very nervous or concerned (like me...)

So far the people who have been great are the EPU and the private midwife my friend arrange for me to see (friend of a friend thing - so didn't have to pay) - so much more considerate and reassuring!

Anyhow - I'll stop ranting - at least I am seeing a MW - much more than some mothers would in other parts of the world!

How are people feeling today? I've decided to bake bread and make do as it's the end of the month and I'm craving carbs!

ooh, i'd love to bake bread, but already packed the breadmaker and all ingredients!

feeling a bit more chipper today, thanks for the sympathy yesterday, i was feeling properly sorry for myself

Hello, I have been lurking forever but am feeling just about confident enough to join (but also scared that in typing that I'm jinxing it...).
Will post deets on tother thread but am 11+2, NT scan on 6th May. Nausea waning now, but have been v lucky not to be sick, just putting on weight for all I am worth, utterly demotivated at work and barely capable of dragging my sorry ass out of bed. Now trying to stick to rice cakes and fruit between meals, although yesterday went more like cereal bar/Magnum/bit of Easter gg/lardy yoghurt in between meals with home made potato salad. This cannot continue... This is my first so have been asking lots of qns on the pg board, but somehow nervous about joining the antenatal club...
Hope all of the good scans keep coming.

I snack like mad too - mostly Ovations and porridge... Great that the nausea is going - mine still rears it's ugly head now and then.

Is anyone else have maaaaad burning/stinging pains on the top of the pelvic bone/uterus? I'm suspecting it's stretching, but I get it every day, at least once an hour. Either this Sprout (it's official name in our house) is going to be a big'un (it's dad is 6'6" and 19 stone) or something else is wrong.
I can also feel lots of lumps under my skin where it's stretching a bit over the pelvic bone - weird!

Welcome jamama, well done for delurking!

Caliphora the book I got from MW via GP surgery is called Ready Steady Baby, but I'm Scotland so yours may well be different what with health being devolved an all that.

I'm having an fab day, sitting in garden reading a book no less. First this year. The shame of it. Now indoors waiting for lunch to cook. Feel so relaxed, first time in months.

Mind you, couldn't get my shorts on today over belly (was just planning to wear in privacy of own garden) so think it's time for some maternity wear. Had hoped to wait a bit longer but my jeans are straining too. I had some mad idea that maternity wear was not for a couple of months yet but have to face facts that I'm choosing to wear leggings and dresses more and more often, maybe it's time to admit defeat.

A wonderful scan! Baby is measuring 12 weeks exactly today. So spot on for dates.

Baby was so wriggly! Legs and arms were going everywhere and rolypoly's galore! Belle hardly moved in her 12 week scan so it was lush to see Bow looking so awake and playing around! I might brave up and put a picture on my blog later. I'll link it if I don't chicken out of announcing officially! Me and DH are feeling really lush right now - wondering how long this lasts until the fear kicks back in?

Booked in for a doppler scan at 18 weeks now (13th June) where they will access blood flow and if they want to put me on clexane as well the asprin or up my dose of asprin. (On 75mg a day atm). and then anomoly scan as well at 20 weeks. We're going to be seeing this little one a lot!

welcome jamama and congratulations.

cali i didn't get my book till i had my proper booking in appt at 10 weeks. it's not just 1st timers who get the book at least not here anyway cause things change, it was a new book to what i got last time.

mash my mw goes through my blood results at a later appt about 16 weeks i think. i wouldn't be told unless there's a problem.

caz hoping scan went well.

xpost caz so so pleased scan went well.

Caz lovely to hear about your great scan...you'll be on cloud nine!

But I've had my proper booking in appointment 2 weeks ago! (I'm 12+4 today)

I'll ask them next time I see them.

Yay Caz - great stuff!

Another happy scanee here - DH saw more than I did, but we were both tearful and delighted! A little wriggler in there :) Saw arms, legs, brain, heartbeat - wonderful. Spoke to the midwife about illness and she said to see my gp for antibiotics and sicknote asap, so I've an emergency appt at 3pm (someone cancelled, luckily for me) today.
Thanks for all the support, ladies.
Hope everyone else's scans are similarly great! :)

crackpot so pleased scan went well.

cal definately, are there any other mw's in your area you can request to go to if your current one is useless.

Great news Caz that sounds like a lovely scan! I'm so hoping ours (nn: Raspberry since that was its' size at week 8 I think) is as active as Bow was for you.

Regarding getting a book from the MW, I had my booking appointment the weekend before last and didn't get anything like that to take away. I brought home lots of lists of phone numbers and that was it!

Sickness still here, am trying to steel myself that it might not go away (so if it does, it's a bonus!) as it's not getting any less and I thought it might be starting to ease off now at 10+4. My skin is also terrible, so am not exactly blooming just yet. I have ezcema anyway and it seems to be really playing up at the moment, fingers crossed these are 1st trimester teething problems and I'll get that pregnancy glow in a couple of weeks time

Fab localcrackpot!

Truff my s,kin has not been the best either, big spotty muldoon. I'm waiting for the bloom too...

Hi all, good to read that its mostly good news while I've been away for a couple of weeks. Everything seems to be ok here, I had a small bleed a week ago, but nothing since. My scan is booked for the 10th of May, which seems like ages away, especially since I will be 13 weeks by then! That extra week seems like a lifetime.

I had a few problems today, I tried to rearrange my scan since my husband is supposed to be away with work the week of the scan. He told work he couldn't go (the appointment was in his work diary) but when he was away his boss booked a conference and flights for him to do. My husband said no as soon as he heard about it, but his boss said he had to do everything he could to rearrange the scan, including going private if necessary. I rang round loads of places today, and the soonest anyone could fit me in was the 17th of May, and I am not willing to wait another week (it also cost £400 which in my opinion is extortionate). My last pregnancy ended in miscarriage so I am worried enough there will be nothing there without waiting an extra week. Does anyone know what my husbands rights are when it comes to antenatal appointments? I really don't want to do this on my own, but he hates rocking the boat and he only just started this job a few weeks ago. His boss has said they can get someone else to go instead of him, but it will cost a lot of money because they'll have to employ someone extra to do it.

Hi all

Im hoping you can give me some support ...for some reason today im feeling really down ....my skin is like a teenagers (and i've posted elsewhere on that), I feel fat and nothing fits (but not with a bump, just carb induced weight gain), i'm constantly sick and always, always tired. I feel like i'm not doing a good job at work, which is really fast moving and whilst my boss is great I feel like I'm letting the team down ....

I was a triathlete and now im lucky if i can manage to swim a couple of times a week as im so tired. DP has been away since the day we found out i was pregnant (feb 23rd - he's in the army) and i think it's just all getting on top of me.

I just dont feel like me at all ....now, i know i should just get over it as nothing will ever be the same but yesterday i couldnt even manage to get off the sofa to do dusting.....

Even this isnt like me, im normally a 'if you're not happy, change something' kind of person ...only I wouldnt change this for the world, I just want to not feel awful constantly ......

Can anyone give me any bright ideas?

PS caz great news for an acrobatic wriggler - long may it stay like that (well, except when you want to sleep!)

Hi all. Fab news about scans, especially Caz. Can't begin to imagine what ups and downs you'll go through in this pg cos of what happened to Belle but am pleased you had a great scan!

Sorry to those feeling rubbish. I'm not brilliant either. I feel incredibly fat - if my uterus is only just peeking about my pelvic bone, why the hell have I got a bump by my tummy button?!
I am not a slim person normally, so I just feel like a whale and I'm not even 11 weeks yet.
I am also still bothered by the scan dates. I know I'm further along than 9+6, as if I was, DP's sperm is a miracle as it lasted for over a week! I think I'm more like 10+2 but who knows. Just glad I'm having nuchal scan in May.

Lizzy I'm not an expert but I don't think there is any legislation that allows men to take time off for ante natal appts. It only applies to the pg woman. However, there is legislation that allows any employee to take time off for emergencies but it is unpaid. Whether this would be classed as emergency though?
Sorry not to give better new. If your DP is new in his job it may be hard to rock the boat I guess.
If his employer has said get a private scan, are they prepared to pay/contribute? Around me (North west) private scans are around £170 so £400 seems very costly. Have you tried here. Clinics around the UK and book online.