Jan 2013 Part 5: Once we pop (on time!), we just won't stop!

[BuntyCollocks]

New thread! I've lost my lovely spreadsheet so if someone can add in the stats and update, that would be wonderful; I'm sure someone else had a spreadsheet that was as anally organised as me

I agree, Bugsy, with February sounding nicer than January, maybe that's why I'm annoyed at having to be induced.
My EDD is 31-01-13, so if I were allowed to have a natural labour, it'd definitely be a February hopefully-not-so-dark-and-chilly-and-miserable baby.

Oh well, I assume the drs know what they're up to re: 38-week induction.

Did the snack shop for my hospital bag today just need to pack toothbrush pants and clean t shirt for dh is case we are there too long. Also going to pack and deliver ds1's bag to nanny so I don't need to worry about that.

Evening Ladies,

Birdies best of luck tomorrow, hope all goes well.

I have to be up at 6am to be in Bournemouth for a 10am meeting - am not impressed in the slightest!!! The potential client has a one hour slot so if we're late/get lost, we're screwed, am NOT happy in the slightest about this- -GRRRRR!

As the brand is baby related, i know the big guns are thinking wheel out the pregnant girl -hopefully if the client has an ounce of sensitivity she'll think WTF is this 8 month pregnant woman doing here - little unreasonable to drag her out of bed to come down to Bournemouth for 10 am!!!!

Oh dear Godzookey, your trip to Bournemouth tomorrow sounds horrible. I went to Sheffield for the day a couple of weeks ago for work (from London) and it was so uncomfortable on the train and in a stuffy meeting room all day that I think I'm going to say no to the next trip I have in the diary. Your experience with the smoking lunch and yoga did make me smile, though!

Tugstonia I've also got the natal hypotherapy cds and I've found them quite good (mostly listening to the pregnancy one at the moment rather than the birth one but have also done that once). It seems to calm me down quite well anyway though who knows whether I'll be able to keep that going in labour!

Squealy your mural sounds lovely, how has it turned out?

Pascha sorry if you've mentioned this before, but where did you get your birth pool from and would you recommend them?

Loads of luck today Birdies. So pleased you are seeing Consultant as worry eats away at you. Do let us know how you get on. We've got a private scan this morning and just keeping everything crossed that baby has grown. I do feel bigger, but know that doesn't mean anything.

Godzookey feel for you today. Make sure you do your best pregnancy waddle, constantly rub your tummy, go to loo every 5 mins and come out in hot sweats so your boss feels really guilty! Hope it goes well.

Glorious its from Birth Pool In A Box but mine is second hand from the local NCT sale. I need to get a new liner and filling kit for it as these have to be new though. As far as I know they are reputable and good quality. I've never found a bad review yet. Its comfy inside with a seat and inflated bottom.

Birdies good luck for today thinking about you x

Godzookey that just sounds shite all that way for an hour grim defo to putting on the waddle n going for a wee many times the meeting should fly by x

Thanks everyone. I had another scan and head is now on the 5th centile instead if the 3rd (or 11th going by my dates which would be fine). Consultant thinks she underestimated size of head at the last scan and says she doesn't think I need to worry but they are scanning me again in 2 weeks. So two weeks of waiting. I feel a bit numb really, not sure how I'm going to get through those 2 weeks.

Might see if any other mumsnetters had growth scan showing baby has a small head. The trouble is my baby had a big head at 20 week scan which makes me worry more as why would it now be so small. Big sigh :(

complicated hope your scan went ok today. I've thought about going for a private one but having just been scanned again today I can't see them coming up with anything different :(

Oh Birdies so sorry that ue going through this, even though Im sure all will be fine it must be crap feeling so stressed and worried on top of ll the normal ailments :(

Why not ring up a private clinic and ask their thoughts about what they could offer via a scan, if its something you can afford that may give you piece of mind it could be worth it? xxxx

There's loads of bugs going round school at the moment, a sickness bug and a horrid head/cough thing.....think I may be catching the latter as am running a temp and feel quite dizzy/headachey plus neck is all swelled up gggrrrrr.
Keep panicking about my attendance but might have to have tomorrow at home if still feel like this then.
Can't believe there is still 4 weeks and 2 days left of this half term :( Really dont know if Im going to be able to hack it!!!
xxx

Aw, birdies, I'm sorry you're still worrying. I'm sure your dates are correct.

I think it might be worth going for a private scan if you can afford it; I find they definitely take a lot more time, and can be more accurate than NHS where the resources are so strapped.

Also, maybe the 20 week scan wasn't particularly great with the measurements? It only takes a tiny little slip, and it's all to pot. I'm sure everything is fine, honestly.

Hey Birdies, did they do a doppler to check the baby's circulation? At this stage, the main thing that would warrant any intervention is if the baby isn't receiving enough nutrient through the placenta. You can do a doppler to make sure the circulation is reaching the different parts. I reckon a private clinic trip, as allchik suggested, would be well worth it you know.

I had a haematoma weeks 14-18 with bleeding this pregnancy, and the private doc I was recommended was the only one to give decent feedback and advice, the day after the public clinic scan. Much more informative.

That said, you know yourself that all babies grow at different rates and the best possible thing is for your LO to stay put. If they showed that all seems fine, best you can do is relax and wait.

Birdies Sorry to hear that you're feeling rubbish. Sounds like a case of too many scans causing extra worry. Much as we love technology, we know that tech is not always right.

Have confidence in yourself, your dates and your body.

As people have said, babies grow at different rates and come out different sizes.

birdies i wouldnt worry at all. im the total opposite mine was measuring off the scale last weeks scan so realllllly masssive. i just remember all the stories ive read where people are told its small and its normal or told its mahoosiv and its normal. babies are people too and apart from twins how many of us are exactly the same... sooo how can they say this is what you baby should be measuring today.

Thanks everyone, you're all lovely and any positive things you say really help me.

She did do a Doppler thing on the cord (djvesi is that the same thing?) and that was fine, and also the amount of fluid was fine. Tummy and leg measurements were fine and anatomy all fine too. But I went and googled microcephaly and that's where the worry all began (where head doesn't grow properly leading to all sorts of nasty things). So as head is proportionately small to the other measurements, that's what worries me. Having said that, the cut off for this is around 3 precentile or below and even then some will be normal and just with smaller heads. But some would treat 10% or below as abnormal and then I start worrying again. I could see she'd measured the head a bit low last time though, so it was probably more like 5% then even without adjusting for the date I think I'm actually due.

I wish she hadn't looked back at my 20 week scan measurements today as head was quite a high centile then :(. But she still didn't seem worried and said a couple of times she thinks I shouldn't worry (but I don't know if i can believe her as why scan me in two weeks if not worried). But then the sensible me kicks in and I think consultants are more likely to warn you that something might be wrong to cover themselves than say what she said to me if they really did think something might be wrong.

Sorry my posts will prob be rambling and repetitive and all about me now!

Birdies so pleased everything was OK and Consultant wasn't concerned, though do know you are still worrying. We had a private scan at Fetal Medicine Centre in London which I would definitely recommend if you live near London. It cost £150 which I know is a lot of money, but they give you a good 30 mins or so and check absolutely everything, so I didn't mind paying this in order to get some peace of mind. I had chance to ask lots of questions too.

Baby is still measuring small (below 5th percentile) but the growth since last week's scan was plotted out on graph and baby's weight remains on the same line so no worse and no better. Everything else is completely normal and blood flow between me and placenta is fine, so the private doctor said he wasn't worried. He suggested NHS Consultant keep a very close eye on me and do another scan in a couple of weeks, but if baby continues on same line on the graph and nothing else changes it will just mean having a small baby which is fine. Am seeing Consultant on Friday so will see what he says. After appt, I went out and bought a couple of tiny baby sleepsuits from John Lewis.

I finished work yesterday as I am using up all my annual leave before starting maternity leave. Must say it is a relief as though I do enjoy my job and love the office banter, the commute on tube was getting harder by the day and I'm not sleeping well either, so now I can completely focus on getting everything ready for baby, doing Christmas shopping and Christmas cards (not started either yet), sleeping and getting my head in the right place to be a mother. I have always worked so will be strange not having the same structure to my life.

ooooooo complicated how lovely to be on maternity leave!!! Enjoy!! I can't wait to start mine......feels like FOREVER away though.. xx

exactly 30 days til i finish. Im doing some pictures of cakes and cupcakes for a girl whos started up a business so innstead of paying me shes making loads of different cakes for mmy last day.

in a boasty way: ive finished drawing the mural in the nursery.. just got to paint it...

no bag packed though but i think im ready with everything now. 6 weeks to go...

complicated I'm really glad your scan went ok. Are all your measurements small? I think from what I've read it's better if they're all small. I have just one small measurement (the head is much smaller than it was centile-wise back at the 20 week scan). I keep trying to think positively but when i do it lasts about 5 mins. I feel bad as my little DD saw me crying earlier and I really don't want her to notice anything like that.

I've heard lots of good things about the place you went for your private scan but unfortunately I'm up north so it's not an option for me. I think I'm going to sit tight and wait for the next nhs one as I'm scared a private scan may only either confirm the size or measure it smaller, and then I'd end up in an even worse position.

I'm a barrel of laughs aren't I?!

allchik I'm in the same situation as you - 4 weeks and 2 days to go until maternity leave - let's stick together and we will make it!
I'm determined not to finish before December 21st!!

Birdies it is just the abdominal circumference which is small (269.1 mm). Head circumference is 301.3 mm which shows as average on notes. So I think baby has just got a really little tummy but everything else is normal size. Dopplers were fine. Estimated fetal weight is now 3 lbs 15 oz (1779 g). I am now 33 + 2. Dr said it was strange as we were both normal size, but not to worry as everything else was fine. And I agree these scans do your head in as you become obsessed with the tiniest detail. If the Consultant were worried you would be whisked in for C-Section straight away, so baby is clearly very happy where it is and I agree with someone else's wise words that you should trust your body, maternal instincts and ovulation dates. Did your father go with you? What did he say? Really feel for you as the worry eats away at you. I hardly slept a wink last night as was so worried.

OK, guilty secret. I am really into "Little Things" by One Direction at the moment and have just downloaded it on iTunes. Embarrassing as my 13 year old niece is One Direction's biggest fan. Hormones or just very, very sad?!!!

allchik, Lora and woody hang in there. I wouldn't have started mine so early had I not had so much leave to use up and can only carry over a few days. I don't actually start OML until 30 December (due date is 31st). Hope work gives you some slack and you can work shorter hours as weeks progress.

Right woody Im im! 21st Dec...WE CAN DO THIS! x

complicated I'll swap the small head for the small tummy! I think if only tummy is small then that's fine, I can't think of anything that would be bad about that. My dad didn't come with me as we decided it might look a bit over the top (as it was I acted like a bit if a loon anyway so he may not have been very proud! She wrote 'anxious ++' in my notes!). Am feeling much better this evening though as my dad looked at the graphs and can't see what I'm worrying about now so I'm going to try and stay positive now. (And nothing wrong with a bit of One Direction!)