April 2016 babies - 20-week scans, growing bumps and little kicks!

[suffolkblonde29]

Hi all,

I've started a new thread to take us up to the third trimester.

Hope you are all feeling well. I feel like my bump is a little small and I'm not feeling lots of movement (but this may be due to an anterior placenta). Got my 20-week scan tomorrow so not long to wait to see if everything's ok - it's actually nearly 22 weeks though as baby really wasn't playing ball when we went last week and was hiding with its back to the scanner.

Getting excited that I'm halfway there though...

Hi everyone, suffering similar symptoms here too - shortness of breath, achy everywhere and acid reflux is at its worst! I'm trying to make it to 39 weeks before starting maternity - I'm a teacher so have Easter break between - I've counted 34 days left! I've just slept this half term to get my energy levels back up to start again (just 4 weeks 4 days til Easter!)

Hey all,

Am keen to hear thoughts on Strep B test (sorry I know we have spoken about it already) but I'm feeling super confused. I asked the midwife on Friday her thoughts about doing the test privately and she said that she didn't recommend it because of the fact that it comes and goes but that if I got it and tested positively that it would limit my labour choices and would be on the IV antibiotics and not allowed in midwife unit etc. she also said that most babies that got ill from strep B did so in the first 12 hours and she said it was likely (as a first time mum) that I'd be in for at least 12 hours so they know feeding is established etc and therefore would pick up if baby got ill.
I am generally averse to over anti bioticing (if that's a word?!) for things but it seems quite a strong "preventative" action if you have tested positive so it is clearly something they worry about or surely they would just monitor everyone for 12 hours? I don't understand how 1 in 4 women can have the infection but they only want to medicate the ones they know about and given the chance to know about more they suggest you don't bother to find out? I just don't know what to do. I don't want to be precious first borny but equally don't want to have a very poorly baby which could be prevented with a £40 test and medicine for me. If anyone is to have medicine I'd rather it was me and not the baby!!
What are you all going to do?! So tricky!

Err take the test. If it comes back positive adjust your birth plan accordingly. It's not the end of the world that you can't deliver in a MLU. You can still deliver vaginally in a consultant led unit.

Having see the correlation between the two I would pay the £40 and have the test done. If you have a positive result and your baby gets an infection you are looking at a few weeks where things will be touch and go with the possibility of your baby not making it. Not exactly sure what the probability is of baby getting infected but having heard what one MN went through I don't want to find out.

*Not having seen...

In my mind it's £40. Its not a huge amount to pay for peace of mind.

percy, I've been thinking about this and doing some research on it too and I've come to the conclusion that I wouldn't choose to have the screening test privately.

Obviously everyone will feel differently, but my decision is based on the evidence I've seen which suggests:

1. The risk of your baby becoming ill from Early Onset Group B Strep disease (EOGBS) is low regardless of whether you choose to be screened and given antibiotics or not - it's about 0.5 per 1,000 births in the whole population and 2.3 per 1,000 births in women who are screened and found to be colonised with GBS.

1. If you were to test positive and accept antibiotics during labour this isn't without risks. These could include an allergic reaction to the antibiotic being administered, a reduction in your choices in labour which might have further consequences (eg it's more difficult to move around with a drip attached to your arm; you wouldn't be able to give birth in a midwife-led unit, etc), and potential infection by antibiotic resistant bacteria because the antibiotics given are generally broad spectrum antibiotics such as amoxicillin.

1. The evidence which supports screening and administering antibiotics to women who test positive seems to be problematic, for example a Cochrane review found that the results of several studies may have been affected by poor study design leading to bias in the results. The Cochrane review also found that there were very few studies on this issue at all, suggesting there isn't enough evidence to properly judge whether screening and antibiotic prophylaxis is justified.

Two good sources of info I found were:
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidance: www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/gtg36_gbs.pdf

Cochrane review: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD007467.pub4/full

Not sure how well-known Cochrane reviews are so in case you've never heard of them, they are basically large-scale reviews of lots of studies which attempt to determine what the overall evidence suggests about different medical interventions.

Obviously all the above is just my opinion. I'm not a GP or midwife etc, just sharing my own opinion based on the evidence I've seen.

Sorry, just to add that all the above is based on mother and baby not having any specific risk factors which would make the baby more likely to develop EOGBS, for example the baby being premature or the mother's waters having broken more than 12 hours before the baby is born.

From what I understand the issue is that if a baby gets sick you have very few options for treatment. It requires a spinal tap, which I have had to see DD endure. You do not want to go there is you can avoid it.

DH is in the meat business and his bugbear is the overuse of antibiotics. The issue isn't what we are prescribed but what farmers give to animals that we then consume. The horse meat scandal was awful in his opinion because those horses are given super strong doses of antibiotics and even after 30 days there are still going to be traces left. DH will only eat antibiotic free meat which is proper antibiotic free as in never had any.

Thanks for your advice ladies. I still feel torn but will discuss it with DH and see what he thinks. I reckon I've got a fortnight until I need to make my mind up for sure so will keep on deliberating and reading up,
Hope you're feeling better now want2b?

Also news flash- apparently because of the leap year, unless your hospital has done it already, many due dates should come forward by a day. So I'm due on April 7th now (not that it has any actual bearing on when baby will arrive!!)

I'm exhausted. Working from home so cut out the commute. It's crunch week as our deadline is Feb 29th. DH is trying to be helpful but it's just not happening. I worked until 10pm last night. My team were working until 3am. He doesn't understand I don't have anyone who can do my work for me.

Signed off work until start of maternity leave now, phew! Lots of pressure from GP to wean off anti-nausea meds, but if I try that I just get really sick again. Pelvic girdle pain can fuck off, I just can't get many pain-free positions these days.

I had a different midwife again so my fundal height is out by being done by different people probably - but it means I get an extra scan this week so I'm not complaining!

One positive - I love my bump - it looks more impressive every day :)

Oh, they just rang to to say I don't need a scan after all! Well to be fair I didn't think O needed one either.

comelucky I am looking at my bump in awe now - there's no hiding this - I'm a proper pregnant lady! (This is DC1 and I'm finding everything amazing ).

I'm almost 33 weeks and starting to find sleeping uncomfortable - ooh hip pressure, especially on one side - I'm trying the pillow between the legs thing, but it doesn't make that much difference.

Hope everyone is well.

It is so amazing!

I've had some luck with sleeping on a folded up duvet and also some success with propping myself up at an angle so I can lie on my back for a bit.

First NCT class Saturday. I hope people are nice and not the judgy type! Apparently we are going to be doing relaxation, never one of my strengths.

comelucky It's great you are off work now. I'm at my other client today trying to plough through a bunch of work. I've been absolutely abused at work this busy season. I'm supposed to be on a part time schedule and I just don't see it.

I'm so tired and I plan to make it work where I can stay working but do training and the like.

That sounds rough Supermum, have you long to get through? Sometimes I think employers really don't take into account how hard pregnancy can be.

I have until Friday PM to get through huge amounts of work. I'll leave here at 11pm and work from home until 2am. Tomorrow I have to drop my son at his new school and then run to my obn appointment and then back home to pick him up to then work through until 2am again. Friday I need to finish at 5pm.

I love my bump too April. It amazes me quite how much I've grown recently, though according to my midwife I'm still measuring exactly right for dates. I can really see my tummy move when the baby moves now so I end up spending ages when I should be working just sitting staring at my bump waiting for him to move. Good luck with your NCT classes. We did NCT recently too. The teacher was great and totally non-judgemental, and we met a lovely group of mums-and-dads-to-be as well.

Your job sounds terrible want2b, you must be counting the days until your maternity leave starts!

I think I asked on here about hypnobirthing a while ago, so just wanted to post a link to a site I found helpful in case anyone else is interested in this. They have a range of hypnobirthing and pregnancy relaxation tracks you can download - they're £10 each or there's a three for the price of two offer on at the moment. I've been listening to the pregnancy relaxation and birth preparation ones most days for the last few weeks and I find them really good. The site is Natal Hypnotherapy.

Woohoo! Managed to convince my consultant to give me a c sec date :D I think she felt guilty as I'd been waiting over two hours to be seen and wasn't causing a fuss. Am booked in at 39+2 on 11 April

knits Its the time of year that it is. I have also been really unlucky with scheduling. I am PT and spread over two clients both with tight deadlines. The idea was that I would be taking on a very top tier managerial role. It didn't work out that way because my one client had a junior team member who is extremely weak. I basically had to redo all her work. This put me back on my other client. Now it is a huge race to the finish line.

Aww that's good news Oops!

It was officially my last day of work yesterday . Was hoping that all projects/paperwork would be finished ahead of deadline, but they aren't, so I'll still be going into work and working from home, but I won't have to stick to set hours.

Got my pram made up last weekend. I'm really pleased with it.

DH only has 2 and a half weeks to go - then he can tackle all of the odd DIY jobs that need doing.

How are everyone's weekends going? I've nothing planned at all, only the laundry! Always laundry...

Really excited for my scan and consultant appointment on Monday as I will hopefully be finding out when I'll be meeting this little one. They discovered polyhydramnios at the last scan and I've not seen my consultant since so it will be nice to discuss the plan with him. Starting to feel very real that we will start to have our babies soon!

Congratulations on starting maternity leave Mazzle. Hope you don't have to do too much work to get your projects and paperwork finished up. I only have next week of work left and at least part of that time is going to be spent packing up my desk. Hard to believe this is my last week at work for several months.

Hope your scan and appointment go well crumbly. It's definitely all starting to feel very real now!

Having a weekend of sorting out baby stuff here, including shopping for final things for the hospital bag tomorrow. I hadn't realised how early they advise you have it ready so am in a bit of a rush now.

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend.

I got home at 7pm last night to go to a dinner with DHs customers. Luckily it was only 2 blocks from the house so as soon as food was finished I made my excuses and walked home. I was sleeping by 10:15 and woke up at 9am this morning.

How is everyone feeling? I'm coming up for 35 weeks later this week and just not sure I have the fortitude to make it all the way to 40 weeks... let alone potentially another 2 if overdue.... I know I just need to get through it but it's soooo hard.... I am actually more worried about the time when I finish work - work is such a good distraction from nausea and general discomfort and unpleasant symptoms!!!

Sorry... rant over... I just need to man up!

Ooh exciting that we are getting elcs dates and maternity leave starting! It's all starting to seem a but real.

want2be work sounds a nightmare, really hope you manage to get some rest and things ease off a bit. Is dh able to be supportive and pick up some slack at home at least?

crumbly hope all goes well at your scan and app on Monday.

Re sorting baby stuff I think once I get to 36 wks I will start washing baby clothes, they are sorted into ages in wardrobe. Plus get pushchair out and sorted. But I am assuming I will gp over ss I did with the others.

Am almost 35wks now, saw midwife Fri and she was fairly sure baby head down! Yay and head engaged in pelvis, they will check again at 36 wks and any doubt and will send for a scan.

We had s chat about birth etc at the app, she was very clear that if I go into labour and things seem to be ramping up quickly to not try to get to the mlu (ten mins away at hospital) abd just call my midwife team and they will come to me and if they think there is time to then transfer to mlu they will do that if not it would be homebirth even though I am technically booked in to the mlu she said they would rather attend an unplanned homebirth than me try to get to the mlu and give birth e route. Basically as it's number six and my last three were quite quick this could be as well.

Have to say I am starting to feel uncomfortable now, well my ribs basically, right hand side mainly. It's totally dependent on babies position and sometimes it moves and feels so much better! Other than that and getting up to wee in the night all is good though so can't complain.