August 2016 (3) - scans fast approaching, teeny tiny bumps appearing, and sickness easing....we hope!

[FourForYouGlenCoco]

Well we filled the last thread up fast! Seems we talk a lot round these parts

hg I wouldn't worry about weight gain yet. I think it should be about 1lb a week, so only 500g or so, and even that depends on if you are overweight or not. If overweight the weight gain pretty much halves I think. My midwife had no concerns that I was 12kg down from my booking in weight, so I don't think they really care until later on

Alfie everyone has said it already but - those are fantastic odds! If I were you I'd be very chilled with that result, but if you're likely to stress and worry then it may be worth springing for the Harmony just for your own peace of mind? Only if you can afford it though, and tbh I reckon you should save your pennies.
Dots welcome, lovely to have you with us.
Fizzy we've offered on somewhere and our house is on the market, so we're just waiting for a buyer currently. I'm praying someone wants it soon as trying to keep everything clean & tidy with DD around is a frigging nightmare! My back feels like it's going to snap from all the bending over scrubbing & hoovering.
Suzie supposedly all babies are the same size for the first however many weeks of growth (hence why dating scan is meant to be accurate) but I'm not convinced - I've read soooo many stories of babies arriving on mum's expected date vs the EDD from the scan - plus babies measuring small and then catching up a couple of weeks later. Who knows?!
hgl I've hardly put any on either, couple of kilos, if that (suspect constipation may have a hand there!) think with DD I'd gained about 5lbs by 20 weeks but it all evened out, I put on plenty by the end, and she was 7lb10oz born so not exactly malnourished. All you can do is eat well and stay reasonably active and things will work themselves out.

stranded clara bear twist and four
Thank you all for your kind comments, they are all very reassuring. I spoke to the scanning midwife today who said I need to try to remember that I have 2406 chances that's there no problems. My NT measurement was 1.4 which is really good and they didn't mention the absence of a nasal bone so I assume it was fine. I am just a worrier by nature and after reading some other posts I just think I got a fright at the number. Im going to try to relax as I know that my chances are good and wait and see if everything is ok at the 20week scan. We could stretch to the harmony but it is a lot of money to us when we have a maternity leave coming up!

I echo others thought about edd, they are just estimating and different babies must grow at different paces you would expect. I assume they are working with some sort of baseline average though and take it from there.

Well had my scan and all seemed fine. Nuchal fold measurement was 1.7mm which from what I gather is right in the middle of average. Midwife then doing bloods for some reason was dead against the down syndrome blood test and really tried to talk me out of it. No idea why but we ended up back and forth for ages and she relented in the end... It is my choice after all. Baby wasn't very good and got into some awful positions so lots of left hand side lying, jiggling and coughing to get a decent nt measurement.

Speaking of dates I've also been put forward by 4 days, I know when I dtd and that an egg only survives for 12-24 hours so it's actually an impossibility to have conceived on the Wednesday when I know full well it could only have been from the Saturday onwards (tmi?) The first 2 scans I had matched my dates spot on but suddenly this one is different, all rather odd I think I'll stick with my own dates to be honest.

Congrats on the scan pretty! How unprofessional of the midwife though!

Thanks for the lopsided uterus reassurance, bear - good to know I'm not the only one going wonky

Think we're having parallel pregnancies (& just around the corner from each other!) because I've just booked hypno birthing classes too in May. Have also got my 16 wk GP appt today. Can't wait to hear the heartbeat - 12 week scan feels so long ago and the 20 week one feels like it'll never come!

alfie glad you're feeling a bit better about the scan result, and good idea to wait and see at 20 was. My result was a bit higher than yours and I've decided that, as it's the only thing that actually HAS been more or less ruled out (or judged to be v low risk) I'll spend my worry units instead on all the things I can't have measured

Clara I think you are right...we will prob end up be next door to one another in the homerton birthing unit !! Who did you book for hypno?

alfie great you are feeling more positive and good you spoke to your midwife. If there was any cause for concern they would have told you and you wouldn't be screen negative / low risk.

Great scan pretty and your midwife sounds very odd, why would she try to talk you out of the bloods?!

wow - anyone else totally underwhelmed by the 16 week GP appointment?! peed in a jar, had my BP taken, had my tummy prodded a bit and out the door in about 3 mins! so disappointed i didn't get to hear the HB - apparently some GPs don't like to do this at the 16 week appt in case they can't find it and it causes panic. so no peek at what's going on in there for another MONTH? gah!

trying to focus on being happy that everything's apparently going fine but still...

bearhuggy, i booked london hypnobirthing somewhere in south london. you?

Clara I saw the midwife at 16 weeks, my GP doesn't see you unless there is another issue. I was in for about 30 minutes, other than taking my bp, she didn't touch me at all, no prodding or checking uterus size. She gave me a chat on bonding and general health stuff.

clara I changed my appointment to this evening from yesterday as knew it would be a complete waste of time and didn't want to have to leave work for it. At least I wont be late for my other plans this evening since it only lasts 3 mins Why do we even need to do it?!!

I booked Nicola Nelson at the Hackney Forge - www.wayofthekoi.com, saw her on a notice board in Lauriston Village! If you are local and like yoga, I went to a great class on Sun at London Fields Yoga with Tammy, really recommend it.

do you have a doppler? I got one and so nice to listen to the heartbeat at home for some reassurance, might be worth getting one if you are feeling a bit restless...20 week scan does seem ages away !!

clara I was in and out in 10 minutes, very underwhelming. Bought a Doppler afterwards as I couldn't wait another 5 weeks to see/hear the little one. I definitely recommend it.

Hi all, in a bit if a tizz today as my combined test results came back in today at 1:77 risk of downs. Just a bit of a shock as the NT scan was fine. Off for the harmony test tomorrow. Fingers crossed it comes out much lower risk.

Hi crunchy was your screen test still a 'negative' low risk? Or did they say they wanted to do more testing based on the results? 1:77 is still less than 2%, which means there is more than a 98% chance that everything is absolutely fine which is a strong %. Remember that these are just screenings so lots of false numbers and nothing diagnostic.

Great you are going for the Harmony test and my fingers are crossed that you are reassured with the results. Perhaps call your midwife this afternoon for a chat if you are feeling in a tizz as they should help talk through it?

good thinking, bear, hope yours is a little more satisfying than mine! although i guess, during pregnancy, uneventful is usually a good thing. thanks for the hypno links too, she looks great! i've been on the lookout for a preg yoga class too so will definitely check out. thank you!!

and i totally why get why you and hgleslie have dopplers, before it becomes really unavoidably clear that there's definitely a wriggling baby in there, it'd be nice for some reassurance!

crunchy as bear said, those are still really long odds. but i'd probably be exactly the same, and the harmony test seems to be very accurate and very reassuring, so it's money well spent if it helps you feel better. sure it'll be a-ok, though x

crunchy I would also recommend phoning your midwife, mine was very reassuring when I spoke to her over the weekend.

Hi everyone, Haven't checked in for a while - time seems to be flying!

Prettyflowers Well done you got standing your ground on the blood testing! It's incredibly infuriating when midwives don't follow NHS policy same happens with flu jab) but it's great you had the confidence to do what you thought was best :)

Sorry to hear you're worrying news crunchy - as others have said though, is still a tiny % and hopefully the Harmony test will come back with good results.

Clara I've got mine on Thursday - it says in my notes that they will listen to the heartbeat so I really hope midwife does, or I will be disappointed!

It was my birthday at the weekend so had some lovely family time and got to talk about baby plans and names etc, which was nice. Have started to think about having my mum there at the birth as well as DP. I know he will be absolutely amazing at keeping me and encouraging me, but he's not very confident, so think my mum would be better at advocating for me and being organised!

In annoying news, found out today that a colleague who does pretty much the same role as me gets paid significantly more, so am going to arrange a meeting to ask for a payrise, which is really scary! Could definitely do with the money, and would make a huge difference to how much maternity I can take, but feels like another stress. My anxiety is already getting worse (perinatal mental health appointment soon!) and ended up having a panic attack last night :-( I did download a hypnobirthing book, which I am finding it really calming to read.

Just checking in! Away from home this week so not been online as much. I'm 16+3 and have a bump! Otherwise feel remarkably well and keep forgetting I'm pregnant! my 12 year old was talking about her 13th birthday on the 11th September and wanting a sleepover party. I was like 'yeah yeah fine' and my dad said 'you do realise there will be a new baby in the house'! I totally forgot!

Update on sister: One of my brothers isn't a match for my sister other brothers results come back tomorrow. She's feeling really fed up at the moment poor thing.

Jw so sorry about your brother's result, fingers crossed for the other.

I know what you mean about forgetting, we got invited to a Halloween thing, and totally forgot about tiny baby!

Thanks for the reassurances guys. Bear, not a screen negative unfortunately - the midwife called to say that it came back classed as high risk, largely due to very high hcg levels. I'm focusing on the fact that all looked good on the scan and baby had a good prominent nasal bone (takes after its ma!) and like some of you have said those are still bloody good odds. We were offered NIPT (i.e. Harmony) on the NHS straight away which is quite impressive, so feeling glad about that.

Jw sorry to hear that your brother isn't a match - hope that you all get good news tomorrow and things can finally start moving in the right direction for your sis. I'm sure you're too nice to think it but I feel like a bit of an idiot fretting about 'what if's after reading your post. It's so easy to lose perspective and forget about the real things that others are facing. Best of luck for tomorrow, we'll all be sending positive thoughts.

Sending you hugs crunchy I was in your position 9 years ago with risk of 1:69 with DD. I still remember the feelings as if it were yesterday. NIPT wasn't around then and I had to wait until 16 weeks for an amino then another week for the results. We then had a risk of 1:75 a year and a half later with DS. Both are happy healthy crazy kids now! I am almost expecting high risk this time round. I took a week off work to deal with my feelings back then, be gentle with yourself xxx

I really hope you get good new JW35

That's great that you were offered the Harmony straight away crucnchy. I'd take the nasal bones etc as really good signs. I'm sure you're worried, but hopefully you'll have your mind put at rest really quickly.

Another one here who keeps forgetting that she's pregnant - so weird. I told HR I was pregnant and asked would the terms be the same as last time. HR said they changed they policy in December, but hadn't communicated it to staff yet so she'd "see what she could do". She had better come to the same conclusion I do - that you can't change the policy and not communicate it. Bonkers. She is to come back to me this week so hopefully she'll realise that herself.

Thanks squiggle you've no idea how much that cheers me up to hear about your happy healthy crazy kids! Are you having the screening again this time round then? When is your scan due or have you already had it?

Elle thanks for the kind words. I just have to keep myself busy now until the results come back, up to 2 weeks apparently so here I am in another 2WW!

Elle meant to say too - that's out of order from your HR not to even communicate with staff about changes to maternity policy! How big is your employer?

crunchy I'm thinking of you. It's a worrying time and I hope you get your Harmony results as soon as possible. If they used a UK lab it should be quicker than that - mine came back in 6 working days. Fingers crossed for you.

JW It's such a long wait, I hope they let you know soon!

When's the "glow" meant to kick in? I have to say this week has been one of the worst so far - I look and feel like utter crap - greasy skin, no energy, the lot! If my face is glowing it's for the wrong reasons!

crunchy I think she realised as soon as she said it how lame it sounded. Locally we only have 20 people, in the UK it's 500 (this is where the policy change would be agreed), but we're a North American company of circa 40,000 so globally the infrastructure is there for proper policies and communication, there would usually be a roll out email informing all employees of policy changes etc.

My harmony took 6 working days too.