Due May 2009 - Childbirth is getting closer and it's giving us the (blue) willies!!

[SpangleMaker]

In honour of llareggub's DS's painting experiments........

Afternoon ladies!! Been to do a few jobs in town this morning our carpet is booked to be laid on 6th March!! I can't wait. DH is busy finishing bedrooms now so paint will have plenty of time to dry.
I want to find curtains and bits for DDs room but not sure what to go for as LO will share with DD eventually and we don't know if it will be a boy or girl. Do I make girly room and then if we have boy he just has to live with it or do I go with neutral theme such as animals? Also I have no money so it will be an ebay buy so could be limiting. Also the window is quite big 120cm wide and 2m drop and most childrens curtain ready made are smaller. Also want room to be dark when curtains are closed so for that reason I don't really like ikea curtains as you need a black out blind with them.
I'm think a red and yellow colour scheme would be fairly neutral for boy and girl.

I just realised i hadn't uploaded my latest bump pics taken last wed to my profile page... just to facebook... they're up now.

I think most of my weight gain is the bump as up till last wk i'd put on about a stone... this week apparently i've put on 2 lbs.. but maybe due to the fact i haven't got to the loo properly for a few days

thanks for all the lovely comments re bump, has made me all smiley!

it looks bigger to me than i think it is in pics, if that makes sense, maybe its becuase Im looking down on it??!

polony i don't know if the chart is wrong or not, i guess it would be difficult for the chart to be wrong as its customised, unless someone put the data in wrong, i dont know, but midwife wasnt concerned at all by it being the top line, although I hadnt taken into account placenta and fluid and my own weight when I was panicing earlier, so maybe I will have an 'average' size bubba. I don't mind it being smaller or people saying so, I spent the whole of my last pregnancy being told I was huge so its a nice change! I managed to have a completly natural birth the first time, so I know my bits can do it, they just don't appreciate it!

Febes i was going to suggest brights too... if you find curtains you like you can add black out linings to them... as long as the curtains have a drawstring tape type top rather than tabs... they hook onto the inside of the curtain tape like you see here.

Lovely bump pics everyone. chocbunnies last time I was measured (2 weeks ago) I was at the top of the growth chart and I feel like he's just had another growth spurt too.. sigh... I'm only 5ft 1 though my hips are not so petite (I suspect they'll be even wider after LO comes out!)

pula nice bathroom!

chocbunnies your bump is so tiny...I feel so huge So far I've put on 20lbs. I lost 28lbs just before getting pg so am now almost at my pre slimming world weight

and this being my first its all come as a bit of a shock.

Finding is hard to bend/sleep/climb lots of stairs now. Seem to have indigestion alot too. I'm only 29+4, just thought this would happen later in the pregnancy.
Still I shouldn't complain - I am still so happy (apart from when I'm in floods of tears that is )

My DH said to me the other night "Your proud to be pregnant aren't you" and I suppose I am having not realised how much I wanted to be till I had a mc.

Managed to start my bulk cooking/freezing last night. I now have 6 portions of chilli and 3 portions of chicken korma sat in my new freezer! Tonight I'm making 6 portions of chicken & spinach vindaloo and 4 portions of chicken chasseur.

Belgian and chocolatebunnies - don't worry about dolichocephalic or whatever head shapes. It just has to do with how the sutures fuse and the rate of growth of the bones of the skull. It's just based on the Cephalic Index, which is the ratio of the length to the width of the skull.

Dolichocephalic - longer than it is wide
Mesocephalic - in the middle, not much longer than wide etc.
Brachycephalic - length is shorter than width

We measure it in archaeological populations, but it really doesn't mean much. Except in some cases of intentional cranial modification like binding or wrapping of the skull like you see for example in the Maya and some ancestral Germanic populations. The we classify the type of deformation by the end result of the shape of the skull.

The biggies with the skull are plagiocephaly (which is a flattening on one side), hydrocephaly (water on the brain, will require surgery to correct), and premature synostosis or fusion of the sutures of the skull. Those all usually in more severe cases will require surgery to correct or wearing of a helmet in infancy to re-mold the bones to the correct shape.

Sorry, the bioarch nerd in me just had to come out!

Wow LoobyLou I'm impressed with your cooking, can you send me some too?

Polony - I'm not Australian - mostly British (my Grandad was from South Africa) - why did you think i might be? My kids might look cute, but can't half fight about toys etc when they want to! Wait til there's another LO to throw into the mix (gulp).

sorry for tmi... but delighted I now have room for eating some lunch as feeling far more comfortable... the germaloids just worked... phew!

I went to the perinatal institute (who designed the personalised growth charts) last summer for a workshop on the symphysis pubic height measurement. Basically it said that a large baby is not a reason to refer as larger babies do not tend to be associated with adverse outcomes. It's the small measurements that are a worry and often unexplained stillbirths, babies that are unwell at delivery, babies that need to go into scbu are small, so they are the one that need to be observed, not the large ones. So that explains why your mws aren't worried about you measuring a bit on the large side.

Talking about big bumps: my dh just answered the door to the postman and he asked whether I'd delivered yet! I suppose he thinks I look like I'm ready to give birth any minute and I've still got 2.5 months to go.

hypatia Thanks for that information, that's very very interesting and now it all seems to vagely come back to me from my anatomy of the skull classes. It's the fetal one we were interested in though.

Belgianchocolates - I think they just keep track of it in utero because it may be an indicator of a future problem - also need to know the CI because the skull might be looking "small" based on say a length measurement, but if they take the whole shape into account they can see the brain is normally sized for that time, just the configuration is different, so it's measuring "long" but that is because the skull is narrower, or it's "short", but wider.

If there is a major asymmetry, then that will show up as well.

Hello everyone, just checking in after a couple of days out and there are so many messages!

I had my scan on Wednesday and also an appointment with four, yes four doctors! Three of them were from the diabetes team, and I'm assuming some of them were in training, although they weren't students. I also had the obstetrician registrar, who was slightly panicked when I repeated my wish to keep baby with me following delivery instead of going routinely to special care. Anyway, the good news is that following the slightly scary scan 2 weeks ago with baby on the 10th centile, he is now happily on the 50th, which is great. I had a gold star for keeping my blood sugar under control, and promptly left for my left day of work where I celebrated with a teeny slice of chocolate cake.

I'm now a free woman, and am up to my eyes in toys as I have my nieces and nephew to stay. DS thinks it is christmas, I'm sure.

chocolatebunnies I hope things are seeming a little bit brighter, and that your nan is feeling better. I'm thinking of you.

Haven't posted in ages, sorry. Hope all are well. Just been reading about all this bump chat and had a couple of questions. I haven't been measured yet, but my bump is pretty big, and have never had a flat stomach anyway, do they take into account any fat as well? SOme of my bump must be my tummy fat not just baby?? How do they measure that?! Also if you have a bit of fat on your tummy can they palpate and feel where the baby is or is it much harder. I am not hugely overweight, just have always carried a bit of chubbiness on my tummy! I was a size 12 before getting pregnant, but have put on 2 and a half stone already so fattening up nicely!

HtheH Usually the measuring starts at your appointment when you're around 28 weeks. The midwife will feel your tummy, feel where the top of your uterus is and then measure from there down to the top of your pubic bone. So yes, that measurement will include a bit of your tummy fat, there's no calculation to take some of the measurement for that. But your 1st measurement is only a baseline, after that what your mw will look for is if baby is nicely following its curve or if the growth is tailing off.

llareggub not everywhere it's standard to take baby to special care, I don't think it is with us, so I think you're well within your rights to demand that baby stays with you, especially if your diabetes is well controled. Off course they will want to do blood sugars on baby to make sure it is OK, and then of course whisk it down if it does struggle to keep its own blood sugar levels up.

HtheH in my last pregnancy I wondered the same thing, as I've never had a flat tummy, even when I was swimming twice a day, 5 days a week as a teenager! I'd guess at being a size 16 in my first pregnancy, and when they measured my bump at 28 weeks I was measuring small, which shocked me!

HtheH I forgot to add that although I measured small on that particular day, DS was 8 pounds 12 at 37 weeks when he was born. I was also told by the consultant that the fundal height measurement thing rather does depend on the person carrying out the measurement, and should be carried out by the same person for consistency. I haven't been measured at all this time.

Llareggub - great news about your blood glucose

Re: bump size, I've been really concerned that I'm too big but have been measured twice. At 25 weeks I was 25cm and at 27 weeks I was 27cm so really don't think I should worry. I have heard anyway that the measurements aren't completely accurate as it's down to the MW's judgement where your uterus finishes.

Had my GTT this morning. Stroppy phlebotomist took my blood. MW had give me instructions to not have anything to eat or drink after midnight, drink 410ml of Lucozade at 7am, get to Pathology for 8.45am and then there shouldn't be too much of a wait for me to have my blood test.
I followed all instructions and got called in at about 9.25am. Phlebotomist asked when I'd had my Lucozade and I said between 7 and 7.15am and she said "Well weren't you told you needed to have your blood taken 2 hrs later? It's too late now!" I told her what I'd been instructed and she said "Well I'm not sure there's much point now. You may have to have the test repeated."
In the end I just said to her "I don't understand what you wanted me to do differenlty?" and she then said "Well nothing. I'll do the test and write the timings down and they can take it from there."
I was a bit stumped that 10 minutes was obviously so critical! Maybe it is but I was never told and there was no one there this morning to tell as it was done on a take a ticket and wait your turn basis. When it was your turn, your number appeared on a screen and told you which room to go to!
Have since spoken to my Mum who used to work in haematology until 6 months ago. She said that 10 mins really wouldn't have been that critical.

Thanks everyone for clearing that up and well done llaregubb with your blood sugar. Anyone heard from rubysmum?

ses We take a pre and post lucozade bloods, so women have to bring the lucozade in with them and then hang around the hospital for 2 hours. It does depend a bit on the mw, but that's why the perinatal institute does those study days and hopefully soon all mws will measure in exactly the same way. It also depends a bit on where you're measured, as in: at the GP's or on the couch in your own home, because you're posture will be a bit different

Anyway, I really should stop getting myself distracted and write about the physiological 3rd stage of labour!

Thanks Belgian
that would have made more sense I guess! Just felt like she was telling me off when all I'd done was what I'd been asked!

Good luck with your write up!

Ses - that's interesting about your gtt. I had mine done on Tuesday, it was completely different: fasting from 9pm Monday night, blood taken at 9am, drink glucose syrup drink thing (bleurgh), sit around for two hours, more blood taken then mad run to the canteen to eat my picnic that I'd taken with me before I keeled over.

I had to go back to the hospital in the afternoon for my anti-D and antenatal appt, all fine there too. I've been feeling huge this week, but according to the midwife I'm measuring small - 27cm at 28+5. She wasn't too worried though. I don't have a chart, all the measurement just get written in my notes but not plotted anywhere. The anti-D wasn't too bad either, not as bad as I remembered. Bit at the midwife, she prodded my bump once and wrote in my notes that baby is head down - really sure she couldn't have worked that out from the examination.

Who else is really struggling to sleep? I just wake up for no apparent reason and cannot get back to sleep, it's driving me mad. No obvious causes, not (too) uncomfortable, not needing a wee, etc just can't sleep.

I commute into central London too - so far I've been offered a seat on the tube once, and that was only when I undid my coat! The train is better, have been offered a seat twice now. I'll be able to go in First Class soon though, as soon as a I get my ticket back from the train company.

18 days left in work, woohoo!

Cross-post with Belgian - we don't have to provide our own lucozade, the hospital give us the syrup. Would much rather have had proper lucozade, not that stuff.

I am fascinated about the differences in procedure between here and for your experiences.

I just had my glucose test yesterday. I showed up at the lab, was handed a glass and a bottle of something that was virulently orange and labelled as "50g glucose solution, orange flavoured". Had to drink it all in 5 minutes, then wait an hour in the lab and then had blood drawn.

If I fail that test, then I need to do a 3 hour test, which involves eating a high carb diet for 3 days prior to test, then 14-16 hours of fasting, then blood and urine samples taken, then have to drink 100g glucose solution. And then every half hour for 3 hours will have urine and blood taken. Can only drink water during that 3 hours too.

I really hope I pass the test because I don't want to do the 3 hour one!