Anterior placenta mentalling thread anyone?

[olefina]

Pregnant with DC2 and I've been told I'll feel less movement as my placenta is anterior, she told me to think of it like a cushion muffling the kicks.

This is fine, with DD it was posterior and she kicked the hell out of me so the Pip quietly going about his business is fine by me... BUT every now and then I stress about things like :

• how I'm meant to do the count the kicks later on as it's so muffled (although there are various whooshs and pops which I hope may count)
• I won't bond with pip as well as DD, with her we used to shout 'show us your bum' and have fun playing head or tails or poking her
• whether to get a doppler
• because it's so muffled paying less attention to the fact I'm pregnant (am 23 wks), forget vitamins, anticipating the pip's arrival (am not sure how much of this as DC #2) (this last one I know I should be thankful of the ability to forget for a bit as I'm getting so big now and the sleeping is starting to go that soon it'll be all I'm thinking about)

I'm not even considering the back-to-back business, even my doom mongering isn't going to bother with something that could easily change. I am a bit concerned though at the size of it, with DD I was told I had the biggest placenta they'd seen and shown it in a big dish as though it was my menu selection for the evening. I hasten to add it was not, no placenta pate for me thank you.

Please feel free to give me a slap add your own irrational worries as you see fit.

You will feel stuff over, above, around etc the placenta. You will count the kicks, believe me.

The forgetting you're pg is a 2nd timer thing.

The baby is more likely to be anterior than posterior, chances only slightly raised and the move a lot anyway. Back to back not necessarily a problem either.

Bonding is about more than movement, I think you worry about loving your 2nd more, you can't believe anything can match the adoration you have for dc1. You're probably a bit worried about that tbh.

No to a doppler. Expense you don't need. You are feeling and will continue to feel your baby move. This is the thing to be in tune with.

Brief sorry, am bfing.

Hi there, I also have an anterior placenta this time. Am now 26 weeks and feeling lots of little kicks. Like you, it was more pops and bubbles up until 24 weeks and I guess compared to my previous pregnancies still not as strong. I only really feel baby moving/kicking when I sit down or stand still. I have got a doppler and totally understand the fors/against but while I was still early and hardly feeling anything being able to hear the heart beat reassured me often. Now that I am past the 24 week mark if I become concerned then I will ring the labour ward for advice/reassurance. Just another added stress of being pregnant that I could have done without

40+6 and can reassure you that you really do feel kicks and things as much, it just seemed to start a lot later than the first time round. The movements just feel more like your stomach turning as well?! My baby is mainly at the side, so I get lots of bony knees jutting out near my hips. Baby is sometimes posterior, but am not usually worrying about that either as it's a second, so not fully engaged in that position, even now.

I am more disconnected from this pg, but reckon it's because I am running around after DS all the time and barely get a moment of reflection to myself!

I had an AP with both pgs, so I don't know any different but:

how I'm meant to do the count the kicks later on as it's so muffled?
For me, the AP meant I didn't start feeling proper kicks/movements until later than most of my friends said they did. Once baby was bigger,I felt lots of movement but it was like baby was having a rummage around in there rather than kicking the hell out of me, if that makes sense.

I won't bond with pip as well as DD, with her we used to shout 'show us your bum' and have fun playing head or tails or poking her
I had nothing to compare to but I felt very bonded with my first, less so with the second but that was only because I'd been too busy with DD1 to focus on the 2nd pg.

whether to get a doppler?
I did and used it for both pgs, I loved it. I loved listening to the HB and loved, loved, loved listening to their hiccups

because it's so muffled paying less attention to the fact I'm pregnant, forget vitamins, anticipating the pip's arrival etc
I think most of that is it just being 2nd pg TBH, put the vitamins next to the teabags, then you won't miss them!

I'll tentatively join as there is a possibility I have anterior placenta. DC4 is very quiet, hoping that'll soon change.

By the time you get to about 30 weeks I doubt the position of the placenta will affect the severity of the kicks, and you'll be able to see baby moving from one side to the other.

Thats not to say this early time isnt any less worrying though.

thank you ladies for replying, very impressive typing whilst bf-ing SoH so the general consensus is the pip will be making himself felt nearer the time, yay, and general worry-warting more likely due to second child syndrome. I have felt guilty for not feeling guilty as much as first time round so that sounds about right.

I thought right no doppler then but then wonder about honks point. I loved feeling DD's hiccups last time and will be a bit sad if I don't get that insight into what's going on inside. I think I'll leave it for now though. great idea about moving the vitamins too, will do soon as I'm home.

Good luck to all of you too

I had an anterior placenta with my first. Believe me you still feel hiccups, rolls, stretches etc. Just later. The front of your stomach may be cushioned but the sides, top, bottom, your ribs, your bladder, your cervix etc etc aren't. Promise. You will feel much more later on and wonder why you worried. I did. Worried. Then wondered.

My 2nd pregnancy was a blur. People would congratulate me in the street and I'd take a minute to catch on. And 'how far along are you?' was a tough question. With dc1, I knew I was 24+5 or whatever, with dc2 it was a bit more 'er... 4 months?'

I like dopplers. In fact I have one. I think they're useful for the inbetween bit when you know you're pg, have had a healthy scan but are weeks off feeling movement. It did reassure me. But they should never, ever replace antenatal care and once I was feeling movements I put it away and worked on tuning into them as the presence of a heartbeat is strangely meaningless once you're into counting kicks. In fact it can be falsely reassuring.

Congratulations on your pregnancy. Don't feel guilty. Certainly not about not feeling guilty. You're just more relaxed this time. It's a good thing. You'll find you're more relaxed as a parent too. There's a strange peace that comes with knowing you've managed to get through looking after one before without losing or maiming it.

Another anterior with 2nd DC here, 20 weeks and just found out about stupid malpositioned placenta on Monday. I had wondered if that was the case, because I felt some wiggles at about 13 weeks and then not much until later on. Placenta is also a bit lower than I'd like, so I'm going for another scan in April to see if it's shifted.

I also keep forgetting how pg I am as well, and even thqt i am pregnant at a,l: I tried to help DH move a washing machine the other day because I forgot about the baby. Oops.

openerofjars, please don't worry too much about the placenta being a bit low atm. It's fairly common tbh and they nearly always move up as you get bigger, hence the later scan to check. Your placenta isn't malpositioned at all. Your body cleverly grows it in a different place each time to avoid the less favourable, scarred areas from last time.

I'm 20 weeks today and at my 19 week scan appointment she wrote on my notes that I have an anterior placenta. She didn't discuss this with me, nor did the midwife in the appointment afterwards.

I'm surprised really because I've been feeling regular kicks since 17 weeks. It's my first so I have no idea if my version of 'lots' is in fact lots. She did say the baby is very low down- could that be why? I feel the kicks from the left hand side through to my belly button...

I have anterior placenta with my 3rd. I was told at 12 week scan so I was prepared for later movements. I still felt swooshes at about 16 weeks and am just now at 22 weeks getting visible kicks in the side or close to my belly button so I think AP maybe offset from front slightly.

thank you showy I had never thought about the scarring from last time, and it was a bigun.

Now rather than thinking it's my body spoiling my fun of by putting the placenta at the front I'll congratulate it on being so clever as to spare the back of my uterus and grow a healthier one for pip.

There's a sentence I never imagined myself saying.

I had an anterior placenta with ds and I do again with this one. I have felt movements easily, just not where the placenta is. I can see them though which can be a bit odd at first!

I first felt ds at 14 weeks and this one at 12 so for me feeling them unitl later was never an issue either.

I know, Show, I know. I am currently channelling my grandma and her worryitus.

Do you know what, though? It's good knowing it's anterior, so that when BabyJars goes into hiding behind it I don't panic but realise that's why the quietness. That foetus has been in a really funny position all day, really low down, but because I know that's where it it, it's less concerning than if I thought the placenta was higher up, iyswim. I have still done the cold sweet drink trick anyway: gosh, that's an effective way of making a baby jump up and down on a bladder!

Interesting point about where the body grows the placenta show I have an anterior placenta and I was told that my fibroids are on the anterior wall of my uterus.

It does take awhile to feel regular movement but at 30 weeks, he's definitely there. I do have a Doppler and I used it a lot in the early stages. I rarely had a problem finding the heartbeat.