late pregnancy, no movements but strong heart trace

[MessedupMommy]

DD has had an eventful pregnancy. She is now 36weeks and for the previous 5 days has had strong BHs and back pain (she's had that for weeks though). She has had no movements since 11am so we went to the maternity assessment unit who did a trace. All looked good heartbeat wise but still no movement. They say the trace is good for 24 hours and if no movement is felt then to go back in to be monitored again. 24 hours seems such a long time to wait. I'm scared that the cord is causing problems, or even she's hurt herself and can't move - ridiculous I know but I am really worried but don't want to worry her. She's barely slept.

I would phone them back and express concern. your instincts will always be right and if you are worried then ask them for support.

i know it's easy to worry about everything in the latter stages of pregnancy, but it's also important to recognise if you think something is wrong and to do something about it.

Do you have a community midwife to call?

I found the Tommy's helpline great when pg with dd. Office hours only

I'll ask her. She worries they will think she is over reacting, but she's been through such a lot in the last 8 months. They don't really talk to her when she goes in, just say everything is fine and go home. Its her first baby so she has no idea what to expect and I am of no use as once the first 16 weeks were over, I had a great pregnancy and birth - though that was 19 years ago!

i had a very difficult pregnancy and got all the way to labour before the consultant discovered why my pregnancy had been so difficult. i was admitted twice prior to that for monitoring over night and once for three days.

I felt i was imagining it all, but i really wasn't and i'm so glad that eventually they managed my condition and I had a happy healthy baby.

your DD really shouldn't be made to feel she is being a pain. can you go with her? go be bolshy on her behalf. i sympathise with her entirely, as I really lacked confidence too.

When I was pg the midwives always told me they'd rather see me a hundred times and have to send me away because everything's fine, than see me once and it be too late.

If this were me or my DD it wouldn't sit right, please urge her to go back in.

I've been kept in hospital for reassurance when nothing was wrong, they kept me in for 4 weeks with my eldest and when my youngest was born I was admitted Friday night and she was born Wednesday, they said I could go home if I wanted but it was felt (them and us) that I'd either yo-yo or miss something and deliver prem at home because I ignored it too much.

Has she had a scan lately? It could be the placenta is at the front and masking the feel of the movements. Anything worrying her and she should get it checked out, I've heard so many stories of there being nothing wrong really just Mum not feeling right and it turns into something. One lady knew something was wrong but couldn't even say what and when they scanned her there was a bad knot in the cord, they had to get baby out same day. Not saying that she has anything particular but just to trust instincts.

My midwives are also happy to have me in as many times as I want to be there to be monitored - they also arn't happy till the baby has moved enough when they are doing a CTG. Has she had a doppler? I wouldn't be happy with the 'wait 24 hours' either I'm not sure what you can do about it though, other than ask for a doppler to be taken, which if there is worry should be done along with a scan of baby to look at amniotic fluid.

Probably won't apply, but I have an anterior placenta and don't always feel movement unless I have my hands on my belly or the kicks are really strong. If I don't eat on a regular basis the kicks are never strong enough to feel on their own, so make sure she is eating little and often too.

I've just remembered, if we were worried about lack of movement when I was on the ward they would make the iciest water you can imagine and tell us to drink the lot. It's supposed to get baby moving.

When I was being monitored in hospital and the baby was being very quiet, the midwives tried the following to get a bit of a reaction:

1. a drink of ice water
2. a drink of sugary juice
3. biscuits

Baby did move in the end and was always fine - just shy around monitors.

I'd second what everyone has said about MWs being very patient and happy to check out any concerns.

Thank you all for your comments. I'm going to take her up there again and see if they can scan her.

Please do keep going back until you are reassured that everything is fine.

I had a lack of movement when pregnant with DS, it was going on for over a week with movements sometimes reduced but the pattern had changed, I kept going back every 2 days asking them to monitor it, in the end they did a scan which they called a 'biophysical profile' or something like that, basically checking the baby and the waters, all was felt to be fine and I was sent home again. Six days later something still didn't feel right with his movements and I went back, they did several CTG traces and eventually decided they were not happy with the lack of variability in his heart rate, and that they should deliver him that evening. My cervix was considered nowhere near ready for induction so an emergency section was agreed, he was born within the hour at 38+1, I was told I had an unusually long umbilical cord and it was wrapped around DS' abdomen 3 times. The doctor told me (somewhat unhelpfully now, looking back on it!) that he would not have survived a labour if they had induced me after all! Apparently the long cord could not have been detected on a scan - I still don't believe that or understand why but I am not a medical professional.

I don't want to scare you with such a story, rather to stress the importance of not being fobbed off if you feel something is wrong :)

Good luck! I know it's hard to be insistent, but the message from my hospital and midwives was always what people have said above: they'd far rather see you and for it to be nothing than miss something important. I hope your DD can get some answers. Fingers crossed it's nothing much and that it will be plain sailing from here.

Just to say, we also had issues with massively decreased movement in DD from 37 weeks or so. She'd been really active (all ten movements you are supposed to feel during the day ticked off by 8.30am!) and then suddenly she wasn't (I was getting to 6.00 at night without feeling her move).
I went into hospital every two days to have her heart rate checked from then up to 39 weeks, and then daily until she was born at 41 weeks.

I also got two extra scans (mainly because the bump started to decrease in size).
Their theory was the placenta was starting to fail much earlier than it should have done which apparently causes a loss of fluid (hence a shrinking bump) and also lack of movement. They wanted dd left in place as long as possible, as long as she was doing ok. In the end, she had no intention of coming on her own and we had to induce her out!

But, although I was getting a lot of extra attention anyway, there were odd days when her movement was even worse than 'normal', and I would call them and they'd always say 'Come in, we'll check'. As people have said above, better to check and find there's no issue than not to check and find there was a problem. Especially at this stage when the baby can live outside the womb perfectly well so there's not the panic of 'Need to keep it in there as long as possible'.

I had lak of movement when I was pregnant with DD (my second child). I had anterior placenta with her which I'd also had with my DS but the movements were even less than what I'd experienced when pregnant with him. I told the MW countless times that I was feeling a bulging/turning sensation at the top of my bump but never any actual kicks. She said it was fine as DD's heartbeat was good and healthy. At 40+3, in very early labour (a show an contractions 9mins apart) I asked MW for a sweep to help move things along. It was a different MW to 'my' MW and she knew straight away something wasn't right just from feeling my bump and doing a doppler. Off I went to hospital, DD was breech with most of the cord in a figure-8 around her legs, the rest of the cord was lying directly over my cervix, she also had abnormally low amniotic fluid. If I'd just stayed at home without saying anything and waited for labour to progress I wouldn't have known anything was wrong until the umbilical cord prolapsed once my cervix opened enough for it to fall out. It would take 30 minutes for an ambulance to reach us/get us to the nearest hospital with caesarean facilities. As it was it did get picked up and I had an emergency caesarean thirty minutes after the scan. I wish though that I'd kicked up a fuss and insisted on a scan sooner, I might have avoid a caesarean as they may have been able to turn her, they could have monitored the low fluid, etc.

If you're at all concerned about anything and your concerns aren't being taken seriously then push the issue, insist on being checked over, ask to speak to a supervisor, basically make a fuss.

I hope all is well.