Fantastic 40+ Mum to be - part 2

[Hpbp]

Let's keep on chatting !
Awaiting to hear from you all.
Midget, how are you feeling after the sweep ?
Exexe, are you happy with the new kitchen ? Very glad to see you back on here.
Warm welcome to the only Dad we have on the thread, sorry I could not remember your name as I write this.
Have a lovely Monday. Pouring rain in Paris today.

Rebecca also sending strong thoughts. So sorry about the MC. I hope that as happens to some now your body knows how to be pregnant it might happen considerably more quickly this time.

Cheese great news about early results. So pleased for you and LO. I have 2 friends who had PE and had to have babies at 28wks - one went overdue second time, other has just kept lid on PE and has now made it to nearly 37 weeks. So be hopeful! If not, at least you am docs are alert and can look after you and LO as well as possible. Do take especially good are.

Somewhere am deeply impressed by swimming - though don't over do weight thing. You sound so warm I guess you know what you are doing. My weight gain but alarming at first but seems to have slowed. Bump still v neat which sadly means most of those 2 stone must be on my ar... Good luck too with investment: you are being super supportive and positive. Good on you. And Mr Osborne told us (again) today growth was just around the corner...so maybe in year or so freelance will pick up.

Scan tomorrow - want a bit of reassurance about smallness of bump and lack of movement. Otherwise gen positive, just the inevitable "what ifs" creeping around the edge of my thoughts.

Til tomorrow

Rebecca so sorry. On the ttc thread there are so many true stories of women who've been through what youve been through and made it eventually. Right now maybe that's not what you need to hear but just look after yourself xxx

Scarecrow I've had small bump paranoias too. let us know how it goes - are you going to find out gender? Thanks for kind and encouraging words re my financial rationalising

Lots of cheese fab news so pleased for u!

Eagle that made me laugh - the engineers guide to childrearing hope he gave you lots of useful tips sounds like a fab mentor. He probably has worked out the quickest way to unfold a nappy etc

Bhbd bonjour no more boulangeries with their magic wafts of buttery treats. Blighty, eh. How are you settling?

Rebecca So sorry to hear your sad news, wishing you lots of strength to come to terms with it. I'll be thinking of you.

Just a quick catch hello hope everyone is doing fine. I've not been posting a lot, just lurking - I've been very tired in the evenings, and I'm not even sure I can blame the pregnancy. I'm strangely symptom-free 6 weeks today, and no sign of morning sickness or anything else that would tell me I'm pregnant! Don't laugh, but I'm poas every other day to make sure I still am! And worse, I keep forgetting/ignoring it on occasions
We were at the in-laws for lunch on Sunday, and one of the dessert options was Tiramisu. I didn't have any, but it only occure to me afterwards, on the way home, that that's on the list of food to avoid! When really, the alarm bells should have been going off there and then. Just as well that I'm still trying to avoid the calories as much as possible, which is the reason I didn't have any (I love Tiramisu with a passion).

Still no word from the haematology consultant that I'm apparently being referred to. Can't get through to his office on the phone, always get the answer machine, and they don't call back, grrrrrr I'm really worried I don't get to see him before Christmas, I do need to know that I'm OK to fly to Germany. Soo frustrating!

lotsofcheese good to hear that the amnio is all clear so far! Must be a load of your mind, fingers crossed that the remaining results are good, too.
If you don't mind me asking - did you have a pulmonary embolism in your last pregnancy? Saw that you mentioned PE in your post above, just wanted to mae sure that's not an acronym for something else.
If yes, what sort of consultant care and treatment are you getting? What will be your birth options (if you have discussed those yet). When did you see a consultant and who referred you?
I had a PE at the beginning of this year and am very anxious to find out what is coming my way (if I ever get an appointment). My GP didn't seem to be too concerned, but I'm on tenterhooks... Sorry for being nosey!

Hi all

I'm tentatively joining you.
I'm aged 40, and been ttc no.2 for almost 3 years.
Had all the fertility investigations done earlier this year/last year- including hsg - and nothing irregular was found. Having sort of put it to the side (too busy to spend more time on it really!) i was surprised and delighted to get a BFP this week. It's very very early days (

Welcome to bzzz! Congratulations on your BFP, lovely news, crossing everything for a sticky one after a long time for you ttc!

I had pre-eclampsia (PE) not a blood clot (PTE). I'm on aspirin 75mg & have been since BFP -my DVT (blood clot) risk has come back medium, so they'll just monitor me; I'm not needing Clexane (so far). My GP referred me to the same consultant I'd seen for pre-pregnancy advice & she saw me at 6 weeks & put a management plan in for the next 1-2 months, including extra growth scans, dopplers to check blood flow, etc - so I feel well looked after.

However she said I'll not get to term & in all likelihood will need up having another CSection, which is what I was suspecting. I don't really care how I give birth, as long as bubba comes out safely. I found the last section really debilitating, but needs must.

I hope you manage to get your care sorted, that must be so frustrating & stressful.

I got my 1st amnio results through within 24 hours - all clear The consultant thinks the 2nd set will be fine, but I'm not counting my chickens!!!

rebecca I'm so sorry for your loss, my heart goes out to you. Wishing you strength to carry on and another BFP very soon.

eagleray how's the new car going, are you getting use to it now?

scarecrow I hope the scan went well, thinking of you.

somewhere have my fingers crossed for your DP's investment.

blackbluedye welcome back to the UK, hope the settling back goes smoothly for you and yours DCs.

lotsofcheese I'm really happy for your good amnio results, I remember how terrible it was waiting for my nuchal results.

JB My MS didn't kick in until week seven/ eight so I don't think it's too unusual. Maybe you will be one of the lucky few who doesn't get it.

bzzbee Congratulations on your BFP. My pregnancy is also my first BFP after 18 months of trying and I'm now 33 weeks and no problems so far.

AFM I'm spending the days being mostly professional and crossing over with my maternity cover and most of my evenings sleeping or crying in DH's arms. Mum loved Xmas and everything keeps reminding me how much I miss her. Pretty much everything's arranged for the funeral now. My concern is how best to help Dad cope, after 50 years of marriage he has to learn how to live alone for the first time in his life.

On a positive note my NCT group seem good people, although I'm by far the oldest Mum at 42. It was refreshing to spend two hours just thinking about bump and I felt the most normal I have done since Mum's death.

Hello all. Had 20 wk scan yesterday and all apparently looked good. Like DD everything on 50th percentile except little tummy, which is slightly bigger - v cute :) Ironically, given my slight concern that I hadn't felt the baby move, it again fidgeted and wriggled the entire way through the scan. And I really mean entire, like every second. Even scanner was commenting, albeit very sweetly.

I have to say, these scans always make me feel both slightly overwhelmed by two things. Firstly, the wonder of it all, that a single sperm and single egg can grow, with no external agency once they are brought together, into this fully formed tiny human, with a beating heart, working fingers, that can yawn and rub its eyes; secondly, and even more emotionally, the totally random blessing of having a child at all, but particularly having one so late in life, indeed for me not one but two. I really do feel undeserving, but not so that I feel guilt, only I wish I could share this blessing with all the women TTC, and I feel I must never loose sight of the knowledge that this gift is what really matters to me.

Okay, enough slushy stuff... DD impatient with me typing so will return to others' news later. For now just to say riverside thank you for a very moving update, and we are all here for you for as long as it takes; and big welcome to bzzbee.

Riverside, will be thinking of you on Monday, it must be so hard for your Dad and all of you, your Mum sounds lovely. It does sound like you have a great NCT group, glad it gives you a little respite. MrsWooster, hope the new place is getting sorted. It's unbelieveable the state some people will leave houses in. DP is a landlord and in the summer, a tenant moved out whilst we were on holiday, and left 3 black bags of food waste in the hall (obviously the bin outside was a bit too far away ). By the time DP got round there on our return, he said it smelled like nothing on earth and maggots had chewed through the carpet. Lovely. Eagleray, hope your heartburn is improving and Gaviscon is doing the job - I'm the same and have bottles dotted all round the house. Somewhere, great job keeping up with the swimming and stabilising your weight - it's bloody hard! FX your DP gets his investment. BBD, how are you finding London town? Hope you're settling back in OK. Rebecca, I'm so sorry my love and hope we see you back here soon. Lotsofcheese, great news about the amnio results , and hopefully your BP will stay at a good level and you can avoid PE this time. JBrd, hope you hear from the consultant soon - whereabouts in Germany are you heading for? bzzbee, congratulations on your BFP and FX all goes well for you.
Blimey what a catch up! I've finally finished my hospital bag. Had our pre-op appt on Wednesday and I've got antacids and anti-sickness tablets to take the night before my CS - it's all getting very close! Still have a few jobs to do before I go in but should get them done next week. Going to make some sausage rolls for the freezer in a mo will try not to snaffle too many when they come out of the oven. Am actually going out for dinner tonight for my friend's 40th, just hope I can stay awake past 9pm. Might have a cheeky small glass of vino...

Welcome bzzbee, and fingers crossed you'll have a sticky bean!

Sending lots of strength and hugs your way, riverside - it's very tough having to adjust after having lost a loved one. I hope your dad is coping, and you, too!
We were also the oldest couple in our NCT group, but it didn't matter - we became very good friends with some of the couples, so much that we actually went on holiday together this year. Having babies puts everyone at the same level.

lotsofcheese thanks for the clarification! PE does indeed have multiple meanings. And yay for the amnio results, that's great news! One less thing to worry about.

knotty when is D-day?!? Sounds as if it's imminent, and that you'll be meeting your little one really soon. Very

scarecrow I remember getting very emotional at my scans. It just brings it home how amazing it all is, and that there really is a little person inside you, growing.

I'm a bit meh today... I discovered some slight spotting this morning when I went to the loo. It's very mild, but I'm also feeling a bit crampy and achey, so am worrying. Never had anything like that in my first pregnancy, so not sure what to make of it, and trying not to panic worry. I've been trying to call the midwives, but it always goes straight to answerphone. Grrrr. People obviously don't want to talk to me on the phone!
Stayed at home from work, no way I could do anything productive. Not sure it helps with the not-worrying-bit, but it's certainly more comfortable.

JBrd, really hope you get through the midwives soon and get some reassurance. I'm not sure if it helps but I understand that it's quite common to get a bit of spotting fairly early on, but obviously you want your mind put at rest.

Yes, it's fairly imminent! I'm due to have my little girl by ELCS on 17th. Gulp.

Hi ladies ,

Looking for some comparisons .....I'm 28 weeks , oh and I've just turned 40 two weeks ago .
suddenly finding I exhausted again , really could spend most of the day in bed ....I'm sure it's not
Doing me nor the baby much good .
concentration , motivation not great either .
Is anyone else on here feeling v tired ......all the time ?

Also I got some not great news this week . Had a growth scan .....my first baby had Iugr ........ie he was small for dates........he was fine at birth .....Cs early at 35 weeks , weighed 4 lbs 6oz ....he's now a healthy 5 yo . This one is looking small .......5th centile .......so they want to give me steroids to ripen baby's lungs in case it arrives or has to be delivered early ......quite a shock at 28 weeks .

Anyone going thru similar scenario ?

Spiderbaby, congratulations! I don't have any experience of steroids etc. but hopefully someone who has might be along later. But I can only say that I've been absolutely knackered all the way through this pregnancy (my 2nd, was 35 last time and I'm now 44). I certainly didn't get that 2nd trimester energy boost, and I have to have a nana nap every day if at all possible, and am in bed by 9.30-10pm. It's hard work isn't it?? FX everything goes OK for you.

JBrd and spiderbaby both worrying events. Hope in both cases you get reassurance soon. JBrd I also know many people who had s piloting, even bleeds, and whose baby was fine, but you must defo get it looked at. Have you had booking appt? If so I would go to local mat unit and ask for a check - not sure if you can before booking, though. GP?
Take care both.

Hello and congrats BzzBee - fantastic news after trying for so long!

Riverside - thinking of you today

Scarecrow - great that the scan went well yesterday. Funnily enough, mine was on 50th percentile with slightly bigger tummy too! She's still that way, from what I can remember (had a private scan in recent weeks). Interesting what you said about movement - I have felt movements from very early on in the pregnancy, but always assumed that if I couldn't feel anything, then she wasn't moving. However at recent scan, saw her moving plenty of times where I couldn't actually feel it, which was interesting. I also feel so much for those TTC, and those who have had sad losses - I feel so terribly lucky and find it almost unbearable when I hear people's sad stories.

In the last couple of days I have started to feel a bit funny - going to the loo a lot (my digestive system seems to not want to hold onto anything!) and had a few sharp pains down below, plus what I could only describe as an adrenaline rush going through my body. Also in last 24 hours, have been terribly, terribly tired (energy levels have been fine up til now). Anyway, rang MWs yesterday and they said to get checked out by docs just in case, so reluctantly dragged myself to surgery today. Was so tired when I was there I could barely remember what my symptoms were when the GP asked me! Anyway, she had a feel of the baby (head down, not engaged) and said everything fine and very likely to be BH and general gearing up for the birth. My stomach has started going rock-like now and again, and also have probably lost a small part of mucous plug (lovely).

Spiderbaby - hello and welcome - sorry to hear you are so tired. No experience of smaller babies (or any previous babies for that matter) but I have wondered throughout this pregnancy if it's not age that tires you but whether you have done this before or not! I'm 41 and have generally felt fine, and get by on no more sleep than normal, but I have no children to look after and as DP is only around at weekends, I reckon I have a fair amount of time to look after myself. However, if I had children already, I can see that things would be very different and I would be exhausted beyond belief! Good luck with this baby, and glad to see they are monitoring you closely.

JBrd - sorry you have the worry of spotting. Is probably nothing to overly worry about, but such a pain to happen on a friday as the weekend is looming. I hope you have been persistent with your phone calls and that you have been able to speak to someone by now. Will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Knotty - the countdown continues! 10 days now!

Somewhere - well done on the swimming! I haven't done any for a while and know it would do me good, but after getting home from work cannot bear to drag myself out of the house. I may resume in my last 4 weeks when I no longer have work to contend with.

I'm off to bed now - very unlike me but soooo tired. Would love a nice warm bath but had one last night then got stuck - damn you, slippery, deep sided luxury rolltop bath!

Hello to everyone else - hope you are all ok and keeping warm...

Just wanted to reply to spiderbaby. I had PE in my 1st pregnancy, causing iugr. At 29 weeks he weighed only 720g (on 0.4th centile). I had steroids 3 days before he was born by emergency CS. He had to come out as my organs were failing.

Is there any medical reason why iugr has developed? Whenever possible, the Dr's try to keep baby inside as long as possible, every day counts at this stage. It's just a question of weighing up the risks v. benefits of delivery.

Please feel free to ask anything - will do my best to answer. And good luck - I hope you can hang on for a bit longer.

JBrd how are things today? Any more spotting?

Knotty hair ........ Really good to know that I'm not the only one who's tired

Lots of cheese ......... wow your first pregnancy sounds like it was very ....challenging ! Was he born at 29 weeks ?

In reply ...no no medical reason for the iugr . Seems to be just to do with me . last time the cons doing my Cs commented that I had a small and "grotty " placenta . Needless to say I found it a tad insulting ! Although ...in some way helpful ...confirmed where the problem was .

Bit frustrating bacause they say even if I rest it won't improve this baby's growth .

Was freaked out abut the talk of steroids etc ...but now focused on staying positive , my goal is to get to 33 week .......It's gonna happen .

Hello again everybody, back again! Have finally moved (though the house is still chaos and I can't find my clothes....). Move was 3 days of hell as friends supposed to be helping developed Norovirus and couldn't come near...

Does anybody know anything about the Harmony Test, and whether you can get it anyway in the UK?

Hello BadMissM - glad you survived your house move - do not envy you!

Re the Harmony testing, it has been talked about on the following thread, and would appear to be available at the FMC in London:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_tests_choices/1599017-Harmony-prenatal-test-anyone-know-about-it

Hi Everyone! eagleray, that was the only place I could find, but I'm at the other end of the country....could stretch to the test, but add in the 2 x train fares to London near Christmas might pus it over the edge....

Thanks for the well wishes. In the end, I gave up on the midwives and called the Early Pregnancy unit at the hospital. They were lovely and gave me sensible, if somewhat disappointing advice - to take some paracetamol and give them a call again if the bleeding and/or backache gets worse. Other than that, I should keep an eye on it all for a week
Spent the day taking it easy, had long sleep this afternoon, but feel as if run over by a truck. So hoping it's not going to get worse...

Rebecca I went through several nightmare pregnancies before having my humungous and bigger than me with enormous feet beautiful 14 year old daughter. I know it's hard though...

JBrd look after yourself!! Me and the sofa have also become firm friends this past week!

spiderbabymum DD, enormous one mentioned above was born at 33 weeks and is bigger than me very fit and healthy!

eagleray having had a look, and even though we can't really afford it, given my age and previous history am going to try to...not vast confidence in mat services here....

JBrd - hope you are ok. A week seems a long time to 'wait and see'. I know there isn't much that anyone can do, but I know from personal experience how worrying it can be.

BadMissM - I've had a look on line for info about the Harmony testing, and it seems that there is nothing really apart from a flurry of activity in the media back in early Sept. I think your best bet would be to phone the FMC and ask if they are the only clinic in the UK trialling the tests. Having been through the whole invasive testing dilemma thing in the summer, and knowing what I know now, if I was ever pregnant again, I would probably go straight to the FMC for advice/testing. Possibly easy for me to say as I am only about 2 hours' travel from the clinic, but I guess it also depends on the level of reassurance you want (everyone has differing needs when it comes to testing)

Been walking around in my t-shirt today while everyone else was in winter coats. It was 4C but to me it feels like summer!

JBrd I do so hope you are okay and not too over worried. I probably would be, tbh, but at least lee telling yourself the positives, treating yourself to distractions, and take any time out that helps (spot who's done CBT ;) ).

BadMiss having been to FMC in London I highly recommend. They also gave vg advice by hone about the tests and timings. If the hairy test is the one I'm thinking of (non invasive equivalent of amnio) then I believe it is being developed and trialled specifically by FMC founder/owner. However have you had or considered the much Muchore detailed scan and testing the offer at up to 13 weeks? Or (forgive me) is it too late. Though I went to FMC for that, I believe it is not the only place that offers it. Sometime since I joined another poster has - I'm pretty sure - posted about an equivalent test place in north!

Er that would be "harmony" rather than "hairy" test a :)

eagleray think I'm just going to ring them and ask, also whether he is still conducting some as part of the clinical trial and whether would be eligible for that, and ask wjether he is doing it further north... If not, am just going to have to find the money somehow... I just can't face the thought of amnio again..

Scarecrow22 As for the detailed scan at 13 weeks, haven't even seen a midwife yet, and don't trust mat services around here to do much or do it on time.... I just don't want to be in the situation where they find something on the detailed scan and it's too late for the Harmony Test... I had a stillborn baby after a horribly painful amnio, given unneccessarily and botched, I just can't face that again....