The elderberry copter thread #4, for all your hand holding, sausage wanging and burger toning. Entrance criteria: ttc#1 for >12mths, prev berry experience preferable but not essential

[BlindKitty]

New home, as requested!

Meant hi sid and not did!!!!

Thanks for the hand-holding, much appreciated! If we do the harmony test at FMC they include CVS or amnio if results come back high risk, and I hear they have an excellent reputation.

Thanks Bleary; Merk added me! Lots of new names to learn and gorgeous baby pics to look at, how exciting!

A practical question though; I'm 5w6d today. When do I need to call my GP to let them know? Some places say 6 weeks, others say 8. Would rather not go sit in the waiting room with all the sickies unless they'll actually do something while I'm there! When did you all call in?

Sending you lots of big hugs Jess. I'm afraid I know nothing about harmony and amino but you have us here if you need us. Xxxxxxx

Sid, I'd call and book for 8w. Mw can come to you if you are not well or sometimes they sneakily want to check your house! Mine came while I was at my mums so they didn't get to look at mine haha!

Ok thanks! I just called & got an appt for 7w6d with my GP; apparently for a 10 min appt and will be put in the system. The hospital will contact me directly for scans/midwife appts etc. Lots to learn about all this!

Well, PappA is 0.176 - very low hence high risk despite most other factors being normal. They don't really do CVS amd I don't want to do it somewhere that it's not routine, so we would have to wait for amnio in about a month. Looks like harmony test is the way to go - just need to work out where.

Hi all,

jess I'm so sorry you've had a worrying result. I do t knowing about the details of different tests but like you I think the more information, the better. Hope you manage to find a harmony test you're happy with.

sid I was the same as you first time round- not sure what to do or who to call. Ended up going to gp which was pretty pointless into town- second time I just called the midwife unit direct to register. Different places have different systems though of course.

How's everyone else doing?

Jess where are you? London ish?

South Hampshire but I go to London fairly frequently.

If you can travel to London then the most common place to have the Harmony is the FMC.
A tiny bit closer to home may be The Richmond Practise (in Richmond) funnily enough, which is where I got mine (and they were amazing). However highly likely it will be much cheaper if you can find somewhere out of London that does it.
How are you feeling?

FMC (£500)actually seems cheaper than other places I've seen (mostly £600) , which is odd but I'm not complaining as they do seem to be leaders in the field.

I'm feeling tired and a bit numb - finding a little hope in that it's just one marker that's wrong and by looking at the positive side of the risk.

I was literally just about to post that its good that its just one marker, assuming your nuchal measurement was within normal range?
Remember that all the clinics send the bloods off to America for the results, so the only difference from clinic to clinic for the Harmony is the scan (which is not taken into account in the actual Harmony 1:2 or 1:10000 result). If you find a clinic that's easier for you than FMC you can always ring and ask them to price match. I think the other thing you may want to consider (and ask both the NHS and any clinic you do choose) is what else a low PappA could indicate (assuming Downs comes back clear) and what they would recommend to monitor/manage that. I was recommended extra scans post 28 weeks as it can be indicator of reduced growth/poor placenta function I think if I remember rightly.
Look after yourself/ves this weekend and try not to panic. The chances are everything will be fine...your risk means a 98% chance all will be fine. And post as much as you need to on here for support, ranting, worrying or whatever.

jess sorry you have had possible bad news, so many scary things about this pregnancy malarkey, hugs x

sid I'm pigging out too, stopped off at tesco on the way home and bought toaster waffles, pancakes and all sorts of crap

Ooh maternity clothes, that's a scary thought! Although I did find myself glancing at the baby clothes today!

Will the midwife explain all the tests and stuff you guys are talking about?

Worry-wort question - is it normal that my boobs are not sensitive at all?!? Assume ok to sleep on my tummy till I actually have a month??

They did mention potential placenta/growth problems but said they already monitor growth so don't do anything different for low Papp-A. That said I might try to push for an extra growth scan later on.

The growth monitoring they are talking about is a tape measure on your stomach so not likely to be v effective!

Bunny sleep on your stomach for as long as you can, you will miss it more than wine when you can't anymore. You will get a leaflet about the screening tests

Sid, I think your attitude to try and enjoy the pregnancy is v sensible. There are lots of suspicions about buying stuff but personally I don't believe in 'tempting fate' so I see no reason why you shouldn't take advantage of the sales and spread out the buying of stuff

jess more handing holding from over here. So rubbish that you're having to go through all this

bunny maternity wear is rubbish! It's like all the shops decide that once you're pregnant you can't possibly want to look remotely fashionable or sexy. 90% of my stuff are hand-me-downs but its not stuff I'd choose to wear normally.

The mw will give you loads of info st your booking appointment so don't worry. don't worry about the lack of boob pain either, we're all different! Re sleep think that's fine but you might want to start getting into the habit of sleeping on your left side for later on

sid my mw said I didn't even need to see the GP. I was quite underwhelmed anyway. Think I was expecting fanfares or something given that we 'd been to her with problems ttc but the response was very meh lol

So did a bit of stuff strutting today at Zumba. Pleased to say I didn't have the biggest belly this week although i was the only preggo there!

Guys I'm 28 weeks next week, dies that jean I'm in the 3rd trimester or is that the week after?

Haha dies that jean is meant to be does that mean?!

Kitty NHS says 27 weeks til birth is third tri, so welcome to the final countdown! Once you get to 30 weeks you are scarily close

Oh I'm already in it?! Eek!

Another question, are people buying bedding and grow bags or one or the other

I've not bought any grow bags, I read somewhere they're safest after 3 months (despite that I have seen lots labelled as suitable for newborns).
Instead I've got lots and lots of blankets (cellular ones) and fitted sheets for the Moses basket & pram

kitty sleeping on the left side, is that cuz something presses on something?!?!?

Crikey third tri?!?!? Holy crappage! Does that mean everyone is on the last leg except me Sid and Jess?

List?!?

The stillbirth study about sleepingon the left side is, IMO, misleading at best. As far as I know the NHS aren't basing anything on it. Its based on whether people said they slept on their left/right (which nobody really knows as, er, theyre asleep), and has v small sample numbers and draws big conclusions. The more trustworthy studies suggest sleeping on your back in late pregnancy can restrict blood flow to and from the lower parts of your body (so try to avoid doing it by habit but most likely you would wake up if it was causing an issue) and left side vs right side is better if only to keep the weight off your liver. Everything else seems about as reliable as me claiming that cutting your toenails will make your baby have green hair at birth

Bluegh! Awake head ache and feeling pukey :-(

Jess sorry you have something to worry about, how rubbish for you.

Bunny mat clothes are crap, next and mothercare online are not bad but I would reccomend ebay once you need stuff. I managed in normal until about a month ago.
Kitty I think we will get both grow bags and bedding and see how we get on at the time.
Definately socks and sock ons, and getting short and long sleeved vests and grows with feet too.

Anyone up to anything exciting this weekend?

bunny merk my mw told me not to worry too much re what side to sleep on but I'd be most comfortable on my right. Despite this, I can't help but worry I'm restricting the blood flow on my back so don't intentionally sleep on my back but don't panic if I wake up like that. According to Dh I'm snoring more now that I'm pregnant so side sleeping is prob best for my marriage as well!!

foody I think we'll by both too. We're just buying mire drawers for the nursery seeing as though we didn't do measurements the first time! sorry you're feeling crap, hopefully it will ease throughout the day

It's funny, even though I didn't realise I was in the 3rd trimester, I did think yesterday how my skin wasn't as mice as it had been in the last few months and was REALLY tired! Also, think its time for one of those magic pillows as my hips are wrecking this morning!

jess hope you're ok

Re side sleeping, I worried about this too for a whole. Especially cos Expecting Better also talked about studies that made the link. Like kitty, my mw also said not to worry about it for sleep- just try to get comfy and get some sleep! I think I spend about half the night on either side.

I did NCT on thurs eve, NHS breast feeding session yesterday and then all day NCT again today. Phewwww all a bit baby tastic at the mo...