Monitoring fetal movements

[saranga]

Hi all.
I'm 26 plus 5 days and have it in my head that I should be only monitoring the baby’s movements from week 28. Is this right? I ask because over the last week I think his movements have got weaker, but I can’t be sure. I had my 25 week appointment with my midwife a week ago yesterday and she said all was fine but that my bump was a little small and now I’m thinking I’m only worried about his movements because I was told he’s a little small...
When websites say pay attention to a change or reduction in movements does that refer to the strength of his moves? My 20 week scan showed I had an anterior placenta so I’m also wondering if that’s got anything to do with it. Tbh I wasn’t worried until today and now I just am..it just doesn’t feel right. I’m at work so can’t go lie down for 2 hours..

At any rate, I have an appointment with my GP this afternoon as I’ve been having having muscular aches down my right side and now my right knee is giving way, so I’ll talk to them about the changed movements. I just wanted some other people’s thoughts so I don’t sit here fretting (too much) until this afternoon.

Help?

I'm the same! I'm 23wks and movements have reduced since yesterday. I think I only had 2 very light movements this morning but nothing since. I too have anterior placenta and been told it's normal to have reduced movements around this stage due to the baby moving up, especially with anterior placenta. Good luck with appointment, I'm sure all is well though

Thank you

Obviously if you're concerned about anything, call your midwife.

However, I'm on my second anterior placenta pregnancy here and what you're describing sounds pretty normal to me. While I occasionally get a strong movement – and for some reason I got more of those around 18-22 weeks than afterwards – mostly they're little nudges and bumps that I don't even notice when I'm at work. If you're at a desk, try sitting with your hand resting on your bump. I've found that I can feel small 'shifts' that way, which I don't even notice when both of my hands are tapping away on a keyboard. I'm a lot more relaxed about movement this time around as I know what to expect with the muffler at the front!

Hope all goes well this afternoon, sure it'll be fine :)

My DD is now 4, but I do remember going in for reduced movements. The hospital were fabulous and said they would rather check 10,000 false alarms than miss the one baby who needed help. In other words, if you are worried, phone your midwife or go to your nearest antenatal unit to get checked. They really won't mind.

I went in for reduced movements when I was about 23 weeks pregnant.

I knew I was under the '28 week' radar and I acknowledged this when I rang Triage for advice but they still asked me to go down for monitoring. I did as I was told and everything was fine. I'm now 38+4 and have been in a few times for reduced movements (they wanted to repeat tracings on me) and each time they have scanned me as well to make sure there are no problems with the blood flow through my placenta and the umbilical cord. As world said they would rather check false alarms than have a woman sitting at home worrying and not seek advise.

If I was you I'd ring Triage/your midwife - the GP may be able to offer you verbal reassurance but that won't compare to actually having the baby's heartbeat and movements being traced/recorded.

Thanks guys. I'll see the GP this afternoon and then call the midwife if he/she is no help.
I had assumed that the GP would also check the heartbeat, can they/will they not do that?

I'm not quite sure what I should call the midwife for and what I should call the Dr for..

The GP can check the heartbeat would it would only be for a few seconds and won't give a clear picture.

In the hospital you are rigged up for 30-60 minutes and the babies heart rate is monitored (and printed out) to check for regular patterns and to ensure there are no dips. You are also given a button to press when you feel the baby move and this is also recorded on the print out so they can look for correlations between movements and heart rate. After one attendance I had for reduced movements they kept me on the tracing machine for a total of 4 hours so they could be sure there were no problems. and like I said, some places perform routine scans to rule out any blood flow problems as this could potentially cause reduced movements.

it is a lot more thorough and detailed as opposed to your GP having a quick listen for 15 seconds.

Obviously it's your choice though, but perhaps you could ring your midwife and explain you are happy to see the GP but it's likely they would prefer you go for official tracing/monitoring.

Thank you writer. I need to see the GP anyway about my stupid knee so I will talk to him/her about ring the mdiwife. Then i'll ring the midwife anyway. I have this fear about bothering doctors, but a large part of me is yelling that the baby is well worth bothering doctors about.
Then again, I've had friends tell me that midwives/doctors have dismissed their worries as just first time mother worries when actually there was a real problem.

I called my MW this afternoon about my movements and she was great, reassured me everything was fine at this stage and said to try drinking something ice cold and a couple of bits of choccy to wake baby up. It definitely worked, had a lie down for a few mins and felt a lot of movement. The MW did say that if that didn't work I was to come in to check heart beat and if I was concerned anyway they were happy to see me to monitor fetal movement. Don't feel put off by calling your MW they will never dismiss any of your concerns

Please please PLEASE don't ever be scared of bothering anyone. They (midwives, docs, etc) can only help if you let them know you want/need it.

I felt awkward about it but when I needed to go into Triage two weeks ago, they were fantastic and made sure I knew that no matter if it meant I was back in there worrying about something else only a few hours later, that that was fine.

Thanks all. I rang the ante-natal clinic at the hospital and they told me the cold drink/something sweet/lie down for an hour trick. So I did that and felt enough movement and am less concerned now. Need to see the midwife about my poxy knee anyway so I'll chat to her about the movement then.

I second all the above. I went in loads with my third baby, now 6 months and snoring happily upstairs. Last time I went in for monitoring was at 40wks and ended up with an EMCS as he was really struggling.

Please please please ladies take reduced movements seriously, the midwives told me they would rather see someone every day with reduced movements than have a mum sitting at home worrying. The triage team are there for a reason

And he's back moving strongly again today :)