Due November No 2

[eidsvold]

sorry for being presumptuous enough to start a new thread but I had so much to catch up on and fill you in on...

hiya all - finally settled and have pc at home!! Singapore was wonderful if exhausting. The heat took a lot out of me but it was great to have the break before we headed into the move again. We are in our house and settled - almost unpacked - just books and non essentials left to sort out.

had my first real ante natal appt last week - found a great GP - very approachable and very pro - woman's choice re: everything - amount and type of testing - I had three hospitals to choose from. She then did a proper antenatal consultation and I got to hear the baby's heart beat - great I also have my referral for my scan but have yet to have a date.

Halfway( 20 weeks) today - EDD is 5th November.

Over here the antenatal care is either shared between the GP and the hospital consultant or is all hospital based - there are a couple of midwife led birthing units but very hard to get into - done by ballot system and at this late stage no way I would even get a look in.

Gp was brilliant - took all I had to tell her about last pregnancy in her stride and rather than preaching and assuming what I wanted ( like the GP and midwife in UK) she asked me what I wanted.

Unlike the UK - homebirths are extremely rare - I have decided to have a hospital birth in the major hospital for the state - should anything like last time happen again I am right there rather than having to be transferred or having the baby transferred.

Now I just have to wait for them to get back to me with an anomaly scan date. Hopefully all being well - next week.

Glad to hear all is well with everyone else - baby is moving and heard it swishing around whilst the GP was trying to hear the heartbeat. Definitely in maternity clothes now - got some good jeans from George/ASDA before we left.

Take care....

Hi there!
Glad to hear everything seems to be going so well for you, nice to have you back! It's so strange how different the health systems are around the world! There have been a few threads on it recently. Good to hear from you over there!

hello eidsvold

glad to hear your move went fine, and good luck with your anomaly scan!!

Hi Eidsvold, so glad it is all falling into place for you over there. Cant believe we are all getting to halfway!

I have been bleeding again but rushed off to the hospital yesterday at 7.00 am and they listened for a hb which was fine. I am so fed up with these scares and panics.

bunny - sorry to hear that.... hope it all gets better from here...

finally had my blood tests today - check for Hep, syphillis and so on. Still waiting for a hospital appt for my scan....

Bunny - sorry you are having a crap time. Hope things perk up soon.

Eidsvold - happy to have you back!! Our EDD's are the same date - Nov 5th. Glad everything is looking up for you and that your move was smooth.

x

Oh Bunny - I can't believe it will you ever have an easy ride with this pregnancy - lets hope so eh!!

I'm fine - all results have come back fine and am at Kings next Monday for my heart scan and top to toe scan - am a little worried in the back of my mind but baby is moving around lots and I feel knackered so everything must be alright (I hope).

Told family and friends now - not telling sister until after heart scan as I want to wait until we know all is ok but am still dreading it - DD is thrilled.

Hi everyone - not much to report, I am fine and baby is definitely starting to kick a bit harder . I gave my second blood sample for the slapped cheek test this morning, so I'm hoping I should get the results back in 2 to 3 weeks. Cross fingers everything will be OK and I shall be able to relax a bit at last.

bunny, I posted a message to your on the other thread.

Twinkie - good to hear the results so far are clear. Good luck for next week. I was wondering if you'd told your sister yet. That is going to be so hard (for both of you). .

Hello again eidsvold, glad to hear the move has gone smoothly. Sounds like you are settling in well.

Sam, did you see my comments on antenatal classes on the old thread?

Glad to hear you are ok Gingernut - am terrified of telling her - first thing everyone asked when we told them is 'Well does you sister know?' - I know it sounds harsh but I think FGS I am the one that is opregnant and I am having to think about how everyone else feels - selfish or what eh - I want to be the one who is looked after and doesn't have to worry about everyone else!!

Has anyone found a miracle cure for indigestion yet - Gaviscon is costing me a fortune - have Drs appointment tomorrow to see if I can get a barrel of it free!!

Hi All, not much for me to say except Bunny I really, really hope that things settle down for you soon and that you can start to enjoy your pregnancy!!!

Eidsvold, congrats on the move, I hope you are really happy over there.

As for me, I have my scan on Thursday and strangely am apprehensive about it, not excited at all! Hopefully everything will be OK

Gingernut, yes I did see it, thank you, just re read it again now. Still feeling a bit confused, there does seem to be some classes at my hospital, one day for breastfeeding and one day for birth things, both take place after 36 weeks (i think). But it just seems not enough a little too late? When is everyone else having theirs? From what I thought about anit natal classes I thought they took place over several weeks, for an hour a week type thing? I suppose there are good and bad to both, at least I should of finished work by then.
Bunny, so sorry to hear you are still having problems. Lets hope that things do stop soon (like now!) bless you.
Twinkie , I got some gaviscon from the shop the other day, 5.79 for 300mls! I couldn't believe it! Looked up in one of my books how much it costs the NHS (probably not supposed to say this!) and it was 2.00 something for a 500ml bottle! What a rip off! So it would probably work out cheaper to get it on prescription even if you are still paying!
Everything fine here, baby seems to be up to things in there, but not when DP is anywhere near or I take drastic action like pulling up my top to see if there is anything to see! Hmmm, seems I have a sneaky one!!

Twinkie, totally agree that your being pg is nothing at all to do with your sister's sad situation, and I really hope she has the maturity and good grace not to punish you for it. However, sometimes it is really hard not to let your emotions get in the way. Having had a m/c and had to listen to lots of friends and work colleagues at the time telling me about their successful pregnancies (to be fair to them, they didn't know I had just miscarried), all I can say is it can be so hard to bear. One day you will be feeling strong and the next you will be a mess. So try to be patient with her (I am sure you will be anyway). I have lots of sympathy with your position too, having recently had to tell a friend who miscarried just after Christmas about my pregnancy. It isn't easy either way. Hope this doesn't come across as preachy, it isn't meant to be .

As for indigestion, a friend of mine used to say that the best thing to eat was really nice vanilla ice cream, because it doesn't taste too bad second time around !!

Gingernut, the ice cream sounds like a truely excellant idea, one I may just have to adopt daily! (and probably works out cheaper than the gaviscon!)

Sorry, took so long typing that that I didn't see your message Sam.

I'm not going to antenatal classes this time. I think they may be organised differently in different areas. Our NHS ones were for an hour a week, on a weekday afternoon, for about 5 weeks. There was also an evening class for partners to attend too. For me, they started when I was 34 weeks (but some of the people in tbe class were 6-8 weeks behind me so they had them really early on in their pg). NCT classes were all in the evening, starting at about 30 weeks. I think there were 6 classes, probably 2 hours long but that included a refreshment/socialising break (when all us heavily pg ladies dashed for the loo ). I also went to a couple of classes run by the hospital, about water births and pain relief in labour.

If there is little provision in your area for locally-run NHS classes I would definitely advise you to get on an NCT course because it's really important to get to meet a few people who are in the same boat as you (I still meet up with my antenatal friends most weeks and several of us are having our second babies now ).

Thanks gingernut its nice to hear it from both sides sometimes - I just know what she is like - when she lost the baby my cousin was also pregnant and everyone was worried how she (my cousin) would be and no one wanted her to feel awkward - no one seems to give a flying toss about me though - its a long running thing but I am always the one left to get on with things and she is the one who has things happen to her or messes things up (in spectacular fashion) and its her feelings we all have to take into account - I just want the help and the back up for once - god knew this was a bad thing to even start thinking about - am blubbing again now!!

Should go and stat a thread about it somewhere I suppose!!

Sorry Twinkie, didn't mean to make you cry . Have a virtual hug. It sounds to me as though your family regard you as being a `coper' which isn't always what you want or need is it! Don't know what else to say....perhaps a separate thread would be a good idea so you can canvas the wise mumsnetters as a whole.

Twinkie, sorry you are upset. But you have nothing to be upset about! From what it sounds like your sister is the spoilt one, used to having things go her way. She has had a tough time of late, but that is not your fault. You baing happy should be important to her too. By all means wait untill you have the all clear from the scan, as it is so soon. But you have considered her already.
I felt really awful, I asked a good friend some questions about her positive pregnancy test (as mine was a weak positive), and then didn't say anymore about it for several weeks. One day I decided it was silly not to tell her so I sent her a text to confirm that I was expecting. She sent one back to say she was just on the way back from the hopital from having her D and C. It was horrible.
But, credit to her, she has carried on phoning me, checking up on me and offering me her support which has meant so much and has brought me to tears. I feel that people who genuinely care for you will be happy for you and try to be there for you. I know it has not been easy for my friend, but I also think that she views it as preparing her in a way for a journey she hopes to take soon, when it is her much hoped for baby.
Your sister might surprise you,people often do, but it is doing you no good to worry about it, surely she wouldn't want that. Good luck. x

Twinkie, I am so glad all your results are clear, that's fab news . Good luck next Monday, mine is on Tuesday and I'm dreading it big time. I am sorry you have this dilemma with your sister to deal with, I am sure you will find loads of advice here. FWIW, I think you should prioritise YOUr feelings not hers. What happened to her was really sad but it was not your fault. You have enough to worry about being pregnant without taking the responsibility for someone elses happiness.

Gingernut, I am certain you are in the clear, I hope you can start to relax soon.

Thanks for all your messages of support. No more bleeding so fingers crossed all will be fine.

I have heard nothing about antenatal classes although I have not even been booked into the hospital yet - should happen when I go off for my scan - whenever that will be.. need to wait until they can find a spare slot - pretty booked up so I am having to wait for a free urgent inpatient slot and then I am top of the urgent outpatients list. Hopefully it will be sometime this week or next.

The sonographer did say they preferred to have women scanned by 18 weeks or thereabouts so if anything showed up they had time to make choices... I told her about dd and said that really that wasn't a priority for us.

Sorry to hear things a little strained for you Twinkie - as others have said - you worry about you and yours hopefully sister will have the maturity to be pleased for you and enjoy her new nephew/niece. So glad everything else looked fine. I had two anomaly scans at kings and it was great - unlike the local hospital you saw exactly what they were doing and were able to see the baby the whole time. The only daunting bit was the line of medical students behind me lined up to watch as well.....

well actually I am off for my scan NOW!! the hospital just called and want me in this morning!!!

well what a morning - after a detailed scan and a lot of concentration on the heart we have been told that there is a small calcification on the heart - will not affect the heart's function but is a very 'soft' marker for Down's Syndrome.... The sonographer was brilliant - she explained that finding these little spots are very common and rarely indicate Down's SYndrome but that they have to check and inform patients. They then asked us to speak with the genetic counsellor who said the same thing - can see up to 20 or more of these spots a week and asked what we wanted to do about it. Compared with dd's heart defect which was a definite 'hard' marker and the other accompanying soft markers - physical aspects, facial profile, smallish head etc - this babe looks fine. There will be no follow up other than chatting with my GP. Still a little upsetting until we spoke to the counsellor and did some research - now we both feel much better about it.

The scanning was brilliant - there was a screen up on the opposite wall where you can see exactly what is going on during the whole scan - both you and whoever has accompanied you. You are also given a folder of pictures - we had three I think in the end.

We were not able to find out the gender as the baby was not in a helpful position. Strangely enough - dh said originally he did not want to know and now he wishes he had asked if the sonographer could see what gender the baby was.

It was wonderful to see the babe though. And dd was cute - when the woman was doing the ultrasound and running the wand thing over my belly - dd is trying to also stroke my belly

Glad things are looking good Eidsvold.
Twinkie, I've been worrying about how I phrased my post. I don't mean you have nothing to worry about, of course you do. I mean you are having a baby, and that is something to be happy about no matter what has happened to other people. Hope I didn't cause any offence.
x

Hi everyone.....glad the move went well Eidsvold and pleased you are back online.

Went for a drs appointment today and was told I have a very healthy immune system and dont need to worry about raw meat anymore!! How odd.

Been told there are epidurals at the hosp which we thought were not available before and so I feel much more relaxed about the whole thing. Got some more bloodtests on Fri and BP is fine. Have to have regular checkups on BP as I had pre eclampsia last time and so she is keeping an eye on me.

Feel full of energy again and no sickness so all is good apart from my skin!!

hope you are all well

hi all got the results from my glucose tollerance test and i have gestational diabetes so i have to test my bloods 3x a day (its no fun )so its a no no for the home birth (sob) hope evry1 is getting on ok

eidsvold that was so sweet about your dd!

sorry to hear about your news plantpot, don't know much about gest diab, can it improve, or will it stay until the end of pregnancy?