Reduced Movements - does the fear get any easier?

[McTufty]

Hi all, I’m 27 weeks and seem to spend a couple of hours every day panicking because baby hasn’t been moving. Ive had to go to hospital once but this then usually ends with a massive party in my belly so all is fine, but I find it so worrying.

I’m currently 90 minutes into lying on my left and praying for a movement. I don’t think I can last 3 more months of this worry - do movements get more predicable and less sporadic in 3rd trimester so this hopefully won’t happen so much?

Depends, where is your placenta? That might help
I've got anterior and in the last month i've been 6 times in hospital for monitoring as barely could feel anything because of the placenta.

PD my boy knows when we're in hospital def. as he moves like never in his life before , he could have done it 1hour before i called the hospital!

I found movements got more predictable as I got further along and baby was bigger, and if baby hadn't moved for a while and I was worried I could wake her up with a cold drink or a poke poor thing just trying to get some sleep

Around the gestation you are now I found tricky as my baby was quite hard to feel moving and I was sometimes really unsure

I spoke to my midwife about it and she advised me to definitely come in if changed movements, she explained always worth having a check if I'm worried about movements

Yeah after having 3x reduced movements I was induced in my first pregnancy at 38 weeks- fine with me as would rather have her out than stressed. She was born fine.

Any movement change just get checked- ignore sighs and looks just get checked.

I never stopped worrying I was in and out all the time worrying about reduced movements. I had terrible anxiety from the beginning of my pregnancy the midwives were really lovely about it and I would always apologise when I went in for monitoring but was always told they would be more annoyed if a pregnant woman was sitting at home worrying and not going in. I ended up being induced at 37 weeks for different reasons but I'd probably still have spent those last few weeks worrying and gone in for monitoring.

I’m 27 weeks today and I have the same worry. I have an anterior placenta which makes it a bit tricky.
I have relaxed slightly as the anxiety was getting ridiculous to the point I was crying to dh about it.
I have a little routine that I try and stick to, checking when I wake up, lunchtime and evenings. My job is busy so I can’t always be aware what’s happening without actively trying to feel baby.
Last night baby was a bit quieter (which isn’t unusual, he/she has busy evenings and quiet evenings). I do like to feel proper wallops but often the movements are very slight, last night it was more like a little vibration. But a movement is a movement. If I don’t feel anything lying down I sometimes get up for half an hour and do odd jobs (still worrying though) and then try again and often baby moves.
Most importantly, I’ve learnt to trust my instincts.

Thank you for replying everyone. When I went in last time they said my placenta is posterior (though how they know that from a Doppler I’ve no idea!)

Sounds like it is likely the worry will continue! Baby has been wriggling away for the past half hour but I will definitely get checked if I’m in any doubt. Thank you all for the advice

They'd know the placenta position from scans.

Call them if you're worried.

In your 20w scan they'd have seen where the placenta is, so if they said it's posterior then it means it's placenta/baby/your belly.

Anterior is baby/placenta/belly so many movements are cushioned.

If you're worried then call them ,

It is absolutely the worst thing about being pregnant. I go between being kicked in the bladder and yelping to sobbing because I haven't felt anything for hours - it's so stressful! Hopefully yours will kick more as he or she gets bigger - there is a noticeable difference after 28/29 weeks

I was a nightmare for panicking about these especially as it took aaaaages for bubs to get a pattern.

I found the old trick of a really cold drink and a lie down for an hour worked really really well. It always got him/her wriggling. Also I found lying on my back would get them properly moving.

If you're at ALL worried go in. They usually ask you to do the lie down truck before you go in and it is a good bench mark-even if you just do it for 45 mins and then you realise it's gone nuts...