Hi Ladies. Finding it hard to drop in regularly to see how you all are, sorry, but I do think of you much more frequently than I post xx
@indreamland deff normal on the ligamant pain. As baby grows at different rates at different times it really depends on the frequency of your baby's growth spurts, in fact most women don't get ligament pain until the end of tri 2. At 15 weeks your uterus as increased massively in size, and that magic placenta is doing all the work to keep baby healthy, so your hormones will have dropped around week 14.
My advice - is the same I was given - make the most of this time. You have a lot to prepare at home, deciding what major things you're buying - prams, cots, nappies, formula or not etc etc and if you have jobs to do at home, you should get on with them. It might still feel far away and I know its hard to commit but you might find it easier if you start preparing little by little.
@Beaglemum93 feeling movements can be so worrying, it could be useful for you to read up on the things you can do before you next call the hospital the ones that helped me were to have fluids and something to eat - tea and a choccie biccy and a sit down was usually enough to get baby moving. A warm (but not hot) bath also is a trigger to wake baby and I personally found getting on all fours and doing downward dog yoga move :) ( that also helped get her out of breech position). Bare in mind baby sleeps for about 18-20 hours a day in the womb at this stage, and your movement every day is literally rocking him to sleep. When you're sleeping, he then has a wriggle. You'll feel this more and more as he gets more awake time and you might find yourself walking round the bedroom in the dark at 4 am to get him back to sleep. . . and he's not even born yet! Also know that one more week and baby is wholly 'clinically' viable - can be born and survive. Its a major milestone.
Nice to see you hear @fnej01 ! Congratulations! How far along are you now and have they given you a treatment plan yet?
And a few other newbies too, hope you are coping well and managing the anxiety phases.
We're still going well here. Baby is nearly 6 weeks, we have zero routine and lots of love :) today I'm getting smiles when I talk to her, lush. I was going to share with you my birthing story, so I've got some thoughts here . .
Firstly is that I was told to prepare for a long induction process, as I have APS and am 40 they wanted to induce before 40 weeks, so I was booked in for 39.3 and told it could take 2 days, all the drugs, likely to be very painful etc etc. They also talked through how inductions often end in intervention or C Section, so I really needed to prepare for the long haul and truly had to put those positive pants on . . .
What happened though was far from that. At 38.4 I managed my labour entirely at home. I had a bloody show on the Tuesday evening with light period pain, Wedneday morning mild contractions started, and waters broke in a trickle fashion about 6:30 am. Spoke to hospital, they said to stay at home until contractions reached 3 every 10 mintues or until pain became unbearable. My contractions were really sporadic, sometimes 4 in ten mins then nothing for 10 mins so I had no idea what was going on, just kept breathing . . .until 1.30am Thursday when the contractions were becoming quite strong, and I was getting tired. As my waters had broken, they had booked me for induction at 6:30 anyway ( 24 hours after water breaks if baby hasn't arrived is standard) Rang the hospital, they said to some in for pain relief, and as they had a bed we could stay given induction would start in the morning. We arrived at hospital about 2am, took two codeine, and suddenly I felt 'something change' - like something might come out ( I appreciate in hindsight i was having a baby but I honestly didn't believe it was happening as contractions weren't textbook!) and 30 mins later she was born :) I had no idea I was 9 cm dilated when we arrived at hospital - and neither did the midwives, they said I was so calm they had no idea and didn't examine me as a result. That is until I said I thought 'something was coming' , they examined and I was whisked off down the corridor to the delivery suite.
Too late for any other pain relief other than gas and air - but it wasn't needed, and the whole thing really wasn't that painful so I wanted to share with you what I did that I think helped . .
- hypnobirthing - I chose the Holly De Cruz book and affirmations. I started practicing this at 20 weeks, not that often, maybe once a week. I built up my own playlist of songs that make me feel happy and calm, and after about 30 weeks listened to i regularly, especially when going to bed in the evenings. Its this breathing technique and the playlist that I listened to when at home on the Wednesday and I dozed through most of my labour on the sofa . . .
- hire a tens machine. You can get them from boots online I think tesco too, they will deliver to you at 37 weeks and you send it back afterwards. About £30. I used this also on the wednesday at home, right up until we got to hospital
- I went for actupuncture regularly throughout pregnancy, and she did a birthing treatment the day before labour started
- I ate dark chocoloate - 90% cocoa - it releases endorphins in your body which are a stronger pain reliever than morphine ( who knew?!)
- I drank strawberry leaf tea twice a day from 37 weeks
- book onto an antenatal class if you can, you'll learn a lot and you'll meet local ladies. I've made a really good friend through my group and we are now meeting regularly and planning baby classes together. Its been good to have someone to talk through the 'whole' thing with, miscarriages, diagnosis, birth etc and she feels the same.
- Keep active - I swam right up until 5 days before she was born and did yoga for most of it. My pelvic floor is better than before I was pregnant, and I think using the muscles around the baby created strength for the birth. Its also good for your own anxiety.
Some of these things you can be doing now, and I did find focussing on the hypnobirthing actually helped manage my anxiety. When I was going for a scan for example, I used the breathing I'd learnt to stay as calm as possible.
Mostly - Do the things that make you happy, to balance out the worry and the stress.
Hope that's useful and happy to share any more detail if you just want to PM me.
Have you done a roll call recently, be nice to see everyone who's on here and your due dates. Hope you are all doing well xxx