Due March/April 2022 Thread 3. Third trimester and babies!!

[Dyra]

Didn't quite realise we were so close to the end of the second one. So let's have another one! I'll post the due date list in a moment.

Morning Ladies.sorry to hear that alot of you are struggling with pain.
@Dyra i hope your results improve so you can go home for some rest.
I cant believe its now baby month.
Im starting to feel a bit nervous about it all.
Ive had backache since about 3pm yesterday and its making me wonder of its the start.
Just wondering, is anyone consultant led?
I had a consultant appt at the beginning of my pregnancy and then a telephone appt about 2 weeks ago ( with a different consultant, who only spoke to me about my low iron levels) but i dont have another appt scheduled, is that normal? I thought i would see them before baby arrives.
Hope everyone is feeling ok today. X

Morning ladies!
Sorry to hear some of you have had a challenging week.
I’m also sorry I disappeared for a bit, but it’s been hectic, and baby girl is finally here! 🎉
Started last Tuesday after my sweep, ended up in the delivery suite getting ready for an early epidural due to my heart condition, then the contractions stopped, so home we came. Nothing much happened on the Wednesday. Thursday morning I was worried about movements, so went in for monitoring. They did another sweep, was getting three contractions in ten minutes within the hour! Unfortunately that only got me from 2cm to 3cm after about 6 hours, although cervix was ‘very stretchy’. Waters went at 10.30pm and was sent home at 11.30pm at 3cm dilated. About ten minutes after leaving the hospital the contractions became intense! Went home, OH called the hospital back as I couldn’t talk through contractions by 12.30am. They asked us to wait an hour as they were struggling for beds. Another 20 minutes and I said, no, we have to go! We got to the hospital at 1.20am and I was 7cm. They took me to the delivery suite, and I pretty much began pushing involuntarily as soon as I got off the wheelchair. My records say I was pushing for just 9 minutes! The poor midwife hadn’t even managed to set everything up in the room!
So, no epidural as planned, but it was amazing. So different to my son’s birth, and I’m in awe of what my body did.
Baby girl is doing really well, we are on day 6 now, she has a little jaundice but is feeding well so hopefully it’ll clear quickly enough.

Hi @Scoaf I'm consultant led - I've had telephone appointments every 4 weeks I think, about the same interval as my scans. They must have been booked as a block because I remember I had lots of letters with all the appointments arrived all at once.

Congratulations on your baby girl ❤️ @BostonFern - sounds like she almost got a homebirth!!

Hi everyone,

Thankyou for your lovely replies. I'm 34 weeks today.

I did go to the midwife app and was told the pain is not normal at all. I was sent to the hospital. I have spd which is common but very severe. They've said I'm unlucky and may need to have the baby at 37 weeks because it's only going to get worse. They were talking about wheelchairs and crutches.
They said no chance of going back to work now too as I've just got to try to be kept comfortable as I can.
I was monitored generally and then discovered I was having small contractions too, couldn't really feel them though too much but they are now worried I'm going into labour. So I'm being kept in here incase labour is starting already and also to try and help me with the pain.
So All in all a strange last 24 hours!

Ok Ladies im freaking out.
Just had a growth scan, im 36+3 and baby has had a growth spurt and is now measuring at 95th centile. Ive got to have a fasting blood test on sunday to rule out Gestational Diabetes, another growth scan in 2 weeks and a consultant appt to review what to do next.
Im so worried the baby is going to be huge and they will induce me 😢

40 weeks and been having bh for months but really uncomfortable and sometimes painful last 2 weeks! Genuinely thought baby might be early but nope !!

Prob be here in 10 days like my last 2 😂🙈

@BostonFern Congratulations! The first baby is here! I was wondering if we were going to get any February babies in the end. Sounds like labour was quite the adventure. Glad everything went well and you and baby are doing ok. Hopefully the jaundice goes away soon.

@Caass45 Sorry! 😅 I didn't mean to concern you. It's a funny story, as I wasn't even the one using the TENS machine. Long story short, make sure it's turned off before you take the pads off. Also, those pads are very sticky!

@Scoaf Thank you. ❤️ Sorry you've had a worrying scan. Hopefully it's because they've literally caught baby at the end of a growth spurt, or the scan is slightly off. Hopefully your diabetes test will come back negative, and your next scan reveals a not quite so large baby. If it helps, I'm quite sure it's no longer recommended to induce if the baby is just large for dates. I also hope this helps, but a veteran of one induction my experience is they're honestly not so bad. It sucks to have to give up the idea of having a spontaneous birth, and having more monitoring and medical input than you might have wanted, but there's still lots of things you can have and do while being induced.

@Lovebug06 Oh no! Sorry you're in hospital, but good that they're taking, and managing, your pain so seriously. Are you signed off now, and will start your maternity leave at 36 weeks?

@Nettletea0 Hoping baby won't keep you waiting quite so long as their siblings did!

Blood test tomorrow. Got everything crossed. Labetalol seems to be keeping blood pressure under control, but it's still trying to rise. You can see exactly when I take the drugs on my chart.

@Scoaf hopefully you don't have GD! I think growth scans can be really inaccurate so try not to worry too much about it. And you can always refuse an induction if it's not what you want.

Sounds rough @Lovebug06 are they giving you steroids to help baby's lungs in case it does turn into early labour?

Try not to worry at @Scoaf I went through similar with being diagnosed with GD later in pregnancy and managed to keep it controlled with diet alone, didn't need medication and avoided induction by going into natural labour at 39+6.
My advice would be to start learning about the GD diet over the next few days just in case as there's a lot to learn (the GD UK Facebook group is really helpful), and also to try and walk/do housework/keep active somehow for 20 mins immediately after each meal. This helps prevent your blood sugar spiking and can help avoid baby growing excessively.

@Dyra im hoping the scan was slightly off, the sonographer did say baby had a very full bladder do im hoping that has affected the measurements 🤞 she did also say measurements are harder to get the further along you are. I was hoping for a water birth but not sure if that will be possible now.
Fingers crossed everything is ok with your bloods tomorrow 🤞
@easybreezy586 thankyou.. ive got fingers crossed. I was shocked as i dont have any otehr symptoms of GD.
The irony of it all is that i was referred for growth scans as im at a high risk of low birth rate babies and now they are looking big 🙈

@SouthwestSis
Thats very reassuring to hear. Thankyou. Did you have any symptoms of GD or was it just a larger baby?

No no symptoms, just had sugar in my routine urine dipstick test with the midwife later in my pregnancy.
If you do have GD you will need monitoring on in labour buy some hospitals have wireless monitoring so a water birth is not impossible even if you do have GD!

@Scoaf Induction wise, rule of thumb (in my trust) is that so long as you don't need the drip, you can still use the pool. Hopefully it'll be the same for your trust.

Thanks @MiracleBaby2022 and @Dyra

@Scoaf 🤞 for your results. I had a similar concern when pregnant with my son, test came back negative and he wasn’t even a ‘big’ baby when born. He was also an induction and it was a really positive birth experience for me. I hope that offers some reassurance.

@Dyra really hope your bloods come back ok too.

@SouthwestSis.
All my samples have been ok. Just increased measurements. So fingers crossed. Thankyou.

Thanks @Dyra thats good to know. Hope everything goes well for you tomorrow.

@BostonFern Thankyou that is reassuring. The sonographer fid struggle to get the measurements so im hoping they are a bit off. 🙈

@BostonFern. Congratulations. So pleased that you and baby are doing well!

I had a scan today to check the position of baby as she has been breech the majority of the time. Fully expected to discuss ecv/section but little miss has turned all on her own!

However, I was still referred to the consultant as one of the measurements they take from the umbilical cord was on the high side? I was told that this could indicate that the placenta wasn’t functioning properly. However, he said that due to all other factors looking good (fetal movement, growth and fluid around baby) that he wasn’t too concern but booked a scan for next week just to be sure. If measurement still high then it’s likely that I’ll be induced…not really what I expected from today as I’m really not that keen given some of the stories I’ve heard about induction from friends/colleagues 😬!

@dyra that's the plan but I'm still here so don't have a note yet. Or my maternity pay will start this early which I really don't want yet!
@southwestsis no they said once your 34 weeks they don't give any Injections or try to stop anything. I came in at 33+6 so just before.
Baby has still stayed put. The contractions in my womb keep stopping and starting. Hoping to go home but also dreading the next few weeks of pain. They basically want to help me a bit then get me home but have said it'll just be this way now which is why they may get baby out at 37 weeks (unless come before that)

Congratulations @BostonFern!

My c-section is booked for 22nd. I went to the booking appointment yesterday where I was yet again confronted with another doctor who knew nothing about my previous births and didn't even bothered to read my notes..I was lectured again that section is a major op and that there is a lot of risks with it where vaginal birth is practically risk free in comparison and walk in a park. When I tried to explain what happened last time she just ignored me, picked the phone up and booked the section..and wrote in my notes 'maternal request'.
I ready do hope she just had a bad day and she is not like this every day

@Lovebug06 They can't make you start maternity leave (unless you have the baby ofc!) until after 36 weeks, no matter how long before you're off for. Try phoning your GP? I'm sure they can liaise with your obstetric team and get your sick note sorted without needing to see you. Hope you're doing ok in hospital. Having an irritable uterus (I'm assuming is the cause of the contractions) plus bad SPD must be so hard.

@onedream Glad you've gotten your date for your caesarean. Utter rubbish that the doctor was so unpleasant about it.

@bubblybrit FX your scan shows your umbilical artery PI lowers at your scan.

Not had the best morning. Turns out pre-eclampsia is a contra-indication for ECV. The complete opposite of what I've been told/led to believe for the past few days. Got a chat with the senior consultant in charge of ECVs tomorrow, and we're going to make a decision as to what's going to happen next week. There's a chance he'll still say yes to ECV (but almost certainly with a ton of caveats), but it's looking ever less likely. Quite upset about it all.

@dyra I’m so sorry to hear you might not be able to have baby turned. I hope you’re ok. It’s horrible when plans change this late on. I hope they can do it. Xx

@onedream I am absolutely shocked by your consultant. There is research to suggest there is not much difference in risk factors between a c section and V birth. I don’t know how she can say it’s practically risk free to deliver naturally. Also awful she didn’t read your notes or listen. I hope you never have to speak to her again. Xx

@Lovebug06 I’m so sorry you’re in so much pain. I hope they can stabilise and get you home. Hopefully baby can come early. Xx

@bubblybrit great news on baby turning. Sorry to hear they are looking at the cord and placenta again. Hopefully all is well at the scan. Xx

@Scoaf I completely sympathise. My baby is 99.8 centile. She was estimated 8lbs 4 at 35 weeks.

Was it a one off scan or are you having growth scans? What birth weight are they estimating? Hopefully it’s inaccurate. Maybe you’ll go into labour naturally. I’ve had to have a repeat GD test too but I think it’s negative as I’ve not had a call. I just seem to have large babies. Hopefully yours will be too. Xx

@Dyra I can't see why you wouldn't be offered an ECV unless there were concerns about your placental function, baby's growth or low fluid? www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/gtg20b/ have a read if this guideline & see if there's anything in there about preeclampsia.

I had two ECVs, both of which failed 😞 my last one was yesterday and I'm 37+5. I have tried acupuncture, moxibustion, all the spinning babies techniques since 34 weeks. It's so stuck! Anyway, I'm still hoping that baby will turn on its own, 3 more weeks to go!

@Dyra good luck tomorrow fingers crossed for you, hopefully they will give it a go next week

@Catconfusion I'm glad I have got the date secured that's all what matters to me, but I do hope she doesn't speak like this to others and it was just bad day..childbirth is already stressful and hard as it is regardless of how the baby is born..