Due January - Part 9!

[PartRadish]

Couldn't see another and the old one is full. Will copy the list from the last one, the tags are really temperamental though and it definitely has quite a few people missing sorry 🙈

@Kalodin
@buckingmad
@FirstT1meMum
@Vikki7
@sashastuck
@xLJ1990x
@suz2285
@TunnocksTCake
@Mummyme87
@Redpanda21
@Luhou
@RootsHere
@Matildahoney
@flowerpot258
@Ttcdcno1
@Onedayatatime24
@PartRadish
@youaremysunshine03
@Dannic2018

Day care clinic got back to us today and would like to keep my Friday appointment (this was also my preference)as my blood results still seem 'erratic'. They said it wasn't anything to worry about and I'm sure if it was they would have me in before Friday right?

I've managed to see some of my blood results but don't actually know what they mean!! Wondering if anyone could shed some light to stop me spiralling through the week? I'm not even really sure what each one tested for 🤷‍♀️ It's throwing me how many say normal but repeat required!

@suz2285 today the last reading of the 4 they took was 120/89 but when I’ve been doing it at home the top number is usually 105-115 and bottom number between 70-80. I have noticed I’ve had a couple of higher readings in the last week or so though so I wonder if it is going up slightly as I get further towards due date.

It’s been all over the place at the hospital though - some of the top number readings have been high on other occasions and a couple of times it’s just been borderline. I’ve been on 2x 100mg labetalol a day for about a month but they want me to take a third tablet now. Hopefully that’ll keep in low enough that the readings at the hospital aren’t high next time.

I just feel like it’s impossible not to get worked up about it once you get it into your head that there’s a problem. I do all the breathing exercises but I can feel my heart rate going up every time the cuff tightens. I’m sure it’d be fine if I didn’t know it was being measured!

The midwife rang through to a doctor while I was there today and it was them that prescribed the extra labetalol and asked her to book me in for induction on my due date. I really don’t like the idea of induction as I imagine the anxiety of being stuck in hospital for the entire labour and potentially stuck in bed will be an issue for me. I was hoping to stay fairly active and do as much as I could to relax so that labour doesn’t slow down.

@FirstT1meMum your Bloods are all normal except ALT which is 291, normal is up to 40. Have you had bloods before? Everywhere works differently but would have thought they may want to repeat them earlier than Friday. Important ones for them to look at is HB, platelets, clotting, ALT, creatinine, albumin in the context of PET

@Mummyme87 I only had them on Thursday at my growth scan due to a high blood pressure reading then these were repeated on Friday. Any other bloods were routine pregnancy ones at booking and 28 weeks. I did read normal was 40 so kind of freaked a bit! I have been on labetalol since Friday so not sure if they want to give my body time to adjust or what.

Sorry to be a pain, what is ALT? And PET? Sorry!

@Lightningrain what was it when they put you on the labetalol? I'm not on anything yet but my readings have been 127/84 ish but getting the odd reading where the top number is over 140 and that's why I was in triage, but I dunno at what point they want to prescribe/talk about issues!

@FirstT1meMum ALT is liver enzymes and PET is pre eclampsia. The labetalol won’t affect your bloods just your blood pressure. They’re keeping an eye and that’s good. You might find ALT comes down as it can be a bit erratic

@Mummyme87 thank you.

Would you be concerned of pre eclampsia then at this point? I'm so worked up about it and just not sure what I can do! The labetalol is controlling my blood pressure well and I gave zero other symptoms.

Feeling so deflated as it's been such a lovely pregnancy until now!

Colostrum update: left my boobs under the warm shower and massaged for a bit and I actually got some out!! The tiniest bit but it's a start! Only from one side so far but going to keep trying and hopefully collect some properly tomorrow ☺️ keep going ladies you will get there! 😄

@FirstT1meMum i know it’s worrying for you, but nothing you can do. Raised BP and abnormal liver function can point to Pre eclampsia, but without protein in your urine it’s not convincing. Be interesting to see what your ALT was on the Thursday bloods.

Is it this normal for the baby to tap dance on your bladder? I feel like I'm suddenly incontinent.

For those struggling with colostrum my advice is jst keep going!

First attempt took over an hour to get 0.1ml.

About a week later I did 3ml tonight pretty quickly! I was so proud! Keep at it

@Mummyme87 thank you again. Just had a really good cry on DH as I just feel so lost and am worried that Friday is just too far away and something will go wrong. He's told me that it's normal to feel this way and that if they were really worried they would have had me back in. Just wish I had an answer.
Yeah I also would love to see my Thursday results but they aren't available for some reason

@suz2285 I’m not sure to be honest as they had the machine pointed away so I couldn’t see it for a lot of my readings. I know I’ve had a couple where the top number has been into the 150s. She said today they like the bottom number to be closer to 85 than 90 which is why I had my dose upped as it was 89 twice. The doctor said they are erring on the side of caution with it at my last appointment so didn’t seem overly concerned.

I tried again to get some colostrum tonight after a shower and got the tiniest drop (not enough to get into a syringe). It’s good to know that others have had the same experience and managed to get a decent amount though so I’ll keep trying.

We are on the end stretch now and I’m sorry for everyone who is struggling
not the best time to be heavily pregnant is it. We’ve got bugs in the house, my toddler had an ear infection and conjunctivitis but luckily is getting better. Hubby has the lurgy and hot and cold and aching etc, just praying I don’t catch anything.

Ive made the decision to have a c section for definite. Going to see a consultant, albeit not mine as he’s away till next week but going Thursday morning so hopefully they agree, can’t see why they could after 2 previous horrible births but I hopefully will have a date for week after or I may have her New Year’s Day as I’m 39 weeks on the 29th and midwife said they usually do at 39 weeks! God it’s scary but it’ll take a lot of anxiety away from me.

I haven’t tried to colostrum harvest in this pregnancy but do you think I should if I have a section. I have fed all 3 of my children and still dry nursing my 3 year old (my poor boobs) so not had any issues with feeding, I have noticed dry bits on my nipples wonder if they are leaking a little 🤷‍♀️

Thank you for the well wishes on the tribunal. They gave nothing away really so I have absolutely no idea how it went, but I am glad it's over either way. Upto 10 working days for the Judge to submit a decision now. Great timing when there are less working days coming up than any other time of the year 😂

Sorry so many are struggling. Completely agree that the time of year really doesn't help. Hopefully not much longer now!

Just incase anyone is worrying, just want to offer a bit of reassurance on the colostrum front. I've never harvested colostrum and never really leaked during pregnancy either. I've fed three babies to 12 month+, 2 years and nearly 4 years though. Please don't worry if you're not getting much/any, it really isn't an indication of how feeding will go afterwards.

I’ve never leaked colostrum in pregnancy either, I can express it but doesn’t come out on its own. I am an advocate for harvesting if you can though. My eldest was so poorly in NNU and luckily I had 100ml ebm in the freezer for him. But certainly don’t stress over it, didn’t use any for my second born. I’ll do some for this one but not too much, mainly can’t be arsed.

@Dannic2018 having a CS won’t affect whether you should or shouldn’t express. It doesn’t start labour, would be great if it did!!

@Hummusanddipdip i feel for you with the garage conversion. Im hoping our ceiling will be finished in next 2 days so i could clean and then next year back to renovations.
@Bims2019 thank you. Have seen him only twice for 15 days together since april so definitely Friday can't come fast enough
@tinyracoon n not yet, well i want to but i know i have to wait for few days before i can start and it's hard
@MrsJ6921 all the best
@PartRadish good luck, hopefully you will win

First busy day over and im wrecked. Got blurry /fuzzy vision and headaches again today. Little man is kicking really hard and a lot today, walking was a real struggle. My back was in bits and the pain between my legs didn't help either.

Currently lying in bed upset because I'm exhausted but can't sleep because hip and back pain, crazy acid reflux (feel I will throw up if I lay down fully). Also pressure on pelvis ,bladder and shortness of breath/stuffy sinuses and he likes to have a dance party every now and again!

I am 37+3 and don't know how I could potentially be like this another 4 weeks or so if he's late. Struggling so much, I know I sound dramatic but I never thought it be this difficult just being heavily pregnant never mind the labour part. 😟 Just wish I could fast forward a few weeks when I'm snuggling him to sleep 😅

@EL27 I haven't dared go to bed yet as I'm afraid to lie down! Last night I had the most terrible heartburn/acid reflux with pains on top of bump and under ribs as well as upper back. It was so horrendous, I thought it might be heart related. Nothing I did relieved it and it only eased off in the early morning hours.

If anyone has any tips on acid/heartburn - I'm listening!

Had my growth scan at 38w and baby's growth accelerated from 23rd percentile to 59th and is now estimated to be weighing more than the birth weight of both my kids born at 39+6 and 41w!

I've harvested colostrum as well this evening and was thrilled to get 0.7ml rather than my normal 0.4! I know it's not much but I've had terrible trouble trying and failing to feed my 2 other children so this is a huge win for me!

How is everyone else doing having older children at home for the Christmas holidays? Im finding it quite challenging especially with not being as mobile and chasing my 4y/o around and to a lesser extent, my 6y/o. 😵‍💫

Currently laying in bed and feel you guys with the acid reflux/ heartburn 🤢 I have a big glass of milk each night and helps for a bit and then it comes back...

Not long left now and we will be snuggling our babies thats whats getting me through 🥰

I see it's not just me in the wide awake club!! Thankfully I don't have acid reflux or anything I just seem to have insomnia or baby is kicking like crazy

For some reason I have no trouble napping during the day. Weird.

2.30 had become my waking hour, I'll be here until half 5, start to drop off and then the alarm goes off at 6 😭

I don't get any colostrum unless I try to get it out, it is taking me approx half hour/45 min to get 4ml out each time (I'm rewatching nailed it on netflix to distract me while I'm at it) I'm only persisting because of how hard I found breast feeding with ds and hoping it'll make things easier this time round. I do have a pump, bottles and a steriliser ready in case I just can't again. I refuse to put the same level of pressure on myself this time round, especially with all the bad things that have happened since mid October.

I'm booked in to speak to the macmillan nurse mid January because my mental health took a massive dive about 2 weeks after giving birth to ds, so dad has arranged that in anticipation of a repeat for me because I haven't exactly coped with the amount of rubbish that happened in such a short space of time. Work have also signposted me to the free therapy/councillor service we get through perkbox, so that is useful to know.

Thank you@LittleAlien24 they said they'll be done by Thursday, the boiler is being replaced today, I'm hoping Friday can be a put everything back where it belongs day, I hate the mess. Hope their plan actually comes through and the ceiling is done for you! Not long now, I hope he's home for a good stretch??? Sorry I can't remember if you've said yet.

On the acid reflux and aches, gaviscon doesn't help anymore (I now have a glass of milk next to me), I'm semi sat up in bed, but that adds to the hip ache 😅 can't win!!! The shoulder, knee and back ache is still here, but the majority of the joint aches seem to be lifting at last.

My ribs have been completely discovered, I got kicked so hard Sunday I saw stars!!! And the downwards pressure!!! I had to stop walking yesterday because I felt like everything was going to drop out 🫣 I was only going to the office from the classroom...

Last day today, then I'm done until the middle of July... I'm worried 6 and a half/7 months isn't going to be long enough, then remind myself I have 1 day in then it's the summer holidays and I'm still technically off until September 🤷‍♀️ I think it's because I was off for 18 months with ds (returned to work for 2 weeks and then covid hit and I was furloughed from mid-March to new year) that won't ever happen again!

Hopefully you hear something in the not too distant future @PartRadish I hope they find in your favour.

Thank you @LittleAlien24 and @Hummusanddipdip 🤞

Another member of the wide awake club. Weirdly no acid reflux since I woke up but I did have a huge swig (from the bottle 🙈) of Gaviscon right before I went to sleep. If normal Gaviscon isn't cutting it anymore try the Gaviscon Advance, I had to give up on the normal one weeks ago.

We're ditching the stitch today 😬 I'm so nervous, but at the moment I'm mostly anxious about leaving 7 year old (who has SEND) for the day, or potentially longer depending on how it goes. My Mum is coming to look after him and she knows him well etc but he needs a fairly substantial level of care and we're obviously used to it but it's a lot to put in the hands of someone else, even though I know Mum is more than capable! Plus his brothers will be home at 3:30 and they're both a brilliant help too. He's been my little side kick for so long though, I think the real driver making me anxious about him is that I've suddenly got the guilts about potentially turning his little world upside down 😭

The Consultant midwife (who I've been seeing for previous birth trauma) rang me last night to say she's shuffled stuff around to finish her clinic at 11 so she can come up to labour ward and take over my care for the duration of the stitch removal. Which I thought was really lovely of her.

Hopefully will be quick and straightforward and I'll be home again by this afternoon. If nothing else, at least I'll get a go on the gas and air, that's always fun 😆

Good luck @PartRadish for getting that stitch out!

@Vikki7 my two are still at school, finish Thursday lunch time. Glad they are in still, got too much on. But my eldest (9) is a PITA, he just goes out of his way to be so difficult

Scan and consultant appt today

Good luck @PartRadish how exciting! Xx