Due February 2025 - Thread 3

[UrbanSquirrel]

Following on from the two existing threads, welcoming all the intrepid ladies due in February, for further excellent support 🤗

Hi all. First time posting. I’m based in France but from Greece found your group and thought to join as I need someone to moan to that is not my husband. 😅 I’m more comfortable with English and I can sympathise with what everyone is going through even if the health system is different here (still trying to figure things out). It’s so nice to see so many strangers being so supportive and compassionate with each other. And it’s been a delight seeing all your scan pictures and gender identifications.

I’m 34 and due Feb 20. First pregnancy that has gone this far. I’m finally starting to feel a bit better in terms of nausea but now I have other things worrying me.

I’ve been leaking some watery stuff which I kind of thought it was pee before but now the smell is more sweet so I’m terrified it’s amniotic fluid or something. Today I’ve spent all the morning trying to get some help but I annoyed my gynaecologist’s secretary by calling two times trying to get the doctor on the phone and she eventually told me to call back at 17:40 to get rid of me I think (they are supposed to be closing at 17h). I have my appointment on Friday but I don’t know how urgent it might or might not be. I also tried to call maternity of the hospital but they told me to call my gynaecologist before they even hear the problem. Feeling so alone.

@Kumquat89 I’m so sorry you’re feeling unheard and unsupported, it’s a different system than here so I’m probably little help as here we would be seen at the hospital. Is your appointment with the gynaecologist today? Do they understand the urgency, that you’re worried your waters have gone at 15(ish) weeks of pregnancy? I think annoying the secretary or whoever it was is a small price to pay for some reassurance! I’m so sorry you’re going through this xx

@Kumquat89 I think I'd try calling the hospital again. Unless most of your care is via the gynaecologist? Sorry, no idea how it works in France. Don't be afraid of making a fuss/saying that you think it might be an emergency!

Hopefully it's nothing or something minor (yeast infections can cause very watery discharge), but obviously better to get it checked asap.

Thanks for replying @OrangeSlices998 and @QuantumPanic . I think what I’ll do is have my husband drive me to the hospital tonight because my appointment is only on Friday. They have a maternity emergencies ward. Slightly embarrassed it might be just discharge or pee or whatever but at the same time I’m really hoping it’s that and that baby is doing well in there.
Pregnancy really feels like a leap of faith most of the time so far for me. My belly is like a black box… or Schrödinger’s box. Utterly mysterious. Wish I owned an ultrasound machine and some expertise to check everything is ok every evening.

@Kumquat89 Don't be embarrassed - I think driving down is sensible. I would do exactly the same.

Schrödinger's cat is exactly the way I think about it! The state of the baby is nebulous at the moment - only during each scan do you know that it's ok. Hopefully that will change as we start to feel movement!

Good luck for today. I really hope everything is ok. 💜

I started feeling movement a couple of days ago - very weird (like rolling) and exciting. I think this will be a big baby, they are dating ahead of when I think they should and already have a bump!

What does your movement feel like?

@Kumquat89 hope you’re doing okay lovely! Try not to panic but definitely get yourself seen as soon as possible. When my waters broke with my daughter, I remember it smelling like semen, awful as that sounds! I mentioned it to the midwife and she said that that’s the most accurate example of the smell but nobody ever wants to say it! Hopefully just watery discharge and nothing to worry about, but sending love!

@JellyTots2021 rolling definitely sounds like baby! I found the first ones felt similar to your eye twitching, but then it quickly turned into definite “there’s a person moving around inside of me” haha!

@Kumquat89 you know your body best so if it seems like there's a possibility that somethings not right, I'd push to get checked out. Apparently an increase in watery discharge is totally normal so hopefully that's all it is!

Thank you so so much I really needed to hear this! I've been researching it a lot and I've spoken to people I know who've given birth there and raved about it versus others I know who had mixed experiences in hospitals which is my real anxiety. You're absolutely right, it's my oldest friend who I know is being really protective and coming from a place of love but I think I only really want advice from my medical team or someone who has been pregnancy or given birth in recent years.

Just seconding this, good luck for this evening @Kumquat89 and it absolutely sounds like you're doing the right thing to get checked out for your peace of mind

@MinionMumto3nearly4 i don't feel happy with mine either but think is just temporal. Sooner or later is going to be back!

@Kumquat89 i'm originally from Spain and there, as far as I know, everything goes through the gynecologist so it's similar to France in this respect. I recently had an amniocentesis and the leak of waters is a real possibility and to be honest no one explains exactly what you should expect. I ended up 2 days in triage because I thought I was leaking (like and old pipe, hahaha) and the doctor there (two times the same one) wasn't the friendliest and understanding doctor ever. She was quite pissed when she saw me the second time. She was rude, kind of "telling me off" for being there and she end up making me feel so bad that I ended up crying (i'm 38 and she made feel as I was a naughty shitty girl of 10) she didn't said "sorry for have been talking to you so rough and harsh" while you are thinking that maybe your baby is dying after having that procedure and suddenly you had a very liquid big discharge out of the blue. I have to say I had very lovely, kind and understanding midwives, nurses and sonographers. But always there's some turd between the flowers. :)

So, completely understand that feeling of being treat as you were wasting their time. Better doing this and find out you didn't do enough to save the life of your little one.

@Piluka "always there's some turd between the flowers" - what a brilliant phrase! I'll have to remember that one.

Thanks for the support everyone. Baby looked fine, normal heartbeat and moving the hands around the face. The girl that saw me said she could see fluid around the baby and didn’t detect any coming out when she swabbed. Such a relief. 😊

I think here they don’t check for infections unless you are itchy or have a burning sensation because she didn’t take any samples for that. She said it’s probably normal discharge 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Piluka you made me laugh with the old leaky pipe metaphor 😅 I feel a bit like that at the moment. Im sorry you had to face judgement for getting things checked after your amnio. It’s frustrating to find ppl like that in front of you at moments of weakness. I know that if we came across someone like that in a different context we’d probably be much more confident and speak up and make them feel embarrassed instead. But because we are vulnerable and worried it seems so difficult. It’s almost as if this kind of people see it and take advantage of the opportunity to push you.

@Kumquat89 100% agree with you. I'd normally said something about that, but as you said, you feel vulnerable and wet (as the old pipe 😉😂) and you don't know what to do and if what you are experiencing is right or not (as you've never been there before).

@QuantumPanic Hahahahaha I hope you remember it and brings a smile to your face ❤️. I should have to get that sentence printed with a nice font and get it frame. Hahaha

Had a cervical length scan yesterday not sure if anyone else on the group needs to have one, I had no idea what to expect but it was all ok got to see baby too as they do abdominal scan before the vaginal one and she confirmed it was a girl (always like to double check)

So if anyone else has one booked it's pretty straightforward!

Anyone else first time mums? First time mum, 17+3 today and still felt no movement, hearing a lot of people feeling flutters now, hope it's my turn soon

Basically a first time mum here as my youngest is 11 😆
Nothing for me yet, but I'm only 15 +4

Me! I’m 18 weeks tomorrow but at my gender scan on Saturday I found out I have an anterior placenta so won’t feel movement until later on.

Just as some reassurance I previously had an anterior placenta with DS1 and I didn't feel anything until well over 20 weeks.

This time I have a posterior placenta and am feeling some movement but nothing major just little bit and I'm 19 weeks.

I'm a FTM. I'm 16 W 5D, I had some weird sensations the past couple of nights, but I am 90% certain it was gas as I over ate, and have been gassy in general lately😅Really can't wait to feel something definite, then I'll feel more at ease

18 +3 today and can't definitively say I've felt baby moving. Sometimes I think I do, but it could easily be gas/digestion/me paying abnormal amounts of attention to previously ignored normal organ sensations.

I have a posterior placenta so baby is at front (17+3) and feel like I can feel baby when I press on my stomach! Can anybody else? It's a bit sore wherever baby seems to be and I feel like I can feel part of baby as it's firmer in one area at a time!

Yeah same here, 17 weeks first timer and not much really. My intestines are very lively on normal days so can’t really tell amongst all this noise 😅

How is everyone getting on? I’m 16 weeks tomorrow. Still on antiemetics which is keeping the vomiting at bay but nausea still there daily. I have very slightly more energy in the day time but needing way more sleep than pre-pregnant me at night! We aren’t planning on having additional scans so it feels like a veeeery long wait between the first and second NHS scans!

Got up for a middle of the night wee and my dog jumped straight in my pregnancy pillow 😂