Due October 2025 - thread 2✨✨

[emmatcc1]

We finally filled up the 1st one🎉
Can’t believe we’re already half way, feels like just yesterday those two pink lines showed up.

@CustardCream31 oh lovely don't feel guilty about induction, some times the body needs help, I know a woman that had two inductions at 40+14 as she didn't go into labour on her own and another woman that has had 4 inductions.

I do get it though. I have a thing about putting my needs above my children. My mum always puts her needs above mine and I've always wanted to avoid that. I kinda found that the induction being for me not him a bit difficult especially as I was also unable to look after my daughter at the same time.

Definitely try the colostrum harvesting as long as your team have said it's ok. It's one of the few things that does have evidence that it induces labour and it's generally not advised before term for this reason. I started it with my daughter the after before my waters broke!

I'm bipolar and been on meds for a long time. I had to drop back to one medication to conceive and been under the perinatal team since pregnancy, they try not to have me on antidepressants if I don't need them as they can cause me to switch to from depression to mania. I have a 50 % chance of severe depression and/or psychosis post pregnancy so we are really trying to avoid that, I had both last time. I'm just not very good at accepting help professional or otherwise. I've asked my parents to look after my daughter after school twice a week covering the two evenings she has clubs and my partners going to work from home two days a week instead of one. It's just mornings to handle. I've promised my partner I'll try to get some more sleep after I've done the school run and not try to do anything other than go to and from school!

Hi all quick update from me

congratulations @JMassey !! Gorgeous baby :)

my little girl was born yesterday afternoon, 5lb 3oz. They finally took me to delivery early yesterday morning as my pre eclampsia had deteriorated significantly overnight on Monday. Quite scary tbh,

they broke my waters and put me on the drip. I hyperstimulated and body took over so they stopped the drip. I’d asked for an epidural at 5cm. As the anaesthetist was putting it in I had an urge to push. Within 5 minutes baby was out! So never felt the effects of the epidural. Labour lasted 4 hours from the drip but much shorter established labour.

unfortunately things haven’t gone so well. Baby was bringing up blood and bright green bile. They have transferred her to another hospital for tests as specialist unit there, but because of my blood pressure they couldnt transfer me with her. I’m very annoyed as I asked multiple times for bp monitoring last night and they said I didn’t need it. The dr confirmed today the only delay in transferring me is due to not having been monitored.

baby is out of the surgical unit now and it looks to be infection related rather than a defective bowel so they’ll keep her on SCBU for a couple of days whilst we establish feeding and she has antibiotics and light therapy for her jaundice. Quite how we establish feeding is beyond me when we’re in different hospitals…

im also currently an hour and 15 minutes late taking my medication- still waiting for it. How will they ever control my blood pressure if they can’t keep on top of the meds?! Going to request to take it myself from now on as I no longer trust them to do it properly.

so I’m separated from baby who is in a hospital across the city, unable to feed her, unable to be transferred.

I’m expressing colostrum, and putting in the fridge, but the ante natal unit have already lost two syringes and merged another two into an unsuitable container so it defrosted too quickly.

sorry to put a downer on things but please ladies you need to advocate for yourselves- I really wish I had as then I wouldn’t be in this mess!

@Band3benefits I’m sat reading your update in shock - I’m so sorry you’ve had such a rough time of it and you’re continuing to. It sounds horrendous. Please do not blame yourself and think it’s your fault for not advocating for yourself harder. You and your body did everything you could to get your baby here safely and I’m so relieved she is here and doing ok and getting the care she needs even though you’re separated right now. You need to remember that you’re not a medical professional and you were trusting the midwife’s and docs to do right by you whilst you focused on growing your baby and taking care of yourself whilst dealing with quite a serious health complication. I can’t believe given how unmanageable your BP has been over the last 2 weeks they didn’t think you needed constant monitoring! I can’t believe they waited 3 days to actually push ahead with your induction when the baby was clearly in distress and waited until your condition had deteriorated before getting labour going. Pre-eclampsia is no joke and you should have been treated as a priority. And I can’t believe that even now, with the anxiety of being separated from your baby that they’re continuing to be late with medications that are required to keep you healthy and get you two back together, and losing colostrum which is is so important to help your daughter with her infection. I hope there is someone you can speak to about the deterioration in your care over the last few days and get a debrief about why they made the decisions they have. It’s not on you! Rest up and hope you and your daughter can be reunited soon and home safely.xxx

That's awful @Band3benefits
You shouldn't have to stand up for yourself to this level but unfortunately you do.
I had the following conversation with the drs at ward round when I was in hospital
Me: when do I start on the blood thinners?
Registrar: you had them yesterday
Me: no I didn't
Consultant: why would you need blood thinners?
Me: because Dr X said so
Registrar: she has raised ddimers
Consultant: oh
Me: my sister had a heart attack at 40 and my mum had a post partum stroke
Consultant: oh yes you need to be on blood thinners.
Registrar: you had them yesterday
Me: no I didn't
Registrar: what meds did you have yesterday?
Me: only my mood stabiliser and udca that I have from home
Registrar: are you sure?
Midwife: her notes say she didn't have it she was asleep when they did the meds round last night
Registrar: we will start you on them now, (at midwife) can you give her the heparin injection when we have finished here.

I hope you get to be reunited with your baby soon. I'd set reminders half an hour before you are due and pester the hell out of them every time. I was grateful I could take my regular meds when I needed without having to ask

Thanks all for your messages of support- I think you’re right in that I need to debrief with someone about what has happened as it’s really not been a good experience. However… A slightly cheerier update, we are home!!

they transferred me at midnight after I’d posted the above message, sent a midwife with me in an uber. I sat with many most of the night and tried some feeds.

she was then discharged from NICu and we spent a couple of days on the normal (brutal) post natal ward, in the hospital I didn’t give birth in, which felt a tad strange!

had staff members who had seen me at the other hospital earlier in the week very confused to see me having moved. When I explained what had happened and how I was transferred with the baby they were all really shocked that had happened.

going to soak up my baby bubble after 12 nights in hospital. Suddenly my 4 year old feels so big!!

wishing all of you the best with the end stages of your pregnancies with these gorgeous October babies 💙🩷

and to those of you with BP issues, mines now climbing town which gives me hope for a lot of people in the same situation.

you’ve got this mamas!!

Morning ladies!!

First things first - she’s here!! After a speedy VBAC induction at 36+4. Waters were broken at 4pm, and she was here by 1am. 6lbs. Feel very happy and it still feels surreal! She has jaundice and due to her being technically late prem, we are being kept in until her bilirubin blood levels calm down. Just want to be home with her though.

@Superscientist how are you doing now with how you’re feeling? Well done for setting up that support with your parents, sounds like that will definitely take some pressure off you to breathe.
and that’s worrying about the convo had in hospital.

@Band3benefits congratulations on your little girl arriving! But wow what a stressful time for you…… how awful to be apart from baby in those early days. How are you both doing now you’re home?? Great news you’re in your safe space now and can settle with her.

@Band3benefits I'm glad you are home now. Do ask fro a debrief. How are you getting on?

I'm considering applying for copy of my admission notes so I can get some of details I was too unwell to process and to see what the mental health stuff they were worrying about.

@CustardCream31 that's a speedy induction and 6 lbs is a good weight for 36 weeks! How long before you can get home? It's funny the difference a few days make. There is only 4 days difference in gestation with my son and every professional has reminded me it is term even if only by 36h! He was super sleepy until he reached his due date and really scrawny. We have been able to move him to size 1 nappies in the last few days we had had to go down size 0 as he had a tiny waist and spindly legs.

I've survived my first week of parenting on my own. Having help 4 of 5 days definitely has made a difference. I saw my consultant today and she's increased my antidepressants but has said she thinks some of it is physical and due to just how unwell I got in pregnancy. The midwives have done some blood tests. My icp bloods are normal but now my urates are off I'm not sure what that means. I've now been discharged from the midwives and maternity triage have said I need to see my GP for follow up. I just want to know what's going on and for someone to look at the big picture as in the last 2 ish months I have had elevated bile acids, high LFTs, low platelets, haemolysis and now high urates!

Morning ladies!! Happy Sunday.
I’ve blinked and lost a week. How are we all doing? Any more baby updates??

@Superscientist how are you doing? I hope the week has been gentle on you 🌼
we were home after 5 nights (felt longer….!). She needed light therapy for a short while in the end, and is still a little jaundiced. But is doing well. Is 1 oz off her birth weight.
how is your little man doing? How are the nights?! Up every 1.5hrs last night. Forgot how relentless newborn nights are lol.

interesting about your bloods. How are you feeling in yourself physically now? I have my follow up bloods being done the week after next to check what they are up to now.

Little update from me. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the last few stages of their pregnancy or being at home with their babies.

We welcomed our beautiful baby boy August via C Section at 38+1 last Friday and he is perfect. He weighed 6lb1 and at Day 5 he had only lost half an ounce so good to know my boobs work 😂 Really positive C section experience. Less positive post natal experience. Was discharged on Sunday but called back Sunday night for repeat jaundice bloods on the baby as the first ones didn’t make it to the lab properly. He is fine though. But my first check with the midwives on Monday my BP readings were high. Sent to triage with a newborn and big C section scar. Monitored and came down. Sent home. Tuesday, readings were high again. Sent to triage with newborn again, asked for my meds to be reviewed as they’d changed my meds before discharge and I didn’t think they were working and wanted to go back on my original meds. Doctors were refusing to switch, could hear the midwives arguing with him about it in the corridor saying he wasn’t following guidance. He came in to speak to me, and my BP went through the roof with all the stress. Ended up being admitted to the ward with the baby for monitoring and have only just been discharged on Friday morning on the meds I originally asked to be switched on to. My care on the labour ward wasn’t great either. The care and communication was really disjointed and uncoordinated. No midwife seemed to follow through on the plans the doctors kept giving me to monitor my BP and discharge and every doctor had a different plan that seemed to change daily. They were late giving me meds, late coming to check on my blood pressure and monitoring me. I kept being told the meds take time to stabilise my BP but then they weren’t happy when my BP wasn’t perfect within 12 hours. Eventually I complained to to the ward manager because being stuck in a room, chasing midwives constantly, caring for a newborn and recovering from surgery - my mental health was absolutely shot. I felt locked in the hospital with no plan on how to get me home - desperate to leave as felt I couldn’t trust anyone to take care of me properly but also scared to leave as didn’t feel confident anyone had actually done any due diligence or taken any respsonibility to accurately assess it was safe to go home. Im keeping an eye on my BP at home now. My systolic numbers are ok, the diastolic numbers at hovering around 90-95 but hoping they’ll come down soon. My numbers in hospital were better but I was lying in a bed all day. The worst part is the post natal anxiety I’ve been experiencing since being in hospital. I’m so hypervigilant about any symptoms, I’m having constant panic attacks, I’m terrified I’m going to gave a heart attack or a stroke and leave my baby without a mum. I had a panic attack last night that was so bad I thought I was having a heart attack. Im stuck in a cycle of worrying about my BP and my health that I then get so anxious, and my anxiety mimics a lot of the high BP symptoms. Its not the first week of motherhood I pictured and just hoping things get better. Grateful to have our beautiful baby here safe and sound though.

@pumpkinpatches22 congratulations on your little one!

im so sorry your experience in hospital wasn’t good- it sounds very similar to mine to be honest, especially the late medication and late monitoring.

almost 3 weeks on I’m still struggling with it mentally to be honest and my diastolic number is also hovering around 95-99 but I have a BP review with the GP tomorrow and I have weaned myself off all medication as I just didn’t trust medics to do it for me.

the anxiety has eased slightly and I think it’s a case of trust yourself, your body and your suppprt system ❤️

well done on getting through so far. You’re doing better than you think x

@CustardCream31 I bet they felt like 5 very long days, it's good that they only needed the light therapy for a short time and 1oz off birth weight is amazing!
Those early nights are looong!

We are doing ok, I'm still very tired. I've got my 6 week check on Monday so I'll speak to my GP then. I had 2 naps yesterday, i still get a bit spaced out occasionally. My days are low demand and I'm spending the majority of it on the sofa and any activity is feels like an exertion. My mood has gone low and I really don't want it purely put down to that. My psychiatrist in her last letter to the GP said she felt like I was still experiencing some lingering symptoms from pregnancy so will se

We have resorted to co sleeping, he does sleep quite well waking every 2-3h until 4 then every hour but he's so so noisy when asleep if I'm not holding him that I wasn't getting much rest. He's currently going into his cot between 11-11.30 until he wakes around 1 then he's in the bed from then.
He's gaining weight well, at his last weigh in he had gained 40g a day! He's got a bit of reflux though and doing quite a bit of comfort feeding so trying to manage that. It might be a trip to the GP next week to discuss gaviscon/omperazole as I don't want it to get as bad as my daughters did.

Congratulations @pumpkinpatches22 sounds like an awful postnatal experience. I'm sorry you had to go through that. How is your anxiety now? Do you have any support?

How did your GP appointment go @Band3benefits ?

Hi Everyone, just wondered if there is a thread for us to continue the chat now that our babies are here…