Trying to be very calm with reduced movements

[flybynight]

I'm just posting this to keep my hands busy really. I'm 21 weeks and I'm recovering from swine flu that I caught last week. All has been fine but in the last 24 hrs I've noticed a real drop off in movements from the little 'un.

I've booked to see a GP this afternoon so that he/she can run run a doppler over my tummy, catch the heart beat and tell me everything is fine. But in the meantime, I'm a wee bit anxious. Its not that there are NO movements, just that they seem to have reduced by about 70 per cent.

I'm guessing that the baby is hiding behind its anterior placenta, just to torment me, and will pop out and start tickling 10 mins before the appointment. I wouldn't usually worry, but with it coinciding with being ill, well, I am.

I'm sure it will be fine but it's good you're going to the GP. I had this at about 28 weeks and had no movement in a whole day - it was horrendous, went to ward and baby woke up and kicked like mad, was lovely!

good luck xx

The GP wouldn't use the doppler! Said it wouldn't give enough information. So instead I had to arrange people to look after my three children and drive 45 mins to the hospital. Where they found the heartbeat with the doppler immediately, of course. The midwife couldn't understand why the GP wouldn't do it.

Still, what I have learned is that the labour suite at the hospital is lovely. If I decide against a homebirth, I'd have no qualms about going there.

Is your baby moving again. If not it might be worth going for more monitoring. The doppler didn't give enough information in my case. If you have continuous monitoring then they can pick up fetal movements that are too small to feel. My ds2 had a totally normal heartbeat but zero movement and was in distress.

I'll bear that in mind, sprouting. The midwife said she could feel the baby pushing back against the doppler probe and I do feel a bit of movement, just less than I have been. To be honest, at 21 weeks, I don't know what they could do about it if there was a problem. Still, I have my anomaly scan on Thursday. Should clarify things further.

they dont really worry about frequency of movements until 28 weeks as they are still quite small at this stage and you may not always feel it..I had an anterior placenta with dd2 and it drove me to distraction as I could never feel her moving unless she really booted me!

I had this, went in to day assessment unit and they listened in for heartbeat with doppler - couldn't constantantly monitor baby because at 21 weeks, baby is too small but heartbeat was strong and very reassuring! As memory lapse says, its after about 28 weeks that reduced movement may mean a problem. Your baby was prob just hiding like mine, she started moving like mad the day after and hasnt stopped for 6 weeks! Hahaha. Hope you feel better after hearing heartbeat but if youre still worried then just pop back and see someone and get it rechecked

xx