Tired and emotional

Today is the big day!  Well, you know, in theory.  Today I am officially 40 weeks pregnant, which means today is my due date.  Around 5% of babies are actually born on their due date though, so I’m not holding my breath.

This week I am really tired, and feeling quite emotional – pretty anxious, and if I’m honest, scared.  On Monday I went to my usual midwife’s appointment and my midwife couldn’t feel the baby’s head, it was so far down in my pelvis.  This is quite unusual, so to double check it was that far down and not actually popped out and somewhere in my back, I got sent for a special positioning scan in the fetal assesment unit at hospital.  They confirmed that yup, she’s just *really* engaged, if there was a measurement of more than 5/5 engaged she’d be that one!

This is good news as far as labour goes, means she’s ready and totally in the right position.  However, for me it’s not so good – I have been developing SPD (http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/physicalhealth/pelvicpain/) and it’s now at the point where I’m nearly in tears at night when I turn over, or have to get up in the night for my 3 or 4 toilet trips   Also, getting up and down off the sofa is very sore, and I take about 2 minutes to adjust to standing up.

This has left me pretty much housebound, and often in pain throughout the day, so I’m starting to feel very isolated and nervous about how much more painful it can get – afterall, it’s getting worse everyday and I still have in theory, 2 weeks I could go overdue… Hmm!

Not seeing anyone for the last few weeks has been quite hard too, I wasn’t really prepared for being totally stuck at home, and watching everyone else from inside my little bubble.  I’m looking forward to when she’s out and people will come and visit.

Lastly, the midwives told me on Monday and Tuesday that she is over the 9lb mark now, and that has scared me too.  “They” say that bigger babies are easier to push out, but from where I’m sat it just sounds a bit terrifying that something that’s getting bigger by the day and already considered a “big baby” has to come out of me still.  She could be over 10lbs if she stays in for another week or two.

Sorry for the moany and anxious post, but it’s a real reflexion of how I’m feeling right now, and I wanted to try and keep this as an open record to my thoughts during the pregnancy.

What a palava! Baby bumps, pains and emergency rooms

It’s been two weeks since I updated. Week 8 went by without much change from week 7 – essentially more sickness, quite a lot of food aversions, and even the beloved pineapple vanished from my enjoyment. Thankfully it was replaced by a new found love of jacket potatoes and cottage cheese. Yum.

Week 9 on the other hand… Woah momma. We started off week 9 really rather tired – bed by 9pm every night, and still feeling snoozy 10 hours later at 7.30am! The nausea got a whole lot worse at the beginning of week 9, to the point where one morning I was so scared I would be sick on the train I took a plastic bag with me. Thankfully, it didn’t get used. Towards the weekend just gone, everything seemed to be getting a bit easier, a bit less sickness, food aversions getting less, and generally feeling physically better. Mentally though, it was all starting to get a bit weepy come Sunday. I felt really rather low, and withdrawn. Nothing in particular getting me down, must just be the hormones going for gold in my system. When you start feeling like crying during an episode of Eastenders or somesuch, you know it’s your lady’mones.

Yesterday was by far and above the worst day of pregnancy so far. Absolutely terrifying. Around 8.20pm I started getting some rather painful stomach cramps and dull aches. It spread to my lower back within about ten minutes. About half an hour later I was shaking and crying on my bed, hot water bottle clamped to my tummy as waves of pain scorched through my pelvis and down my legs. I was so scared. I really felt like this Wasn’t Right. Another 20 minutes in, the pain had subsided and we decided it was just one of those weird things that your body does sometimes.

My body had other ideas. Within an hour, the same pain returned; this time even more ferocious and nauseating. It got so bad within about 15 minutes that I could hardly breath, and felt as though I was about to pass out. I could hardly see anymore, and my hearing started to go. I was lost in a world of physical pain and mental anguish. At this point, Jake called an ambulance. They arrived very quickly, within 5 minutes, and as the second wave of hell started to pass over, I was rushed to A&E. We had to wait for 2.5hrs to see the doctor, but thankfully no more pain had come in that time. Also, I hadn’t bled at all, which seems to be the big thing everyone was concerned about.

At 1am we made our way home, after lots of prodding and questions from the doctor. She booked an emergency scan for today, and so finally hitting the pillow at 2am, we both attempted sleep. I think it’s safe to say we both had one of the worst night’s sleep we’ve had in ages. Not knowing if you’ve still got the little one is a really rubbish experience.

Finally, some good news. We got a scan at 11am today, and after no waiting at all we were shown our rather cute looking blob on the monitor. There s/he was, minding her/his own business without a care in the world. Little heart beating away, oblivious to all the fuss and bother the rest of the family had been going through. Hehe, well done little bump, very good April Fool.

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to my Prime baby, aged 9.5 weeks and a whole 2.6 cms big from crown to rump