Wednesday, July 30, 2008

23 weeks.

Nothing much to report this week so far.

Lower back is HURTING!! Dr explained it's from all the hormones released in pregnancy making ligaments etc relax a bit. Told me to contact the antenatal clinic and book in to see one of their physiotherapists, although the wait list is quite long, so I may just have a hunt around for a private physio, in the meantime, heat packs and panadol.

I am officially on maternity leave until May of next year - see above-mentioned back pain and standing on my feet for hours on end is making it worse. Found a lovely GP who gave me a certificate to bring forward my leave from September to last Thursday. Funnily enough, he spent the last 12 months doing an internship at the hospital I'll be having the baby at, so has told me to tell them in the antenatal clinic that "Raj says hi!". Too funny.

We took advantage of me not working and slipped away to this place near Sussex Inlet over the weekend for Christmas in July. It was really nice, just us girls, Ian stayed at home and played World of Warcraft til his eyes bled. Weird to think that when Christmas does come around we'll have two little girls in the house! How exciting!

Have been a complete domestic goddess today, been grocery shopping, done 4 loads of washing, made up beds, kitchen spotless, meals for the week sorted, fridge cleaned out. All to do now is change the doona cover and pillowcases.

New camera charger arriving within the next 10 days (but who's counting) so I'll have some belly shots and maybe some pics of little Isla, who yesterday decided her new baby sister's name will be "rina" as in ballerina! She's too cute someitmes!.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Reliving the past...Part I

Okay, here we go.

I'm going to write down what I remember about my Daughter's birth, which admittedly, isn't a lot. However, I think it will be good for me to be able to write it all out again now, and it may shed new light on things I'd overlooked in the past, or even help me with the questions to ask my midwives when I see them next.

Where to begin... The hardest part about documenting her birth, is that I was hospitalised 4 times (for a total of 49 days) from 22 weeks (although obviously, not continuously).

22 weeks (which is where I am now, eep!) I woke up one morning before hubby went to work. Felt something warm drip "down there". Didn't think too much of it though, it was only a tiny amount, so I stayed in bed for another 20ish minutes before it got the better of me and I went to the loo to check.

Sit on loo, notice two dark spots on my undies (they were black so I couldn't see what colour the spots were) only to wipe and be faced with blood. Bright red blood. I remembered I had to call the Birthing Unit straight away, and I also needed to call Ian who was starting a contract position that day. I don't remember who I called first.

Ian arrived home at the speed of light, and the trip to the hospital was made in record time. We went into the delivery room, I had to show the midwife my pad (I remember at the time being absolutely mortified by this proposition, but some how by the end of my pregnancy it became second nature - welcome to pregnancy & childbirth, leave your dignity at the door!). Midwife confirmed it was darkish in colour which indicated an older bleed, I'd have to stay in hospital overnight, which in turn, turned out to be 3 days.

Ordered to have no sex at all, and nothing to "stimulate the cervix". Great. No heavy lifting, no vaccuming etc etc.

Next bleed I was 28 weeks (I think, it's getting hard to remember) at a sporting event. I should never have left the house that day though, I had this hideous feeling all day that I was going to bleed or that I was already bleeding, and thus spent a massive amount of that day in the bathroom "just checking". This one was very scary indeed. A trip in an ambulance, whisked into the ED then the birthing unit, jeans covered in blood whipped off the minute the ambo drivers left the room. Lots of people buzzing around, drips, bloods taken, canula's inserted, first round of steroid injections given - OUCH! Bleeding stopped after around 12 hours, then transferred to the ward, but not before idiotic male midwife thought my waters had broken and then failed to find baby's heart beat, instead he found mine and scared the hell out of me by calling in other people, who reassured me it was my pulse rate that was being picked up on the CTG and within seconds, someone much more competant managed to find a very happy and content baby heart beat. The following day I was given an ultrasound. Placenta still very low, still completely covering the os. Baby has massive feet, and measures a week behind. Dates pushed back by 1 week, so 27 weeks. 3 days in hospital.

1.5 days after discharge and I'm back at the birthing unit at 1.30am with more bleeding. Not a great deal like last time, but bleeding none-the-less. Dr's are unhappy to see me, midwives are getting used to me by this point. 2 canula's inserted incase I need to deliver. Talk about sending me to St George or RPA should things turn pear-shaped. See my favourite midwife who see's my name on the patient board and asks to be assigned to me, bless her. Bleeding dwindles away to practically nothing, and due to the ward being full, I'm shown to the "Good Room" within the BU. It has a corner spa (although not for you!), double bed and tv - none of the other rooms have the luxury of a tv, which means you hear nothing but the moaning and screaming of labouring and birthing women, not the easiest environment to 'relax' in. Plus this room is hidden at the end of the corridor, and around a corner, far away from the chaos. 4 days in hospital, advised to go to another nearby(ish) hospital should I bleed again before 34 weeks because this hospital isn't equipped for a preterm delivery any earlier than 34wks. Great.

10 days from last admission, wake up to go to the loo (such is a pregnant woman's perogative) and, you guessed it, blood. Speed of light drive to next hospital. Get lost in carpark, can't find the enquiries desk, can't find the lifts, can't find the birthing unit. Finally find the bloody place after running the corridors and announce to the staff behind the desk "I'm 29 weeks and I have Placenta Praevia Grade IV and I'm bleeding". None of them blinks an eye. After about 2 or 3 minutes a midwife comes up to me and shows me to a birthing unit, highly unimpressed that I've disturbed her from whatever it was she was doing. Gives me a gown to put on, tells me to give her a urine sample, get changed and get on the bed, she'll be back later to check on me. Thankfully I wasn't bleeding to death at this stage otherwise I would have been quite pissed.

Dr comes to visit me, and tells me I shouldn't be there because I am not in the residential zone for that hospital. I show him my yellow card where the Registrar had written for me to report here should I bleed. Dr is cranky as all hell and starts world war III with other hospital for sending me there when I am not their "problem".

Eventually shown to a room on the maternity ward. A four bed room. 2 women labouring opposite me, one with a newborn next to me, and a bathroom down the corridor. Lovely. Dr comes to see me and asks how long I stay in my old hospital with each bout of bleeding. I tell her that their policy is 48hrs once the bleeding stops. She says I can go home after 24 hours, "this is excellent", I think.

24 hours comes and goes, in the mean time I've been moved to the opposite side of the maternity ward, to the antenatal wing, right next door to the feto-natal unit (where they do all kinds of weird things with unborn babies, like blood transfusions etc). Dr visits again, I have to stay another 24 hours. I am pissed off, but what can I do about it? I lay in bed and wait for the hours to pass before I go home.

The next day arrives and I'm greeted with the wonderful news that I will not be going home today, I will in fact be staying here until I reach 34 weeks or deliver the baby, whichever happens first. And, should I make it to 34 weeks, I have the choice of staying at this hospital or transferring back to my original hospital until the baby is born. Next time I go home, I'll have a newborn. I am only 30 weeks. Feeling really pissed off at this stage!.

Somewhere between here and 35.2wks I have another 7 bleeds. One of them I remember so vividly. It was a Saturday and I'd decided that I should have a Nana nap around midday. A male nurse comes to do my obs but see's that I'm asleep so leaves me to get some rest, what a doll. He comes back as I wake up and asks if he can take my blood pressure, sure no problem. I offer my arm to him but he insists I sit up with my feet dangling over the edge of the bed to get a more accurate reading. As I sit up I feel a warm gush and jump up out of bed declaring "Oh my God, I think I've pissed myself" (charming as ever!) and head off to the toilet, bp arm wrap thing dangling off my arm. Get to the bathroom door and notice legs are covered in blood, there's a trail of blood from my bed to where I'm standing and a big bloody patch on my sheets. Fark!

Male nurse panics, I get back into bed as he presses the alarm button. About a billion people rush into the room, and before I know it I'm strapped to the CTG machine while the male nurse preps me for surgery. He takes off all my nail polish and tapes down my rings ready for the big event. Quizzes me on what I've eaten lately (umm, a packet of twisties!) and I sign consent forms for an emergency c-section.

A doctor, who I think may have been Russian going by her accent, with an apalling bedside manner, enters the room and sees that I am having regular contractions which are going off the charts. She kindly offers me pain relief, "you would like some pethidine?" but I refuse, it's not hurting. With all the blood mopped up, and all the evidence thrown into the linen hamper, she declares that the bleed itself was not significant, that I don't need to go to surgery, stating the blood loss was only 50mLs and leaves. Male nurse shakes his head in disbelief, saying, "that was way more than 50mLs". Ian's Scooby Doo boxer shorts have seen better days.

That was the scariest of all my bleeds. Given I was due in February, and it was December when I was admitted, it was a foregone conclusion that I would be fortunate enough to spend both Christmas and New Years Eve in hospital. Not a fun time to be on complete bedrest I can assure you.

I spoke too soon!

Turns out Ian could feel the baby kick! Last night in fact, only a few short hours after posting here. He was a little freaked out by it though, he didn't feel our daughter kick until the day she was born, so the thought of a really little person inside of me was a bit too freaky for him to handle.

Sore tummy from constant coughing, hips still sore, lower back hurting now too.

3 weeks until next appointment at the hospital. Looking forward to it actually, I'll be 25 weeks so no doubt I'll be sent to the clinic for that hideous Glucose test (although not looking forward to that part). The first one I had with my daughter came back high at 8.5 (I think) so I had to re-do it, lucky me. It turned out to be okay though, fingers crossed the same applies this time 'round.

Have been thinking perhaps I should write down what I remember from my daughters birth, and how I felt. Maybe it will help me move on more from the not-so-wonderful experience?

Monday, July 21, 2008

22 weeks.

And I have the flu. I feel awful. Woe is me.

Nothing much to report. Baby girl is kicking very strongly now, Ian still can't feel it though, but I'm sure it won't be long until he can.

Ian's bday today. Happy 27th Hubby.

Picked up daughter from Mother's place today and received another name suggestion "Harriet". Bah!

Monday, July 14, 2008

21 weeks.

Only a day between updates, but who cares, right?

Hips are farking sore. Getting minimal sleep. Baby moving a lot of an evening time, and right down low. Having really vivid dreams again, 3 pretty awful one's in succession over the course of last night. The last one, my daughter almost drowned, woke me in such a panic, I thought my heart was going to beat right out of my chest :(.

Feeling really tired this week, not sure why, I've not done anything extra to warrant said tiredness. Went to visit a work colleague today who promptly told me I look dreadful "look at those dark circles under your eyes!". Hmph.

I read through the NSW Dept of Health issued "Having a baby" or whatever it's called, but I still wanted to hear more, particularly about birth.Started reading "Up The Duff" by Kaz Cooke last week and really enjoying it, one particularly funny part made me snort:
"Marg's getting on in her pregnancy now. She just rang to say she was in the shoe shop and a woman told her she had good posture. Marg, completely vague, swollen and stuffed full of pregnancy info, meant to tell the shop assistant that's because when she walks, she 'leads with her sternum', the breastbone. Unfortunately what she actually said was she 'leads with her perineum', which is the area between the vagina and the anus"... Hahahahaha

Can't find my damn antenatal yellow card anywhere. Not inclined to tell the hospital, considering it was only replaced last visit because I'd lost my original one. Hoping it's at work.

Mum has been emailing me with potential names for the baby. "Amelia Kate Rose" was her last effort. That's after she's suggested: Lucinda, Eugenie, Molly, Georgia, Gillian... Our original plan was to have "Evelyn Kate" as the middle names, Evelyn being my Mum's middle name and Kate being my sister's name (well, she's a Katherine technically, but goes by Kate). The day we found out we were having another girl, Mum said don't use Evelyn after her because she's never liked it and never uses it. Back to the drawing board on that one

Sunday, July 13, 2008

20 weeks.

okay, almost 21 weeks [in 2.5hrs] but it slipped my mind to post here this week.

This week I'm not feeling too bad really, apart from Thursday night when I left work early because my stomach felt so tight I couldn't even stand properly. Not Braxton Hicks, just a constant tight that wrapped around the top of my stomach and lasted about 4ish hours. Must remember to ask Midwife about this.

Having difficulty sleeping, last night was particularly bad. I seem to be able to lay only on my sides (I've never been able to sleep on my back, which proved very troublesome after my c-section) but can only last about 20 mins on each side before being woken by pain in my hips. Not sure how to remedy this, will have to try some more pillows or wrapped up towels and see how we go. It's exhausting!

Finally put some things on layby and bought some clothes for this little lady. A few rompers, bodysuits and the like, a couple of wraps and we get the car seat either this week or next. Toying with the idea of a bassinette for this one, we never had one last time, our little one was indeed very little (only 2.5kgs born) and spent the first 4 or 5 weeks sleeping in her pram because the cot just seemed far too big for her.

So, we're getting there with finding a name for this little person, 2 potential names start with "L" and one starts with "H". No doubt everyone will hate them all but meh, you can't please everyone. Ian insists that it isn't important that we decided a name now, "these things can't be rushed" he claims. Men.

All talk on the subject has been banned until further notice as we're both getting the shits, him with the fact that I want to pick something now, and me with the fact he won't commit.

Our little girl is very pleased with getting a new little sister, and even said to me tonight "Mummy I wish I had someone to play with" so I asked, "Who would you like to play with?" "My little sister" she replied. Melted me completely.

She also commented as a protective big sister yesterday, on our way to meet up with my Mum for lunch, Ian put his hand on my tummy and she said "Daddy, that's not Mummy's tummy, that's my little sister!". Aww.

I still have another 4 ish weeks until my next appointment - in the Birthing Unit. I'm preparing myself now for the howling, swearing and screaming that I'll undoubtedly be greeted with. It's really quite intimidating being in your 2nd trimester and hearing ladies in full blown labour. I remember when I was first hospitalised with my last pregnancy, I was 22 weeks, and I can vividly recall the screams and moans and groans that I first heard almost 4 years ago. Scared the living daylights out of me to be honest. At that time, I remember thinking, "thank god I'm having a c-section!". The following 3 times I was admitted to BU's it didn't bother me so much. This time round though, with the emphasis being placed on a possible VBAC, I think I'll be more terrified than ever!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The blog is now pink!

So you know what that means!

Yep, we're having another little Princess! Measuring spot on for her dates which is great news, my other little one was always behind, thus always changing my due date! But here we are 19 weeks and 1 day pregnant with another little girl :)

The scan went well. They were running late and I was worried I was going to wet my pants in the waiting room, luckily a kind-hearted receptionist let me go to the loo before I was called in, or it would have been a mop and bucket job.

10 fingers, 10 toes and all the appropriate bits in between. The other good news is that my placenta isn't being a prick like last time, so I can breathe a little easier now. Although the ultrasound tech said yesterday that the placenta "looked good", I went through the results and films today with a VMO at the Hospital.

Technically, the placenta is low-lying, but not to the extent that it was in my first pregnancy. According to the High Risk Dr I saw today, low-lying means anything less than 5cms away from the os (cervix) and this one is 4.2cms away, so I will be getting re-scanned at 34 weeks to see whether it has moved etc.

Now here's the exciting news, she asked me what model of care I wanted, and I was absolutely gobsmacked that I was allowed to choose, and why can I choose?? Because I am no longer deemed High Risk!!!! Yippee!!! I have chosen to see the midwives in the evening clinic so hopefully that will rule out waiting for 2 hours like I did today.

One more piece of very exciting news, is that this Dr, who's name I can't think of at all, is encouraging me to try a VBAC! How fabulous is that! Of course, I will be encouraged assuming that all the stars align (well, no PP, no pre-E, no breech position etc). She will let me go 10 days over to go into spontaneous labour, otherwise another c-section is on the cards because she doesn't like to do inductions. BUT, she's also happy for me to have another c-section if I choose, she's leaving it up to me and I feel great knowing that I have some sort of control over things (to some extent anyway).

So, that's it for now, I will scan some pics of the new little girl tomorrow.