January 2020 Garnets

[OnErth&InHvn]

It's not a certain number to be admitted, here it's just any cervical change in an hour.

 

[Sophie1234]

In the UK, you have to be 4cm to be kept in. They may keep you in before if you are in agony, high risk or being induced but 4 is generally the golden number x

 

[Literati_Love]

Ashley - 4 cm is usually the golden number here too, but if you aren’t actively in labour they might not, as I’ve heard of some people being 4 cm for weeks for subsequent pregnancies. Not sure.
I’m sorry you’re feeling worried about not making it to your c-section date. I can see why you’d be concerned, after having such a fast labour last time! I hope if it seems that your contractions are really speeding up after you go off bed rest that they will agree to book it earlier. Try not to panic! I’m sure they’ll take good care of you.

How is the GD going? Have you been able to manage it with diet? Are you unable to have sweets ever?

Fit mama - I’m sorry your DS woke you up at 3 am the other night and you were up for the day. It is now an everyday thing for me to be up from 2 or 3 am onward. I only get a few hours of
sleep more night now. My insomnia is always horrible in the third trimester, but it has been made worse lately with some stress I’m going through in my personal life. Once I wake up, I start thinking and worrying about everything going on, and then there’s no way I can get back to sleep. Going to work is so hard when you’ve been awake for hours and just started to drift off right before your alarm!
Just like you, I also have one more month until I’m done work! I can’t wait. I’m glad you’re on your last full week at least. I have Christmas holidays in a week and a half and then I’m only back for another week and a half, so it shouldn’t be too bad. I hope you can make it through okay!
Exciting about your c-section date! My dd2 also has a January birthday so I’m sure mine will only be a few days apart as well (if they don’t end up sharing a birthday)!

Anababe - I’m sorry you’re also feeling concerned about the hiccups but I’m sure everything is okay. It sounds like you’ve been feeling pretty rough lately! Hopefully your baby comes a tad early (but not at Christmas!) so that you can finally just be done. You must be quite exhausted! Hugs! I have felt like a pathetic mom this whole pregnancy and haven’t had energy to do much with the kids. I always feel guilty about it, but I’m sure I’ll have more energy once the baby is here (after the initial newborn stage has passed).

Yellow moon - I’m glad that your pregnancy is low risk and going well. I can’t believe you’re 37 weeks already! Feels like you’re so far ahead!

AFM - I had my appointment with MFM yesterday. It felt like quite the ordeal because the appointment took an hour and a half! I had an ultrasound, followed by a non-stress test, and then finally the appointment with the MFM doctor.
Unfortunately, it has been confirmed that I have a mild case of polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid). At this point, it is unexplained, as everything appears to be fine with the baby according to the ultrasounds. The last thing they want to rule out is that I possibly could have developed GD later in pregnancy, so...get this...I have to do the 2-hour glucose test AGAIN!!!! Ugh! I can’t even believe it. I just love throwing away my Saturdays for these things. And, to make things worse, my husband is out of town so I will have to arrange childcare somehow. I feel bad asking for so much help because my vehicle also hasn’t started all week so My mom has had to drive me and the girls around everywhere while my husband is away.

Although there doesn’t appear to be anything else wrong, I will now need to go back for extra monitoring and have to go get another ultrasound/non-stress test in 2 weeks and then possibly again 2 weeks after that.
I’m now at risk for labour complications such as overly fast labour (which I already had last time), baby being in a weird/unsafe position for delivery, and postpartum hemorrhage. :/ Not exactly reassuring!
She mentioned that if my baby was measuring way too big or if baby kept flipping positions that we might have to induce at 38 or 39 weeks. I definitely don’t want that, as I’ve heard horror stories about inductions and would rather go into labour naturally, but whatever is best for baby. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.
I am feeling rather stressed about fitting in all these extra appointments when I’m not even done work yet. I don’t have the energy to make up all this time at work. Sigh! And of course it is at the back of my mind that something could be wrong with baby that they haven’t detected in an ultrasound. I sure hope not! I am trying my best not to worry, but it’s definitely added some stress to my pregnancy.

Anyway, that’s about it. In less stressful news, DH and I realized that we may need to buy a new dresser and switch the bedroom that my girls are in so that we can actually fit all the furniture in it. We have quite a small house for 3 kids, so I’m starting to feel very squished in it. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to afford anything bigger until I am finished my 18-month maternity leave...so we’ll just have to make do.

 

[Bumblebeee]

Just checking in, hope everyone is well, I am useless at remembering this site unless I have any questions (which is why I'm on here now actually )
Just wondering what people are packing in their hospital bags for one and also, with my daughter 7 years ago, I was desperate to breast feed but she ended up jaundiced at 2 days old because she drained me and my milk didn't end up coming in properly for another week or so, obviously we had no other choice but to formula feed which was fine of course, it's just breast feeding is something I've always wanted to do so I was wondering if there's anything I can do in advance to try to help out my milk supply?
I'm doing good, I have gestational diabetes (3 Metformin a day), anaemia, carpal tunnel syndrome, a breech baby and a lovely umbilical hernia but feeling as fit as a fiddle and just getting on with it Might just fill a hospital bag with chocolate and sweets ready for when this baby comes out because I've been limiting myself so much with this GD, also it's a bit of a waiting game now to see how long they actually let me go for as with medicated GD they've told me they tend to induce early, but if baby stays breech then it will be most likely be a C-section.
Anyone had a nice early arrival? It's getting so close now, how exciting/terrifying!!

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

You can't do anything to breastfeed before. You can nurse through jaundice or pump. I breastfed through it.

I packed my bag a long while ago and posted the list here.

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I was induced and it went fine. No horror story here. It was my best birth of the 3.

 

[Bumblebeee]

Think you misunderstood me there, the reason my daughter had jaundice was because she was trying to feed but my boobs were literally empty after a day and a half and the midwives didn't notice until she started getting really miserable and getting a yellow tint to her skin. They stayed completely empty until she was around 10/11 days old too, I couldn't feed or pump what wasn't there and by that time she would have starved waiting. On a GD Facebook page I am following, a lot of them have been asked to collect colostrum in syringes from around 36 weeks, I was wondering if that would do anything to improve supply since they're starting early but I am not going to do anything without my consultant's say so of course.

You can't do anything to breastfeed before. You can nurse through jaundice or pump. I breastfed through it.

I packed my bag a long while ago and posted the list here.

---
I was induced and it went fine. No horror story here. It was my best birth of the 3.

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

Ah, you could use donor milk if your supply tanks. Maybe baby wont even have jaundice. 2 of my 3 didnt. #3 was the one that had it so bad she had to be readmitted.

 

[ashley2pink]

Thought I was going into labor last night. My contractions were coming in every 6 min. I was told if they start coming in every 6 or 7 mins consistently to go to labor and delivery. I couldn’t get them to go away. But they finally started going a little further apart but all in all I spent about 5-6 hrs timing them and they were 7-10 mins apart. Today they’ve been closer than what I’m used to and believe me I’m used to getting 4-6 an hour. But today I have more like 5-8 an hour. I’m literally doing all I can. I’m on complete bedrest, drink a lot of water, take my nifedipine every 4 hrs around the clock. So I’m not sure how much longer I can last like this. Plus it’s very emotionally draining to have to deal with this. I’m really wanting to make it to at least 35 weeks. I’m just worried over Nicu time and breastfeeding problems arising from that etc.
My Gestational diabetes is diet controlled. I don’t have to be on any insulin or medication to control it. I’ve also found i can eat most foods and not have an issue. Now, with sweets I don’t know. I haven’t dared try more than a little dark chocolate here and there. I’m part of a Facebook group of women with gd and it seems so many can’t tolerate things like bread, potatoes, rice etc. but I do fine with them as long as I pair with a good amount of protein. I do want to try and eat some cookies paired with protein and see how I do for a snack. I normally eat an apple with peanut butter, or a protein bar, or something like that. But it’s getting boring. I’ve been on the gd diet for 5 weeks now. I honestly can’t wait to eat a lot of junk food. But I hope that’s 2-3 weeks away! Baby better hang in there. 35 weeks is only 10 days away. That doesn’t seem so far but with the sudden increase in contractions it feels ages away.

Oh and for breastfeeding I heard brewers yeast works really well. I’m buying some. And I have a handheld pump. I’m hoping baby girl won’t have issues with latching and my milk supply will be good. With my others I had over production. But I’m so worried my breast lift ruined my milk ducts. They told me there is a 20% chance of that happening. I was able to squeeze a little drop of colostrum out of each nipple. But with my other pregnancies they leaked on their own from about 24 weeks on but not this time. So it worries me!! I know fed is Best but breastfeeding is just something I loved and is so important to me. I will be so sad if I have limited supply.

 

[ashley2pink]

Sorry that post was long!
Literati hopefully you don’t have GD! I know excess fluid can be a sign though. Did they say it can resolve itself? Hoping you don’t experience complications from it.
And sorry that you and others are struggling with sleep. I do too. Not every night but about every other. I hate it. I will wake up then just lay there for hours trying to go back to sleep. Which doesn’t help my contractions. They start coming in closer so then I have an even harder time going back to sleep.
Bumblebee, my 2nd and 3rd babies both had jandice. For about 4 days after birth. But since I had a c-section and stayed all 4 days (5 days with my 2nd) they came home with me. I don’t remember if they ever told me to supplement. I know colostrum/breast milk can make it worse. But I just exclusively breastfed the entire time. So it did take a while longer to get better. I would think trying to either pump or hand express colostrum out would help you avoid supplementing. I would look up a video on hand expressing. And don’t let them give your baby anything through a bottle. Only a syringe or similar. That way baby doesn’t refuse you. Don’t allow pacifiers either. I know some babies do just fine bf’ing with using a pacifier from birth but some don’t. I didn’t dare risk it because my oldest who was born 1 month early was having trouble regulating her blood sugar the first day and me being naive allowed them to give her a bottle of formula and a pacifier. She had the hardest time latching to me and it was a mess.

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

If you have a NICU baby, you can still breastfeed. They will have you pumping if they have a feeding tube and then you might need a nipple shield to latch but they should try to help baby latch as normal when they are big and strong enough. Dd1 was a NICU baby. If course not every NICU is BFing friendly so ymmv
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Breastmilk and jaundice. Breastmilk usually is digested quicker than formula but the problem with jaundice, breastfeeding or not, is you need to pee/poop it out so if baby isnt nursing or formula feeding enough (because jaundice makes them very sleepy for example) then it would stick around longer in a breastfed baby.
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I have these same concerns. I've had a NICU baby. I've had a jaundice baby. I've had a baby try to come at 32 weeks. I wish I could tell you " by #4, it gets easier"...nope. same worries and fears.

 

[Fit_Mama2Be]

Literati and Ashley so sorry everything is so tough right now. Literati having to take that test again is such a drag, and I totally get why you're dreading having to make up time at work for all your appointments. At this stage it's hard enough just to make it to work at all, and anything that makes it any harder is just way too much. So sorry neither of you are sleeping either. It only happens to me about once a week to once every 2 weeks and it is ROUGH so I can't imagine having it happen on a regular basis. Hoping the next few weeks fly by for both of you...

Had my 34 week appointment yesterday and learned that baby is breech! I have read conflicting information on whether he should be head down by now or whether it's 36 weeks he should be head down by...it doesn't matter anyway since I already have a c-section scheduled and my midwife didn't seem worried about it, but of course I had to go and google it and read that there is a higher incidence of birth defects for breech babies so now I'm a little freaked out.

 

[Literati_Love]

Fit mama - thank you! That’s good it only happens to you about once a week. That’s good it doesn’t really matter that your baby is breach since you’re having a c-section. Googling is never a good idea. I know there are many breach babies who don’t have anything wrong with them, so I’d try not to worry too much!

Ashley - they didn’t mention that it could resolve itself, although I did read that online. Maybe it will just go away. Thanks for the well wishes. Sorry to hear you’re having trouble sleeping as well. It is really rough. I can imagine it would be much worse if you had contractions to deal with as well! I’m so sorry you’ve had to deal with so much this pregnancy. It really must be so physically, emotionally and mentally draining.

That’s great that your GD is diet controlled and that you haven’t had a problem with most foods. It sounds like you have a relatively mild case of it at least. I hope I don’t have it, but if I do I hope it is easily manageable like that. I don’t blame you for majorly wanting junk when you’re done, though! I admire your self control! I love my treats. I’ve noticed my co worker with GD still has treats, but I wonder if she’s on meds.


Bumblebee - sorry to hear that you have GD as well. I think I’d totally pack my hospital bag with sweets if I were you! It must be so hard to miss out on them all the time!

That is unfortunate about your milk taking so long to come in! Both of my babies were jaundiced, but thankfully they were nursing lots and getting lots of milk so it corrected itself fairly quickly.


AFM - just getting my 2-hour glucose test again. Ugh! The drink tasted even worse this time. Good thing I am 98% sure this is my last pregnancy, because I will be glad to never have this test again!!

Yesterday I had a bit of bright red spotting just out of no where and that freaked me out a bit. I called my doctor’s office and talked to the nurse and she told me to monitor it for a few hours and call her back. It ended up subsiding So she said not to worry but told me the signs to look out for which would mean I’d have to go to the hospital.
Really hoping that was it and it won’t happen again. This pregnancy is starting to really stress me out!

Also, there seems to have been a loss in communication regarding my next ultrasound/non-stress test booking and no one has called me to book yet! I am getting irritated because I’m supposed to get in before Christmas and I’m sure they fill up quickly. I tried calling, but she was extremely unhelpful and said she had to contact the dr first and it would be a few days before I heard from her. The dr was supposed to tell her to call me that day! The only reason I wasn’t able to book right then and there was because the receptionist was on her lunch break. Now it’s been 4 days! So annoying.

 

[Literati_Love]

Update: looks like I passed my glucose test! Yay! I’m a little annoyed that I had to waste my Saturday doing another one, but relieved that I don’t have to worry about GD now.

Maternal Fetal Medicine finally got back to me, and my next appointment is this coming Friday.

How is everyone else doing?

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

First January baby is born!

Nora Johanna was born at 34 weeks via section. Placenta abruption.

4lb 15.5oz. 16.5in at 315pm

 

[Literati_Love]

Oh, wow! Congrats, OnErth! Can’t believe a January baby had been born already! That is scary about the placental abruption! I’m glad they were able to deliver Nora safely! How are you feeling?

 

[Fit_Mama2Be]

Congratulations OnErth, so glad you and your little girl are safe!! Beautiful name!

What a relief that you passed your test Literati, hope your mfm appointment goes well and is reassuring.

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

Shes in the NICU for breathing issues

 

[red_head]

Congratulations OnErth! That must have been a shock! I hope you both get home soon safely.

 

[Motherofpugs]

Congratulations OnErth! Hope you are feeling ok and that your daughter will soon be with you from NICU.

 

[Literati_Love]

OnErth - I’m sorry about the breathing issues. It must be stressful to have her in the NICU. I hope she makes huge improvements every day and can come home soon. Keep us updated!