Jwilly and happycupcake congrats on good scans!
Sorry about the sickness Wishn and Nogreater.
My appointment went really well. I had a scan which showed a fetal heartbeat and measuring one day ahead. There was no sign of molar tissue so that's really good too. She's already checked my cervix length, which at the moment is really long.
I really like the consultant who runs the rainbow clinic. She really took my concerns on board and is happy to go along with whatever I want. I have my booking in appointment with my community midwife next Thursday when I'll be 8 weeks. Then I go back to the Rainbow clinic when I'm 10 weeks. I'll have my standard 12 week dating scan at the local hospital, then I'll be back at the Rainbow clinic at 14 weeks when I'll be having weekly checks on my cervix along with reasonably regular vaginal swabs and blood tests to check for bacteria/infection and my immune system. Once I get to 24 weeks as long as everything looks good and I'm happy to then the appointments will become fortnightly.
She also agreed to my request for a section without question. My last consultant was constantly trying to talk me out of it. She said my reasoning was understandable, despite the fact I delivered Alexander naturally and labour progressed fully despite his small size so I have laboured successfully. I've gone into spontaneous labour twice and both times have been the result of me developing a uterine infection. DD was a EMCS due to fetal distress and it was a really close call. So, labour has not been a positive experience for me and I don't want to chance a 3rd infection if I get to the end.
The new consultant was much more open to discussing how I could have developed the infection last time too. At my review after losing Alexander my last consultant was really dismissive of everything because I had an infection. As far as she was concerned the infection caused labour. I wanted to discuss my cervix because everything I'd read said dilation could cause infection, waters to break and I'm a group b strep carrier. By the time I was worried that my waters might have been leaking (which they were) and went to hospital I was already 4cm dilated! I hadn't felt a single contraction, it was 7 hours after that examination before I started to feel any and Alexander was born 5 1/2 hours after that first contraction. But she wouldn't discuss the possibility of any structural problems or underlying causes.
Which brings me to another issue, I had a battery of tests done after Alexander's delivery and turns out one of the tests was positive for lupus anticoagulants. Now pregnancy and infection can give this test a false positive, the only way to know is to have it tested again. If I'd have known I'd have definitely followed it up and I'm quite angry that I wasn't given the chance. I remember asking her in my review whether all the results are okay and she said they were.
So now we have three options - do nothing and monitor, follow the treatment protocol as if it were definitely positive which is daily blood thinning injections, or try the middle ground and take a baby aspirin and monitor the situation. So, I have a prescription for baby aspirin but I haven't started it yet. I know loads of pregnant women take it during pregnancy and it's fine, but I haven't taken a single bit of medication during any of my pregnancies and I'm a little reluctant. I had a PPH after Alexander's delivery, so a little concerned about taking blood thinners if I go into labour prematurely. But I'm not sure I want to do nothing either as if it's a true positive then there are increased risks of problems with the placenta and a higher risk of stillbirth. The other thing that's playing on my mind whilst I weigh up this decision is after Alexander's delivery the midwife thought my placenta looked like it had become partially abrupted. The pathologist also mentioned the possibility in his report. But the last consultant completely dismissed the possibility because I carried my daughter to term with no problems (other than having an infection at delivery).
Also strong food aversions here, quite often the idea of eating anything is enough to make me gag and feel sick. The drink aversions are even worse I can't do water at all now, I only seem to be able to drink tea in the morning or that makes me feel sick. I'm only managing sugary drinks, but that makes my mouth taste really sweet and I have a sore throat making swallowing really painful, that really helps the sick feeling - not! I also have a fairly constant headache, although pretty sure it's a mixture of stress and dehydration in my case.
Sorry for the essay, thank you for reading it all if you got to the end!