September Sweet Peas (Our 2015 Rainbows)

[carebear1981]

Hospital bag?? What's that??
I enrolled in a prenatal class for June 13/14. Should be interesting. I think DH is in for some surprises! Will probably get info on the hospital bag too and we still need to tour our hospital. I tried to call and get an appointment and was left on the phone for 10 mins on hold!!! So I hung up and told DH a home birth it is if they aren't going to answer! He laughed nervously like I was serious... not really a home birth kinda gal. Wish the hospital would answer the damn phone!!

 

[maryanne1987]

Awww that's a pain carebear. Hopefully you will get through to them
Soon. I'm looking forward to our hopital tour if little lady stays in long enough. Already toured the early baby unit but that was not that enjoyable, hopefully we won't need to visit there again.

Random question, have any other ladies here had a caesarian with a previous child? It's looking more likely I will need one and I'm terrified as I was planning a med free home birth. Is the recovery bad? How long do you have to stay in hospital? So many questions that I'm too afraid to google!

 

[Bug222]

I had a c-section with Iain and will be having another this time.

Recovery wasn't too bad... pain was the worst the first 24-36 hours... but if you take the meds regularly and stay on top of the pain it is managable. Here they only give you strong meds for the day of the section- then you switch to a combination of tylenol and advil the day after.
Standard procedure here is to stay in the hospital for 72 hours post section- not sure if this varies between countries.
Any other questions ask away!

 

[maryanne1987]

Thank you so much bug! I don't think I've ever been so nervous about anything before. Guess it's the fear of the unknown. Never had any kind of surgery before. The bit im nervous about is the epidural, did it hurt?

 

[Bug222]

they do a spinal here- so very similar to an epidural but it is just one shot of medication into your spinal column instead of leaving a catheter there for a continous infusion. they first do a numbing injection... that part does hurt.. like a big bee sting in your back, but then when they actually did the spinal it just felt like pressure. It takes effect VERY quickly so they will lift your legs onto the table for you. From then on all you really feel is a lot of pressure. They should warn you when they are about to take baby out as they do a lot of pushing/pulling and you feel a lot of pressure pushing upwards making a bit difficult to breathe... but it is over really quickly.

My section was scheduled for 9:00 am- Iain was born at 9:32 (and that included getting the spinal)

 

[Christi85]

Thank you MrsG!
After doing some reading, I don't think I'll straight refuse the test. Even though I have no big risk factors, gestational diabetes can apparently happen to anyone and I wouldn't want to risk not knowing about it if I was one of the unlucky few. My understanding is that it is a manageable condition if you know about it, but it can put your pregnancy at risk if you don't, so I'd rather know. You are right though, from my research, it seems like 28 or so jellybeans have the same effect as that glucola drink, but you can apparently find organic jelly beans nowadays Another option seems to be doing 3 or so blood draws over however many weeks right after a big meal that contains a certain amount of carbs.
I'll probably do some more research on alternatives and will call my OB's practice this week to ask if any of these would be an option. If not, I'll have to go with it, I guess, and hope at least that my OB's practice will offer a flavor selection. From what I'm reading, the orange flavor one is said to be the nastiest one, but the 'fruit punch' and the 'lemon/lime' ones are said to not be as bad. Sadly, the only time I've seen anyone do it at my OB's office was a while ago when I saw a girl in the waiting room drinking the orange one

Thanks for letting us know about c-section stuff bug! It really helps to know what to expect, if it gets to needing one. My childbirth classes include a 2-hour info/Q&A session about epidural and c-section delivery. I expect to learn more through that one, though of course right now I'm hoping for a natural delivery.

 

[maryanne1987]

Thanks again bug! I am nervous but it is easier once you know what to expect. Antenatal classes here don't cover c sections and my consultant has explained nothing to me about them. Didn't want to just google it as many a time Google has absolutley terrified me when researching things!

 

[Christi85]

Question for the ladies who have/use home dopplers: have you ever picked up any irregularities in your baby's hb with the home doppler even though nothing wrong was found at your doc appointments?

I've only been using the doppler about once a week ever since I started feeling the baby daily, usually at a time when he's quiet. So I did it about a week ago and even though the hb was in the normal range (140s) and the rhythm sounded regular, I thought his heart skipped a beat for a second, but then immediately continued on to the regular rhythm. I didn't hear it again after that (not that I did it for a long time - I only do it for a minute or two at a time), so I brushed it off as something incidental, thought that maybe he moved or something and affected the sound, and didn't think about it again.

Well, fast forward a week later to today, I did the doppler again this morning as he'd been very quiet for quite a while. Hb was again within the normal range (high 130s - mid 140s) and nothing strange registered on the doppler reading, but this time it sounded as if he was having one extra beat so to speak, every 4-5 regular beats. Kinda like bom-bom-bom-bom-bombom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bombom. Hope it makes sense. Of course then I remembered last week's incident that I had totally forgotten about (though that was the opposite of today's experience) and kinda freaked out about the baby developing some heart irregularity or something. I debated on whether this was serious enough to warrant a call to my OB or to the clinic where I had the detailed scans, or if I should wait for my next OB appointment in 2 weeks and see what the scan shows then. I then decided to do it again to check, so I did it about an hour after the first doppler, and this time it all sounded very regular and hb within the normal range again. So I'm very confused. I'd wanted to limit the use of the doppler to once/week or less, and I've been successfully doing that in the past couple of weeks since I've been able to feel daily movement, but now I wonder if I should start monitoring more closely for a little while, like once a day or every other day, and if I get any irregularities again, call the doc. Or if I should brush it off as incidental since it didn't happen at the second attempt and just wait for my next appointment.

Weird thing is, nothing has even been wrong with baby's hb in any of the scans I've done. My regular OB sadly doesn't use a doppler, so we never get to actually listen to the hb at his office, but he always observes baby's heart rhythm for a few seconds and always concludes all is good, including at the most recent appointment 2 weeks ago. Then at my anatomy scan 4 weeks ago that was very detailed and they did do an echo doppler, everything was also perfect with the heart, including development of all parts and a very regular and normal heart beat of 148.

I'm also aware that home dopplers aren't exactly cutting edge technology and are not to be relied upon entirely, so not sure how much I should trust it. Sorry about my rant, I just don't know if I should worry or not, if I should keep monitoring or just wait for 2 weeks and see what happens at the next scan, and just generally wondering if I'm the only one who's gotten stuff like that on their home doppler or if it's happened to other ladies too.

 

[cutieq]

That's a tough onw Christi. I don't have a doppler so I can't offer much advice but if the doctors haven't found anything wrong, I would err on the side of it being ok. I would ask at the appointment though to put your mind at ease. Regarding continuing to listen, go with your motherly instinct.

 

[yazzy]

Christi personally I'd go with the fact the doctors haven't picked anything up. They are trained in what to listen for.
If you are overly worried then of course ask them about it.

 

[Mrsgoodhart]

I concur with yazzy and cutie- I doubt it's much to worry about, but ask about it at your next appointment if for no other reason than peace of mind.

 

[maryanne1987]

I agree with the other ladies Christi, Id say as your anomaly scan was only a few weeks ago, and they go into such details in those scans, that if there had been an issue they would have picked it up. I've had lots of scares with my doppler, but my sister is a nurse and she point blank told me as I'm not medically trained to use one I should disregard any results I get when using it. She said there was no point in using it now I feel movement everyday as that should be reassurance ebough and that I wouldn't believe how many ladies visit A&E a day because they have scared themselves with using Dopplers at home so I took her advice and packed it away. Although I do very much believe in mothers instincts so if you truly feel something is wrong then there's no harm at all in at least calling your doctor. Might put your mind at rest a little.

 

[carebear1981]

I agree with everyone. I'd go with what they found at the doc office since they found nothing wrong. But for sure ask next time

 

[Christi85]

Thank you all for being so wonderful!
I haven't listened in again and baby has been as active as usual (with periods of activity and periods when he's quiet), so I may give it a few days until I listen in again. I will mention it to my OB at my appointment on June 2nd, but I want to listen in at least once or twice before then (and probably space them out) to find out if that continues. Since the second time sounded very normal yesterday...
I did a little bit of googling and luckily not many horror stories at all. Seems to be a relatively common thing as their heart is still immature and growing. There were women who said their babies had that for even 3 months or longer through the pregnancy, but the general consensus was that in 99% of cases it either fixes itself by the time of birth or shortly afterwards. Stupid thing is, because there's still this 1% that could be something more serious, if these irregularities are picked up on a scan, doctors still want to follow up with more tests and even monitor you/baby more closely at birth etc. etc.
I did find a study from Yale (back from 2000) which claims to be the biggest of its kind that put my mind at ease though. Basically they examined the echo cardiograms from about 5,000 fetuses spanning a decade. Of these 5,000 fetuses, only about 600 were referred for more follow up tests after the initial echo. Of those 600 or so, around 250 still had irregular hb at the follow up test (so less than half). Still, only 10 fetuses out of the 250 were found to have severe heart beat irregularities, and only 2 out of the 10 were ultimately found to have a heart condition. So 2 out of 5,000 is a very reassuring number in my book

Maryanne - what your sister said crossed my mind more than once. And a little hand doppler isn't going to be more accurate than all those fancy ultrasound machines at doctor's offices, so I'm going to think positive about it. Still, I'll keep an eye on it and I'll mention it to the doc if it continues, but I'll try not to stress too much about it, since it doesn't seem to be something very uncommon.

 

[Bug222]

Like the others have said Christi- I wouldn't worry too much, but if it is still on your mind then def ask your dr at your next appointment. Could be a lot of reasons-.change in distance from the Doppler probe to baby, slight movement of baby's position, Or something simple like a sinus arrhythmia which a large portion of the population has- slight change in heart rhythm that corrolates with breathing pattern.

 

[Christi85]

Thanks Bug, that really helps a lot

 

[carebear1981]

So, I think baby has moved into a breech position... but I'm not sure. Is it too soon for that? My kicks have dropped lower and I'm no longer feeling pressure on my sides like I was. I really feel like he moved and is staying there. Just curious to see if anyone else has noticed this or maybe I'm talking crazy and have no clue...

 

[wantabby]

Carebear, She us all over the place, I don't think Breach is something to worry about yet. I could be wrong, but I think they are still small enough to move all around. I had my sugar test today, results tomorrow. . Hopefully they will be good!

 

[carebear1981]

Oh good luck! Hope u get good results!


More curious because he's been horizontal for sooooo long and my sides were so sore. And now that pain is gone! Also getting a few feelings above my belly button now.

 

[Christi85]

Carebear, I think mine is still all over the place, though not much on the left side, but everywhere else . I do feel kicks low down (around the cervix ) sometimes, then at other times it's on my sides (mostly on the right one) and other times I feel movements or kicks around my belly button area or slightly above and to the side. It depends a lot on how I'm sitting/lying. Of course what I think are kicks may in reality be punches or jabs, so I can't really tell what his position is yet.

Wantabby - good luck with your results! I'm not having my glucose test until 6/2 with my next prenatal appointment, however as I've been having a recurrence of the yeast symptoms, I've called my OB's office and have asked to go in for a vaginal culture (I want to know for sure if it's yeast or bacterial vaginosis which would require a different treatment), so I'm going in tomorrow afternoon for them to take a swab, and I plan to ask my doctor about any glucose test alternatives. I suspect I'll have to do the standard one though.

Speaking of vaginal discharge, do any of you ladies have a kinda watery discharge? Mine has been like that for a couple of weeks, some days a lot, and at first I didn't think much of it and I attributed it to yeast (it seems to be watery around the edges and then the 'normal' sticky in the middle), but yesterday I was having many spurts through the day and kinda freaked out it was amniotic fluid leaking (though it was still watery around the edges only). So I called my OB's office this morning and explained I wanted to have that checked as well. They're not overly concerned, hence I'm not going in 'till tomorrow, but I will ask for that to get checked as well. Of course today I've been having much less discharge, so I doubt it's amniotic fluid, but better be safe. Sorry for TMI.