September Sweet Peas (Our 2015 Rainbows)

[maryanne1987]

Congrats on 16 weeks wantabby!

Glad your happy with your hospital Christi, sounds lovely. Unfortunately I was told today by my consultant that I won't be allowed the home birth I desperatly wanted. They said it's too high risk I know they are thinking of baby but I'm still a little disappointed. So hopefully now gonna go check out our local hospital. Hope it's as nice as yours sounds!

 

[Mrs Reineke]

Hello ladies, I haven't been able to get on in a couple days. Very busy, but I think I'm all caught up!!

Christi, I didn't get a measurement on my baby at my 11 week 3 day appointment which sucked and I don't have my next scan until 22 weeks...so the last measurement I had was at 7 weeks and I measured 2 days ahead. I asked my doctor about not getting measured at my last appointment and she said that the baby looked just fine. So I have to trust that's the case. I'm so glad you like the hospital!!

Ambiguous, I'm so glad your appointment went well and welcome to the 2nd trimester!!

lol, love your scan picture!! I"m guessing a boy!!

yazzy, happy 14 weeks!!

cutie, you very well could have felt your little guy!!

Moom, welcome and congrats!!

Radiance, congrats on your little girl!! I'm so sorry you are bleeding, but glad the doctors are keeping an eye on things. I'm praying it will all go away on it's own.

carebear, happy 13 weeks!!

babyfeva, so glad you had a great scan!!

wantabby, I'm sorry you are sick. I hope you feel better real soon. Happy 16 weeks and good luck with your scan on Wednesday!! I can't believe we're at 16 weeks either!!

maryanne, I'm so sorry you can't have an at home birth like you were hoping. But I hope you like your hospital as well.

AFM: Had my doctor's appointment this past Thursday. Didn't have a scan, it was just a check up. She did listen to baby's hb with the doppler and told me my uterus was half way between my pelvic bone and belly botton which is where is should be at this point, so that's good considering I haven't had an actual measurement on my baby since 7 weeks!! She didn't measure it at my 11 week 3 day appointment and I asked her about that and she said it was looking just fine, so I have to trust that. I also got my blood drawn for the quad screen and to check my blood clotting levels again. I'm terrified to say the least to get the results. She said it takes about a week. I'm just praying my baby is perfect and healthy. I asked her again about my blood clotting thing and she told me to try not to worry about it and she thinks me taking the baby aspirin is all I need. She said deciding to take an actual blood thinner is a big decision because they come with risks. So she said to keep doing what I'm doing because she really doesn't think it's necessary in my case. So need to trust her opinion with that. If my clotting levels come back higher than before, then we'll go from there. Any of you other ladies that had your baby's chromosomes checked worry like crazy until you got the results? I over worry about EVERYTHING!! It's horrible!! I need to put more trust and faith in God that he's taking care of my baby. So my next appointment is April 16th. I won't have a scan at that time either, but I'll get to set up my anatomy/gender scan for week 22!! Sucks I have to wait until then, but that's how my doctor does it. Hoping it goes by really fast!!

 

[tooth_fairy]

A lot going on here, just got back from Hawaii so will catch up with all the posts soon!

Good luck to everyone who will be having scans soon

As for myself, next apt is April 23rd at 20 weeks. Can't wait to see my little guy again.

 

[Mrs Reineke]

tooth_fairy, I'm sooooo jealous you just got back from Hawaii!!!!!

 

[Christi85]

Congrats on 16 weeks wantabby and MrsR!! Almost there myself

MrsR - I think it's natural to worry a lot. I've found I've worried relatively less after my NT scan, but that was only because the doctor doing it was super positive about what he was seeing, telling me it was all 'textbook' and also that even if the blood tests didn't come out great, they wouldn't worry much based on such a good NT scan. So I wasn't worried almost at all (strange for me) about the first blood tests (for Down syndrome and trisomy 18), but I can see me being more worried once I have my quad marker tests done, most likely next week. I do worry about many things though. Even the slightest thing makes me worry that I'm harming the baby In this sense, having the home doppler has been a blessing, even though it's given me hassle finding the heart beat a couple times. I'm really hopeful that I will feel calmer once I start feeling the baby move though, and once that happens, I plan to stop using the doppler, or use it very rarely. It sucks that you have to wait that long to see your little one again and to have him/her measured. If your doctor was reassuring though, you have to trust her. They probably see dozens of pregnant women every single day and can tell just by experience. Also, I hear you about the time. I feel like my anatomy scan is forever away (in reality, only a month or so), not to mention my due date. I find myself wishing it was already August/September multiple times a week It just feels sooo far away, it's painful!

Maryanne - I know. When I got my BFP, my first thought was to go with a group of midwives I am local to who have a good reputation for my whole prenatal care (vs. my OB). For some reason a home birth scares me, but they do have a birthing center which I was seriously considering. But since I had some complications early on (spotting etc.), I got more scared and decided I'd rather birth at the safety of a hospital in case of any delivery complications. I still hope baby and I are healthy enough, so that I can make a birth plan for a natural, un-medicated birth. At least you are in the UK. Most everyone I know there who has had a baby had a natural, un-medicated birth, so you probably have a good chance of getting that too

 

[maryanne1987]

Congrats on 16 weeks wantabby and MrsR!! Almost there myself

MrsR - I think it's natural to worry a lot. I've found I've worried relatively less after my NT scan, but that was only because the doctor doing it was super positive about what he was seeing, telling me it was all 'textbook' and also that even if the blood tests didn't come out great, they wouldn't worry much based on such a good NT scan. So I wasn't worried almost at all (strange for me) about the first blood tests (for Down syndrome and trisomy 18), but I can see me being more worried once I have my quad marker tests done, most likely next week. I do worry about many things though. Even the slightest thing makes me worry that I'm harming the baby In this sense, having the home doppler has been a blessing, even though it's given me hassle finding the heart beat a couple times. I'm really hopeful that I will feel calmer once I start feeling the baby move though, and once that happens, I plan to stop using the doppler, or use it very rarely. It sucks that you have to wait that long to see your little one again and to have him/her measured. If your doctor was reassuring though, you have to trust her. They probably see dozens of pregnant women every single day and can tell just by experience. Also, I hear you about the time. I feel like my anatomy scan is forever away (in reality, only a month or so), not to mention my due date. I find myself wishing it was already August/September multiple times a week It just feels sooo far away, it's painful!

Maryanne - I know. When I got my BFP, my first thought was to go with a group of midwives I am local to who have a good reputation for my whole prenatal care (vs. my OB). For some reason a home birth scares me, but they do have a birthing center which I was seriously considering. But since I had some complications early on (spotting etc.), I got more scared and decided I'd rather birth at the safety of a hospital in case of any delivery complications. I still hope baby and I are healthy enough, so that I can make a birth plan for a natural, un-medicated birth. At least you are in the UK. Most everyone I know there who has had a baby had a natural, un-medicated birth, so you probably have a good chance of getting that too

Think it depends where in the UK you are from. They definatley don't encourage natural birthing where I live. When I was having my son and I was writing my birth plan with my midwife I mentioned I wanted a natural birth with no pain relief and her reply was 'your kidding right?'. Similar Experiance when I was in hospital delivering my son. I had to constantly remind them I wanted no pain relief, they even called an anesthetist behind my back to give me an epidural. Said they were confident I'd change my mind so called him anyway. The one midwife even said she thought I was insane and didn't understand 'those women' going down the natural route. I was so annoyed. This time though I'm older and wiser. I may have to give birth in hospital but I will be planning to natural birth again and if anyone dares question me I shall remove them from the room. I think it's a woman's right to have the birth she wants be it natural or medicated. No one should comment on it. I'm hoping our hospital have birthing tubs now, I quite fancy a water birth

 

[yazzy]

I'm in the uk (south west) and the hospital where I had my daughter just go with whatever you want, as long as it is safe for you and baby). I had an injection of diamorphine in my previous labour and I was so sick! This time I plan on just gas and air.
I didn't write a birth plan as I just wanted baby to arrive as naturally and safely as possible but happy with most things as long as baby was ok.

 

[cutieq]

Yazzy, I've been leaning towards no formal birth plan. I really like my practice and midwife and although I havent been on a tour yet, I've head great things about my hospital.

My plan is for me and baby to be healthy and safely.

 

[babyfeva]

Mrs R, I'm hoping your blood clotting results come back great!

 

[carebear1981]

I have no idea about my birthplan yet. I have my first appointment with my OB on May 11 and I'm so irritated, I called my GP cuz I had to change my appointment and it got moved from Apr 9 to the 29th (they're so busy)!!! Ugh!! At least I'll be 19 weeks then and will likely get referred right away for my gender scan. You know, I haven't heard baby's heartbeat yet?? Ever!! I've only ever seen it flickering away on the screen. It makes me want a doppler so bad just so I can hear it

But I do have some good news!!!! My work just went through some major overhauls. We lost a few of our perks and 1 was the maternity leave top-up. I was soooo upset by this because my work topped you up to 16 weeks (at 85 percent of your pay) and now it was down to a lowly 6 weeks... I found out today that I got approval to have the 16 weeks!!! So I get 4 months of 85% of my pay off with baby!!! I'm still taking the full year that I can here in Canada but it's barely a fraction of my pay. I'm just so happy we won't be struggling the first few months!

 

[lol2811]

Yazzy - Where in the south West are you? I'm in Somerset but will be having baby in Dorchester.

With my first I just had gas and air, the midwives were great and were happy to go along with whatever I wanted. Can def recommend going in a pool, that really helped, although because of medication I wasn't able to give birth in the pool.

 

[yazzy]

Lol - I'm in Somerset too! In Yeovil on the border of Dorset so you can't be far from me...out of all the people on the forum how funny is that?!!

Carebear - great news about your maternity pay.

I'm self employed so think I'll get maternity allowance, not sure how much or for how long but anything is better than nothing!

 

[Christi85]

Congrats Carebear! That's great news!!

I am self employed, so probably not entitled to 'disability pay' by the state of California, because you need to get it as elective coverage and keep paying for it for at least some time in advance to get it (which I haven't done). But 90% of our income comes from DH's salary anyway (he'll be taking 2 weeks of paid paternity leave), so I don't anticipate it will hurt our family budget all that much. Right now most of the money I make gets re-invested into my small business anyway, so I doubt we will see a change in our day to day life. I haven't decided when I will stop working, but I'm thinking maybe 2-3 weeks before my due date and then stay off work for 2-3 months after baby is born, and ease back into some sort of a part time schedule after that. It will probably take some time though before I'm able to do full time or close to full time again. Right now being home with the baby is the priority, which is also the reason why I became self employed/working from home in the first place.

Re birth and birth plans - first of all, I'm sooo jealous of all of you whose hospitals have bath tubs! I'd love to birth in a tub, but my hospital unfortunately doesn't have them. They do have private showers in delivery rooms though, and they do encourage you to take warm showers to ease the pain if you are doing an un-medicated birth. I agree that having a healthy baby (and healthy mom) is the #1 priority. My plan is to try for natural and un-medicated for as long as I'm able to take the pain (hopefully I'll be able to take it 'till the end). I don't rule out epidural as an option, it just has some drawbacks that scare me a bit, but if I feel I absolutely need it, I will ask for it. I even don't rule out a C-section if necessary. What I don't want is to be pushed to have a C-section/induction/medicated birth for a less-than-serious reason, which, unfortunately, a lot of healthcare professionals are guilty of pushing women towards. And unfortunately I have friends who have been pushed towards inductions/C-sections for practically no reason, just because it suited their doctor to have a pre-arranged delivery. Which I find infuriating. This is my reason for wanting a birth plan, but of course if things turn out less than ideal, I will do whatever necessary for a safe delivery

In other news, I'm 16 weeks today too!! It still feels like September is forever away though

 

[maryanne1987]

Congrats Carebear that's brill!

Congrats on 16 weeks christi! Me too! It's crazy how quick it's going. Although your right September seems a lifetime away! I totally agree with you on the birth plan. Main thing is baby is healthy and comes into the world safely. Like you im open to anything that's needed but don't want to be pushed into anything I don't need like they tried to last time.

And lol was the pool really that helpful? I really want to give it a try! Looks so calming!

 

[Christi85]

Congrats Maryanne!! Happy 16 weeks to you!
Did you have your gender scan yet? I think you said you'd be doing a private scan at some point?

Totally agree with all the points you make regarding delivery.

 

[maryanne1987]

A week saturday!!!! Was meant to be this Saturday but the clinic where we are having it has over booked so it had to be moved. Although they gave us a full refund so can't complain! I can't wait now not sure why but I'm really thinking im team blue. Just have a hunch though will be thrilled with either. I honestly don't have a preference. Healthy baby is all I care about.

 

[carebear1981]

Congrats on 16 weeks to you both!!
I'm excited to find out our babies genders! Its all coming this month!
But yes, September still feels forever away to me too.

 

[maryanne1987]

Congrats on 16 weeks to you both!!
I'm excited to find out our babies genders! Its all coming this month!
But yes, September still feels forever away to me too.

When do you find out carebear? Do you have a hunch as to what team your on?

 

[carebear1981]

Mine will like get booked at my next GP appointment (which is April 29th). Our ultrasound place doesn't seem very busy and I can usually get in the same or next day. So I'm gonna say the very last day of April...
In the beginning, I thought a girl but afterwards I thought boy. Now I'm back to thinking it's a girl just because everyone who looks at the ultrasound pic thinks girl! basically... I have no idea...

 

[maryanne1987]

Mine will like get booked at my next GP appointment (which is April 29th). Our ultrasound place doesn't seem very busy and I can usually get in the same or next day. So I'm gonna say the very last day of April...
In the beginning, I thought a girl but afterwards I thought boy. Now I'm back to thinking it's a girl just because everyone who looks at the ultrasound pic thinks girl! basically... I have no idea...

Haha! I have changed my mind a lot on what I think I'm having. I'm sure I can see a boy nub in my last scan pic though. Although I'm rubbish at the whole nub thing though so probably wrong! Looking forward to hearing what team your on