The Pregnancy Chat Thread!

embee

Scans are not necessary at every appointment, but I would agree that in an ideal world, you would have an earlier scan than 12 weeks.

You will more than likely get two scans during your pregnancy when you go public - one around 12 weeks and the "big" scan around 20 weeks (also called anomaly scan).

There is debate at the moment about the effects of ultrasonic scans on fetal development, and there are genuine concerns that too many scans may be responsible for brain damage or at the very least place a baby at risk.

I know that if I were pregnant again, I don't think I'd have any more than the two scans given at 12 and 20 weeks. There is no need for them and I would worry a little about unproven technology.

tinofapples

Scans are not necessary at every appointment, but I would agree that in an ideal world, you would have an earlier scan than 12 weeks.

You will more than likely get two scans during your pregnancy when you go public - one around 12 weeks and the "big" scan around 20 weeks (also called anomaly scan).

There is debate at the moment about the effects of ultrasonic scans on fetal development, and there are genuine concerns that too many scans may be responsible for brain damage or at the very least place a baby at risk.

I know that if I were pregnant again, I don't think I'd have any more than the two scans given at 12 and 20 weeks. There is no need for them and I would worry a little about unproven technology.

We're due on the 24th and during our last 2 visits to the hospital I would have loved a scan but it didn't happen. My wife mentioned that they don't like having the scan done unnecessarily. So far we've had two scans , the first the baby was jumping around like a lunatic, the second the baby was still and very obvious.

We're counting the days now.

silja

Quick update on me:
I'm full term now for twins, which is 37 weeks (today I am 37 weeks 2 days). The babies are still both head down, and Wilbur (twin A) is fully engaged. While this is not a guarantee of imminent labour, it is a good sign. The ultrasound showed that there is still plenty of fluid around both babies,. and the placentas are intact and working well, but due to running out of space it is difficult to measure the size/ weight of the twins (they were also wriggling a lot, which didn't help!). So their approximate weights are 6.3 pounds for Wilbur and 6.8 for Robyn, but that could be off a bit up or down- they are pretty sure both are over 6 pounds though, which are great weights.

Dr Robson hopes they'll show up naturally within the week, but if not, I have an appointment with him this time next week to discuss what to do next; he would recommend getting the twins out by 38 weeks 4 days due to gestational age and weight, though if I feel strongly, he'd let me go later- I told him I'll do whatever is best for the babies. He'll do an internal exam next week to see if I am dilated/ effaced and if I am several centimeters, he suggests induction; if nothing is moving down there, he would recommend c-section as even with induction, I am likely to end up with a c-section if I haven't started by myself. So, one way or the other, it looks like we'll hold the twins in our arms by Valentine's Day!

trevorku

Silja, hi there can I ask in your scan photo of 7 weeks 2 days, did you have twins because there are 2 objects. Thanks.

neoB

After a horrid time at the hospital, I gave birth to a 6lbs 5 oz 19 5/8 inches baby boy 24, Jan. Little Cornelius Kealan M. Oh and he is such a doll. I went to the hospital for a scheduled c-section and they wanted me to come back in two days... but ended up doing it anyways b/c I was low on fluid... too low :S. but healthy and happy! Was only in for 3 days, I didn't mind I couldn't move and was in pain as long as I got out of there! Now I have my hands full with a 12 day old and 14 month old!! But love every minute of it !
luck to the rest of you soon to be mommies/daddies.

silja

trevorku wrote: »

Silja, hi there can I ask in your scan photo of 7 weeks 2 days, did you have twins because there are 2 objects. Thanks.

Yup, I am having fraternal twins (ie they come from two eggs).


NeoB- sorry you had a horrid time in the hospital. Odd that they scheduled you and then told you to come back later! I am glad mom and baby are home happy and healthy though, congrats on the little man!

alkel

Hi everyone

Just discovered pregnancy and went to GP to have it confirmed. Looks like I am 6 weeks gone but doctor found blood in my urine and started talking about miscarriage/ectopic pregnancy.

I have had slight abdominal discomfort in the last couple of weeks along with indigestion, bit of nausea etc

From what I have read, bleeding at this stage is relatively normal. Please can someone clarify? I am terrified.

Try not to worry, stress isn't good for you
What will be, will be in this situation
I wish you the best

TequilaMockingBird

Hi Alkel

If your GP suspected an ectopic, then I would imagine he would have sent you for a scan immediately. If you have anymore stomach pains I would go to a Maternity Hospital if I were you.

I had an ectopic pregnancy myself.

embee

A confirmed, or even suspected ectopic pregnancy is a medical emergency, and would require immediate treatment. If an ectopic pregnancy is confirmed, then surgical removal of the ectopic pregnancy, and/or removal of the affected Fallopian tube (in severe cases) is the only satisfactory way to deal with it. The pregnancy of course would be lost with this outcome, but the alternative is rupture of the fallopian tube, massive internal haemmorhage and possible maternal death.

If your GP suspected ectopic pregnancy, he would have referred you to the Early Pregnancy Unit at your nearest maternity hospital as a matter of extreme urgency. An ectopic pregnancy would often times be accompanied by shoulder pain, and brown or "old" blood (as opposed to a miscarriage, which would be bright red). Bleeding in early pregnancy can come from a myriad of reasons - miscarriage, implantation, breakthrough bleeding...

You said the blood was in your urine though - does your GP know if the blood came from your urethra or your vagina? Blood in the urine could very well be nothing more sinister than a urinary tract infection. You really need to go back to your GP, or perhaps see a different GP for a second opinion - any bleeding from the vagina in pregnancy should be investigated in greater detail.

Also - if you are in early pregnancy and you retain your symptoms, ie indigestion, nausea etc., I would take their continuation as a positive sign. These symptoms of pregnancy are caused by hormones - in miscarriage, hormone levels start to drop and many women report disappearance of previously noticeable symptoms.

I would say this though - any vaginal bleeding that is bright red, moderate to heavy in amounts and "clotty" in appearance and is perhaps accompanied by crampy, period-type pains or shoulder pain warrants immediate further investigation in hospital. You can just walk into the hospital without a referral - they won't turn you away.

Try not to worry - I know its impossible not to but try not to think the worst until you've had a scan and proper examination at hospital.

Good luck - I will be thinking of you.

alkel

Thank you so much for your replies. I'm feeling less panicky now and have made my first ante natal appointment. I'm encouraged by fact that even though there was blood in the urine test, I have not been "bleeding" noticeably and have no pain other than very slight abdominal discomfort which could well be caused by the constant indigestion. My optimistic side thinks the doc could have been covering her ass - as you say, she would have sent me to hospital if she thought the risk was that great. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

TequilaMockingBird

Glad to hear from you Alkel.

I think any new Mum here would agree, any concerns you have whatsoever, go to your GP, if your still concerned go to a maternity hospital.

Take care.:)

silja

Thursday is D day for me

Went to see my consultant today, and he examined me internally. Noting happening down there at all. So he is giving me another two days to go naturally (which seems unlikely to me if I am completely closed up now, but he said it has happened before), and then I am going in on Thursday at 9.30am, he'll examine me again and if nothing is happening still, we'll go for c-section on Thursday afternoon (because it's twins, induction can lead to c-section anyway and we are unlikely to have many more pregnancies), but if I am dilating, we'll try for an induction. I've always wanted a vaginal delivery, and a little bit of me is still hoping to go naturally before Thursday, but I am at peace with a c-section if it needs to be.

Valentine's Day babies!

marti101

Same ive only 2 weeks left due 23rd feb cant wait now

TequilaMockingBird

Oh how exciting Silja and Marti! :):)

BABIES!!

Quality

silja wrote: »

Thursday is D day for me


Valentine's Day babies!

marti101 wrote: »

Same ive only 2 weeks left due 23rd feb cant wait now

Best of luck girls I hope everything goes well for you both...

angeldelight

Even though not pregnant been reading this thread for ages, hope today went well silja!

embee

Silja,

I'm presuming you've had your two little bundles by now - hope everything went smoothly for you. Come back soon with pics!

Nea

I am currently 35 weeks gone and a liver function test was given last week. My bile acid levels are high. They monitored the baby in the perinatal clinic on Thursday and want me back on Monday again.

I am not itchy in any way and babs is moving fine.

Has anyone else had this problem and what was the outcome?

flyz

Hey guys I haven't been on here in a while.
This is because on Thurs 31st Jan my 2 baby girls were born by C-Section. We went for a scan on the Tuesday and the blood flow to twin 2 had reduced again so the Obstetrician decided it was time to take the babies out once and for all.

They were born at 35weeks+4days , Eimear weighed 5lbs and Aoife weighed 3lbs10oz. They spend 10 days in Neonatal and are now home with me once we got breastfeeding established.
We have neonatal nurses calling every second day to monitor their weights. Aoife is now 4lbs and Eimear is 5lbs11ozs. Once Aoife gets over 2.2kgs/5lbs then we stop getting visits.

Here's a photo from when they were in Neonatal:


And here's some taken this morning:
Aoife:


Eimear:

angeldelight

flyz, congrats They're both gorgeous, congratulations on your new arrivals!!

Hellrazer

Dont know how I missed this thread.

Anyways were expecting our 4th in 10 weeks time.Our youngest is only 15 months(the fun is only starting

Eldest turned 10 on Valentines days--shes the one that was a 28 weeker.

Docs are monitoring my wife every 2 weeks to make sure that everything is going alright.She had dexametasone (sp?) at 24 weeks and at 28 just to help the babies lungs if there was a problem.
Shes 30 weeks now and so far everythings great.


@Nea--My wife had the same thing only with the itch but it just died down after about 3 weeks.Everythings fine now.

Congrats Flyz.The babies are just gorgeous.

silja

Just a quick note to say after a failed induction on Valentine's Day, the twins were born by c-section on Friday, being 38 weeks 5 days, at 4.09 (Wilbur, weighing 7 pounds 4 ounces) and 4.11pm (Robyn, weighing 6 pounds 6 ounces). We just got home from the hospital three hours ago and already had a visit from the public health nurse, they are really on the ball. I am exclusively breastfeeding them both, usually tandem, which saves time.

I won't have time to catch up with all your news, but I'll post photos and a birth story when I have time... no idea when that'll be though!

embee

Congratulations to flyz and silja - 4 new boardsies of the future!

Flyz - glad to hear your girls are doing well - good sizes for 35 week twins:) Can I ask, are they identical twins? Tis hard to tell when they're in profile! They are beautiful and you must be thrilled. The time will fly until Aoife passes that 5lb milestone. You have your breastfeeding down pat also - fantastic!

Silja - congrats to you too!! Shame about the failed induction, but no matter. You have done wonderfully to get your babies to term - almost 39 weeks is fantastic for twins - its over "term" even for a singleton! And wow, such good sizes too - you must have felt very very tired carrying around over a stone of babies, placenta and fluid. Well done with the breastfeeding also - you sound like you're doing fantastically.

Really like the names ye both have chosen too, ladies. Come back soon with more pics!

Hellrazer - congrats on your impending arrival. 10 weeks is nothing, really! Do you know if ye are having a boy or a girl?

I love hearing of new babies and pregnancies - gives me such a warm feeling to think of new life coming into the world

Nevyn

Congratulations!

Quality

Girls well done, and the fact that you are both breastfeeding is brilliant...

Its the best gift you can give your baby!!

embee

Quality wrote: »

Girls well done, and the fact that you are both breastfeeding is brilliant...

Its the best gift you can give your baby!!

Tsk. As a mother who tried breastfeeding, found it hard and was completely demotivated and turned off it by a terrible, terrible nurse in the post-natal ward, I would say that love is the best thing your baby will ever get from you, no matter how they're fed. I didn't breastfeed and I don't feel like she missed out on a thing

Thats a topic for a whole other thread though I suppose - and you're right, it is wonderful that both flyz and silja are breastfeeding, especially that they've both got twins I applaud ye for carrying healthy, happy babies (no mean feat!) and wish you both (and your partners and babies) every continued happiness.

Really, there is very little in the world more blissful than sleeping, contended newborns

Quality

:oSorry Embee, I don't mean to insult you or anybody here for not breastfeeding, I am not here for that..

On my first child I tried and gave up after 5 days, I did not have the support or confidence to keep me going...

7 years later I decided I wanted to try again and I was determined, there were a lot of "problems" for me at the start, which I dont want to go into too much detail with but it ended up with me getting mastitis and not feeding my son for 2 days... I went to visit my phn at the end of those days and she explained that if I wanted to feed him I still could...

I had to breast and bottle feed for about two weeks after that in order to build up the supply after the 2 day lapse,It started off so that I was feeding my son non stop at times, feeds would role into each other but because I was determined to do it I didnt care...

I had cracked nipples and sore boobs, It took me 16 weeks to get some sort of routine going, but It was to me the best thing I could do for my child at the time..

i had a lot of support from my phn, they ran a tuesday clinic, in which could bring your child down to be weighed and talk to other moms and the phn about the issues that you had,

I lasted 9 months, ( but would have went on longer) only my son was on solids and went off the boob...

Anyhow, I would recommend bf to any mom, and if it doesnt work out dont be worrying about it... For me It was something I really wanted to do... And what I want, well I usually get:o:o No matter how hard it is..:)

hope this clears things up/...


By the way girls,,, the easy part is over now....(pregnancy and labour)


The hard part begins... (raring your child);)

tinofapples

My wife gave birth to our beautiful girl Caoimhe at 4.52am this morning. Weighing in at 6lb 8.5ozs.

Pic added.


Here's my little Princess :
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg316/tinofapples/caoimhe645am21feb08.gif

marti101

cograts tinofapples shes beautiful hope wife and baby as well asyourself are doing well