Diary of a Pregnant Mummy

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I am Lisa, mum to Louise who is nearly 2 ½ years old and married to Steve. We have just found out we are expecting our second child and I wanted to document my thoughts, feelings and experiences as I am finding my second pregnancy very different to the first.

We decided to try for another baby at the start of the year – we had been broody again for quite a while, but our sensible heads held us off until then. I was already off the pill and taking prenatal vitamins so we were good to go! Its funny how, once you have a child your impatience to get pregnant again when you have decided can take over everything!

Literally one month in to our journey I was getting frustrated already. I know this is ridiculous and I know it can take a long time to get pregnant, but there you go! Before Louise, I had suffered a missed miscarriage at 14 weeks so we were over the moon when I fell pregnant again my first proper cycle after that. This time seemed like such a wait… In the end it only took 3 cycles – and we were over the moon when my April period never arrived! I took a test the day before I was due on as it was my friend's birthday and I wanted to know if I could have a drink… saw the faintest of lines so still nothing conclusive.. I decided against drinking – and took another test in the morning, still faint but MUCH stronger – a third the next day confirmed it… Louise would be getting a baby brother or sister!

When I rang the midwives to get put on their books, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I would be able to have the same midwife as I had for my daughter; she was lovely and very down to earth. I felt very confident knowing that she would be there for me again. I had my booking appointment at about 8 weeks pregnant – which is quite early by some standards. At the appointment I found out they now offered 12 week scans in my area – when I was pregnant with Louise (and the previous baby) they didn’t, so it was a lovely surprise to know that my fears should be allayed early on.

Early pregnancy symptom wise wasn’t much different to my first – although the Morning (all day) sickness was much worse, as was my sensitivity to smells. I was able to hold food down fine, but a nasty smell had me running to the loo every time! I don’t know if this is a gender thing, or just a subsequent pregnancy thing – I will let you know in a few months! I found sea sickness bands were a great help with the nausea. Louise has been great – she worked out that I was having a baby early on… we thought she was just playing to begin with until she told me 3 or 4 days in a row that I had a baby in my tummy! No idea how she worked it out though… anyway we have decided to let her know – its really early, but we don’t want to lie to her! She is very excited and talks to the ‘baby’ lots! She has told me she will share SOME of her toys with the baby – better work on that one I think!

12 week Scan

We decided to go for the nuchal / triple test this time around. We didn’t get any testing done with Louise, but we decided that we had to be aware of how things could affect her now too. The scan went well, Louise came and was telling the sonographer everything she could see! The woman doing the scan thought this was great, and gave her a picture of her baby brother or sister to keep of her own! There is just one baby, happily wriggling and perfect size – we are due 29th December. A week or so later, we received our downs testing results – all good, came back as low risk 1:19002 so we are happy.

Second Trimester

My smell sensitivity and nausea continues until about 14 weeks, with Louise my morning sickness stopped by 10 weeks so this is a bit of a wakeup call for me! Louise loves talking to the baby and showing people the picture she has – she keeps telling me it’s a girl, but we keep reminding her she can’t choose – we just have to see what comes out! I am much more relaxed about things this time around; I guess that’s having a toddler to entertain for you…

I THINK I might have felt the baby move! It’s very, very faint, but have felt it a few times now (am 15 weeks) so we will have to wait and see what happens I guess. By 16 weeks I am certain it’s the baby I am feeling, mostly because I received a swift kick in the bladder the other night! Have a definite bump now too - which is lovely, but also much earlier than with Louise – at this point with her I was just starting to show!

Sleepless nights and vivid dreams have already started – I always hated this bit of pregnancy with Louise, but it started at about 20 weeks then… not sure how I am going to cope with a toddler too! A couple of nights before my 20 week anomaly scan, I have a dream… in it I get my VBAC, and I have a little girl who is SO beautiful it makes everyone jealous! Haha. I also go straight to see some friends (with the baby) and almost forget to tell them she has been born! That’s the quality of my dreams at the moment, something vivid and strange every night!

20 Week Anomaly Scan

I can’t quite believe I am 20 weeks already… time really does fly the second time around – I am determined not to let the second half of this pregnancy go quite so fast! Louise is really excited to see her baby brother or sister again! We have decided to have a surprise this time around… this came as a big surprise to me as last time I was positive I needed to know! Poor hubby didn’t get a say in it! I have realised I haven’t started organising anything yet, and as we have Christmas as the same kind of time that baby is due, I really need to start getting organised! The scan goes well – baby is very co-operative and the woman is able to get all measurements she needs. In her words we have one perfect little baby in there… still measuring bang on for dates. Louise was waving to the screen going ‘Hello baby, I’m your big sister!’ VERY sweet!

Pregnancy pain…

I have been getting problems with my hips which come and go since about 12 weeks, its getting worse now so finally go to see the doctor who says it sounds like Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. He has asked the midwives to give me a call and refer me for special physio in the hope of keeping the impact minimal as some women can end up on crutches and all sorts with it!

Heartburn…. I got this from around 20 weeks with Louise, but wasn’t too bad really was able to control it with glasses of milk and TUMS… this time, I have had it from about 14 weeks and its now bad enough that I have mentioned it to the doc who has prescribed me gaviscon liquid which has really helped.

Steve has started feeling the baby! I am 22 weeks and it’s lovely, with Louise her placenta was at the front so muffled a lot of her movement, this baby seems to never sleep in comparison!

I have finally started sorting out bits for the baby; my sister has 3 boys and has given us a load of baby clothes for if it is a boy. We have moved Louise’s clothes into the wardrobe with drawers in her room, so the dresser is free for baby clothes again. That has 3 drawers, so we have one for neutral bits, one for a boy and one for a girl at the moment! Have sorted out all the newborn size things we have into those drawers – there was so much! Now I just need to wash / iron them closer to the time and we are set.

Six Months Pregnant

Where did the time go?! I don’t know, I can tell you that much! All I know is we are now a few short months away from both Christmas and the baby coming and we are nowhere near ready for either! My sister has offered to have Louise when I go into hospital to have the baby, so Louise has decided that means they are having a party! Mum has offered to do Christmas dinner this year, so that one less thing I need to worry about at least! I have started buying a few bits for hospital bags – a small pack of nappies, some PJ’s for me, and some travel size toiletries oh and some breast pads! Mainly got those as I seem to have started leaking already! Didn’t get this at all with Louise, so it came as a surprise… its nothing major – just a bit of seepage at the moment, but I wanted to be prepared just in case!

I have now been to the hospital regarding my VBAC – Louise was a c-section after a 43 hour labour due to her position so I am very keep to try for a natural birth this time. The registrar asked about my experience of my last labour which I told her, and it was amazing to hear her AGREE with me that my body was trying to go into labour for about 3 weeks before she was born! She was fully supportive of my desire for a VBAC and saw no reason for it not to be successful so I left, over the moon – not needing to go back again at all and with plenty of thoughts to put into my birth plan.

Writing the birth plan

Last time around, my birth plan was quite specific about how I wanted the labour to go. I accounted for the unforeseeable but wasn’t overly flexible. This time around my birth plan basically consists of wanting to be as mobile as possible (and be reminded of that) and not wanting to be strapped to the bed at any point! I have also put that in the case of labour going slowly or not progressing as they would like, providing myself and my baby are coping fine I would like to be given time to encourage things along before they resort to another c-section. Will discuss it with the midwife next time I see her.

Making Progress and Getting things ready...

I am now nearly 30 weeks.... I finish work in 7 weeks tme! Its all getting scarily close, not because of what is going to happen - I am much calmer about the labour / birth this time around, but because of everything I feel I still need to do! Looking back over my list of things I wanted sorted, most of them are actually done now tho which is a relief!

The cot is up in Louise' room. We didn't want her blaming it on the baby when her free space in her room goes down so have built it in there now.
Louise' infant car seat is down from the garage and has been checked over. Its all fine - have taken the cover off and washed it to freshen it up. Louise is now using it as an extra toy for her baby doll!
All the baby clothes have been washed
Christmas shopping is getting there (its not even november yet!)
Big sister T-shirt and present from baby for Louise have been bought

Still need / want to do :

Pack hospital bag
Pack bag for Louise
Have a big declutter of the house
buy a present for baby from Louise

My bump seems much bigger this time! But when I look at it, its all out in front - with Louise it was everywhere so looked smaller from the side, this time I still have a little bit of waist but from the side I look like an elephant! Baby is head down already and feels in a much better position to what Louise ever was, which is very comforting to me. I have started listening to a hypnobirthing CD to help me prepare for VBAC. Its really good and I am feeling really calm about it all. I have started practising one of the cues when my hip is hurting or when I am getting stressed, and actually - its working already! I am just listening to it once a week at the moment (from 28 weeks) and once I get to 32 I will up that to twice a week, then every day for the last month or so. The leaflet says the more you listen to it the better effect it will have.

I have bought most of the things for my hospital bag now, but will leave packing it until much closer to the time - need to leave some jobs for when I am on maternity leave! The closer I get to the baby coming, the more aware I am of how big Louise is getting - she starts playschool on monday and is really excited. She knows it means she is a big girl now. I am suddenly finding myself very aware of the time I spend with her, and wanting it to be fun and full of activity as much as possible. Especially knowing that my SPD is getting worse so I won't necessarily be able to be this mobile for much longer - we are having lots of walks / swims etc at the moment - quality mummy / louise time, whilst we can! I am also planning ahead and building up stocks of crafty type things she can do once baby is born to help keep her entertained... things that are just for BIG girls.

Thoughts on breastfeeding

I am REALLY keen to breastfeed sucessfully this time around. Last time I did it for 10 days, and actually didn't have too many problems. I think the main reason I gave up so early was the lack of REAL LIFE information you get. I went on a breastfeeding workshop which I found fantastic at the time - lots of advice on positioning / latching - but in hindsight they really sketched over the reality of how tough it can be! My daughter had no problems latching on at all. She was a hungry girl tho with a very strong suck. That was fine initially.. I had no pain feeding her at all. When my milk started to come in I had problems getting her to stay latched on at the start of a feed - this turned out to be because of the start of engorgement, which a short express before a feed resolved. then the night my milk was coming in properly she wanted to feed ALL Night! I was still in hospital (after the c-section) and didn't know what was going on, all I knew was she was crying 30 mins after being fed! My hormones were all over the place and I ended up in floods of tears. The midwives took her away for a few hours and gave her a little formula from a cup to help her settle while I got a little rest. In the morning the breastfeeding councillor came to see me and explained what was going on - basically they can sense the REAL milk behind what they are getting, so they want to feed - but what they get isn't what they want... so they want to feed again! she taught me how to feed laying down and promised that by the next day Louise would be back to normal. We were discharged and went home and rested that day - she was right... the next day it was back to my angel - going every 3-4 hours between a feed and being a little angel. Then she had a growth spurt which started at 9 days old ... she suddenly wanted to feel every hour or so again! This was fine, I was a little more prepared this time HOWEVER because her suck was so strong, and she was feeding so often, my nipples weren't getting a break and she managed to draw blood! No one had mentioned nipple shields to me at the time so I kept going... that night I gave her a small formula feed from a syringe to give me a chance to heal, but by the next morning it was no better - she was starting to go longer again, but drawing blood every time. It still wasn't overly painful so I would have kept going - but the blood that was coming out - I couldn't bear the thought of her swallowing it! I tried to express, but it still happened - and the blood looked worse! The health visitor came and suggested nipple shields, but it had got to the point where she was drawing blood through them too - so at this point I decided to stop.

I get frustrated to think about it now as I feel that had I known the reality of breastfeeding we would have been more sucessful, and had I heard of nipple shields we would have had it cracked! That is neither here nor there though, Louise got 10 days of goodness from me and regained her birth weight, so I obviously did something right! This time I really want to succeed, on my terms - and stop because I WANT to when we are both ready, not just because I feel I have no other choice! I feel far more prepared this time, although I have to keep reminding myself that we could still have latching issues, or baby could be tongue tied or anything ... my fingers are still crossed!

The final countdown...

Well I am now 37 weeks, so the official 'wait' has begun! I have had an eventful week or two, so here's a brief rundown since my last update...

the first 6 weeks or so of the third trimester went fairly smoothly, although I did something to my back which wasn't fun at all - and took about 3 weeks to heal... that with the SPD pain made life interesting for those 3 weeks. Then, at my last midwife appointment it all became FAR more interesting!

Baby had turned to breech .... not helpful given my previous c-section... I researched the internet as much as I could and couldn't find much - but it seemed that if baby was still breech at 37 weeks they wouldn't try to turn because of the risk of scar rupture, but I would instead be booked in for a planned c-section! NOT what I wanted... I also noticed my blood pressure was creeping up - not by much and not a worry to the midwife, but I noticed and got a little concerned! I was booked to see a consultant at 37 weeks, and in the meantime tried everything I could find on the internet about encouragning baby to turn!

Whenever I was sat down, I was loaded with cusions so I couldn't slouch back at all, my evenings were spent sitting on or leaning over my birthing ball, and whenever I had a spare 5 mins you would find me on my hands and knees rocking around the floor! I also took Louise to the zoo for a couple of hours walking even though it was agony with my SPD! As a result of all this, I had 3.5 days of on / off AWFUL pains when baby was awake - they were clearly trying to turn, but I couldn't work out if they had or not.

By the monday (appt was the following day) I had an inking that baby had turned, and my bump might have also dropped a little - I didn't mention this to anyone as I didn't want to get my hopes up! At the appointment, the consultant initially made it clear that if baby was still breech he would be booking me for a section etc... then as soon as I got on the bed to be examined and lifted my top - he asked me if the midwife was sure it was breech, as he wasn't convinced it was a breech bump! (yay!!) I told him about the pains since, and he kept a poker face for a minute whilst having a feel, then told me it was definitely head down now! I laughed and said fab, now you just have to tell me baby is engaging and I will be one happy lady! He chuckled and said well, actually - it has started to! Only 4/5ths, but because of that he was 99% sure that baby wouldn't turn again! Oh - AND my blood pressure was back down to normal too

So - here I am at 37 weeks pregnant, and all set for my VBAC again! I am now listening to my hypnobirthing CD every night and am finding it immensly useful and relaxing... I am in no hurry for baby to come - which considering the pain in my pelvis I am surprised at, as far as I am concerned baby will come as soon as its ready and thats fine with me! The next update will probably be when baby is born - so stay tuned!

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