One Month To Go!

It’s the 25th November! What does that mean? Well of course, it means one month until Eden’s due date. It’s been an eventful couple of weeks since I last updated, so I figured I would fill you in on what’s been going on in our world now that we are approaching thirty six weeks pregnant.

At 34 weeks and a few days we went for our second (and last!) growth scan. Everything was looking great with our little lady and we were most surprised to discover that she is HEAD DOWN! The sonographer said “and she’s head down” and Amy and I both went “WHAAAAAAT?!” Awesome news! Up until now she has stayed in that position, so fingers crossed she is comfy there and will remain head down until eviction day.

As you can see from the picture above, all of her growth and such is very much on track. They were concerned about her abdominal circumference at the last scan as it was on the larger side, but they’ve said that as long as it’s following on her pattern, all is well. So, that isn’t a worry any more. We also got an estimated weight of 5lbs11.1oz, which at 34w is fab! A lot of people have said we should expect probably 7lbs-8lbs as a birth weight at term, which would be great. Just perfect, in fact!

In the interest of being honest, I will say that I was struggling with work in the past few weeks. I was struggling a LOT with work and the fact that I am bigger. Getting out from behind my desk was an effort. Picking stuff up was hard and getting into the stock room was difficult. I asked my manager if I could start maternity leave a week early as I was worried about the effect of working on my already high blood pressure and I was starting to feel absolutely horrific. I was told no. The department is short staffed (which is apparently my problem) so I was unable to go early. They did kindly offer me unpaid leave, though, which I obviously declined. Why would I take unpaid leave in a time where I’m entitled to paid maternity leave? Little did I know that this was about to be taken out of my control.

A few days later I had a consultant appointment and my blood pressure went up to an eye watering 160/100. The consultant explained that this was quite a lot higher than they would like it to be. She was sending me up to the antenatal day unit for monitoring, which would bring forward several options. If my BP went down below 150/95 and stayed there, we carry on as normal. If it is above 150/95 but below 160/100, we medicate. If it stays at 160/100 or goes above that and stays there, we would need to medicate and I would have to be admitted until the medication took effect. Also, if the BP continues to rise we will be looking at induction between 37 weeks and 38 weeks.

So, after a very near melt down from me, Amy and I headed up to the Antenatal Day Unit for more monitoring and testing. Urine was clear, they did bloods and then they needed to take five BP readings over half an hour. They put me on the monitor so that Eden’s heart rate could be traced, and then we commenced readings. As usual, nothing concrete.

First reading 139/93 — Second reading 143/88 — Third Reading 143/93 — Fourth reading 142/97 — Fifth reading 143/93

So, all basically in the “see how it goes” range (under 145/95). A couple of times my pulse went as high at 131bpm, but I think that was to do with anxiety and the midwife agreed. After half an hour on the monitor it was decided that Eden is also doing just fine, so I was free to go and wait in the waiting room for a doctor’s review and blood results. At this point I also had a splitting headache, so I knew that they were worried that this might be the onset of pre eclampsia, which would obviously be VERY scary. Thankfully my bloods came back totally normal, so with normal bloods and normal urine they were willing to say that it wasn’t pre eclampsia.

The plan going forward is monitoring twice a week and still possible induction between 37 weeks and 38 weeks depending on what my blood pressure does and whether I end up on medication. Next monitoring will happen on Friday (two days from now) and then I have a midwife appointment next Tuesday and then will no doubt have a monitoring appointment around Friday again. Also, needless to say, the consultant advised me to stop work immediately. So, this week will be on sick pay and then maternity leave will start at 36 weeks – next Monday. It’s difficult that I’m leaving the department so short, but at the same time I need to do what’s best for me and for Eden at the moment.

As usual, we’ve peaked a little early in our house and put the Christmas tree up. I knew it couldn’t be good when I saw Amy disappearing off downstairs with a box of Christmas decorations! But the tree is up and the lounge looks a lot like Christmas vomited on it. It’s all very lovely and hey, who cares if it’s a bit early? Nothing wrong with some magic and sparkle, right? As of tonight the tree has presents under it as well after my dad and step mum dropped some down. It made me smile that a few of them are for Eden. It’s really amazing that she will be here soon! We’ve been debating a “baby’s first Christmas” tree ornament, but of course we don’t know for sure whether or not she will be here in time for Christmas, so I don’t want to buy one and then not need to use it until next year. That’;ll be one thing to do if she does arrive pre Christmas – a bauble and some kind of cute Christmas Pudding/Snowman type outfit situation.

Anyhow, I’ll update soon with news from the monitoring on Friday. I’m hoping that my BP will be down from the readings the other day, or in the “medicate” zone. I don’t want it to be in the “admit to hospital” zone, although I am packing my hospital bag tomorrow just in case as Monday’s fiasco really did give me the fear!