Hiccups, stitch and just 3 more weeks to go...

It has been a while since my last post, not much has happened within the last few weeks only within the last week has the little nugget decided to cause more trouble. I have actually managed to start to enjoy being pregnant... until Wednesday last week. Seeing and feeling his kicks, punches and his little re-enactments of Alien has left me laughing and unbelievably proud of how strong and active he is.

So Wednesday!... we ended up in triage. This time I had been experiencing pain in and around my cervix including some sharp shooting pains. They also noticed that my bump hadn't actually grown much within the last two or three weeks, which is unusual for bump considering he has always been a bit ahead of where he is meant to be. My bump is currently measuring 29 weeks when we are about to turn 34 weeks tomorrow. So cue spending the day in hospital with several sessions on a monitor and an emergency scan.

They concluded that I wasn't going into labour, my cervix is still 'nice and long' with the stitch still visible. Bump's growth might have slowed down but the doctors don't seem too worried, they think he might be growing in length and not quite putting on weight just yet. He's still very active so I think he's putting more energy into being cheeky than putting on weight. The video below just shows what he gets up to- already trying to play with the dog. Poor Morgana was left very confused after being kicked by my tummy! You might be able to make out what looks like a build up before he really goes for it!

Still there was the pain, triage were told not to touch the stitch and I would be seen back at the premature clinic the following Monday. The pain actually had gotten so bad on Friday I couldn't walk but I was really reluctant to go in to triage again (even though I was being told off by my partner and friends). All I could think about was my baby and knowing he is still better in than out for the next couple of weeks. Surprisingly my premature appointment showed my stitch is still holding and my cervix length is still looking good!

Top scan from 25 weeks... bottom scan from 33 weeks

But little nuggets head is pressing on my cervix and the stitch. It seems like bump has dropped quite far down and people have been commenting on it! My premature consultant is pretty determined for me to at least get through the next two weeks. Saying that nugget had hiccups for a good 20mins this morning that left me wanting to remove the stitch myself! This pain is completely different to the pain when the stitch was put in. There's a lot of pressure and everything down there feels very sore and bruised, forget trying to roll over or sit/stand without extremely sharp vaginal pains.

So it's 22 days until the stitch is due to be removed... I'll be happy to get through the next 15 days. Seeing how happy my partner and both our families are gives me the strength to try and push through. I think after all of this I definitely should be given free rein on what to name him!

Obstetrics Appointment

As I write this my little nugget is kicking and punching away. Today would have been the day I would be going back to work at college after Spring Break but instead I'm on bed rest and having my first Obstetrics appointment. I did manage a walk around my block yesterday, I was pretty proud of myself and it did feel amazing to get some Sun. The other half practised his photography skills whilst I waddled down the road.




We also watched the episode of Friends where Rachel gives birth. Even though my partner is a Radiographer and can handle all sorts of blood and guts... childbirth is his kryptonite which he's told me repeatedly even before we found out about this little one. I think he might be slowly trying to desensitise himself to the whole process, I'm sure his addiction to youtube documentaries is also helping and he's not just relying on episodes of friends.

It wasn't particularly all fun though, having visited the ladies (maybe for the 12th time?!?) I noticed blood in my urine... having a cervical stitch you know any kind of infection within that area just turns on your panic button. Thankfully my partner is amazing at calming me down. At the obstetrics appointment today there was only +1 leukocytes which is normal in pregnancy. But due to me having some pain around my bladder, some blood and having just recovered from another UTI a couple of weeks ago, they'll be sending a sample to be cultured anyway.

Besides what could possibly be a UTI I have been discharged from Obstetrics! Having a family history of heart problems they wanted to keep an eye on me but my echo and everything came back normal. Even my blood pressure is down, typically I would see 140/90 whereas today I had a reading of 101/61. Apparently, progesterone can assist with vasodilation and it makes sense that could bring down blood pressure. So everything is looking good at the moment, 24 weeks and 5 days, which means it's only a few more days until we're 25 weeks!

I have brought myself to look at the 20 week scan, with everything that surrounded that day I've found it pretty difficult. I am less emotional now but even looking at babies of instagram can set me off. Seeing him just makes me want a video of what he gets up to in there. I know my hospital does DVD's and 4D imaging but I think just having a video that I can see is quite priceless.

Nugget at his 20 week scan

Baby Kicks

So last night was a bad night, dreams that made me wake up in a sweat at midnight and pretty much stopped me from getting any rest until the morning where I probably only got an hour or so. I was really comforted by my little one having a kicking frenzy from 3am until 6am. Typically he'll kick to let me know he doesn't like the position I'm lying in, when he hears his daddy's voice, if there's any pressure being put on him (ultrasound or doppler) and also kicks when I'm hungry.

Little legs at the 3 month scan

He definitely has his daddy's gazelle-like ankles. Back when he was little I could feel his stretches and some of his movements around week 16. To start with they literally felt like a tickle, I described it to my SO (significant other) as running your tongue or finger down the inside of your cheek. Now that the baby is a lot bigger and stronger he feels a lot bigger and stronger. It's more comparable to when you have a lot of gas suddenly move! You are very aware that your intestines are a lot higher now though. It's almost like someone just knocked very loudly on the inside of your tummy.

Wondering if this belly button is going to pop! 

One of my favourite moments is seeing my SO's face when he felt him kick. The excitement and how proud he looked was just a moment that I'll be keeping with me. He ended up getting about four kicks before the baby decided his daddy wasn't getting the message to stop trying to wake him up. With an anterior placenta it's quite hard for other people to feel his kicks. Usually we have to wait until his legs are in my left or right side for anyone to be able to feel anything. That doesn't mean I can't feel the kicks. They are an amazing reminder that he's growing in there and seems to have a crazy little personality already.