Big Scare and 30-32 Week Pregnancy Update

Where is time going?!?!?! It’s crazy. I am definitely turning in to my mother as it seems every other sentence I speak starts with “time flies”…and it’s true! The scariest thing was that the receptionist at the Dr the other day wanted to book me in for an appointment in October- I literally felt my stomach drop as she said the words, all I could think of was that by that date I will have  pushed a BABY out of my you know what and be a fully fledged m.o.t.h.e.r! Needless to say I suggested that we book things as far as August and then reassess!

I am now officially 32 weeks 4 days pregnant and I really am genuinely feeling so happy and contented. So long as everything goes smoothly, the baby will be being evicted at 38 weeks, which means I have just over 5 weeks left! This post is a little late and is a mash-up of weeks 30-32 so I apologise, but weeks 30-31 were a little turbulent and as a consequence I stepped back from blogging and social media a little bit just to really focus on the baby and myself. However, after my 32 week scan last week I am feeling much more positive and hope this post will explain everything.

So, a lot of you may be aware through social media about the scare that we encountered at 30 weeks. I am definitely going to do an individual post dedicated to this as it really shook me but for those of you that don’t know I’ll explain. On the Sunday after we got back from Majorca I was suddenly feeling lots of strange pains, like strong period pains, but very bearable that came and went. Then I noticed when I went for a wee (and I go for a LOT) that there was the tiniest amount of very pale pink blood – spotting- on the tissue. I then started to notice that the baby, a definite sportsman / woman-to-be, wasn’t moving the way it usually did.

Any how, I went to bed and thought that I’d reassess in the morning. Monday morning came, P left for work and I lay in bed anxiously lying on my left side, then my right side hoping the baby would move and kick me. I drank ice water, bounced on my medicine ball and ate some energy balls to which there were a few movements which put my mind to rest, a little. I had no more spotting and the pains had gone so I thought it was all fine.

Throughout the afternoon I felt nothing though and by 8pm when Ports walked through the door I was really worried and upset and just didn’t know what to do. He told me to phone the hospital midwife which I did immediately and the lady was so kind and calm that I just burst in to floods of tears on the phone. She told me to just go in to the hospital straight away to be monitored and checked over. The 40 minute journey was awful, Ports was, as usual, calm and strong and optimistic, where as I just sat with tears pouring down my cheeks staring at my tummy and urging the little one to just MOVE.

We arrived at hospital and had to go straight to the delivery suite as the day assessment was closed. I was taken straight in to a room and a lovely Midwife came in. I felt I needed to apologise for being there, I felt I was wasting their time. She firmly put me in my place and told me that I’d 100% done the right thing. She firstly listened to the baby’s heartbeat- strong (thank goodness), and then strapped me up to the machines and monitored me for 45 minutes. They also gave me a bleeper to hold to press every time I felt movement, which, no sooner was I strapped up, I felt, over and over again. Yet again, the tears rolled, and I felt that I was finally able to breathe again.

I learnt a very short sharp lesson and there’s no way that I am ever going to leave my worries / concerns again. Mothers instincts are so important and if you don’t feel that something’s right, seek advice immediately. Since the drama I have downloaded an app called Baby Kicks (there are loads out there) and so as well as generally just feeling the baby moving about I also monitor the little one’s movements a couple of times a day on the app. It suggests that you should feel 10 movements in 2 hrs. Most of the time I feel 10 movements in 10 minutes, but sometimes you just have to be a little patient. My advice to any mummy to be is never ever feel afraid to call your midwife or the hospital and get advice, any time, day or night, there’s just no point in risking it.

A lot of you have also asked about my conception/ preconception story too so I will do a blog on that next week so if you have any questions regarding preconception then send me an email or comment below and I’ll answer all of them!

Weight: 5.5 lbs over pre-pregnancy weight (For those that haven’t read my whole story- I did lose over 10lbs  in the first three months of pregnancy, which is why my weight “gain” pre-pregnancy might seem small).

Gender: A lot of you have asked over social media whether we know the gender. We do. I took P for a surprise gender reveal scan at 17 weeks for his birthday and it was one of the most magical days and moments so far. We had decided that we were going to find out at the 20 week scan any way as the first trimester had been so hard emotionally and physically (blog here) that we both felt it would be a real treat to know. As side from a few people, we are probably going to keep it quiet as I’d love it to be a surprise for you  guys too! Feel free to guess though!

Symptoms / feelings:  The acid reflux and nipple leakage has stopped. In fact my boobs seem to have shrunk back a bit and definitely aren’t as full and heavy as they were. I’m sure I will be eating my words though as we get closer to the due date.

Nose bleeds. Wow. These have been really quite bad. Always at night. I usually will wake up and it’ll be like a tap is running – they only last for about 1-2 minutes but it’s very disconcerting.

Bleeding gums. My gums have bled a lot the past couple of weeks too. I will arrange to see a dentist next week just to double-check everything but as far as I’m concerned it’s all pretty normal during pregnancy and it’s only ever when I brush my teeth.

Exhaustion. I’m starting to have a lot of naps again in the day time. I have been much more active the past 2 weeks seeing people and attending some work meetings so have been out and about a lot more. I find that I get really tired by about 4 pm and need to have an hours sleep.

Back ache. The same ache that I’ve had for a while. Some days it’s fine and others it’s really uncomfortable and like someones sticking a knife under my shoulder-blade.

Sleeping. I probably sleep for maybe 2 or 3 hours at a time maximum throughout the night. Since I got my pregnancy pillow I have been able to get more comfortable and feel much more supported, but it’s still incredibly uncomfortable and the baby is at its most active from about 8pm until 1 am. The baby also hates me lying on my right and will kick me in the ribs like mad until I move which can feel really wounding! I also have to wee a LOT during the night as the baby puts so much pressure on my bladder so every time I wake up I go to the bathroom and check my blood sugar too, just in case. For me it’s peace of mind and something I have now done for a large part of pregnancy. So, all in all I have a very disrupted sleep pattern but I do nap during the day which I don’t resist any more, I just go with it!

Discharge. There have been a few times when I have thought I might have wee’d myself! However, it’s certainly not been wee and neither amniotic fluid. The midwife said that at this stage of pregnancy it’s very normal to get more discharge than usual. However, I haven’t had anything my whole pregnancy so it’s definitely something new! It’s all very healthy but can feel very strange.

Sickness: I had three days during week 30 where I had acute nausea and sickness and literally couldn’t get out of the bathroom, it was horrible and really bought back the memories of how awful my first trimester was.

Cravings: For a few days I craved green olives and couldn’t get enough of them. This week I’ve really been loving watermelon. But again, I get over my cravings really quickly and haven’t had any weird or any unhealthy cravings- which for my T1 diabetes’ probably a blessing.

Scans: I had my 32 week scan last Wednesday- and all was fine. The baby is still measuring in the average percentile limits. His / Her femur is 50th percentile, Head 50th percentile and stomach is in the higher 80th percentile but it’s still regarded average and normal and nothing to be concerned about. The amniotic fluid is normal and my placenta is anterior (at the front). The baby is head down lying on my left hand side with legs curving around under my breast bone and down my right hand side. The baby is weighing in at 4.3lbs which again is apparently very average even though, to me, that sounds huge! My next scan is on my 36th week- which is in just over 3 weeks now, at that scan they will give me a date for my induction and discuss what the plan of action will be.

Bump: Bump is super hard and high. It can sometimes feel really painful to touch, and sometimes I get real pulling pains under the bump- but these are all gravity / growth related and haven’t concerned me. The bump is measuring at 39” inches a round at the moment! 

Baby Movement: Lots of movement again. I am feeling it a lot more standing up than I did before. Occasionally the kicks can be quite strong and a little uncomfortable which makes me a little dubious as to how strong they’re going to get in the next 5 or so weeks! The baby hates me lying on my right hand side or bending to pick anything up and will really kick me hard in the ribs so that I move. Not even out and already ruling my life!

Stretch marks: None that I can see at the moment.

HBA1C: 5.0%. Ok so I thought I should just chat about this a bit to those who are diabetic. My sugars have been very good throughout most of my pregnancy, yes I have had very occasional spikes and yes I have occasional hypos. I check my sugars every 1.5 hrs and have done since I found out I was pregnant, so if there is a spike or a low it’s corrected immediately. For the majority my sugars are between 3.7- 6 and when I have a high- this is usually as a 8 or occasionally 9- which prior to being pregnant I would have always categorised as normal! I have had one or two crazy sugars (16-19) and they have always been due to my pump / pod malfunctioning without it alarming, but as I say I check a lot and I am never worried about correcting.

Belly button in or out? In but completely flat and open.

Maternity clothes: I live mostly in my Asos maternity dresses which are very comfy. I also have a few beautiful pieces from JoJo Maman Bebe including this beautiful blue floral print dress from their summer collection below, which I adore. I am living in their jeans too which have a huge belly band which I find really comfortable.

Also, one of the BEST things I have bought recently is a “bra extender”- trust me- it’s a game changer. No matter how many maternity bras I have tried on, they have all been truly hideous on me and not fitted in any way, shape or form, no matter what size I try! I randomly found some bra extenders in my local sewing shop and can honestly say that it was the best £1.50 I have ever spent!  Instead of living in sports bras, I am back in my normal pre-pregnancy bras with lots of room, maximum comfort, oh, and feeling more like a woman again!

Exercise: Goodness…just the thought makes me feel like I will break out in to a sweat. I wish I could tell you that I’m still running and an avid gym bunny but I am certainly not! The two things I am doing are bouncing on my exercise ball and stretching a lot but that’s the extent of my exercise!

Blood sugars: I have definitely hit a level of resistance as I am now taking 3 times the amount of insulin I was per day and I certainly am not eating any more so that has been quite challenging for the last 10 days or so. This hasn’t meant that I have lost control of my sugars though. I had one day when I was definitely running higher than usual which was really uncomfortable but after increasing my basal rates pretty dramatically I am back not he right track.

Medication: Other than my insulin I am taking 75mg Aspirin a day (which is prescribed to help reduce chances of pre-eclamsia), I am also taking a calcium / vit D tablet (Adcal) and a pregnancy vitamin tablet once a day.

Baby buys: We almost have everything now, I will do a blog post on preparing for the baby’s arrival in the next few weeks to show you guys some of the things we have bought and been very generously gifted. It’s just things like an Isofix for the car seat, nappies, bottles, changing mats and clothes that we really have to stock up on now, but everything else has been done! I also would like to get a rocking chair to nurse on, but this really isn’t very important in the grand scheme of things!

The thing I am really excited about receiving at the moment is the cot. We have gone for a co-sleeper called the SnuzPod by Little Green Sheep which is for the first 6 months of the baby’s life. It looks amazing and the reviews are unbeatable. It’s really important to me, as a first time Mummy, to be as close to the baby as I can be and this cot allows just that, but with the safety and security of knowing the baby can’t roll out, or be rolled on to. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll have loads more to tell you as soon as it’s been tried and tested.

Hospital bag: I’m going to do a blog post on what’s in my hospital bag but at the moment it’s a selection of baby grows, mittens, hats, water wipes, antiseptic hand gel, antibacterial wipes (apparently these are widely advised), sugar-free suck sweets, diabetes paraphernalia, orange juice cartons, new knickers, a hand-held fan, body cream, shampoo and conditioner, lavender oil, a note-book, a change of clothes for Ports and a couple of nighties for me (PHEW!). If you guys can think of anything I should add then do put it in the comments!

Courses: We have started the NCT course (National Childbirth Trust) and have just had our first meeting. It was brilliant. So many people have given me mixed opinions and I’ve read a lot of differing reviews, but for us, it’s so far great and I’m so glad we decided to do it and make our own minds up. It’s been really nice to meet other pregnant ladies who are all at a similar stage in pregnancy and having their first babies. Everyone has come on such a different journey and it’s fascinating to hear their stories and struggles, and certainly everyone has a similar view-point to me in that they will just do what ever is safest for the baby and themselves. I’m actually the furthest ahead out of everyone which feels crazy.

Concerns: It’s all just feeling so real now, and even though part of me feels like I’m still dreaming, the other part is so ready and prepared for just being a Mummy now. Every new person I meet or dr I visit asks when my due date is and their responses are always “not long now” which is true, but because of my diabetes the due date is even sooner! The birth part doesn’t scare me, I’m just anxious that everything goes smoothly for the baby and me, but these are, of course, normal worries and I will just get through it.

As always, thank you for your lovely comments, support and for reading! Feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll answer below or in my next blog.

Emma and bump x