Birth Weight

Even when not pregnant I'm a sucker for articles in the news about health especially those that have had studies. I came across this article this morning in the Daily Mail. It explains that Mothers who work late into their pregnancy, that is, work into their ninth month are more likely to have babies with low birth weight and the effects have been described as 'equal to that of smoking whilst pregnant'

I fail to see how working longer can be as dangerous that taking toxic chemicals into your body on a daily basis, most women working late into pregnancy have to do it and most will have understanding work places that will not demand as much from you. The reality is most women have to work this late because Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is a measly £135.35 a week and most will want more time off after the baby is born. I am in a lucky position that I will remain on full pay for 18 weeks and I have decided to take another 8 weeks off on SMP followed by 2 weeks annual leave. Whilst on SMP it will be a stuggle and I will have to keep things tight so I have enough to cover the bills and the basics, this is something I am willing to do to spend as much time as I can with my baby.

Other things that can affect birth weight are caffeine that will give you low birth rate, being overweight that will give you a high birth weight and now with having gestational diabetes this can cause a high birth rate. I still drink caffeine (within what is allowed most days),  I am overweight, have gestational diabetes and will be working up until I am 37 1/2 weeks. I am wondering if the things I'm doing will cancel each other out and I will have a baby with a normal birth weight!

Finally chosen cotbed and pram

So this week we finally chose our pram, we have definitely gone for the Baby Merc Zipy in red, Jonathan and me went back to the shop and the carseat does fit with the seatbelt, not sure what my Mum, me and the shop assistant were doing the day it didn't fit! My Mum is off to order it this week :-) Below are some pictures of the pram, we are going to get a red one. Pictures are a little rare as they are a German company. For £380 we will gave everything, car seat, pram, carrycot and changing bag.

We also decided on a cotbed. Jonathan's Mum and Uncle are getting this for us but Jonathan told them it would be £120 and I couldn't find one that cheap that I liked and was sturdy enough. We had a trip to Pramworld in Pemberton and saw the Kub madera cotbed which I loved, however, they wanted £50 delivery which on top of the £176 and the mattress price is ridiculous. I have found it online for £174.99 which 10% off making it  around £157, now to decide on the mattress. I have put a picture below of the cotbed. 

Gestational Diabetes update

I had my appointment last Wednesday and I have been put on metformin as I was still unable to control my morning glucose levels. I was fully expecting this, even the Dr said he could tell by my face I was expecting it. I have to take 500mg with breakfast and 500mg with my evening meal for two weeks, after that I will have to up the dose to 1g. The Dr said overall my average glucose levels were fine and he wasn't concerned about what I was eating, he also said that it is common for people with gestational diabetes to have raised morning levels. My urine this time was free on ketones but did have a trace of glucose which again was expected as I had my breakfast just before leaving for the hospital. I go back in three weeks for a check up and if it is still bad I will have to go on insulin.

I also saw the obstetrician who just checked I was OK, my blood pressure was 128/70 and also did a mini scan on the baby which showed it is still wriggling around a lot. I asked about when I should be feeling regular movements and big kicks, he didn't really answer me and just said that baby is healthy and moving. I do feel it a lot more now, in fact yesterday it didn't seem to stop. I am still not being kicked really hard just lots of wriggles and the odd small kick. I have my next growth scan next week and hoping to see that baby is measuring good for it's age rather than being bigger (or smaller). My main worry is having a baby that is really big as I will probably end up with a c-section which I really don't want.


I am now 28+2 which means less that 12 weeks before my baby is due and another 8-9 weeks left in work if all goes well. 

Six Months Pregnant!!

Today I am officially 6 months pregnant, I know a lot of people say at 24 weeks you are 6 months but there is more than 4 weeks in each month. Today is the 18th July, my due date is 18th October, so exactly 3 months or 92 days until baby is here.I am 27 weeks tomorrow meaning I am officially in the final trimester, I just hope this goes quicker than the previous trimesters. 

I still feel OK apart from a lot of tiredness but this is due to not being able to sleep for more than 4 hours at a time. I am on nights at work for the next five days (6pm-2am) so not sure how this is going to affect me, hopefully it won't be too bad.

We got the first thing for the nursery yesterday, some curtains which are white with multicoloured stars on, we wanted a room that had bright colours and because all the unisex stuff is really boring we thought they would be perfect. We ordered them from Littlewoods, click on the link and you will see them hung up. We also thought that you can always get things with stars on so we can do some kinda matching up.

First Gestational Diabetes Appointment

I had my appointment yesterday to discuss my Gestational Diabetes. I only had two days worth of readings to show the diabetic doctor. The hospital send me home with enough test strips and lancets (needles to prick my finger) to last until Monday dinner time, so upon returning from the hospital on Friday after I went to my GP's to request new supplies telling the receptionist that I needed them for Monday. Monday arrives and my prescription hasn't been signed by the GP, in fact it took until Tuesday dinnertime for my prescription to be signed so by the time I got home from work at 6.30pm on Tuesday the only pharmacy that was open didn't have any lancets left.

The doctor was fine about this we discussed the problems that could happen if my blood sugar went uncontrolled like a big baby, birth defects and baby having low blood sugar at birth, he said the problems that could occur with me are that the diabetes may not go away after the birth I will tested after 6 weeks to see if my glucose levels are normal and that if it was a big baby I could have more issues with blood loss. He asked if I wanted to see a dietician, I said I would like a chance to be able to control my sugar levels myself but if I am unable to then I would see a dietician. He said that due to the fact I have PCOS it is not a surprise that I have Gestational Diabetes. I have to call the diabetic nurse with my glucose readings next week and I have an appointment the following week to discuss my options. If I am able to control with diet then I will continue testing and have appointments every 2-4 weeks, if not they will look into prescribing me insulin and will see me more often.

After seeing the diabetic doctor I saw the obstetrician who is the same person who has does my scans. My urine was tested and it contain ketones, I should have asked what these were, in fact I probably should have known but I didn't so I googled it. It means that my body has been using stored fat as energy and it could be caused by not eating enough carbohydrates. I didn't have much to eat or drink before going to the appointment as I had to go to work beforehand then was rushing about trying to get to the hospital on time. I am hoping this is just a one off and I possibly need to make sure I am having some small serving of carbohydrate at each mealtime. My blood pressure was taken and it was 128/60 which is the lowest it has been so at least that isn't another problem I am facing. The obstetrician also scanned me, baby is doing well and was kicking away :-) I couldn't feel that it was moving and I'm still a little weirded out that something that is about a foot long can be moving that much and I don't feel it as often as I should (my placenta is at the front so shields most kicks)

I now have my supplies to test regularly, although I was prescribed 200 lancets and only 50 test strips, this makes no sense to me so I will have to order some more as I have to check 3 times a day and on 2 days a week do a fasting test in the morning. It means I need 23 strips a week and I've already used one yesterday that showed an error on my machine. I cannot wait until I can go back to not having to see medical professionals and more importantly not have to deal with receptionists!

Gestational Diabetes

I had my glucose tolerance test (GTT) on Thursday, the day didn't get off to a good start I woke up late, my car wouldn't start (I had managed not shut my boot properly so the warning light drained the battery) so I had to use Jonathan's car which I had never driven before, but despite the best efforts of people to cause a crash I got there half an hour late.

The midwife took my blood, it's took three attempts but it was a student midwife. I then drank a sugary solution and had to sit for two hours before a final blood test. I rang later that afternoon to be told that my levels were slightly raised and they wanted me to go back in on the Friday to discuss this.

My fasting levels were 6.3 and normal is up to 5.5 and after my test my levels were 8.5 and normal is 8 two hours after a meal. The normal ranges have been taken from Diabetes UK. I now have to test my glucose levels one hour after each meal and I need to aim for a figure of 7.8 or below. I also have to take a fasting level twice a week and need this to be 5.9 or below.

I wasn't as devastated as I thought I would be I think because I knew in the back of my mind I was going to get it and the nurse who spoke with me about my levels and diet treated me like a normal, intelligent human being. She has recommended that I try and reduce my carb intake, eat no chocolate, swap large bananas for small ones and only have handful of grapes or strawberries at a time. For me, reducing my carb intake is going to be the most difficult of all.

I have now been referred to another consultant which I see on Wednesday where I will also meet the diabetes nurse and a dietician. I have of course read all the bad side effects of having gestational diabetes like still births, abnormalities, big babies, premature birth and placental abruption, however, the rational side of me knows that all these things can happen in 'normal' pregnancies and I haven't been able to find any statistics of how much more likely it is that I will get these things.

They will keep an eye on the baby by doing regular growth scans, at my 24 week scan the baby was measuring fine, some measurements were just below what is classed as normal. I am more likely to give birth between 38-40 weeks meaning I could have as little as 12 1/2 weeks left.

I have been testing since yesterday and I have already found it beyond tedious.I did my fasting level which was 6.8 so above what is recommended. After my meals most results have been 7.2 which is not bad considering I have to test one hour after a meal and Diabetes UK say it should be below 8 after two hours. However, this morning one hour after breakfast I had a reading on 12.1, I was informed by the nurse that fat free yoghurt is fine, however, after being shocked at the result I checked the sugars on my muller light to find out that the sugars in it are 6.8g per 100g and the yoghurt is 175g tubs which means the sugars are 11.9g!!

This week I am going to play around with my food to see what gives me the best levels to ensure my baby doesn't have to work too hard to counteract the fact that me and my body are bobbins (rubbish) So far eggs, veggies, brown bread, salmon and salad are good. Muller lights are not.

What's in a name?

First off this isn't meant to cause any offence to anyone it is my opinions and people may have the same feelings about my shortlist of names. It's just I feel that naming a child is a really important job as generally it stays with you for life.I have come across a lot of names whilst looking around and below is a list I have taken a particular dislike to.


Dexter - this is a surname, one of my good friends is a Dexter so this should stay as a surname.
Lewis - this is my own surname, should not be used as a first name.
Remie - just reminds me of being at school when the name 'rem' was used to describe someone being thick/stupid.
Wesley - this wrong, no reason, just wrong.
Molly - this isn't as bad as other's mentioned but when you team it with May it becomes hideous.
Daisy -  this is a lovely name for a baby/child but could you really take an adult seriously with a name like Daisy? "Nice to meet you PC Daisy" it just doesn't work. A friend of mine wants to call their baby Daisy Jane! aarrgghh.
Jasper -this reminds me of Jasper Carrott.
Brodie -  is this even a name?


However, I think this proves just why I am struggling to come up with names and it is possible I will end up hating my shortlist and liking a name I have completely dismissed. For example, a work colleagues daughter had a daughter and called her Darcy which I thought was hideous but now thinking about it I wouldn't mind calling any daughter of mine Darcy.

I hope you have all taken this with a pinch of salt and are not offended by what I have written I am an awkward person who changes her mind frequently and it's more than likely in a few years I will regret whatever name I have chosen. At least I still have just over 15 weeks to make decisions. Plus, to be fair, I would never tell anyone to their face I hated their child's name as it's all down to personal opnion

24 week scan

Thursday was my repeat anomaly scan which went so much better than last time. The sonographer was like a different person, really friendly unlike last time when he just didn't bother with me.

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat, see the baby moving around and get all the measurements. The baby is measuring fine for 24 weeks. On this website it has the average measurements for each week. My baby's head circumference is 216mm which is 4mm smaller than it should be, the abdomen circumference is 200mm which is 1mm smaller than it should be (yay for non fat baby!) and it's femur length is 43mm which is 2mm shorter than it should be. However, I still think my date is a day out from the scan and it's all average and this can change is the coming weeks. Jonathan has short legs considering his height, in fact I probably do too. I was worried the head would be massive as I have a huge head!


All checks could still not be completed due to the baby being curled up in a ball with it's legs over it's head by my spine again. However, the heart, stomach and bladder are all fine it still has all it limbs and as my work colleague said 'what more do you want?' Which is true I am sure that the baby is fine and healthy and cannot wait to meet him or her. 

24 week midwife appointment

I had my midwife appointment on Wednesday and as a result I have made the decision not to engage with anymore midwife care and am also writing a letter of complaint about the way I was treated. I am tired of being belittled and judged because of my weight. I have weighed up the pros and cons of this and for me I don't think there are many risks. I am under consultant care, my next appointment is 28weeks which is when the midwife said to come back so my blood pressure and urine will be checked then, my sonographer also supports this move and has said he will get someone to check my blood pressure at scans, my next one being at 29 weeks. I just don't think getting upset, stressed and angry is going to help me or the baby. I have had an easy pregnancy so far and fingers crossed it remains the same until the end.

Below I have put a few examples of why I was so upset and disappointed with my midwife appointment.

My first issue is that I don't have a named midwife so far I have seen four different midwives which makes it hard to build up rapport or trust in the person, the care between the midwives varies massively.

My first issue with the appointment was the fact my blood pressure was taken with a small cuff, my blood pressure reading was 140/70 which I was informed was high, after reading the British Heart Foundation website I found that high is classed as 140/85, I must point out this is the highest my blood pressure has been. The midwife did try and find a larger cuff but none was available, the obesity levels in borough are high so I feel that this is a piece of equipment that is need by staff to ensure accurate readings.  I also would like to point out that the other two midwives I have seen at the surgery both had large cuffs to use.

Secondly, the midwife went on about my weight problem for most of the appointment, she wanted to refer me to the Lose Weight Feel Great scheme which I told her what they can offer me doesn’t work for me as I have tried before, she kept going on about it until I gave in and said to refer me just so we could move on from the subject. I informed her that I had lost 5 stone since January 2011 by following Slimming World from home to which she replied ‘so you've put it all back on then’ which I haven’t I have gained a stone back.  She then went out to tell me to start over and get rid of all the chocolate, crisps and cream cakes in my kitchen.

She asked about my exercise, I told her I swim once a week, go walking and am also very active at my job which involves site checks, she then said ‘well your body will be used to what you do at work so you still need to do extra’ which I had told her I do extra.

She said my breathing was heavy and asked if I had asthma, again another assumption, I don't have asthma I have a number of allergies that I am unable to take medication for at present. So if you have hay fever and allergies to dust then your breathing is going to be heavy especially when you cannot possible breathe through your nose.

She didn't feel for my uterus or listen to the baby's heartbeat as she didn't want to embarrass me by not being able to find it, the midwife I had at 18 weeks had no problem finding my uterus and even got me to feel so I knew where it was up to. 

Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading if you got this far.