20 week scan

This morning I left for my 20 week scan, anxious and excited at the same time. Jonathan and my Mum came with me.

The scan was rubbish, I have to go back at 24 weeks as the sonographer couldn't get any measurements due to my weight and the fact that the baby was lying against my spine. He said it was due to my build don't know why people can't just say fat! I expected not to get a good scan picture but to not even get any measurements or confirmation that the baby was healthy was devastating. It means if anything is seriously wrong i.e. it won't survive birth then I will have a matter of hours to decide what to do about the pregnancy. I know I should think positive about it but I just can't help but be anxious and worry about it. By the time the next scan comes along we will only have 16 weeks to sort everything out, providing it arrives on time.

The sonographer didn't show me the screen so I never saw baby, Jonathan said it had both arms and both legs and was moving about. He also said it was much bigger than at the last scan. My Mum commented that she could see the toes.

Other freebies

These are freebies I have managed to pick up from various places.

These cuties are from Cow and Gate and Aptamil. I love these and they will look great in the baby's nursery.

Next up is some freebies from Nuby UK, just like their facebook page and click on the bump, birth and baby. It will ask you for details and they will send you a free gift. This page is also great as it hosts regular competitions to win other baby related things. Below is a couple of dummies I was sent. 

Finally, these are freebies I received in my bounty pack and Emma's diary. I got the bounty pack from my midwife as well as Emma's Diary. You recieve a series of vouchers to pick up packs throughout your pregnancy. Below is a selection of the things that I received.

Also, included in the bottom picture is a sample of Oral B Pro Expert which will be handy for my hospital bag and some white glo toothpaste I received in one of my beauty boxes, again useful for my hospital bag.

18 Week update

I am now 18 weeks and 5 days pregnant :-) it means I am 1 week and 2 days away from being halfway there and also my 20 week scan.

Since I last blogged I have had my 16 week midwife appointment which went well. She didn't listen to heartbeat though :-( she felt for my uterus which was exactly where it should have been, my urine was clear and my blood pressure was good 125/70. I mentioned that the consultant had written my blood pressure down wrong at last appointment and she said that was fine, they are more concerned if the bottom number goes up and as long as it's 70 or below they are happy. I find it amazing how my blood pressure has not been the same at any appointments. We also had a discussion about my weight and she said I shouldn't worry too much about my weight but reiterated what everyone else has said about putting on weight. She told me the average is 2 stone (28lbs) but she sees a lady who is 8 months pregnant and has only gained 9lbs. She also told me about aquanatel classes that are run every week, I was meant to go to my first one last Friday but managed to miss my alarm, so this Friday I am going to set several alarms so I get there.

My symptoms are OK, tiredness is the worst thing at the moment, I am finding it difficult to sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time but I am hoping to catch up on my week off which starts on Thursday. I am still suffering with bad skin and woke up with two huge spots this morning to add to my ever growing collection.  In fact without the tiredness I wouldn't even know I was pregnant!

The baby this week is 5 to 5.8 inches long from crown to rump and weighs about 148.8 grams. The ears are moving to their final position and the eyes are beginning to face forward, the retinas may be able to detect light. The bones are continuing to harden and the pads of the fingers and toes will form. The finger and toe prints are also developing. The heart is pumping 25 to 30 quarts of blood a day.

Prams

One of the first things we wanted to do was look at prams, it is early but the fact I have the worlds smallest car boot and we are both tall we thought finding the perfect pram would take a while. We also wanted one with a carseat and that was both parent and forward facing. 

In fact, it was fairly easy and we think we have settled on the babies r us jig pushchair which is pictured below. This folds up nice and small, has a really tall handle and for £350 we can get the pushchair, carrycot, footmuff, raincover and car seat.

So after deciding this is what we wanted I thought we would take my Mum as it will be her and my Dad who are paying for it. Before we went to babies r us we went to a local shop where I completely and utterly fell in love with the uppababy vista, again pictured below.

There isn't much difference in the styles but the uppababy feels a lot sturdier and well made and fits a bit better in my car boot. We can get the same as the package above but unfortunately the price doubles to £700 :-( I cannot expect my Mum and Dad to pay twice as much for a pram I utterly love opposed to a pram that does the same job that I like.

I am not sure when my Mum and Dad will be getting the pushchair as it is up to them, however, we have agreed not to buy anything until we have had the 20 week scan which is 3 1/2 weeks away. I am not completely happy with all this waiting about, this pregnancy has already lasted forever and I just want October to be here.

Consultant Appointment

I had my consultant appointment today and if I'm perfectly honest I found it a complete waste of time. The consultant was nice enough he just asked me how things are going which is fine I said I don't even feel pregnant to which I got a look that meant 'you weirdo!' . There was a midwife in the room who took my blood pressure which I am sure she said was 138/60 and it was 130/70 last time but when  I looked in the notes my consultant had written 110/60 so next time my blood pressure is going to shoot up a lot!!

All my blood tests came back clear and my urine sample was clear too.

I was booked in for my Glucose Tolerance Test which is on the 5th July, the nurse booking me in asked why were they doing it so I said family history, weight and polycystic ovaries. She remarked that she would be very surprised if I didn't have it as the only factor I didn't have is a previous pregnancy with diabetes. I am currently researching the best way to manage this now so that I don't get it or I can make it easier for me and my baby.

I also have to see an anesthetist, he didn't explain why and I'm assuming either everyone sees one or it is because of my weight.

My consultant has written to my GP to get them to prescribe me a low dose of aspirin to help blood pressure stay normal. I don't understand why he couldn't have given me a prescription for them.

My next appointment in with the midwife on 16th May.

Dating Scan

Today was my dating scan, the picture is below. I was put forward a day so now due on the 18th October.

I was a little disappointed in the quality of the picture after my private scan and all the other scans I have seen, however, this is probably because I carry most of my weight around my stomach and even though I have lost a lot of weight the tummy is my big problem.

The sonographer was lovely, she spents ages rolling over my belly showing me the baby, it was very wriggly and I hadn't realised they moved around so much at 13 weeks. It kept kicking and looked as if it was trying to propel itself.

After my scan I had to go and book my consultant appointment which is on 3rd May. My 20 week scan is on the 31st May. I am also booked in for July (I think) for my 28 week bloods.

The week ahead will see my baby grow to 2.5 to 3 inches and will weigh up to 21.3g. The placenta will now weigh the same as the baby. Also my baby should now grow an inch every week. The intestines are migrating into the abdomen and are starting to form villi which will aid in absorption and digestion. The liver will begin to secrete bile and the pancreas insulin. The baby will also start to practise swallowing. All teeth have formed and the baby can smile and the vocal cords are developing rapidly. It's pretty amazing considering conception was only 11 weeks ago.

Names

So, it may be a little early to start talking about names, however, if the conversations I've had so far with Jonathan are anything to go by we are going to have a nameless baby as we cannot agree on any names. For a start he suggested Rebecca and Melissa which I think are really ugly names, no offence to anyone with those names intended I just don't like them. His other suggestion was Aquilla and lets not go there on how wrong that name is!

I have downloaded a couple of baby name apps 50000 baby names and baby names and have made a shortlist of names, none of which Jonathan likes. My girls names are as follows

• Amelia
• Amelie
• Ariana
• Charlotte
• Freya
• Holly
• Phoebe

And the boys:

• Elijah
• Ethan
• Freddie
• Thomas

Pregnancy update: Week 11

I am now 11 weeks 3 days pregnant. I am getting some of my energy back but the nausea is still here but I still haven't been sick which I am grateful for. I still have 10 days left until my dating scan and I am starting to feel nervous about it I am so anxious to see that the baby is still growing and is healthy. My skin is getting quite spotty and my hair is getting greasy really quickly which is annoying. I also have to get up every couple of hours in the night to go to the toilet, but I think in the next couple of weeks the baby begins to move higher so it won't be pressing on my bladder.

So this week the baby is around 4.4cm to 5.7cm and weighs about 8.5g. The ears are moving into their final position. The eyes are still wide apart and are fused shut, the irises are also developing. Some of the organs are almost complete including the pancreas, thyroid and gall bladder.

My first scan

 I had my first scan on the 19th March, I booked an early reassurance scan at a private medical centre called Scan Assure costing £65 and in my opinion worth every penny. The scan was brilliant, the sonographer was so friendly and even stayed behind late one evening to fit me in. She said my weight would not be a major problem in what they could see. She explained that there are always going to be factors as to why an ultrasound scan can be difficult, weight can be one but she also explained sometimes very fit women don't get good scans as it's difficult to get a good picture due to the muscle. Other times it can just be a factor of where the baby is and how much it is moving. She also located my ovaries and apparently they move around a lot which freaked me out as I assumed they just stayed in  one place so every since I can just imagine my ovaries have a little dance!

The sonographer had no problems locating the pregnancy as it was in just the right place. The baby was measuring 9 weeks 3 days which ties exactly with my dates. My due date for now is the 19th October (3 days after my birthday) The sonographer also said it had a very strong heartbeat, she got me to hold my breathe and I could see it flickering very fast on the screen, it was amazing.

Below are the pictures that I got from the scan, she printed out three for me and also gave me a disk with 5 pictures on.

This picture shows the pregnancy and the little fetus , the dark black thing at the top is my bladder.

This one shows the sonographer measuring the baby. Where the cross is that is the babies head.

This is probably the best picture I have, if you look closely you can see two white marks sticking out from the baby, this is the start of the arms and legs which at the time were just little nubs.

So at 9 weeks the baby is still an embryo and becomes a fetus in week 10. The baby measures around 2.3cm and weighs less than 2g. The eyelids are completly fused over the eyes and it won't open them until 26 weeks. The essential body parts are all there so it's just a matter of them growing now

Midwife Appointment

I had my midwife appointment on the 19th March which went well. My midwife is lovely or at least I like her at the moment I can go off people quickly. She asked me lots of questions about my medical history and family's medical history; took my blood pressure; gave me the bounty pack and sent me off to have my bloods done. I had blood tests for all of the following:

• Blood group and rhesus 
• Full blood count
• Hepatitis B
• HIV
• MSSU (urine test for infection)
• Rubella
• Sickle Cell
• Syphilis
• Thalassaemia

Due to my BMI being above 30 I will have to see a consultant as well as a midwife, meaning I am shared cared at the moment.

My blood pressure was 130/70, I'm not sure what a perfect blood pressure is but the British Heart Foundation says it should be below 140/85 which it is. 

I'm not sure if this happens at all NHS trusts but I was given my notes to take away and I have to remember them for every appointment and scan that I have. After properly going through the information I've noticed that midwife said that she discussed the benefits of breastfeeding with me which she didn't and also that she discussed antenatal classes with me which again she didn't. I already have my own thoughts on these, but would have been nice to talk them through with her. 

Overall, I was happy with my appointment I wasn't lectured on my weight or made to feel bad about being a high risk pregnancy. I am also glad that I chose Warrington General as the place to have my baby it really is a lot nicer than the other hospitals that are near me. 

Check out my friends blog :-)

Just a quick post to check out my friend's blog about his experiences of becoming a Dad. His wife is due in August. Robert has hemiplegia ( no use of a an upper limb) which is his left arm which will present him with some challenges. Check out Rob's blog here

Appointment Alert : 19th March

So after finishing work yesterday I got home to a letter which had a Warrington Hospital NHS stamp on it thinking it was my scan date I couldn't get it open quick enough, unfortunately, it wasn't my scan appointment but an appointment with the midwife at the hospital. So I guess my last post where I said it was first midwife appointment was really just a 'letting them know I was pregnant appointment!'

Anyways, my appointment is on the 19th March at 2:45pm, luckily I am off work that day. I assume this is when they will do the dreaded weigh in and could possibly be not too nice about my weight. The letter said part of the appointment will be just me and the midwife due to confidentiality but I really want my partner there with me I don't keep anything from him and I feel that if I want him there I should be allowed to have him with me.

The letter also came along with a booklet explaining all the screening tests that are done from now and right through to the baby having hearing tests etc. There seems to be so many things that can go wrong which isn't good for someone like me who has been stressed about things going wrong ever since I found out I was pregnant.

My first midwife appointment

I had my first midwife appointment on the 22nd February I was so worried about it that I took my partner along with me. I have been reading many horror stories on the internet about midwives being horrible towards overweight women and I don't want anyone to ruin this experience for me so I took my partner along because I know I can be sensitive and didn't want to blow things out of proportion. I didn't need to worry my midwife was lovely, she asked lots of different questions the ones I can remember are:

• Last menstrual period
• Any operations and were they under general anesthetic 
• Any family member with diabetes
• About my diet
• Where did I want to have the baby

From my last period she has my due date as my birthday! I think it will change to a few days after that as she didn't ask about the length of my cycle which is all over the place due to PCOS. 

My Mum has diabetes so I will need to have a Glucose Tolerance Test which I was expecting anyways due to my weight. 

The question about my diet was a chance to tell her I had lost 5 stone  on Slimming World, she said I could continue this but recommended I go to a class as I currently do it at home, she must have seen me pull my face so she said just go get the information you don't need to go again, she also gave me the information for the local health trainers. She said that now isn't the time to be losing weight but I do need to keep anything gained as low as possible. 

The question about where to have my baby really threw me as I didn't even think about it, she gave me a choice of three hospitals Bolton Infirmary, St Marys Manchester and Warrington. I chose Warrington because it just seems like a nicer hospital, I've not heard good things about Bolton even though it is closest and Manchester would be a pain to get to in rush hour.

I left the midwife appointment with a prescription exemption form, my healthy eating information and a copy of Emma's Diary which is full of information and vouchers, my partner said my face lit up at the thought of vouchers and free stuff!

Now all I have to do is wait for the scan appointment to come, I am thinking it is probably going to be the first week of April. 

A bit about me

I thought I would start this blog because I love blogging and have just found out that I am pregnant with baby number one.

I am 29 years old and live with my partner of 7 1/2 years, we have been trying for a baby for around 6 months, however, we didn't think it would happen this quickly because I have PCOS and am overweight. My other blogging love is my weightloss blog, I have lost 5 stone (70lbs) and thought I would need lose another 5 stone before I would fall pregnant.

I am currently 5+2 weeks if my working out is correct so a long way to go, at the moment the due date is October 19th which is 3 days after my 30th birthday, I am so glad my plans for a rum-induced coma have been shelved and I will be given the best thing ever.