Monday 6 August 2012

Weird happenings: 38 weeks, 5 days

Ok, so seems baby may have read my last blog as the afternoon after I wrote it I started feeling weird. I couldn't quite work out why. I guess I was experiencing some tightenings or braxton hicks but it wasn't a strong enough feeling to put my finger on. I had a midwife appointment already booked in so thought I'd see what she said.

When I got to the appointment the mw, as is the norm, asked how I was feeling and I explained I felt weird. She took my blood pressure and said it was a bit high (156/97). It had been behaving so well and last reading was 126/72 so this was quite a jump. She asked if I had any headaches, which I had, but I had also had a head cold and had suspected the cold to be the cause. She listened to baby, checked my wee etc, all the usual things and all was well. She also took some blood then tested again. It was still high but had come down a bit (150/92). She decided to make an appointment for me at the hospital for Monday (today) for another BP/urine check and told me to take it easy & be 'vigilant' for other symptoms over the weekend.

The rest of that afternoon/evening I continued to feel weird & have the tightenings. When they got to a strength I felt I could time they were about 10-12 mins apart but still very mild. I tried to have an early night but it's hard to sleep when you are anticipating 'action'! The tightenings continued until about midnight but then must have eased off as I fell asleep and slept well for the rest of the night.

My parents were booked in to come over for the weekend anyway because my dad was doing some work in the nursery so they decided to stay over Saturday night just in case & brought clothes with them for the Monday too. This meant my mum took good care of me & Callum over the weekend and I spent most if it with my feet up and taking it easy. I felt a little weird but only had the odd tightening here and there.

As there were no affirmative signs of labour, and i was feeling more normal, they went home sunday night.

Today was my hospital appointment and as I thought I'd be in and out in no time at all, I took Callum with me. Unfortunately, there was an emergency that morning (I do hope all was ok), all the appointments had been pushed back so it was over an hour before I was seen. As the appointment was for 12noon, I had taken Callum some lunch with me (but just a pack of crisps for me) which helped pass some time plus I managed to distract him looking at maps and in the play area but, in truth, Callum was a absolute angel!

I was then in the room for a little over an hour going through all the various checks & being hooked up to the baby heart rate monitor and Callum was good again throughout showing a little concern for me worried when I had to lie down on the bed and have the monitor attached. The lady/doctor/midwife (whoever she was) was full of praise for him, I was so proud! The parking ticket said we were in for 2hrs 38 mins in total.

Anyway, BP was high when I first got there with the lower number still over 90 so she checked everything else & hooked me up to the monitor. All came back good. Again she asked about headaches and as the cold had now gone but i was still experiencing mild intermittent headaches, i did mention them to her. They are not enough to need a paracetemol but enough to make me think about it. Once on the monitor, we had to wait a while for baby to move as she was having a sleepy moment. After the cold water didn't work (me drinking it, nothing more bizarre!) I shuffled over to my side & she eventually started to wiggle.

More bloods were taken (I've since heard they were clear) and another appointment was booked in for wednesday. My subsequent BP checks showed an improvement and were good by the end. She was quite unsure what to do with me as I was neither perfectly ok or definitely something wrong, I was (in her words) whooly! So Wednesday's appointment was booked as a precaution and to see the consultant with the aim of preparing a plan of action as she didn't think they should let me go too far overdue!

I strongly believe that I won't develop pre-eclampsia (and she was inclined to agree) but that raised BP is just my bodies way of reacting to labour. As I've been typing I can again feel my BP is high (the weird feeling is back) and I've had a few more tightenings again but still nothing strong. I'm just extremely tired! I've had a few really good night's sleep now so not expecting to feel this tired!

I can see this weird feeling and tightenings coming and going quite regularly over the next few days or until it really does kick off.

I'm in two minds how I feel if they decide to induce me. Part of me will feel safe in that I can relate it to my last labour/birth, it's what I know so I'm happy with that. But also part of me is curious to experience what it is like to naturally go into labour while at home etc.

I guess only time will tell and, as always, what will be will be.

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