Waters Have Broken

After a couple of days of mild, infrequent twinges we were starting to worry that things weren't going to happen for a while. Our visit to the midwife yesterday confirmed that Mum-to-be was already 2cm dilated, so that was reassuring. We've spent today trying to stay active to help things along. We went for a nice walk down in Snuff Mills down by the River Frome and had lunch at Beese's Tea Rooms.

We were just considering what to do about some dinner when woosh! Birthing pool is now inflated and filling and we're busy preparing downstairs whilst Mum-to-be chills out upstairs.

We'll keep you posted! :)

Ready for birth

We may, or may not, be getting ready to have a baby.

40 Weeks

So, here we are. 40 weeks. Full term. Wife ready to pop. Some mild tightenings this evening, but hardly noticeable. Ready, set, wait.....

.....apparently the French calculate full term to 41 weeks. Bloody French.

39 Weeks

It's been almost six weeks since our last update and we've been very busy with lots going on. Thankfully everything went back to normal after our worries about early labour symptoms. Mum-to-be went back to work, on admin duties only, after having an extra week off after the Easter holidays. We've attended four antenatal classes and learnt plenty about minimising back pain, breathing, pelvic floor exercises, positions for labour, massage techniques, breastfeeding and much more. We've been spoilt by friends, family and work colleagues who've bought, lent and donated loads of baby clothing, toys and equipment; so much so that we've not had to buy anything ourselves other than a few nappies! Visits to the midwife have shown baby to be growing nicely and getting into the right position. One of the local midwives has also been to the house to do a risk assessment for our home birth. Yes, home birth!

We've hired a "birth pool in a box" (as seen on The Apprentice) and have had a trial run of inflating, filling and emptying. Most people we've spoken to have expressed their surprise at our decision to have a first baby at home, but we feel fairly well prepared and are really looking forward to the event. We've had friends that have had a home birth recently and they've inspired us to do the same. Baby's Gran-to-be has arrived to offer her services for the next few weeks and will be a welcome extra pair of hands around the house, especially during the birth as things could get a bit hectic!

All that remains is for baby to actually arrive. Could be any day now. Will keep you all updated :)

28-37 Weeks

Nice to have you both back home. Keep hanging on for a few more weeks little one xx

Back Home

Mini-update #2: Mum-to-be is now home from hospital resting. Still a few twinges, but should be manageable with painkillers. The main thing is that things aren't as regular, suggesting that we're hopefully still a few weeks off from the real thing. Phew!

Monitoring

Mini-update: Mum has been off the constant CTG monitoring since last night and on the maternity ward since this morning, so off the drip and able to be a bit more mobile. Fingers crossed on coming home tomorrow or Monday as things seem to be getting back to some kind of normal (apart from the odd twinge). They still can't really tell us much and that is the most frustrating part.

Thanks to everyone that has texted, phoned and visited. It really means a lot to us both that we have so many great friends and family members. I'm off to bed now and wishing Mum and baby and good night's sleep xx

Braxton Hicks or Preterm Labour!?

We've had fun over the last few days. On Thursday evening Mum started having regular Braxton Hicks every 6 minutes or so. Everything we'd read had said that these "false labour" symptoms should be irregular and no more than every 10 or 20 minutes. So we phoned the hospital who told us to come in.

One of the first things was to get rigged up to the CTG again, which confirmed what Mum was feeling. The top line is baby's heartbeat (it should be that squiggly as he's moving around a fair bit), the middle line (blocky, looks a bit like morse code) is baby's movements, bottom line is contractions. Braxton Hicks shouldn't be as regular or powerful as this.

Then followed the usual batch of tests, including a scan to see which way round baby was lying and a Fetal Fibronectin (fFN) test. The fFN test is great for finding out if there are any chances of going into preterm labour, or not depending on how you look at it. Basically, if the test is negative then you've got about a 95% chance of not going into labour anytime soon. If the test is positive then it's only about 40% sure that you may go into labour at some point within the next 10 days or so. Sods law, we test positive.

We then get transferred from the Day Assessment Unit to Central Delivery Suite. The prescribed treatment is two corticosteroid injections 24 hours apart, to help baby's lungs mature (just in case), and upto 45 hours on an Atosiban drip to slow down any contractions.

Friday morning things were already looking a bit more normal, but Mum was still feeling a few twinges here and there. The drip could finish this morning (Saturday), or may need to continue until later this evening. Then Mum will get transferred to the maternity ward for two days of monitoring. If things stay within normal levels then she should be able to go home by Tuesday, we hope. Crisis averted. Fingers crossed, touch wood.

7 Months

We've had a funny time over the last week or so.  Baby's movements have always been a bit hit-and-miss, due to the placenta being at the front, and now that the baby is starting to get more cramped Mum-to-be has been feeling the baby move less frequently than earlier in the pregnancy. Saturday before last we ended up going into the Day Assessment Unit to have Cardiotocograph (CTG) just to make sure that things were still OK. The midwife on duty did a great job at reassuring us that everything was fine. After an hour or so, and various amounts of prodding and poking, we were allowed to go home. The main thing that we've realised is that there is a lot more movement going on than we're actually aware of. The wife has now taken to announcing whenever she feels the baby move as this is helping us remember how often and how much the baby moves.

Baby's Heartbeat #2

Couldn't help but have another play with the doppler this morning. Managed to get this short recording before baby had a wriggle and then hid behind the placenta.

11.03.26 - Baby 30 Weeks 4 Days by splinter360

30 Weeks

Bump is brewing nicely. Mum-to-be is getting very tired and not getting much sleep. Apparently baby is now about 3 pounds and fully formed, just needs to put some weight on.

Some great news this week as our friends had their baby, a healthy boy weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce. Welcome to the world Billy!

All this excitement has really brought home the fact that we're now less than 10 weeks away. Better get sorted!

4th Midwife's Appointment

I managed to forget that Wifey even had a midwife's appointment yesterday (despite it being in my Google calendar for weeks!), but then I suppose it's quite normal now. Just another midwife's appointment, 29 weeks 2 days, SFH 30cm, fetal movements, fetal heart as normal, nothing to worry about, situation normal, mundane really. I can feel our stress levels dropping by the week now as we get closer to counting down the weeks in single digits!

Random thought: This week is all about privates!

27 Weeks vs 37 Weeks

On Sunday we spent the morning at Symonds Yat with friends and were able to compare bumps with K again (on the left). She's now 37 weeks and ready to pop. It was quite funny watching the two of them waddling around, though I think Mrs Wife has a little work to do on perfecting her waddle. Looking forward to receiving K's news and wishing them well for their home birth :)

26 Weeks

This is the last week of the second trimester as we approach the six month mark. Our baby can now see, apparently, and is responding to us prodding and poking him. We've been collecting generous contributions of  baby stuff including clothing, cot, buggie, car seat and bouncy chairs. At this rate we've already got most of the stuff we'll need, just need to start stocking up on nappies and baby wipes. Don't let that stop any of you reading this donating any more though!

Random thought: Baby's feet are now 2 inches long!

Music for baby

We've been reading that music (that the mother likes) played regularly to an unborn baby during the last few months of pregnancy will be remembered and may have a calming effect. So we have chosen some music that we both like and have started playing it regularly. It's a Youtube playlist that runs for just over an hour - put it on and have a listen! or you can listen on Spotify.

• Traffic - Stereophonics
• Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• I Know Him So Well - Chess
• You’re My Best Friend - Queen
• Tire Swing - Kimya Dawson
• Birdhouse In Your Soul - They Might Be Giants
• Sorted For E's and Wizz - Pulp
• Grow Old With You - The Wedding Singer
• Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
• Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Numb - Linkin Park
• Sparkle - Fortune  Drive
• Mr Brightside - Killers
• Richard III - Supergrass
• Goldfinger - Ash
• Sandstorm - Cast
• Never Miss A Beat - Kaiser Chiefs
• Knights of Cydonia - Muse
• Me And You Versus The World - Space
• The Great Escape - We Are Scientists

3rd Midwife's Appointment

Mum-to-be has been to see the midwife again today for bump measuring and information receiving. Symphysis-fundal height (from pelvic bone to top of the uterus) is currently 26cm which is, apparently, 1cm above average. This will now increase approximately 1cm per week until the baby is born. Mum's blood pressure, fetal heartbeat, fetal movements and everything else is fine. We've also been given some information on ante-natal classes and arranging a tour of the maternity department at the hospital. It's all good :)

21-27 Weeks

It's mad to think that our little one can now hear and feel. We're having fun prodding and poking to see if he'll react. Wish there was a little window we could look through to check he's OK!

24 Weeks

Baby is coming along well. We're 3 weeks away from being in the third trimester. Mum-to-be is starting to get pretty tired and achy, but is enjoying seeing her bump get bigger every day!

22 Weeks

So we're almost at 5 months and things are ticking over quite nicely. Mum-to-be hasn't been very well this week, so had a day off work to recover. Not sure if it was the baby starting to push on vital organs, or just a bug. She's got her appetite back now, so everything's fine. Exciting recent development has been that we can now feel the baby kicking!!

Quite interesting to think that our baby is now able to hear us, so we're trying to be nice to each other :)

Anomalies Scan - 21 Weeks

Transabdominal scan with Toshiba Xario

• Cephalic presentation.
• Biparietal diameter: 51.9mm (approx. 55% of normal mean)
• Head circumference: 183.9mm (approx. 45% of normal mean)
• Posterior ventricle: 5.8mm
• Transcerebellar diameter: 21.3mm (approx. 45% of normal mean)
• Nuchal fold thickness: 4.2mm
• Abdominal circumference: 165mm (approx. 80% of normal mean) - big belly
• Femur length: 35.9mm (approx. 65% of normal mean) - long legs

We've had a very interesting day. We were in the scan room for at least 20 minutes, during which time the sonographer went through all the various things they check for. The placenta is anterior (at the front), so may mean that we don't feel the baby move until later in the pregnancy. Other than that everything is fine. It's still difficult to believe that there is actually a baby in there!