|
Well, I ordered one of those small wedge pillows to shove under your belly when you are laying on your side and tried it out last night in conjunction with my big C shaped pregnancy pillow. I woke up with the least pain I've had in at least a month or so! I think I must have been twisting my hips in my sleep so that my belly would rest on the bed? Anyway, still a little slow to start this morning but feel like a whole new person. Thought I'd pass this along in case anyone was lurking and having issues. Going to add in a foam topper tonight as well for maximum comfort!!
marchantia fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Apr 9, 2019 |
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 13:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 16:48 |
|
|
That little wedge pillow and a deflated regular pillow folded in half and propped between my knees has been my lifesaver recently. We had the last ultrasound of the pregnancy today (at 32 weeks) and it was crazy how detailed the images are. The MFM group has the 3D imaging option and you can really see her facial features, she has the same fat baby cheeks my husband had as a kid and sleeps in exactly the same way that I do, with her arm tucked under her head. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 17:52
|
|
|
marchantia posted:Next step would be an SI belt. I have one that sits higher to help support some of the belly weight when I'm cleaning but I've heard good things about a proper SI belt. It feels silly to shell out more money for 5 weeks of pain though, so we will see. I used an SI belt for the last few weeks of pregnancy, but then again for support post-partum for quite a while (on and off as directed by my PT or doctor). So you may get more usage out of it over time than you might think.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 18:51
|
|
|
I know the mileage may vary by country but is it usual to get an ultrasound near your delivery date? I was in private obstetric care in NZ which is unusual and so got heaps of extra ultrasounds. My final ultrasound at 39 weeks gave the only clue that my son was monster sized, because he had a massive late growth spurt, I carried well and on palpation they swore he felt "normal sized". Even having measured him on scans they were shocked when he was 10lb 4oz/4.65kg on delivery and I nearly ended up with an emergency csection. I kind of want to insist on a late ultrasound for my next which wont be with a private OB..
Tamarillo fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Apr 9, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 22:26
|
|
|
I will have one at 36 weeks for sure, but just a handheld one, not anything with attempts to measure the baby in advance. Ultrasound weight estimates are really inaccurate according to my doctor and can be off 1-2 lbs in either direction so they don't regularly do them. Handheld one will be to check if she's turned head down at 36 weeks.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 22:50
|
|
|
My last ultrasound would have been the anatomy scan at 20 weeks, but they couldn’t visualize the heart, so my last scan was at 23 weeks. I really, really wanted a 3D of the face, but that was the one day they were busy so I got scanned with an overflow machine that didn’t have 3D capabilities. Our baby’s appearance is going to be a complete surprise. For insurance coverage my provider won’t do additional scans past 20 weeks unless there’s a medically necessary reason, otherwise insurance will not cover it. Not sure how it would work for you, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to find out.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 23:08
|
|
|
I had an anatomy scan around 20 weeks, then one at 30 to follow up on my low-lying placenta. I recently had another at 36 weeks, since there was a discrepancy between how my belly was measuring and the baby’s gestational age, and they wanted to make sure everything was ok and I didn’t have a massive amount of amniotic fluid or whatever. It’s clear the practice doesn’t put much stock in how much the baby weighs from these scans, just certain length markers and proportions. They only seem to order the scans if there is a specific need, though, and their views/measurement abilities get progressively worse throughout the third trimester.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 23:21
|
|
|
Japan does ultrasound (usually 3d) and measures head and femur every visit, which is often. This is a standard schedule. Moms over 40 or with complications will have even more checkups. 0-24 weeks / once a month 24-35 weeks / twice a month 36 - birth / every week (Yes, these visits are heavily subsidized.)
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 23:43
|
|
|
I've heard of people having them at 36 weeks, but it does seem like there's usually some other reason they're ordered, like BadSamaritan mentioned. I'm not sure if I was referred to MFM and had more ultrasounds due to my other medical issues (I had a previous ectopic pregnancy that ruptured, and Crohn's disease) or whether this was just standard practice at my OB's office. But today the MFM doctor said that since everything looked normal and the baby was measuring right around the 60th percentile for her gestational age, they would "graduate" me out of the office and no further scans would be necessary. Overall, I had scans at 5 weeks, 9 weeks, 12 weeks (this one wasn't 100% covered by insurance), 20 weeks, and 32 weeks.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2019 00:00
|
|
|
Heads up, there are calls to have the Fisher Price rock n plays recalled.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2019 00:10
|
|
|
After my 20 week anatomy scan I was scheduled for an ultrasound on what would have been 40+1 and then every other day after that until I either went into labour or there were signs of placental failure forcing an induction. I ended up going into labour on exactly my due date so it didn’t happen, but that’s the norm in Canada as far as I’m aware.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2019 02:33
|
|
|
The only routinely prescribed ultrasound in the public system where I work is the standard 20 week anatomy scan. Dating scans are only to confirm dates/viability/reassurance but not necessarily pushed for. Same with 12 week NT scans. Third trimester scans are generally for monitoring any medical issues the 20 week scan may have brought up, or if something develops with the mother (eg hypertension, GD, reduced movements, physical trauma, bleeding etc) and are not routine. Depending on the provider they may take the estimated fetal weight with a grain of salt or they might not, either way I tell everyone the error margin beyond about 34-36 weeks is approaching 2lbs/1kg in either direction, it's worse the bigger/more developed the baby. Imagine trying to measure a full length curtain when all you have is a rigid 10cm ruler, accuracy goes out the window because of the physical dimensions of what you're trying to measure vs the instrument you have to use. The 10cm ruler is fine if you're measuring an apple or a jelly bean though. Having said all that, every person has the right to decline any of these scans. Doesn't happen often where I work, but my last midwife mentioned she gets the occasional patient who does.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2019 05:46
|
|
|
Any tips on getting through the 3-hour glucose tolerance test? I'm not the best with needles and the prospect of 4 stabs in 3 hours next week is making me completely miserable.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2019 14:18
|
|
|
Bring something to do while you wait! The needle parts are pretty quick thankfully since they don't need a ton of blood each time. I brought knitting to work on and lots of podcasts to listen to in the downtime. I'm not too bad with needles, but I just try not to look when they do it. It really wasn't too bad, and I didn't end up having GD so that was also great. I had a friend who failed the first two draws so while it sucked that she had to deal with GD at least she didn't have to stay for the whole test?
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2019 15:23
|
|
|
As with many things in life, it's loving terrible but it ends. I have panic attacks and fainting during blood draws so I was definitely not pleased to have to do the 3 hour test. What got me through it was just reminding myself that it ends, and it's the right thing to do for the baby. It's always better to know (I say this as someone who works in medical diagnostics and who would like people to buy our products, lol). Also if it helps, the false positive rate on the one hour test is very, very bad and they should probably administer the three or two hour versions instead. Your odds of not having GD are something like 25-30% given that you failed the one hour, which again as someone who works in medical diagnostics that's loving ridiculous. I understand wanting to get patients out of the clinic as soon as possible but the way to do it is not to subject so many pregnant women to this kind of stress.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2019 17:29
|
|
|
I arranged for numbing cream when I had the 3 hour test. I am terrible with needles and the multi needle idea freaked me the hell out.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 01:15
|
|
|
I'm a huge advocate for EMLA cream. If you hate needles then just take the sensory part out of it and be done with it. I shamelessly use it when I need IVs even though I'm not that bad with needles anymore, just because I would rather not feel it. EMLA cream for all!
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 05:05
|
|
|
We are having a huge blizzard right now. I was hoping the drop in barometric pressure would get labor started. I had some pretty intense contractions that were about ten minutes apart for a little over an hour, but they fizzled out and nothing has happened since. It’s been five days since the mucous plug came out, I’m getting antsy.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 06:01
|
|
|
Oh my gosh I can't believe I've never thought to use numbing cream! Thank you guys, that is a huge help! And I appreciate the reassurance that it will be over faster than I think 😊 The false positive rate is wild, I have three friends who also had high initial results and were cleared after the 3-hour test, and I'm definitely resentful about all the stress this is causing my pregnant rear end. (Exacerbated by an incompetent medical assistant who keeps giving me misinformation. First I had diabetes and needed to go right on insulin, then I didn't need any info to prepare for the 3-hour test and didn't need to worry about fasting.)
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 18:31
|
|
|
My only advice for the 3hr is to pack a good high protein snack with you and a big rear end water bottle. I was so loving thirsty and sick from the beetus drink so having a bunch of almonds and water helped tide me over until I made it home for real food.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 18:58
|
|
|
If the lab and your doctor's office will let you have water during the three hours of waiting, definitely drink water (in small sips, if the acidity of the sugar solution made you nauseated); it's harder to draw blood if you're dehydrated. (There is no good reason for them not to, but my doctor's office strictly forbids drinking any water at all because "we don't want you to dilute the solution any further," and some labs forbid it "to prevent vomiting".)
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 19:32
|
|
|
The reason they get so many "false positives" is to make sure they do not miss even one person with GD because the consequences of untreated GD are serious. So the one hour screening test casts a wide net/uses criteria so they do not miss even one person with GD with the side effect of also flagging a whole lot of people that don't have it for further testing.
sheri fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Apr 12, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 19:38
|
|
|
Also, a high score on the glucose test (which is, unfortunately, scored like golf) isn't really a false positive: it isn't meant to diagnose anything. It's meant to say "out of this group of pregnant women, which ones are most likely to have gestational diabetes?" and all of us who've scored way over par were more likely to have gestational diabetes than those of y'all who didn't.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 19:46
|
|
|
That makes sense and is a helpful reframing of the 1-hour screening test. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2019 14:50
|
|
|
My wife just hit 25 weeks and gets the spins really bad just from sitting up Sucks to be her.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2019 06:29
|
|
|
Our little girl was born April 15th at 38w4d after 40 hours of labor. She’s perfect and I can’t stop staring at her. The labor and delivery was brutal. I had planned on being low intervention, and maybe using nitrous, but mostly relying on things like aromatherapy, massage, walking, using a birthing ball,etc. Things went way differently. I started contracting at 1pm on Saturday. My water broke at midnight, but I wasn’t 100% sure since it was mostly a steady, clear trickle. 4:1:1 happened at 3am, and I waited until 4am to go in. The test for amniotic fluid was negative and I was only 3cm, so they toyed with the thought of sending me home, but my contractions were very intense so they decided to keep me. Day shift came on and swabbed some of the fluid that ended up trickling down my leg, and it was positive for amniotic fluid, so I had indeed ruptured when I thought I did. I made it to 6cm by the afternoon and then things just stopped progressing. We tried all sorts of things like inversion, fluid, nipple stimulation with a pump, walking, that thing where they wiggle your butt with a sheet, and re-rupturing my membranes since they had sealed off. Nothing was getting my contractions closer than six minutes, so I had to start pitocin, the one thing I absolutely did not want. None of the pain relief things I thought I would like were things I actually ended up wanting. Birthing ball was painful and I didn’t want to be touched by anyone. We got the pit started at 8:30pm and I still wasn’t progressing. They absolutely slammed the pit, and the contractions were so painful and starting to stack on top of one another. My membranes had to be ruptured two more times, and I had an intrauterine pressure cath put in. tried nitrous but it was just too much, and I had only progressed to 7cm with four hours of pit so they wanted to slam even harder, so at 1am I got an epidural. I also had my membranes ruptured a fourth and final time, setting a record for both the doc and the midwife. The epidural sort of took the edge off for a few hours, but then all of a sudden it completely stopped working right as I reached the end of transition. Going from tolerable pain to full blown pit contractions and fully dilated and effaced was a horrible experience. My baby started having decels so we immediately moved to pushing. The pain was unlike anything I could have possibly prepared for. The pit was cranking and it was too late to have anesthesia come give a bolus through my epidural, so I pushed for an hour and a half with zero pain relief with pit contractions that were so awful it makes me shake just thinking about it. She was born at 4:30am, her hand presented with her head, nearly 40 hours after labor started. I ended up with a second degree tear, and my golden hour was unfortunately eventful. The first part was spent getting stitched up, and I could feel every needle poke and thread pull because the lidocaine wasn’t given time to kick in. Then I hemorrhaged and needed tons of fundal massage, extra pit, and a shot to get things clamping down. Then, during the massage, I was told I have a large mass on my uterus, possibly a fibroid. I thought it was her foot for the entire third trimester, but it’s some mystery growth that I will need to get checked out later. She is 7lb 2oz of perfection. Thankfully breastfeeding has been going well. She was a good sleeper during the day today, I just haven’t been able to sleep much yet. We will be going home tomorrow! All the worry I had about bonding has gone away, all I want to do is hold her.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 04:43
|
|
|
Koivunen posted:Our little girl was born April 15th at 38w4d after 40 hours of labor. She’s perfect and I can’t stop staring at her. The labor and delivery was brutal. I had planned on being low intervention, and maybe using nitrous, but mostly relying on things like aromatherapy, massage, walking, using a birthing ball,etc. Things went way differently. Congratulations! I’m sorry you had a rough time of it in labor. Sometimes you need some time to grieve for the labor you wanted, I know I did, and it took me a while to move past. Enjoy your little squishy bundle of joy!
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 05:43
|
|
|
Congratulations! That labor sounds grueling but I am glad you are holding your baby now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 14:08
|
|
|
Congrats!! I’m sorry it was so rough. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 17:08
|
|
|
Congrats Koivunen! I’m sorry you had a really rough labor, but it sounds like it was worth it 
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 18:12
|
|
|
I'm sorry you had such a horrific time of it Koivunen. That sounds truly awful. Don't hesitate to take the time you need to grieve if you need to, debrief with a post partum trauma counsellor or similar--it is more common and more needed than people will tell you. You are important, and your birth experience matters. It's not just about the baby. I'm not sure what country you're in but there's a book by an Australian duo called 'How To Heal A Bad Birth'--Amazon/book depository carry it. This is not saying any of this was in any way your fault, that you have to 'fix' things, but if you find yourself needing help to process things in the following weeks and months and noone around you is giving you the space or the language to proceed... This book helped me. It was a start anyway. Too many people will say "at least you have a healthy baby," but that is entirely the wrong thing to say. It devalues any trauma experienced and doesn't actually help. I don't have PMs on here but let me know if you're in the FB group if you ever need another ear to bounce things off on.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 03:49
|
|
|
nyerf posted:I'm sorry you had such a horrific time of it Koivunen. That sounds truly awful. Don't hesitate to take the time you need to grieve if you need to, debrief with a post partum trauma counsellor or similar--it is more common and more needed than people will tell you. You are important, and your birth experience matters. It's not just about the baby. I'm not sure what country you're in but there's a book by an Australian duo called 'How To Heal A Bad Birth'--Amazon/book depository carry it. This is not saying any of this was in any way your fault, that you have to 'fix' things, but if you find yourself needing help to process things in the following weeks and months and noone around you is giving you the space or the language to proceed... This book helped me. It was a start anyway. Wow, wish I knew about any of this after the birth of my first. It was really the stark difference I experienced for the birth of my second that drove home to me that I really should have gotten more support after my first. Thanks for the great post.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 04:15
|
|
|
Glucose tolerance test trip report: It was horrible, the woman who did my first draw couldn't get any blood from my vein and had to wiggle and twist the needle around a ton. But after that she asked a more senior blood draw person to handle the other three draws and he was great and they were fast and painless. Then I got pierogies when it was all done. It sucked a lot but then it was over! This pregnancy is really forcing me to get over my fear of needles.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 00:22
|
|
|
That was me with my first draw on the 3-hour, too, except they only had one person who could draw my blood and after she failed three times she wasn't allowed to try a fourth, and nobody else could do it. So I had to fast a different day. (I did not share this horror story before your adventure, for obvious reasons.) I have a horror of medical procedures that involve something going into or coming out of me (so a strep culture: almost totally painless, if it's done right you barely even gag, and yet it's DEFCON 1 for my brain???) and yet after having a monthly blood draw with my last pregnancy due to having half a thyroid (my OB this time around isn't as concerned about every single month drawing blood) needles are probably the least scary  invasive procedure for me.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 02:19
|
|
|
This sleep deprivation stuff is not fun. In the past week I have had around 8-9 hours total. Haven’t slept for more than 45 minutes at a time since before I went into labor. Her first few days of life have been cluster feeding around the clock. My milk finally started coming in this afternoon, and she actually slept for 2.5 hours. My husband was watching her the whole time but I couldn’t turn off my brain to sleep, I just lay there in bed even though I’m so far beyond exhausted. I love feeding her, but I need some sleep to recover! Hopefully tonight will be better now that I can actually give her some volume. I will check out that book about traumatic delivery. One of my friends reached out to me about her experience so we will be getting together in the next few weeks. I’m also going to see a counselor in a couple weeks. I think the biggest thing that bothers me is the loss of control over my body. When I was in natural labor I could handle the contractions, but as soon as things started going wrong, that control was out of the window, especially because the pit contractions were so much worse. Edit: Our baby has harlequin sign, where exactly half her body turns bright red when she lays in that side. It’s pretty adorable (and totally benign). Koivunen fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Apr 20, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 02:39
|
|
|
Koivunen posted:This sleep deprivation stuff is not fun. In the past week I have had around 8-9 hours total. Haven’t slept for more than 45 minutes at a time since before I went into labor. Her first few days of life have been cluster feeding around the clock. My milk finally started coming in this afternoon, and she actually slept for 2.5 hours. My husband was watching her the whole time but I couldn’t turn off my brain to sleep, I just lay there in bed even though I’m so far beyond exhausted. I love feeding her, but I need some sleep to recover! Hopefully tonight will be better now that I can actually give her some volume. I basically didn’t sleep the first 10 days. I already have a lot of trouble sleeping so if there was only an hour left before the next feeding I’d just stay awake instead of even attempting to sleep sometimes. I nearly cracked and my midwife ended up recommending that I start pumping so Dad could take at least one feeding a day and I could have at least 5 hours uninterrupted. I’m not necessarily advocating you take the same approach, I’m just saying that there’s nothing wrong with trying something a little different if it ends up working for you and saving you from physical and/or mental exhaustion.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 03:34
|
|
|
zonohedron posted:That was me with my first draw on the 3-hour, too, except they only had one person who could draw my blood and after she failed three times she wasn't allowed to try a fourth, and nobody else could do it. So I had to fast a different day. (I did not share this horror story before your adventure, for obvious reasons.) Ohhhh my God, I would have refused to go back.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 20:39
|
|
|
peanut posted:Japan does ultrasound (usually 3d) and measures head and femur every visit, which is often. This is a standard schedule. Moms over 40 or with complications will have even more checkups. I think this is the Singapore schedule too. Except none of it is subsidised and maternity care isn’t covered by medical insurance, so I get to pay for it all out of pocket. Koivunen posted:Our little girl was born April 15th at 38w4d after 40 hours of labor. HOLY HELL. Thank you for sharing your story. I’ve added it to my bank of “reasons why I’m having a scheduled c.” We call it “too posh to push” here and that’s just fine with me if it avoids a traumatic experience. PTSD from delivering your baby seems awful. I hope you recover well and don’t feel guilty about a difficult labor. Childbirth used to kill women all the time!! Be proud you/your baby didn’t die. (I have no idea if that helps, sorry if it’s the wrong thing to say! I see so many women swimming in guilt over ~*~EVERYTHING~*~ so I’m trying to build myself a mental house to protect against it and expect now that I’m not gonna do anything perfectly, whether it be labor or parenting, and that’s fine! ...I might be a bit delusional)
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2019 17:07
|
|
|
Switchback posted:I think this is the Singapore schedule too. Except none of it is subsidised and maternity care isn’t covered by medical insurance, so I get to pay for it all out of pocket. ;__________;
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2019 00:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 16:48 |
|
|
Womp womp, I've got the diabeetus. 4-6x daily finger pricks here I come.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2019 20:42
|
|