Pregnancy after LT TTC #15

Hi everyone,

Glad to hear everyone is doing okay and I'm sure all Australians are relieved that there have been no reported deaths (so far) from the Cyclone. I'm sure it would have been so scarey to be there and imagine the poor woman who gave birth at an evacuation centre. With all the fear about the cyclone and the normal worries when giving birth I can imagine it would have been extremely stressful.

AFM: I was told today that the family whose children I currently look after are moving to Qld early April (so I will be out of work). I contacted the council today to find out what the chances were of finding another family or families to work for until at least mid July and at this stage it doesn't look good. I'm really stressed as my morgage is $800 a fortnight and even if I go back on the full sole parent pension I only get $600 a fortnight and then $200 a fortnight Family Tax Benefit. I currently have a tenant/housemate and that brings in $280 a fortnight (but I have to pay all power bills etc) so I'll only have $280 a fortnight to pay all bills, food, petrol, insurance, council rates etc - a complete impossibility. Let alone paying back the loan for the IVF and any future out of pocket medical bills. I'm starting to get really stressed about what I am going to do.

I'm thinking of getting a realestate agent in to find out what I might be able to rent my farm out for but then I need to work out where I can put my horses and where my daughter and I can rent.

Not the sort of stress I need at the moment... :-(

Lori
DD - 14

Possums - with my first pregnancy I used a fetal doppler as my children don't move very much (apparently neither did I or my sister) - I checked with my B and he said it won't hurt the baby. It wasa godsend as anytime I wasn't sure I could just check without anyone needing to know I was stressing (and hence stressing me out even more).
I bought a good one off ebay from the US for about $120 and it was the best money I spent-I have used from this pregnancy from about 9 weeks (I am not a big person so it makes it easier to hear early. I have hardly had to use it this pregnancy as I am more confident given I know this process actually results in a baby at the end which I didn't believe at all with my DD :)
Kaybee - goodluck with scan tomorrow - I am sure it will all be fine!
Dreamrise - sorry to hear about your money stress - hopefully (with fingers crossed) it will sort itself out very soon.

Glad to hear that QLD has escaped serious injuries and deaths from the cyclone - I know people are still impacted enormously in some areas, but luckily the more highly populated areas appear to have escaped the worst.

Mindhugs - congrats on your scan :)

Hi to everyone I have missed- it's so hot here I feel like a fat hen. Going to be the OB tomorrow to check if I am OK to be induced at 38 weeks. He is keen as my left hand side has been compensating for almost eight weeks because of my sore right hip and my nerve pain is getting worse. As long as bubs is OK to come out then I am OK with it to.

Thanks ladies.

Possums, we had a lot of scans. Our FS did one at 7wks and 10wks. Then our OB did one at our first appt (12wks). We had our nuchal scan just before 13wks. The MW did another scan at our 16wk appt because she couldn't find bub with the doppler. Then we had the anatomy scan at 19wks and a repeat anatomy scan at 25wks. We started getting u/s at every OB appt from around 28wks (so 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38 & 39wks). We had 2 additional u/s done at the hospital when we had our ECV at 38wks. There may have even been others I've forgotten.

Hi Ladies,

Phew - my scan went ok. There is still a little person growing inside. It was lovely and reasurring to see it there, looking nice and comfy - rolling and wriggling around. NT was 2.4 though - so, not too thick but not also not too thin. BT will reveal all and results should be in by around Tuesday (why so slow??? - ivf clinic results were always so quick). Anyway, I said I'd be happy when I got to here and here I am already holding my breath for the next result. I don't know if I should tell anyone yet - it's friday so I will see people over the weekend. I am sick of lying but don't want to get ahead of myself. Sorry - rambling again.

And, they've changed my date and I've just skipped a week ahead - yay - already 13 weeks! Talk soon, xo

Just updating my signature to get up to speed with my new date

Congrats Kaybee on your scan as well as going a week ahead. I hope everything is fine with your bloods - how annoying they weren't ready for your scan!

- I went to the ob today and am 3-4cm dilated so bubs will be here pretty soon!

Hi everyone

Lori - I'm sorry to hear about the money issues. I really hope you get a solution soon.

Possums - we had an OB with DS, and fortunately he had his own super doop US machine so we got 4D scans everytime I saw him (every four weeks up until 28 weeks, then every two weeks to 35 weeks then every week until birth.) We also obviously had the 12 and 20 week scan but that was at a specialist. This pregnancy we are having far more scans. The scans with DS were so reassuring , but I do keep telling myself that the vast majority of babies are born healthily without all of the scans. My OB is just very very throrough - he is known as caution man, which suits me being so paranoid. Having said all this I still got a doppler with DS and have one with this one so obviously no number of scans is enough for me!

Kaybee - yay on a good scan, and on skipping a week! My DS at one stage was measuring 3 weeks ahead. If only he'd then done the right thing and COME three weeks ahead - as it was he was still floating around refusing to engage at 40 weeks, hence the C-section. Fingers crossed yours is in more of a hurry than mine! I will update the list for your new date.

Lairdoz - oooh exciting bet you're looking forward to some action!

AFM - I am feeling huge - I would love to know how this works with your second bub, you get bigger sooner, so at some point do you just slow down or will you always end up bigger than you were with the first? I'm also suffering with horrible restless arms and legs at night so sleep is a bit hard to come by!

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- I went to the ob today and am 3-4cm dilated so bubs will be here pretty soon!

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Lairdoz, I guess you probably won't get this until Bubs is here. Hopefully all will go well. Great that they actually checked you and found you were dilated.

My ex had an appointment at midday on the day she gave birth and she told the midwife she had been having a few pains etc and the midwife just took her blood pressure etc and said "well we might see you over the weekend" (it was a friday) but she never had a look to see if she had started to dilate... which obviously she must have because about 4 hours after that appointment the baby was here! He was very nearly born at home because when I rang the hospital to say the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and lasting for a minute each they told us to ring back in an hour. Ten minutes later the contractions were only 2 minutes apart and lasting for a minute (so only a minute break between them) and she was in alot of pain so asked me to ring the hospital again. They told us to come in but "don't rush, there's plenty of time". We did rush in and she only got to the hospital about 10 minutes before he was born so if we had taken the hospitals advice he would have been born at home or in the car. It made me even more annoyed that the midwife hadn't checked her at that appointment because if she had we would have known the birth was close.

Anyway good luck with everything.

Lori
DD - 14
10w 5d pregnant.

Hi Dreamrise - I actually was getting checked to see if I get induced on Thursday would my cervix be ready as I am very much wanting to avoid a C section so beig induced before my cervix was ready wasn't an option for me. I could tell I my cervix was getting there as bubs has been so low for so long, but still could be weeks before bubs arrives!

lairdoz - oh that's so exciting!!! i wonder if 'things' happened overnight!!!! good luck hun.

dreamrise - i hope you can manage to juggle things about and sort it out. could you take the paid maternity leave from the govt early? would that help? suppose it'd be robbing peter to pay paul as you'll need that dosh after the bub arrives.

possums - ash had a single umbilical artery... picked up at 20 weeks. so we had a 7 week, 12weeks, 20 weeks, 34weeks. Our private ob had a small US machine in her rooms and would take a squizz but it wasn't very good quality. We looked at getting a doppler but in the end didn't cos I knew I would be on it constantly and was worried that if the baby turned and the h/b couldn't be heard as easily I'd be a freak out woman.

But, if i were you, given your history, I'd seriously look at getting one. My GF used a stethoscope, she reckons did the same job. It's really awful that time between 12 and 20 weeks when there's no scans and you can't feel bub move yet. Hope that helps you a bit. YOu can always ask your doc to listen to the heartbeat every visit. don't be shy. I've been asking every doc i see since 10 weeks lol and one guy went one better with an impromptu US.

bugsmum - Oh girlfriend I am hearing you. This is my 2nd baby in 18 months and only now i feel like i have a baby belly and not a fat, loose muscle belly. but I'm the same, i feel HUGE. and get 'looks' when i say i'm 20 weeks... like i should be saying i'm 40 weeks lol. HOpe you get some rest soon love. :)

kaybee - congrats!!! 13 weeks already. that's great, when are you going to tell? i don't think you are getting ahead of yourself by saying something now? I'd just go with the feeling. If you are speaking to someone and it feels right, i'd mention it. It's a hard call, cos you are so excited but also don't want to "jinx" it by speaking too early iykwim.

all my fam and friends are well - some have a lot of work to clean up others are without power still but all are alive and well which is the main thing.

I can finally go near Ash and so been stalking the poor child lol. He's much better which is a relief.

we have our big 20 week scan on valentine's day and are still unsure if we are going to find out the sex. we did with DS but as this will probably be my last child, i'd like to experience that "it's a ???" moment in the delivery suite. With the public system this will be my only chance to find out... so we're going to get the sonographer to write the sex on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope (DH can't come to the scan as he's got to do daddy duties for DS) and decide later.

we are the most impatient people ever so probably wont be able to hold out peeking lol. I don't really mind either way but it would be nice to have a little girl... but DS woudl love a little boy i'm sure and little boys are just so beautiful.

hmm

hope you all had a good weekend and have a wonderful week ahead :) and that heat drops for you southern girls!!! oxoxo

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dreamrise - i hope you can manage to juggle things about and sort it out. could you take the paid maternity leave from the govt early? would that help? suppose it'd be robbing peter to pay paul as you'll need that dosh after the bub arrives.

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Hi Grub, I did look into the paid maternity leave scheme but you can only apply for it after bub is born. Seems kinda silly really when anyone who has paid maternity leave through work normally get it from 4 or 6 weeks prior to the birth to allow you to still get some money when you may be unable to work due to being so big etc. In fact when I was pregnant with my daughter (now 14yrs) I had to get a doctors certificate to say I was healthy enough to continue work beyond the 6 weeks prior to due date (I completed my prac placement for my course from 6 weeks before my due date to 3 weeks before my due date). But I was determined to finish it before bub arrived as I didn't want to have to worry about juggling my placement and a new baby.

As far as finding out the gender, as the ultrasounds I had with my daughter (16 weeks and 20 weeks) both told me different genders, I still had that "it's a..." moment when she was born as I wasn't sure which ultrasound to believe. Prior to my first scan I had been convinced she was a girl but then at that scan they told me she was a boy and I felt so disappointed and silly to have been so sure she was a girl so when the 2nd scan said she was a girl I didn't know whether to believe it or not and didn't want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed if I did have a boy.

With this bub I am starting to feel that it is a boy. About 60% sure (with my daughter I was 100% sure she was a girl and with my ex's child I was 95% sure he was a boy and I was right again). I'm not sure if I'm thinking it's a boy because this pregnancy so far has been very different to my last one (no throwing up yet but lots more tiredness) or because I am worried about having a boy. I currently look after a preschool boy and I used to look after a toddler boy and I have noticed just how different they are from girls even at this age. They seem to have a natural aggression already which I find a little difficult to handle at times. One of my friends was a single mother of a girl and boy from when they were only a couple of years old until they were 17. I remember her telling me about how aggressive her son got when he hit puberty - even to the point of actually physically attacking her a few times when he couldn't handle other things that were going on in his life at the time. It makes me think how much more important it is for boys to have a good very active male role model in their life and this bub won't have that. They'll have my father but only see him at the most a couple of times a month.

Does anyone else have an inkling of what they think they are having (without the scan to tell you)?

Lori

Juniper - a huge (belated) CONGRATULATIONS on the arrival of little Amber! Gorgeous name. As others have said, I'm sorry it wasn't the delivery you'd planned, hope you're healing well from the CS. Is she being kind to her mummy?! Hope so!

Lairdoz - thats fantastic news that you're dilating so well, hope bub is here soon! Will keep an eye out.

Great news that lots of you are getting good scan results and everything is going well in here. Sorry no persies, brain space is minimal these days!

Thanks to everyone for your kind wishes. Life is hectic, my milk is still only at about 50%, so each feed is BF followed by expressed BM followed by formula followed by getting back on the breast pump... hopefully one day soon we can break out of this cycle! Chloe is being a good girl though, and starting to sleep a bit longer at night. Know it probably won't last, so we're making the most of it. DH is finding me amusing, I patted him to sleep the other night (in my sleep), and this morning I woke up trying to feed a pillow... deary me!

Dreamrise - in response to your post the other day, my OB had another patient at a nearby hospital he had to see, and noone was expecting me to dilate so quickly at the end, hence his rush back to the hospital! It took almost 2 hours to dilate from 2cm to 5cm, noone was more shocked than me when I did the following 5cm in 20min. I was only on a low dose of oxytocin too, thank god they didn't turn it up any higher! :)

Take care everyone, and big belly rubs to all!

lol leabie. amazing what sleep deprivation gets you doing hey!!! that's such a great effort with the feeding. you are doing an amazing job and every bit helps and counts! i hope your milk sorts itself out soon and you'll be pump and forumla free soon (guessing that is the goal).

I pumped and bottle fed that milk to DS for 10 days post birth and then all the sudden he "got it". for us tho it wasn't a milk issue it was an attachement issue so heaps different to you. my little one was a real pain in the beehind for the whole time i fed him but i'm so proud we made it to 7 months... not as long as i'd hoped pre-birth but after discovering what it's 'really' like, i am so proud of my effort. :)

dreamrise - yeah I'm probably 90% that we are having a girl. it's just been so completely different a pregnancy than with DS. As for the aggression thing, I really think it depends on the child and the parent and the work you've put in before hand.
There always something like the big brother/big sister program if it turns out to be something you are concerned about... and there's heaps of sports with great coaches/mentors... Perhaps bridge, cross sort of thing iykwim.

But boys are definitely different to girls, I tried all that non-gender stuff at first... didn't work lol. My boy LOVES wheels and trucks and things that spin. He likes to climb and fall over and go fast in his toy cars... he doesn't talk much yet... my mother's group has nearly all girls and they all sit in a civilised little circle and 'talk' to each other. They were all a few months behind DS in the crawling/walking stakes, but he's behind in the talking game!

that sucks regarding the mat leave payments. you think it'd be the same as normal mat leave paayments!

Funny thing today... my 14 month old has been coming up to me, lifting my top and patting/poking my belly... today it got a big slobbery toddler tonguey! mmmm and i've been saying to him "is our baby in there?"... so today he said "baby" in a sort of managled toddler way! OMG i think they should come out at this age, he's just so beautiful atm, if you ignore the occassional little tanty.

thank the lord! the rain has come! this darwin humidity is nearly killing me!

OMG I'm bleeding!!!

No cramps or anything yet, just a drip drip drip. Enough to worry me. I'm now 11 weeks. Has anyone else experienced this at around this stage? What could it be? Possible miscarriage?

Very frightened!!!

Time for a new thread girls. You can find it here