Congratulations : Enfield

Timothy holds his baby sister

Richard & Jenny had a safe and relatively quick delivery with their second - a bouncing baby girl, Hannah Megan. Well done Jenny !!

Congratulations : Sydney

Awesome news : my dear friends Geraldine & Andrew in Sydney, Australia, had their baby girl yesterday afternoon. Andrew delivered her in the car park of the hospital because she was in such a hurry to get here. Geraldine and baby are both fine and resting up. Good job, the Dad, we are well impressed!

standing still

Keith and Zack cavort on Tina's lawn in the sunshine

It's a long weekend here in the UK, and I decided that I'd had enough of the waiting game... and took myself off to the Birthing Centre today at noon to talk to the midwife about the scan results. They were in the middle of two complicated deliveries so asked me to return at 6pm.
Once there, the midwife was happy to listen to my concerns, looked over the notes and scan results, and said that what was written was inconclusive and unclear. Not only that, but the scan printouts that were included do not indicate clearly where the placenta ends and the cervix begins - there are no measurements, there are just two labels - "Placenta" and "Cervix/Os". What's the point of that ? If we don't know that the placenta is 1cm, 2cm, 3cm from the cervix, we don't know anything. It's all just annoyingly vague.
So now we're back to square one : I don't know if I'm at risk. I don't know if I'm in line for a c-section. I don't know if I'm allowed to still have the baby at the Barkantine Birthing Centre if everything is OK. One things for certain though, the midwife said if I go into labour in the next week, I should go straight to the hospital rather than going to the Birthing Centre. How gloomy !
My plan of action is to try and get an appointment with a consultant at the Royal London and/or St Guy's & St Thomas' (near London Bridge) in the next few days, so that we can get the wheels turning. Both Keith and I feel that waiting around for the sonographer to blow the whistle on placenta praevia (on Friday 29th Aug), only brings us a week closer to the inevitable and consequently fewer options.
Wish me luck !

A good week

Zack is much better after a week of Amoxycilin, and has been quite delightful these past few days. Keith's managed to come home earlier than usual, which has also been a big help.

We had our 36 week scan yesterday morning and there was good news : baby's head has engaged, and we are facing the right way for "the exit". The sonographer managed to get this rather sweet 'shadow' view of the baby's face, and what is his hand (looks like an odd jewel resting against his chin). We also had confirmation that he is still a boy - in case anyone thought there was a mistake on the first take.
Only problem now - and it's something I have NO control over - is that the placenta continues to be low lying (placenta praevia). This means that the placenta is actually covering the opening of the cervix, so there would be severe bleeding if I went into natural labour. They've decided I can have another week to see if it changes, but after that I will have to have a c-section.

I have mixed feelings about it all. On the one hand, I'm relaxed because the medical profession have experience in these things, and know what to do for both mum & baby's safety. I am fearful of c-section recovery times though, as I've only heard bad news - most people take months if not a year to recover fully from it. How am I going to cope with a 19 kg toddler, a pram that needs to be lifted in and out of the car, etc etc? I just can't. Hmmm...

I'm also a bit sad to not have the use of the new birthing centre. It would be great to have the baby there. What a pity ! And the alternative - having the baby at the Royal London, is not exactly a fair trade... the place is a HOLE. I feel more and more negative about going there with every article I read, and every conversation I have. All I hear is about how TERRIBLE the after-birth care is. And this is at a time when I'm going to need it most. What can I do ?

It never rains...

What a week ! With Keith away in the States and Kelly (our regular baby-sitter) on holiday it was one crazy, full on, 24hours a day week. Zack came down with a temperature on Wednesday evening - wouldn't eat and was burning up - we were up every 45 minutes thru the night. He seemed better on Thursday and then the temperature came and went over the weekend. Keith got back on Saturday morning, and Saturday night I managed to get a few extra hours of solid sleep. By Monday morning Zack wasn't any better, so we headed down to the doctor's for a look-see. As it turns out he has an ear-infection. I had expected to hear viral-'something', but hadn't guessed it was his ears. He isn't on antibiotics yet, just paracetamol 6-hourly, so we're hoping he'll fight it off himself. He did a lot of sweating last night, so his immune system is fighting hard - this all a good thing. He still isn't eating much tho', which makes any parent worry.
Kelly came back from her holiday with the news that she's going to be a full-time nanny for a family and can't baby-sit for us anymore. She's been baby-sitting Zack for more than a year - before he could walk. I'm sad for Zack as he could do with some continuity when his baby brother comes along, and he asked me yesterday when we'd be seeing Kelly next ? It drives home the relational bond that's developed between the two of them. But I can't expect Kelly to stay on forever - she needs to make decisions about her life, and move forward with her career. I know she's had to give this a lot of thought. Yes, the timing isn't the best (then I ask myself: when is it?), but my mum will be here in September to give Zack extra attention, so that'll be a good thing. It will give us a window to find a new baby-sitter and possibly a nanny too (hopefully one and the same if I can organise it). That'll really help me with the workload and my ability to cope from week-to-week.

Ggrrrrr.....

Bloody NHS !
I saw the midwife a week ago, and she seemed concerned that the baby was 'breech' at this point in time. I'm not overly concerned because in my mind there still seems to be oodles of time for it to turn (and I have placenta previa - tho' mildly so). To the point tho' : she wanted me to go for an urgent scan to make sure all is well. Fine ! I have the scan request in my hands - a copy of which was sent to the ultrasound dept. It has now been a week and I've heard nothing. I actually have a scan booked for 2 weeks time (standard procedure - 36 weeks), so again, I'm not freaking out. What makes me mad tho' is the whole attitude of the medical profession here : it's not my problem ! I rang up the midwives today and explained it all, and asked if I should chase it. 'Yes,' says she, 'here's the phone number.' Basically - she can't be bothered, and unless I'm in labour, the baby is in distress or I'm bleeding to death, that's it. So why all the concern in the first place ? Why bother if no-one else is going to bother ? It all reeks of box-ticking to me (ie. if anything goes wrong, they can say they did what they could, and the hospital failed to follow-up).
My options at this point:
1. push for this scan as soon as
2. call the midwife and make her do the phoning (and her job)
3. leave it and go for my 36 week scan

I'm struck that in this day and age, most obstetricians have no experience in dealing with breech births because the "easy option" of a c-section is always there. Why try and do it the hard way, when you can just slice ? Their answer is the hippocratic oath - risk to mother and child. They don't need the experience, because statistics have told them that c-sections are safer. The only problem there is that, out of fear, I might get booked in for a c-section, and then the baby turns in time for natural delivery (and shorter recovery period by the way). On this point tho', I'm hoping the baby will turn before we get to D-day with c-sections.
I could try and give it a bit of help too.... tho' some of this stuff sounds laughable. Clothes peg anyone ?

There's so much info, and support on the 'net which backs up my gut-feel to let things go until 38 weeks, I don't see the point of freaking out and trying to intervene too soon. I guess that means : Watch this Space!

ps. my neighbour returned home within 24 hours and is doing fine. There doesn't seem to be any complications with her pregnancy. Thank the Lord !

Wow! News :
I'm letting all these frustrations eclipse an extremely important moment in the mother-child bond. Zack said, "I love you mommy" for the very first time today. Un-initiated and accompanied by a hug.

Spare a thought

Last night around 10pm my neighbour rang our buzzer to say that she needed to go to the hospital. She's a GP and 25 weeks pregnant (her first). Her husband, also a doctor, is currently abroad, so she's alone. She had been having bad abdominal cramps for 2 - 3 hours, and felt she couldn't ignore them anymore. My heart went out to her. We waited for the ambulance but it didn't show up – and in the end I called a cab, and he was here in 4 minutes. Her mum-in-law had arrived from Wimbledon to be with her, so they left together.
Keith is currently in the USA, for the remainder of this week, and altho' we had discussed an emergency plan (just in case), it really brought it home to me last night. What would I need to do ?

Please say a prayer for my neighbour – I hope she's OK as I've no word yet.

photo for posterity

/
I was very 'on the ball' with Zack and felt I really aught to make an effort and take some "belly shots" with this pregnancy too. The time just flies, and before you know it, you haven't done anything and you're having a baby and your belly is gone! So here it is : the 33 week photo.