Be Prepared

Our scare last week has put the frighteners on us a bit. It's made us realise that in pregnancy you should expect the unexpected. Graeme admitted to me it had crossed his mind that, had something gone wrong as a result of my fall, we may well have welcomed our son into the world that very day, totally unprepared for my admission to hospital. After a chat, we decided that it's high time I started putting my hospital bag together.

So, yesterday, armed with a rather scary-looking list and some Boots vouchers, I went shopping to stock up on supplies. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be buying disposable knickers, but I now have 2 boxes. It was a surprisingly successful trip and I managed to get most of the things on my list. I did take longer than expected as I had no idea that there were so many varieties of breast pads and nipple cream and I spent a great deal of time just staring at the shelves in an abject state of confusion. One thing I have definitely learned so far is that expectant mums are spoilt for choice!

Lisa xxx

Caught By The Fuzz

We went to our local Showcase Cinema last night to see the latest Simon Pegg film, Hot Fuzz. I was fully prepared not to like it, having not particularly enjoyed Mr Pegg's previous effort, Shaun of the Dead, but I'd promised Graeme that we'd go and see it. I was also fully prepared to fall asleep during the film, as I was suffering quite badly from exhaustion and going to the cinema was not very high on my list of Things I Really Want To Do Right Now.

In the end, I was surprised that I neither fell asleep nor hated the film. I actually really enjoyed it. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say I loved it. I'm not usually a big fan of comedy films, but Hot Fuzz had me laughing out loud. Even when not laughing I found myself smirking at the ridiculousness of the events unfolding on the screen, wondering what bizarre turn of events would come next. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, and things couldn't get any stranger, something even sillier would happen. It's not often a film manages to be both daft and intelligent, but Hot Fuzz is exactly that. And, unlike most of the "comedy" films I've sat through recently, it's actually funny. And it's British. Hurrah.

Lisa xxx

Lisa Takes A Tumble

We had a bit of a scare today which resulted in me going to hospital to be monitored in the pregnancy assessment unit.

While carrying the laundry basket down the stairs I somehow managed to lose my footing, slip and go skidding down the stairs. Having no hands free to grab the bannister to save myself, I tried to break my fall with my left elbow but still managed to land rather awkwardly on my bum and lower back. The pain in my elbow was intense but that wasn't what bothered me. My only thoughts were for Baby T and what damage I may have done. Graeme came flying down the stairs like a bat out of hell, to find me still lying there in a crumpled heap, too shocked and scared to move. After the initial fright wore off, I burst into tears. Graeme helped me up and took me to the sofa, by which point I was inconsolable.

Once I'd managed to stop crying, Graeme suggested that I ring my Midwife for advice, so I got straight on the phone. It took a couple of attempts, but I eventually got through and after explaining what had happened I was told to ring the assessment unit at the hospital. After hearing that I have a rhesus negative blood type, the assessment unit said I would definitely have to go in to be checked out, as, if I'd had a bleed, I may need another injection of Anti-D.

By this point I was a nervous wreck. I could feel Baby T moving around a bit, but I was doing a good job of convincing myself that something was very wrong. I had visions of all sorts of terrible situations running through my head and just wanted to get the assessment over with. After what felt like an incredibly long drive to the hospital and getting a bit lost once we were in there, we eventually arrived at the assessment unit and were told to take a seat in the waiting area. Although everyone else in there was complaining that it was freezing, I felt very hot and flushed, which I knew was my nerves getting the better of me. The wait seemed to last for hours and when we were called through I practically leapt out of my seat, desperate to find out if Baby T was OK.

The Midwife was very reassuring and said that it was unlikely that any damage had been done as I'd not landed on my abdomen, but a full check would just make sure of that. I was hooked up to a fetal monitor which measured Baby T's heart rate and signs of my abdomen stretching, while I was told to press a button every time I felt him move. The midwife said the monitor should give us the all clear within 10 minutes. We were left alone while the Midwife went off to update my notes. We could hear the hearbeat coming through good and strong and the heart rate was fine, so I immediately relaxed and concentrated on monitoring Baby's movement. Unfortunately, Baby seemed to choose this time to tone down his activity levels and it took 18 minutes, not 10, for us to be certified as OK. He did give some good strong kicks though, so I knew he was OK and felt that maybe all the stress had tired him out a bit! After checking the information gathered by the monitor, the Midwife told us everything was fine and we were free to leave.

Even now, several hours later, I'm still in a bit of shock. It was strange that something as trivial as a fall suddenly took on a whole new meaning because I've got a baby inside of me. I can't ever remember being more worried than I was after that fall, and I'm sure this was just the first in a long line of worries that Baby T will give me in the years to come.

Lisa xxx

PS - I am going to be soooooo sore in the morning!

Gallery: New Albums Added

From a lack of anything better to do, I've been uploading some more photos to our gallery.

There is now an album for my cousin Wendy's wedding, a Bump gallery in the baby album where you can gaze in wonder at my ever-growing belly, and a Running album, containing pictures from various runs that Graeme and I have taken part in (or at least it will do soon, once I get round to uploading them all).

Enjoy!

Lisa xxx

Max and Xena Photos Added

I've added some more pictures of Max and Xena to the gallery, as I didn't think 6 photos did them justice. So now you get to marvel at ten times that many pictures, you lucky people.

Lisa xxx

Appointments Galore

On Thursday I had my 28-week check up with the Community Midwife at my GP surgery. As usual, the clinic was running late and I was over half an hour late getting in for my appointment. For the first time, there was a Student Midwife present and my Midwife asked if it was OK for the Student to do all of my checks. Being a Student Nurse myself, I know how important it is to gain experience, so of course I said that was fine. While the student took my BP, I told the Midwife how crappy I was feeling, mainly because of the situation at university regarding lack of support in getting my maternity leave sorted. My anxiety levels are through the roof and, depsite getting lots of rest, I'm tired all the time. Scarily, my BP was 150/100, but I was feeling very tense so they decided to give me a chance to relax and would recheck it before I left.

The Student checked my abdomen, but had to ask the Midwife for help as she couldn't decide if she'd found Baby T's head or his bum! It turned out to be his head and it seems he is still in the breech position that he was in at the weekend. The Student found the heartbeat straightaway and I was surprised at how clear it was. Without even looking up from her desk, the Midwife said the heartbeat sounded great, which, as usual, was a relief to hear. Apparently I'm measuring slightly big for my dates, but the Midwife wasn't worried and doesn't think I'm going to have a large baby. That was music to my ears!

Because of some shocking swelling in my legs and a couple of other symptoms, the Midwife decided to check my urine to make sure that I don't have pre-eclampsia. After giving me an incredibly small sample pot, that I'm sure would have been more useful for collecting pixie pee, I was told to go off and wee. Weeing was not a problem; my bladder has been reduced to the size of a thimble in recent weeks, so the need to wee is pretty much constant. Weeing into the pot, however, was nigh on impossible and I ended up pissing all over my hands. Ah, the joys of pregnancy. Still, I managed to get enough into the pot to warrant a decent sample and set about vigorously scrubbing my hands before my return to the Midwife.

After all that, my urine tested negative for protein. As an extra bonus, my BP had returned to normal and I was given the all clear. I was made to promise that I would look after myself and to call the Midwife if I felt that I needed any extra support.

The next morning I had an appointment with my cohort leader at university to discuss my maternity leave. She was incredibly nice to me and was sympathetic to my situation. She also expressed disbelief that I'd even been on sick leave as I looked so tired. She assured me that everything was in hand and that as long as I kept my sick notes up to date I wouldn't lose any bursary and that my maternity leave will start 4 weeks before my due date. I signed the necessary paperwork and was told that the university would take care of everything else. I remain apprehensive about this as the university has a track record of not knowing its arse from its elbow. My friend Keely was mistakenly kicked off the course earlier this year which caused her quite a bit of distress, so I won't be entirely surprised if something goes wrong for me. Assuming all goes well, that's it for me and university until March 2008 when I'll be starting my 2nd year again (and all my friends will be 6 months away from qualifying!). I did have the option to go back in September, but by then Baby T will only be 4 months old and I felt that was far too soon to be putting him in daycare. I don't mind admitting that I'm a bit sad about taking a year out as I really love nursing, but I'm sure bringing Baby T into the world will more than make up for this.

Later that day I had to attend Liverpool Women's Hospital to have an injection of Anti-D, due to me having Rhesus negative blood. Despite having to make my own way there on the bus, I arrived in good time for my appointment and was pleased to see that the waiting area wasn't too busy. I plonked myself down next to a TV which was playing some sort of campaign DVD, but as it was all in a foreign language I didn't have a clue what it was about. At first. If I'd known I was going to be waiting there long enough to hear how dreadful domestic violence is, in every language used in the Northern Hemisphere, I probably would have sat elsewhere.

My appointment was at 3pm, but as time dragged on I began wishing I'd got there late. Or at least brought a book to read. I even thought they may have forgotten about me. It was after 4pm by the time my name was called so I was quite alarmed when the Midwife told me that it wasn't actually her who was running the clinic, but that she'd just agreed to take a couple of patients to speed things up a bit. If that was their idea of speeding things up, I'd hate to be there when they're really pressed for time. She took a blood sample to test for antibodies and anaemia and then got the injection ready.

Now, I'm OK when it comes to needles. I don't mind the sight of sharp things coming toward me. However, in this case even I was a bit apprehensive. I've given injections before and never have I seen such a large dose in a syringe. There was a lot of liquid in that syringe and all of it had to go into my arm. I had the feeling it was going to hurt. I was right. I felt every last drop being forced into my muscle and immediately began to worry about coming back for my next dose. So I was relieved to hear that this would be the only such injection I would need due a recent change in the way the medication is given. Hurrah! No more nasty Anti-D for me until after the birth, by which point I'm sure I won't give a toss what they're injecting me with.

I was due to meet some friends for a drink at around 5:30pm so I hopped on a bus to town and wandered about for a while. When my pregnant legs had had enough I grabbed a magazine and holed up in Starbucks for an hour before heading to the pub. There were quite a few people there and it was nice to have a chat and to just be somewhere other than languishing in the house. Unfortunately, the more drunk everybody got, the less energy I had to be bothered with them and by 8:30pm languishing in the house was starting to look mighty appealing. By 9pm, that's exactly what I was doing.

All the excitement of the past couple of days has left me feeling pretty much spent (when you're pregnant, it doesn't take much!), so I'm under strict instructions from Graeme to get plenty of rest today. He's busy laying the floor in the living room (with a nail gun - *shudder*) and I plan on doing as little as possible. I'm going to lap up this time while I can, because in a few months my world is going to be turned upside down and I'll probably have forgotten what rest is!

Lisa xxx

Home Sweep Home

I've just had a phonecall from my Mam telling me that Sweep, minus a leg, is back at home. This was such a relief to hear, as Sweep isn't a young cat and I was quite worried that he wouldn't make it through the operation. He's apparently feeling very sorry for himself, but then I'm sure we all would if somebody removed one of our limbs without telling us. Mam said the wound looks absolutely horrendous, but the vet assured her it looks much worse than it is and that Sweep will be back on his feet in no time.

An x-ray showed that his kneecap had completely crumbled, so amputation really was the only option. Mam has to keep a close eye on him for the next 48 hours and he has to go back to the vets tomorrow for a check up, but it looks like he's going to make a complete recovery.

Get well soon Sweep.

Lisa xxx

Surgery for Sweep

I've just heard from my sister Rachel that Sweep, one of the family cats, needs one of his legs amputated. I'm not entirely sure what the problem is, but he has been having trouble with his leg for a couple of weeks and I know the vet has exhausted every line of enquiry. I just never expected it to be so serious that he'd lose his entire leg! Poor little bugger.

Anyway, that's all I know at this stage. I'll update with more news as soon as I get it.

Lisa xxx

Babybonding

Last Thursday night, just before I went off to do some painting in the front room, Lisa surprised me with a little card, telling me that we were going to Manchester on Saturday, for a one of those fancy 4D scans of our baby. We'd talked about this previously, and although we'd both decided it was a nice idea, it just sort of evaporated, and I thought that the chance had passed. As an early valentines day present, Lisa had booked us in at Babybond, a franchised ultrasound place, for the full 4D treatment! I must admit, I was completely gobsmacked at the time, having forgotten all about it! It was a lovely thought, and I suddenly found myself really looking forward to the weekend!

We set of early on Saturday, as the weather had been really bad over the previous couple of days, and we didn't want to get stuck in the snow or anything stupid like that. We arrived outside Babybond at about 9.30, and our appointment wasn't until 10. The place itself was nothing like what I was expecting. It looked more like a normal shop than a "medical" facility, and quite alarmingly, had it's shutters down when we arrived. The shutters stayed shut until about 10:05, which caused a certain amount of panic between us as we sat in the car, waiting for somebody to arrive.

Eventually, somebody turned up and opened shop. We plodded in, and took a seat in the waiting area while we waited for the sonographer to arrive. The reception man was very nice, and offered us a cuppa while we waited, and some obligatory forms to sign. The sonographer eventually arrived, and we were lead through to the scanning room. Compared to the very "practical" scanning rooms in the hospital where we had our normal scans done, the Babybond room was very swish. Instead of being quite small, with crappy plastic chairs, the room was reasonably big, with nice sofas. The output of the ultrasound machine was projected up onto the wall facing the bed, so we could get a good, if slightly blurry look at the scans that were being taken.

The sonographer did a little bit of exploration to find the position and orientation of baby with a normal ultrasound scan, and then, as if by magic, she flipped into the full 3D view of the baby. It was quite astonishing really, to see this picture of the baby blasted up on the screen in front of us. We could see that he was in an "extended breech position", which meant that he was upright (head at the top, bum at the bottom) but with at least one of his legs sticking right up, so that is was touching his head. We're not quite sure whether this is a normal thing, but I'm sure the midwife will be able to tell us more about it when we see her next!

So we spent about 10-15 minutes watching the sonographer moving around him, and watching him move around and squirm. It was amazing watching him wiggle around and making faces, and I think it was probably even better for Lisa, as she could actually feel him moving as well, so she could link what she was seeing to what she could feel. Our packaged came with a 6 minute DVD of the scan, recorded with music of our choice over the top. I don't know the exact name of the tune Lisa picked, so I'll find out and update this post later!

After we were done, we picked up our goody bag, and set off home. We spend the rest of the day in and out of B&Q, and eating stuffed crust pizzas in Pizza Hut. What more could you want from a day :)

All in all, it was an amazing experience, and I'm really glad we did it. Lots of people have told me that it's probably a waste of money, as once the baby has arrived, it'll just go in a draw and never be seen again. But for us, right now, it was a brilliant way to see exactly what was going on in there, and see the face of our baby for the first time. We couldn't decide if he looks like anyone yet, but he's certainly shown he can be photogenic when he wants to be. We took some screen grabs of the movie and put them in the gallery, here. We've also ripped the movie to an mpeg, and once I've found out how to reduce it size from it's current mighty 100MB to something more manageably, I'll upload that as well! Watch this space.

Anyway, enough rambling. It was a brilliant day, and an experience which you don't get to do very often in your life, and not one I'll forget very quickly!

Meet Baby T!

On Saturday we went to Manchester to have a 4D scan of Baby T. Here he is in all his glory!


You can see more pictures in the gallery. Graeme will be posting the full story and complete DVD footage soon.

Lisa xxx

Happy Birthday Granda!

It's my Granda's birthday today!

Hope you have a lovely day and that you got my card!

(Of course, he doesn't have a computer so won't be able to see this, but I'm sure someone will tell him!)

The Beginning of the End!

Yesterday I reached the heady heights of 27 weeks pregnant and as usual, followed my weekly tradition of reading the relevant section of "Your Pregnancy Bible" to see what my body and the baby are up to. I was quite shocked to read that 27 weeks marks the end of the second trimester. How did that happen? Here's me thinking that I've got aaaaaaaages before Baby T arrives and suddenly I'm on the home stretch! I suppose that this is as good a time as any for an update. Just how am I feeling now that I've entered my final phase of pregnancy?

Well, I'm still tired, but as I'm also still on sick leave I'm managing to cope. My energy levels are much better than they were, though I find it incredibly easy to overdo it and leave myself knackered for a couple of days. For example, Graeme and I went to Tom's housewarming party on Saturday night (great flat Tom!) and, although I stuck to pop and was in bed by 1am, I was absolutely exhausted the following day. Throughout the party I had to take regular rest breaks to ease the pain in my back, even though the most strenuous thing I did at the party was stand and chat. I felt like a right party pooper sat on the sofa on my own, but I really did feel that if I didn't rest, my back would snap in half. I also get some pain in my knees and my hips, sometimes so bad I can't walk, but this is helped with plenty of rest so as long as I don't do anything too physical I should make it through the next 3 months in one piece.

My bump has grown quite alarmingly this week and all my regular t-shirts are now confined to the scrap heap, although temporarily. I'm now sporting a new(ish) array of maternity tops courtesy of eBay and have discovered that Lycra is a truly wonderful invention. I'm trying to pluck up the courage to go to Marks and Spencer to get properly measured for some decent bras, but I really do shudder to think what size I am now! Despite this, and the fact that I am eating like a complete pig, I've only put on 8lbs so far, but I'm convinced my chocolate craving is going to catch up with me very soon. If I'd known how much Cadbury's Dairy Milk I'd be eating, I'd have bought shares in the company.

My nesting instinct has kicked in and the house is looking better than it has in months. I've never been so on the ball with my housework. Graeme is doing some nesting of his own, trying to make our living room habitable in time for Baby T's arrival. He's doing a wonderful job. Most of the heavy work is done now and it's mainly cosmetic jobs that are left. It's a shame that I'll not be able to help him as much as I'd like - no going up ladders for me! - but I'm going to do as much as I can. He's worked bloody hard and deserves some help. Maybe I can paint the skirting board. Or something.

As for Baby T, he appears to be doing just fine. He's an active little so-and-so at the best of times, but seems to reserve his most active gymnastics for when I'm trying to rest. I really hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Not only can I feel him moving about, I can actually see it! It really is a truly weird experience watching your stomach moving of its own accord and knowing that there's someone in there. I'm sure I'm not the first one to liken this to John Hurt's experience in Alien, though I am hoping that labour will be a slightly more pleasant experience. Bring on the pethidine.

So what now? I'm still waiting to hear from my personal tutor about organising my maternity leave and tomorrow I have an appointment with my GP to get signed off sick again. Next week, I have my 28-week check and, because my blood is rhesus negative (Yes folks - I'm special!), a hospital appointment for an anti-D injection . In the meantime, we'll press on with the living room and then start rejigging the rest of the house to make room for Baby. And now that I'm in the third trimester, we really need to get our skates on!

Lisa xxx