I was such a wreck sometimes when I was pregnant, I totally understand the panic that can set in. Hopefully next time I will be able to relax a little more. After I had my baby (he is almost 5 months now) I was talking about it to my husband one day and I thought you know, as wonderful and helpful as all the new prenatal care is, including all the new tests and ultrasounds that you can do, sometimes it just causes more worry. I had 3 instances when techs or doctors thought they saw something wrong on the ultrasound, and I was so worried. More tests and ultrasounds were done. By the end I had I think 7 ultrasounds, and while I loved to see my baby I was tired of having to worry about what was wrong now. I have an album full of ultrasound pics but next time I would rather have one ultrasound, thanks very much. The thing was, nothing was ever wrong! All that worry for nothing.
Get some rest and take it easy for a few days. And enjoy being pregnant - the second trimester was my favorite. You are cutely pregnant and not too uncomfortable yet :).
Better to be a week ahead than behind, just keep that in mind when you get close to your due date.
Placenta previa is common, my SIL had it with two of her babies. They are just fine. Sometimes it means a c-section, but very often it is self correcting.
If you are concerned about diabetes ask your doctor. Usually it won’t show up until a bit later. The test is very straightforward. Sometimes peace of mind is worth it.
How far apart are your periods normally? That can affect how long your pregnancy is likely to be.
I spotted lightly the first three months right when my period would have been. Very light, but there. My pregnancy and delivery were fine, though I did have gestational diabetes (not related at all to spotting). My daughter is wonderful and very healthy and was not a large or small baby.
Oh, I know when my ovulations are because I have mittelschmerz. They are seldom right on the halfway mark and can be a week in either direction. My daughter sprung from my right ovary.
I never spotted but at X weeks (I have no idea), my son’s father came with me for the first time to hear the heartbeat (I’d already heard it at the previous visit). So I’m laying there all full of goo and That Guy looks like he’s about to pass out (hospitals/clinics/doctors/anything even slightly related to the medical profession makes him nervous). The doctor starts looking around and the longer it takes for him to hear something, and the more his face sort of drops like he’s in some deep concentration, the more nervous I get. So of course my heart starts racing, making it nearly impossible for him to distinguish between it and a tiny baby heartbeat.
When he stopped trying, I thought I was going to die. But he’s all, “I really think everything’s okay.” and I believed him. He went to get the ultrasound equipment and there it was, that tiny little flutter. I started bawling, naturally. Why’d they have to “sneak” you off to have an ultrasound? Around here, that’s something they automatically do anytime there might be a problem.
Glad you are feeling better, and I’m so glad that when I had my daughter at a military hospital, ultrasounds were sparingly used…didn’t have one with either child, in fact, though other friends having babies at the same time did. It was 23 years ago, by the way. But it seems the ultrasounds scare as much as they do console, and they are not very accurate in regards to the baby’s sex, either!
But I digress…with my daughter, I had an episode at probably five months (I remember I was in maternity clothes) where I had cramping and a sudden gush of blood…bright red, quite a lot , and of course we rushed straight to the hospital, convinced I was miscarrying. We were reassured that everything was fine, and they said something about implanation, but to be honest, I was hysterical for the first time in my life and don’t honestly remember more than…“you’re not miscarrying, spend tomorrow in bed and call if the bleeding/cramping continues” I did, it didn’t, and nothing more exciting happened the whole pregnancy until my blood pressure started rising near the end and I moved to high risk…which I was only barely.
Of course, my daughter has made sure that my blood pressure has stayed up all these years, and I never had the bleeding problem with my subsequent son. Strange, inexplicable things happen when we’re pregnant. I get all dramatic and tell my daughter that the dog we had almost killed her in the womb (it’s a really long story about that very stressful day) but she knows I’m kidding. Though it’s worked as an excuse for “why we can’t have a dog” for 22 years now!
Well, I was in for a “free consult” which meant nothing medical was supposed to happen in the first place. I was there to learn about their practice and decide whether or not I wanted to deliver with them. Even listening for the heartbeat was “cheating” by office standards, and she asked me not to mention it to the rest of the staff. When she couldn’t find a heartbeat with the Doppler, she said something to the effect of, “Don’t worry about it, you’re probably just not as far along as you thought, the heartbeat can be really hard to find this early. We’ll get you in on Thursday for an ultrasound.” Of course, the thought of thinking there was no heartbeat for three days sent me over the edge, and I’m ashamed to admit I started crying.
She excused herself and presumably went to talk with someone else before coming back and saying, “No one is here today to run the ultrasound equipment. I’m not an ultrasound tech, I’m not a radiologist, but let’s just see what we can see, OK?” One of the other CNM’s in the practice came in the room as well, and the two of them were able to see quite a bit right away. They poked me a little bit to get the baby to wake up and move so I could see it, too.
So as to why they had to “sneak” me in, it sounded like inter-office politics and regulations about who can and can’t use the machines, coupled with the fact that they weren’t supposed to perform any billable procedures at that visit. The fact that they were willing to ignore such policies and give me the care I needed just reinforced for me that these are the women I want around when I’m giving birth!
Hey Congrats! You’re less than a month behind MrsB.
For the record, spotting is no big deal.
My cousin who went to the hospital thinking she had appendicitis and gave birth to a healthy baby? The reason she had no idea she was pregnant was because she never missed a period (in retrospect-- had regular heavy spotting). The heavier you are, the more likely you’ll spot.
Relax, have a cuppa tea, and burn your copy of “What to Expect when You’re Expecting” in order to put the paranoia behind you.
:eek: Did she just completely freak out? I’ve heard of such things - a friend of mine’s an ER nurse and saw 4 of these cases in 10 years. I simply cannot imagine what that does to your life! How do you tell people?
I did not know that. I *am *quite heavy (190 lbs) as opposed to when I had WhyKid 12 years ago (110 pre-pregnancy). I’m also older (duh) at 30 insted of 17. I’m surprised how different the two pregnancies are. This one, while “complication” free up till now, has also been more exhausting, more nausea, and more weird sensations in the abdomen - not pain or cramps, just pressure and a constant “sense” of my uterus. It’s hard to explain.
Gawd, how do moms in their 40’s do it? I think I’d sleep all 40 weeks!
I still have my old copy, but I hardly read it. WhyDad (this is his first) wants to know what’s up, but I only let him read certain pages. I’m refusing all pregnancy and parenting magazines this time around, too!
This is somewhat embarrassing, but it did give me and Ivylad a huge scare. I was pregnant with Ivygirl, not very far along, when I got up from the chair to see the cushion had blood on it. Not brown blood either.
We rush to the hospital, where an oh-so-helpful intern told me if I was miscarrying there was nothing they could do about it (Ivylad exchanged words, from what I remember, I was too upset to take note of anything) and finally got back in for an exam.
It turns out that an encounter Ivylad and I had had earlier that day had up…bruised me up a bit inside. That’s where the blood was coming from.
An admonition to Ivylad to tone down his vigor a bit, then I delivered on my due date with no further problems.
Listen to your midwife. Relax relax relax relax. Think of growing gardens, with flowers beginning to bloom.
I had the exact same thing happen at that exact same point in my pregnancy. Fourteen weeks. Some brownish spotting. Got to the dr to see that everything was a-okay, ultrasound revealed a partial placenta previa and a baby measuring 2 weeks ahead. The previa cleared itself up sometime between 22 and 28 weeks, and the baby measured anywhere from 2-4 weeks ahead for the remainder of my pregnancy. Babywinnieboy was born 10 days early at 6 lb 12 oz pounds, so go figure.
I had placenta previa with both pregnancies. Both times it resolved by the 6-month mark. If it had not, my doc would have just scheduled an early c-section. No biggie. Unfortunately, the placenta turned out to be the least of my worries this last time around, but that’s another story… Yay for you for choosing a midwife practice! We don’t have any hospital-affiliated midwives around here anymore or I would have seriously considered that route too.
WhyNot, that does sound like a good group of people to have on your side. Definately keep them!
I did read a little of What to Expect, I borrowed it from the library, but I loved the fact that the health region here has a book they give out to every pregnant woman called From Maternity to Motherhood (or something like that). It has the basics that every woman should know about their pregnancy, tips on eating healthy, how to prepare for the baby etc etc right through to preparing formula and breastfeeding tips, and how to bath your new baby. Then at the end it gives you a list of numbers to call for anything (emergency numbers, health link, support lines…) and it doesn’t try to scare you with anything, just gives facts. I went through that book so many times and it really helped.
Surprise baby put the entire family into lockdown for a week. It was at the point where people were leaving messages saying they were calling the cops to go inspect the house because they thought everyone was murdered.
The hospital pushed her to put the baby up for adoption, but she decided to keep him. Even though she had smoked and drank throughout her pregnancy, the kid’s a normal healthy intelligent brat.
Why’d they have to “sneak” you off to have an ultrasound? Around here, that’s something they automatically do anytime there might be a problem.
Yay for you for choosing a midwife practice! We don’t have any hospital-affiliated midwives around here anymore or I would have seriously considered that route too.