Stacey: A Rainbow Pregnancy: Weeks 29 to 32
Stacey: A Rainbow Pregnancy: Weeks 33 to 36
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Stacey: A Rainbow Pregnancy: Weeks 33 to 36
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37 weeks
We have made it to full term!!! The baby is now fully developed and ready to start making her way into the world. I have finished swimming this week as my membership has run out, I have really enjoyed my swimming and would highly recommend it as a gentle form of exercise (and relaxation!) during pregnancy especially as it takes the weight off hips and ankles. I unfortunately did not take a picture of me at 20 weeks when I started swimming but I decided to take one to remember my last swim.
I had my final growth scan at 37+2 and its good news baby is now 6lb 13oz which gives a predicted weight at 40 weeks of 8lbs not 9lb and the Doppler scan showed that the placenta is still performing well so she is still getting a good amount of oxygen and food. I haven’t had any signs of natural spontaneous labour yet but I do think I am coming down with some kind of sickness bug I have spent a few days this week in bed feel very nauseous but not actually being sick. I hope it passes soon!
Next week I have my consultant appointment that will give a final plan for when this baby will be born. I have been research the NICE guidelines and the statistics on what stage of pregnancy and induction is likely to succeed and the chances of it ‘failing’ and resulting in a caesarean section. I have decided I want to push for 39 weeks exactly as there is little evidence to suggest that waiting an extra week for the due date is actually worth it in terms of success of induction but I am also going to request a stretch and sweep to give me a final chance to go into spontaneous labour. I have been feeling very tired and sick this week and having lots of long baths as I seem to have no energy to do anything and the baths make me feel more relaxed with the hip and back pain I am now suffering from. I am very glad that whatever happens at my consultant appointment I wont have to go overdue there is no way I could physically (never mind mentally!) cope up to 42 weeks!
38 weeks
My consultant appointment went better than I hoped for! She again suggested that I should have a due date induction I refused and said I wanted 39 weeks exactly and she simply agreed and went off to book it we didn’t argue over it at all. Unfortunately I forgot that 39 weeks would be Monday 13th October which is the day of the NHS maternity strikes therefore I could not be booked in for that day so it has been agreed that I will have 39+1 with an extra CTG and scan to help me mentally through the final stage. I was very pleased that she actually listened to me and has let me have what I want. My husband is now convinced that I will relax a bit and go into natural labour of my own accord but we will see! I also asked about a stretch and sweep which my consultant has agreed for me to have at 38+4 and she asked a midwife to do an internal check on me before we left that day. The internal showed that I was already 1-2cm dilated so things are looking positive for a successful induction!
When we got home from the hospital we saw a huge double rainbow outside our house, the first one I have seen since the day before we found out I am pregnant. I think Maisie approves the induction plan!
I had my stretch and sweep at 38+4 which was very painful, the midwife said I am now 2-3cm dilated and she could feel the top of the babies head! I lost a little bit of brown old blood after and felt very, very tired later that evening I lost my mucus plug and started to get some contractions they were very irregular but lasted for about 5 hours. I got very frustrated with them as they would get closer together and longer and then all of a sudden stop. I decided to go to bed and see what happens during the night but I woke up the next day with no signs of labour at all. The next day at 38+6 I started to get ready for my induction planning things like having food in the house, washing, cleaning and ironing all done but I still don’t believe I am going to be having a baby at all. The day ended just like every single day throughout the pregnancy with my husband and I taking our two dogs for a walk before bed at 11pm but tonight was going to be the night that everything changed. Within 10 minutes of getting home from walking the dogs I went from feeling completely normal to having contractions they started every 5 minutes lasting 30 seconds and were very painful. As the same thing has happened only 2 nights before I decided to go to bed and ignore them thinking they would stop. When I got into bed things started to feel more painful I actually started to cry with each contraction and soon I realised they were coming every 3-4 minutes. I decided to get up and have a shower as I hoped the hot water would help to ease the pain in my back, still convinced that I wasn’t having a baby and worried about going into hospital just to be sent home I tried to ignore it but soon I was having such painful contractions I was becoming quite vocal and my husband was begging me to call the hospital to go in. At 1.30am I finally called; the midwife who answered did not particularly want me to go in yet as she didn’t seem to believe I was having contractions and thought it was just part of a bloody show but towards the end of the phone call I had a really painful contraction and couldn’t speak. I had to hand the phone to my husband and whilst I completely blanked out with pain he told the midwife that we were coming in now as I was struggling to cope with the pain.
We got into the car and I started to lose control as the pain got worse. I screamed at my husband to slow down as he raced to the hospital throwing me around the car as he turned corners until we finally arrived and I knew I had to regain some kind of composure. I somehow managed to get some self control in order to check into the hospital and make our way to labour ward. Just as we approached the ward I had another contraction and although I managed to stay calm during it a midwife spotted us and came straight over. She took us through to the labour ward where I was put onto a CTG to check on the baby who was fine, I was given gas and air and had an internal examination. At 2am on Monday 13th October at 39 weeks exactly the examination showed I was 4-5cm dilated and in active labour. I was not being sent home; I was staying to have a baby!
My last ever bump picture at 38+6
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