The first bit of good news is that at her last midwife visit, Debs was told that she will be getting further additional monitoring because of her greatly advanced years. As well as the 12 week dating scan and the 18 week anomaly scan she will receive further growth monitoring ultrasound scans at 28 and 34 weeks.  This is brilliant, especially with all our relatives in the prison colonies!  We’ll be able to give everyone regular picture updates of Junior all the way through – so, keep your eyes peeled.

The second bit is that we were really surprised to get the initial blood results back on the 4th, Continue reading→

Saw Rita, the midwife, this morning and I really like her. She seems to really know her stuff and is very forthright and honest. Baby heartbeat is at around 148 beats per minute and very regular (she said, hmmm, a boy?). You could hear it moving around too. Baby has moved up out of my pelvis and is sitting high and well. Placenta is at top of womb too…which it can move around a bit, but it’s good and needs to be at the top towards the last few weeks so the bottom of the uterus can prepare for delivery.Continue reading→

So there I was lying awake for a few minutes at around 4:00 a.m. this morning when I felt two tingly pokes in succession in my womb. Up until now there have been frequent daily swishy, wavy sensations, but this was distinctly different. We’re heading into the ‘quickening’ phase of development when wavy feelings and even pokes can be felt as the Little One makes random contact with the uterus lining, but typically this really begins to be felt around 22 weeks. Keep you posted on any further ‘movements!’

After the stress of the last few days, since our first and disappointing midwife appointment, we got into the system the right way today.  After a couple of failed attempts to interact with the system directly, we got the number of the community midwife team.  This turned out to be in the shape of a lovely woman called Dianne who made our world a much happier and more relaxed place.Continue reading→

Energy: Debs is doing great.  She’s a lot more energetic now that she’s in the second trimester.  The uncharacteristic afternoon naps have passed (mostly ;-)) with generally higher energy levels.  The bump is progressing nicely too.  It’s really pretty noticeable now, but still quite well hidden under a baggy top. If you’re superstitious about the shape of the bump, it’s all front and centre – so that’ll be a boy then!  I’ve got a completely open mind on gender, not being superstitious at all.  Statistically though, it has to be said that the male line I come from (and we do chose the gender, ladies) produces mostly male babies.  It’s like this solid little bubble on her front.

So, all seems well just now.  And it’s still just as exciting as it was on the first day.

Midwives: Following on from our somewhat unsatisfactory meeting with the midwife last week, we met up with a couple of friends at the weekend, one of whom is a general practitioner and the other of whom is a paediatrician who is also about 10 weeks more pregnant than Debs.  It seems that our experience with the front line of NHS ante-natal care is not unique.Continue reading→