Well, I’ve reached six weeks pregnant today and had my first appointment with a midwife.
This appointment was the booking in appointment with the midwife who visits my local GPs. It is a little bit complicated because the midwives who visit my local GPs serve Wigan hospital, not Warrington, where I am having my baby. So, basically, the midwife I see at my GP can’t really tell me anything specific about what really will happen – because procedures are different at the two hospitals. My actual booking-in appointment will take place at Warrington – more of that later.
Up here, we don’t necessarily see the same midwife each time, it’s just pot luck who you get. Today’s midwife was one who I saw while pregnant and in the weeks after having Lilly. She’s a bit brash, but I like her, she’s quite to-the-point and down to earth.
She wrote out a few notes and gave me some leaflets. Then she asked me about my last pregnancy. I told her – very straightforward, uncomplicated pregnancy and a birth that was anything but. 10 days overdue, over enthusiastic intervention by consultant, failed epidural, emergency c-section under general anaesthetic. I said I was keen to avoid that scenario again if at all possible!
Most of what she told me I already knew. That they’ll go back over my birth notes and see what the reasons for the c-section were, and if it was a straight forward failure to progress (rather than breech or other complication that is likely to recur) then they’ll be ok for me to go for a VBAC – vaginal birth after caesarian. That’s what I really want.
She asked me how far i’d manage to progress last time. I guessed about 5cm. She said this time I’d probably get to 5cm quite quickly, then after that it’d slow down and I’d labour like a first timer, which I knew.
She also said that the consultants would probably be a bit reluctant to induce me if I went over 14 days (which is the maximum time they’ll let you go overdue before an induction at Warrington, at Wigan it is 10 days apparently). This is because the induction process puts more intense pressure on the scar on your uterus. She said if it came to induction they might agree to a “half hearted” induction – one pessary to see if it worked on its own, otherwise they’d advise a section.
It’s a subject I need to do plenty or research on, and if anyone out there can tell me where I begin, that’d be brilliant!
I also asked the midwife today about some of the other things that i’ve been thinking about. One was will I do any harm to the baby by lifting and carrying Lilly, who weighs nearly 2 stone! She said it was just like exercise – if you’re a regular jogger before you got pregnant, you can usually just carry on. So that’s reassured me a bit. Besides, a friend of mine has just had a second baby (her first is a little younger than Lilly) and her partner was away in the Navy for most of her pregnancy, and she survived.
The other thing I asked her about was the swine flu jab. It gets rolled out to pregnant women next week and the Government are very keen to stress that pregnant women should have it. I’ve really already made up my mind about it – I want to have it - and I was only really wanting to ask her whether I had to book an appointment, or they’ll write to me. However, she thought I was asking her opinion and launched into a big rant about how she isn’t going to have it, it hasn’t been researched enough and she doesn’t care what management say! Something she did say though, which I suppose makes sense, is that by 12 weeks the baby is fully developed, and it might be best to wait until then. I checked with the receptionist on the way out and she said the jab is only being offered to pregnant women who are at least 13 weeks pregnant (so in second trimester) anyway.
So, there we have it, first midwife appointment. My next one is not until November 16, which is at Warrington. My 12 week scan is booked for 2 December, which can’t come soon enough. I’ve looked at the cost of private scans, and at Take A Peek in St Helens, where we had our 3d scan with Lilly, you can have a reassurance scan for £65. I think we’ll try and hold out though, it seems silly to pay for something which we’re going to get anyway a few weeks later. But we’ll see.
On another note – I am already showing!!! To me, it looks pretty obvious. If nobody has guessed at work yet, I’ll be insulted! Not sure how I can keep it under wraps til 12 weeks…. last time I kept it secret until five and half months!
And symptoms wise, I’m still the same. Nothing much to report. I get really tired around 2pm at work and just can’t find the energy or motivation to do anything. I think this might be a combination of pregnancy and caffeine withdrawral!
