Pre Term Labour

So I've had a whirlwind of a week and I felt I was better documenting it as I would like to remember what happened, so as a chronological run down;

December 6th;
At about 3pm I started feeling extreme tightenings at work and I started leaking fluid so decided it was best to go to the hospital. I was immediately put through triage and given a bed where they monitored Zacky and tested my cervix to check if my waters had gone (negative) and tested if I was in early labour (positive). I was given an injection of a steroid called dexamethasone to strengthen his lungs and given my first and second dose of nifedipene to try and stop the contractions. I was admitted overnight.

December 7th;
Was given my second and final dose of dexamethasone, my third dose of nifedipene and Zacky was monitored for 3-4 hours throughout the day. Still having the contractions, was given codeine and paracetamol for the pain. Was sent for a scan which showed that he had enough fluid & weighed around 2lb11. On the way back from the scan my hind waters went (the waters under Zackys head) so was prepped for delivery however after investigation it became clear that Zacky had enough fluid to continue inside me as long as my cervix stayed closed. Was given oramorph to help with the pain.

December 8th;
Was given final dose of nifedipene to try and stop contractions which didn't work but cervix was checked & was still closed, was given codeine and paracetamol for the pain & Zacky was monitored again, his heart rate and movements were still perfect and my cervix was still closed so I was allowed to go home with 1 week sick note, supply of painkillers and follow up appointments.

At home;
Still having contractions every 15 or so minutes which is very painful and tiring, going to continue to have follow up appointments starting December 13th and am making sure to have lots of rest.

Signs to look out for at home (go straight to triage);
Any mucus/discharge that is at all out of the ordinary
Any increase in intensity of pain or contractions getting closer together
Rest of waters breaking
Increase in back pain
Any vaginal bleeding

Why it's okay to be sad when you're pregnant

So I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant and have full style ugly cried every day for the last week, I've been feeling down for a month or so now and initially felt super bad about it because I'm so lucky to be carrying a little growing bundle of joy inside me. But recently it clicked, I'm definitely allowed to be sad and here's why.

1. Your life is about to change in a way you can't predict 
Be it your first, second, fifth or tenth child, at some point within the next 9 months your life is going to change in probably the biggest way it ever has, and that's scary. Suddenly you become aware that soon, your life is not going to be about you any more and your whole world is going to revolve around raising and protecting this little person that you made yourself. Personally, I think that's terrifying.

2. Your body is constantly changing
Something that fit perfectly and looked amazing yesterday might not fit tomorrow which is super frustrating when you finally find an outfit that you feel and look good in. Your favourite jeans don't fit anymore and you look kinda weird in your pre-pregnancy clothes. Also, as humans it's been drilled in to our minds for years that our bodies need to be a certain level of perfection to be deemed acceptable, and now we're wider, bigger and stretch markeir than before. Of course we're thrilled to be making a human, but the toll that it's taking on our bodies is not fun. When society is telling you that you need to be thinner but you now have no control over the fact that you just keep getting bigger, it's hard.

3. Your hormones are going insane
To be fair, you are literally making another human within your own body and because of that, uncontrollable hormone changes are taking place, it doesn't seem fair and to be honest it's not fair. But it doesn't last forever, soon you'll have something shiny and new to constantly worry and get emotional about.

4. You can't do things anymore
Rollarcoasters, drinking, sleeping on your front, smoking and going on nights out are all things of the past now. Again, this isn't something that lasts forever but it definitely is frustrating during pregnancy. Not being able to take certain medication for something as simple as the flu or back pain. Missing out on family trips to theme parks because you're not allowed on rides. All this stuff is just teaching us how to make sacrifices for when our little one is here. But that doesn't make it any less annoying while you're pregnant.


5. Pregnancy Symptoms
I'm sure I don't have to tell you that being pregnant is hard, but for any non-baby-makers, BEING PREGNANT IS HARD. Pregnancy symptoms change week by week and sometimes the symptoms are awful. Lack of sleep, acne, morning (all day, every day) sickness, constipation, general feelings of discomfort and so on - and that's just if you don't develop any pregnancy conditions like Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction. Your body hurts a lot, there's weird things going on inside and out and sometimes it just gets overwhelming! As well as the fact you're stressing about baby's health and if you skip past a symptom and manage to avoid something like morning sickness, you then worry about why you didn't have it! There's no winning, and it sucks.

So...

It's been a really long time since I wrote here about my pregnancy, bubba is fine.
Just sometimes everything gets on top of me and I stop functioning! I'm now 23 weeks pregnant (and looking it too!), I have a broken wrist, the flu and my family are all off in Florida, I was obviously invited - in fact I was actually booked on the holiday until I found out I was pregnant, I was really worried about contracting the Zika virus whilst abroad so decided it was best for me and bump not to go.
But in like 18 months hopefully me, my family and our new addition will be there and I'm sure it will be all the more magical with bubba there with us.
Plus, I wasn't gonna be allowed to go on any of the theme park rides anyway, so not too fussed.
I've now delved in to the world of maternity clothing but will probably make a separate post for that on it's own as all I seem to do at the moment is buy new clothes! But now I have a nice versatile wardrobe of things that will fit until I have him (theoretically).
Bubba's area in my bedroom is now finished with all new Ikea lovelies, all I need now is to get his crib in there from where we're currently storing it and then it will be complete! But I can wait for that, I'll probably look at doing that after Christmas.
I'm gonna return to weekly updates as of tomorrow where I can document the rest of this pregnancy!

17 Weeks Pregnant

Oh my God my bladder!!
 I thought that all this bladder stuff was supposed to be done with until the thrid trimester now? Nope! My loo trips are now getting so frequent that I may as well just set up camp there and get a duvet and pillow. This week has been the first time that my bladder has been waking me up every couple of hours and I find that my stomach gets reaaaaaally painful and swollen feeling if I even try and hold in a wee for more than a couple of minutes, I guess my little man is just using my bladder as a trampoline at the moment! Hopefully it'll settle back down soon and start to get less irritating as it's really starting to impact my sleep which is NOT a good idea as I've really noticed mood swings kicking in as well.
 At the minute I'm just super emotional, taking everything personally and am getting far too angry far too quick, like 0-100 in 0.2 which paired with no sleep due to constant trips to the loo is getting really annoying, hopefully I'll chill out soon too.
 Heartburn is less evil this week though it's still here it's definitely getting less frequent and less intense when I do get it.
 This week I got diagnosed with SPD which I talk about in detail here.
 Also, I felt him kicking for the first time this week which was the strangest feeling that I can't even describe but when it happens, you'll know it's happened. So strange but so lovely to feel him kicking and moving around inbetween scans, it just feels like a little bit of a peace of mind that he's still okay and he's growing. It was magical.

My tummy is definitely getting bigger and rounder and harder to hide with baggy clothes and this is the first week I've had anyone outside of my family ask to touch it, which was really strange but at least she asked! 

I'm still totally in love with the name Zachary but now prefer the spelling with a 'h' instead of a 'k' and am thinking his full name will be Zachary Aaron Christopher Corbett. I love it (and his initials will spell his name! ZACC!)

Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction

So today I went to my GP to discuss a real pain that I've been having in my pubic bone region as well as my lower back and hips that's been an issue for a couple of weeks. The doctor I saw was absolutely lovely and had me jump on the metal bed thingy so that she could feel my hips and check the mobility in my legs, my right leg was fine but my left leg just kept jarring and would not play ball at all (as well as being crazy painful!).
She then - with very little warning - jabbed me right in the pelvis just on my pubic bone with some real force! It was such a surprise and so painful that I really could have just jabbed her back, right in the eye!
She then told me that she was a little concerned about the amount of pain and how tight my hips feel and diagnosed me with SPD (Symphysis Pubic Disorder) which should go away straight after I give birth to little one but will most likely be pretty severely painful for the remaining months of my pregnancy.
SPD is a problem with my pelvis that means that through pregnancy, the bones and ligaments that join at my pelvis are getting less stable. This also happened because for some reason my hips aren't getting wider whilst baby is getting bigger which poses no problem to baby but for me my body is finding it difficult to adapt to being pregnant and is intent on staying the same size as my pre-pregnant frame.
Annoyingly there's nothing that the docs can prescribe me as codeine would be too harsh on baby and paracetamol doesn't even touch the pain so my only real option is physiotherapy and a support belt to try and hold the bones and ligaments together until baby is here and the pain goes away!
I've also gotten myself a V pillow:
Which I have genuinely found is a godsend as crossing my legs is one of the things that slightly alleviates the pain so if I put the pillow between my legs and cross them over it it makes it a lot easier to sleep.
That and bouncing one leg up and down quickly helps to make sure that my leg doesn't cease up at the hip which is really painful and super inconvenient when I'm at work or trying to get out of bed!
Other than that, a hot water bottle and paracetamol helps alleviate some of the pain and for me I also find sitting cross-legged useful. And a cup of tea.

Luckily this is something that from what I can gather should go away straight after I've had him so only 4 1/2 months left of this!!

Having an amniocentesis

I was absolutely terrified and stressed out my little mind when the midwife called me and told me that there was a 1:110 risk of Downs Syndrome for my baby which for someone of 20 is relatively high. Not for me but for him, I worried about his future and the struggles that he'd face but my decision was made and I was keeping him regardless of any health issues or genetic disorders that he may or may not have had.
I was given the option to either continue with my pregnancy or have an invasive test called an amniocentesis, I decided that for peace of mind and to stop me stressing for the remaining 5 months that the amnio was the best choice for me and bump.

The procedure
2 weeks after my initial appointment with the midwife I went to the hospital for my amniocentesis, you don't have to take an special precautions like not eating or anything but they recommend you drink a lot and don't go to the toilet immediately before as they do an ultrasound whilst doing the amnio.
The initial part of the procedure is an ultrasound where they take measurments of the baby and make sure everything seems fine otherwise, they also use this time to find the best place to perform the procedure which is far enough away from baby that they won't catch him with the needle and but still enters the amniotic sack so they can draw fluid.
After they are happy with the measurements they have taken and are ready to continue with the procedure they then sterilise your whole stomach and all of their equipment.
When everything is sterilised they then insert the needle through your stomach in the area that they decided was safest for baby, for me there was no pain when it went through my stomach.
Then, they insert the needle further through your uterus and into the amniotic sack, this is what I personally found painful, it was like sharp period cramps and bruising but was manageable. They then withdraw 15-20ml of amniotic fluid dependant on how big baby is as this is how they are able to check the chromosomes and determine if baby has any genetic disorders.
After they've drawn the fluid, they then continue with the ultrasound to make sure baby settles down and for me they let me listen to his heartbeat.
They then clean you up and you're then free to go home!
I had to then go and get an Anti-D injection because my blood is rhesus negative but this is not something everyone has to have.
They told me that the results generally take 2-3 working days and offered me either a phonecall or appointment to find out the results, I chose a phonecall so I didn't have to take any more time off work and so that I'd get the result faster.
During the test I was also given the opportunity to find out the gender, I chose to find out (he's a boy!) but this is obviously optional.

After the procedure
It's recommended that you rest for a few days (48 hours) and refrain from any strenuous activity after the test as with it being an invasive test there is a 1% risk of miscarriaging.
Personally I just slept for the rest of the day and took some paracetamol as I found the test to be relatively painful and I was pretty emotionally warn out afterwards so needed a good kip!
The next day I received a phone call telling me that my little boy has no risk of any genetic disorders whatsoever and confirmed his gender again.

I personally am glad that I opted for the amniocentesis as now I can enjoy the rest of my pregnancy without any stresses knowing that I've got a perfectly healthy baby boy growing inside me!

16 Weeks Pregnant

This week the main thing that I have noticed getting more intense is heartburn! I haven't had heartburn at all yet in my pregnancy yet in the last 3/4 days of being pregnant I have noticed it's gotten really bad, especially at night if I've eaten something particularly salty, not fun.
I've also noticed (touch wood) my skin is getting really good and I'm not really suffering with the same skin issues I had post-pregnancy like spots and unevenness in skin tone, which I'm absolutely fine with! My hair is also in a really good condition despite dying it which usually frazzles my hair straight away.
Also I'm having to go to the toilet soooo much more frequently again which is annoying when my bladder wakes me up at 4am every day! This was a problem until about 11 weeks and then it went away but now it's back!
This week I had to go and see the GP to talk about sickness because I've been having really bad nausea and migraines - which I have never suffered with before; So the GP decided to sign me off for a week so I can have a week's bedrest which is really useful.
This week I also had my amnio where I found out that baby is at no risk of any genetic diseases and he's a beautiful baby boy!
I'm starting to crave cookies more, the big round smartie filled ones. They're so gooooood.

I've now gained 2lbs since I found out I was pregnant but I'm sure that I'll start gaining more soon.

My tummy has also popped right out this week and I'm starting to feel more like a pregnant person and less just chubby now that my tum is starting to look more defined and round. But this is the first week I've been finding sleep more difficult as I tend to sleep on my tummy and now I can't because it's so uncomfortable!

I've also been looking at baby names and I'm totally in love with Zackary which some people aren't liking at all buuuut I think it's gorgeous!