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[Week Twenty-Seven] Wednesday 14th April Not a great deal has been happening, hence the lack of blog updates. She seems to be kicking more than ever these days. She was kicking in my girly area yesterday which was quite uncomfortable. I had my hand on my stomach this morning while I was laying in bed so that I could feel her kicks, but I could feel her really squirming and moving around instead. It's still so sureal sometimes. I had my GP visit today. I hadn't been for six weeks because she had been away. That's the only bad thing about shared cared. But it doesn't matter if I miss a few weeks. My weight was 58kg, so I've gained 4 kg over the past six weeks. Fundal height is 26cm, so that has grown eight centimetres! No wonder I feel like I've popped out again. The doctor could also feel the position of the baby, she felt the back and said that the head was facing downward. Hopefully she stays down, but it's still to early to worry about that. She used her archaic listening device again (I think it's actually called an ear trumpet) and this time she heard the heart beat. I was due for my Glucose Tolerance Test (to see if there's a chance of diabeties) and also a test for iron levels (everyone has this, not just me because I've vegetarian). The doctor gave me the forms and I called into the IMVS clinic on the way home to see if I had to make an appointment. They said I could do the test then and there, but I had to drink a glucose drink and sit in the waiting room for an hour while it travelled through my system. I wasn't even allowed to go shopping as I had to be kept relaxed. Luckily I had taken a book with me!! I have to ring my GP in a week for the results. Next GP visit is in three weeks time, after that it'll be every two weeks. I'm on the homeward stretch now! My stomach is extra large now, it's popped out again in the past week. I walked into work on Monday and everyone said how big I'd gotten since Friday! They joke that they're going to measure me every few days because I seem to get bigger if they don't see me for a day or two....which is probably true!!! Some of my maternity pants are even getting too tight. Last week I had a few days where I was very uncomfortable. I likened it to feeling like a balloon that has a brick inside it. I felt a lot of lower pressure. It was very painful to walk. I haven't been sleeping very well either, I'm laying awake for what seems like hours. I'm very uncomfortable in bed and have to make sure that I'm stomach is really supported. We had a cold snap and a lot of rain last week so our tanks are full. I've taken advantage of the free water, solar power and solar hot water and decided that it's the perfect time to wash all the baby things. I've done several loads to wash blankets, sheets and clothes. I've discovered that I have waaaaay too many small sized clothes. I'm never going to use them all in a pink fit. I hope we don't get too many more presents of small sized clothes. I just need larger sizes. My work is moving offices on 4th June. So that is probably when my maternity leave will start. The new office is at least a 45 minute drive away, much too far in my pregnant condition. I was aiming at finishing mid June, but that probably won't happen. So portentially, I only have about 8 weeks left. As much as I moan and complain about work, I have been there for 13 years, so I'm really going to miss it. [Week Twenty-Seven] Friday 16th April I was speaking to my boss today about the baby bonus and child care etc and mentioned that I'd like to find a job working two days a week. That way I should still be able to receive the child care rebate. If I worked more hours than this, then we would earn too much and wouldn't get the rebate so I would have to spend $70 a day on child care....so not really worth working. I didn't expect it, but my boss said that she would be happy for me to come back for just two days. I never thought that they would allow this as they have always expected mother to return to working full time or nothing. So I'm very happy that I'll have a job to come back to, it takes some of the pressure off me as now I won't have to try and find a new part time job. But at the same time, it means that I'll be stuck at the same job that I've been doing for the past 13 years. Maybe a change would have been nice, and I was considering doing a six month TAFE course to change careers. I have still got a years maternity leave, so I have plenty of time to decide what I'd like to do. [Week Twenty-Seven] Saturday 17th April I can now see and feel that baby moving around underneath my skin. I call it "The Alien" as the movements look like something out of an alien movie, but of course it's not that exagerated. She does it a lot when I'm lying on my back (yes I'm stilling laying on my back!!) in bed. DH has also felt it. [Week Twenty-Eight] Saturday 24th April We're in Hobart for DH's sisters wedding wchich was today. I looked like a disgusting, fat heffer. My outfit did nothing for my confidence and I think that a wide lens needed to be used for any photos. I stuffed myself silly on fatty cakes at the afternoon tea as all the savory items contained meat. My stomach has also popped out again in the last two days. It's now super huge. She's kicking and squirming every few hours, she is sure making her presence felt lately. [Week Twenty-Nine] Monday 26th April We've been doing a lot of driving and sightseeing. I thought that I would have been a lot fatter than I currently am, so we didn't plan any strenulous activities. But I've been coping fine. After sitting in the car for long periods she seems to move down low and puts pressure downstairs. But once I move around a bit or go to the toilet, she eventually rights herself. [Week Twenty-Nine] Tuesday 27th April She did "The Alien" thing last night at bed time. It was the most she's wriggled around let. DH felt her constantly kicking and moving around. He was excited to get to feel so much movement. We can also feel hard bits in my stomach depending on her position, feet, back, head, face....dunno what bits they are. So I'm constantly poking the bits and then she'll move or have a complete fit. So she has good reflexes. She'll probably come out traumatised from all the poking. Pins and needles have resurfaced over the past week and I've been very close to getting leg cramps when I wake up during the night. I feel like I've put on about 2kgs this week, just due to the crap food that I've been eating. I can't wait to get home tomorrow where I can start my exercises again and watch what I eat. [Week Twenty-Nine] Friday 30th April My stomach is huge and heavy. I'm now 60.2 kg, so I've gained over 2kg in the past two and a half weeks....what a good guess! I think she's had a growth spurt, but it also could be from all the junk food I ate while on holidays! She was kicking me while I was standing at the fax machine at work today. I've never felt a kick while I've been vertical before, only when I've been sitting and laying down. I think that she's gotten so big that there isn't a lot of room in there anymore. I'm really feeling it today, the heaviness is making it uncomfortable to walk and I'm really tired today. [Week Twenty-Nine] Saturday 1st April I'm doing a couple of casual pilates classes again. I went back to my first class today. I could tell that it had been a while as I felt all stiff. Some of the exercises have become hard due to my increased size. There was a girl there who was 31 weeks. She was a lot bigger than I was, so it put my mind to rest that my size is still right on track. The same lady was talking about a mens prenatal class called Beer and Bubs. It's held at the Lion hotel, all the blokes go there for a meal and to listen to some midwives talk about how they can help their wife in labout. I asked DH if he was interested, which he was and we've booked him for Monday night. I also developed some horrible pelvic pains today. My pelvic area aches constantly, even when I'm sitting there. Apparently this area is stretching and getting ready for childbirth. It's quite painful and uncomfortable, so I hope it goes away soon. [Week Thirty] Monday 3rd May I experience something unusual last night. Whilst laying in bed I felt what I thought was a few tiny kicks, the type I felt in the early days. But the feeling continued and it was rythmic. After they were still continuing five minutes later I realised that they must be hiccups. I only just read about this in one of my baby books. I've sinced googled it and apparently it's a good thing. The baby is trying to breathe and she's swallowing the amnionic fluid, which causes her to hiccup. It's a good sign of lung development. [Week Thirty] Tuesday 4th May DH went to the Beer and Bubs class last night. I think that he found it enjoyable and informative. It was run by a couple of Doulas and I think they talked about child birth, medical intervention and how the men can help out. He didn't go into a lot of detail, it was a bit like pulling teeth to get any info out of him....obviously it's all secret mens business. He also got a big goody bag of free samples, which I quite like. I've very tired and headachey today. DH came home late last night after the class, so I didn't get to sleep early enough. My pelvis is still giving me grief. Sitting on my butt all day at work hurts. [Week Thirty] Wednesday 5th May I went to the doctors today. I now have to go every fortnight. I can't believe that there is portentially only ten weeks to go. She went through my last test results. My GGT (Glucose test) was fine, I was way below anything to worry about. I told her that I received a letter from the hospital about the Iron levels. She said that the hospital is being pedantic and my levels are fine. Apparently anything below 110, then you have to take supplements. I was 109! The doctor said that the hospital doesn't take into account all the extra blood in the system which has been diluted by something....I don't know. But she said that seeing I've bought the tablets then there is no harm in taking them. So I might have one every second day. My weight was spot on 60kg and she said that my size is fine for where I am in the pregnancy. Fundal height is 28, so two centremetres bigger than last time I was there three weeks ago. I said to her that it couldn't get any bigger and she said "Oh yes it can" and pointed to an area between where my ribs 'used to be'!!! She poked around my stomach with a lot of force to try and see which way the baby was facing, it hurt me quite a bit so god knows what it did to the baby. And after all that she could tell what direction she was. Then out comes the ear trumpet and she said she could hear a strong heartbeat. I'm beginning to doubt that she can hear anything with that device as DH and I have been trying to hear it with a stethoscope, but all we hear is my rumbling tummy! My blood pressure was up quite a bit, the top figure was 120 when it's been consistantly around 109. So quite a big increase. She's going to keep her eye on it. I thought it might be up as I've had a couple of stressful days at work and today I was running around all day as I had massage, eye test and then the doctor. We're also looking at a nice property on two acres that we'd like to buy, so I've been stressing about that a bit and not relaxing. I do feel that I'm often lumped with too much. I have to worry about everything and have to carry around this child! I hope I don't continue to have blood pressure problems as that might impact my natural birth. I might have to finish up at work earlier so that I can stay home and relax. [Week Thirty] Thursday 6th May I stayed home from work today after having a terrible night last night. After I came home from the doctor I got a terrible headache and felt very tired. The headache has been niggling at me all week. I couldn't get comfortable in bed as my stomach was aching, it just felt too big. I tried to lie on my back but the weight of my stomach is too much now and it seems to crush itself and hurt. My pelvis was also aching, if I moved an inch it would hurt like crazy. I told the doctor that day that the baby had been quiet, well she sure had woken up when I went to bet. She was flipping and flopping around all the time. Then my back started aching and I had to get DH to massage it. After that had settled down she started getting hiccups, which always seems to freak her out and she starts moving around even more. So I don't think I fell asleep before 1am. When I woke up this morning I thought "Nup, stuff it". I needed some rest and relaxation. I did an afternoon class of Aqua and stayed in the pool for a while afterwards and floated around. That has done me the world of good. Water therapy definately helps to unwind and relax my aching joints. I had a different teacher at aqua and she was asking me if I'd done any classes before or if I had any injuries. Before I could even open my mouth all the other old ducks were yelling out "Yes, she's pregnant". They seem to delight in it. As I sit here typing, she's got the hiccups again. They are happening quite often these days, two or three times a day and they last 5 - 10 minutes. It always seems to be low down (ugh, now she's squirming), so I presume that I can feel the hiccups from her mouth or chest? So maybe she's facing downwards where she should be. [Week Thirty] Sunday 9th May Happy Mothers Day to me! I'm counting it as my first mothers day, but DH isn't convinced. I had to tell him 3 times to buy me a present and then today he forgets to give it to me. It upset me a bit as it is something of an important milestone....my first mothers day!! You'd think he'd want to spoil me due to all the pain and discomfort that I have to go through during the past 7 months. He's a bit unsensitive somethimes (most of the time). I went to Aqua class this morning and everyone was wishing me a happy mothers day, so at least everyone else thought of me, even if they were total strangers. I'm getting the most unbarable pain in my pelvic region. It's started over the past few days. It hurts to walk to the most, but it's also painful to sit and turning over in my sleep is agony. Generally the pain is in my pubic area. I presume that it's the pelvis stretching. But I seem to be getting more pain that is normal. There's something called SPD - Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction, I think that is probably what it is. You can't really do much about it unfortunately. It only goes away once you've given birth. [Week Thirty One] Monday 12th May I decided that I'd like to hire a Doula for birth. Doula means 'womans servant' in Greek. Their role is to be with you during labour to provide, massage, relaxation techniques, natural pain management techniques etc. They know the best positions to be in and statistics show that you're more likely to have a natural and faster birth if you have a Doula present. I wouldn't have a clue what to do during child birth and a hospital midwife isn't going to be present all the time as they have other patients to worry about. [Week Thirty One] Wednesday 12th May I went to see a chiropractor today. I read in a few pregnancy books that it's good to see one during pregnancy to make sure that your pelvis is all aligned. It was good timing as well as my pelvic pain is unbarable so I hoped that the chiropractor would help me with that. At the appointment I had to lie on my stomach on one of those pregnancy pillows that has the whole in it for your stomach. She said that my hips and pelvis were all out of wack and she made some adjustments with some instrument that just taps at your spine. I layed there thinking "This instrument can't possible be doing anything" as I could hardly feel it doing it's aligning. Then I had flash backs of the ear trumpet! I think that I'll probably get the same result if she waves a wet fish around, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and go for a few more sessions. I'm booked in again for next Monday and Friday. Caught the tram into the city to see a movie in the evening. Walking from King William street to Rundle Street was sheer torture. The pain in my pelvis was horrific and I turned into one of those "slow walkers" that holds everyone up. 
[Week Thirty One] Thursday 13th May My Doula came to our house today to meet us. Her name is Helen and she is from http://www.bellybirthandbeyond.com.au. She is on the same wavelength as us and seems to believe in a natural birth, but she supports you though whatever birth plan you choose. The package I chose was $675 (after an upfront payment discount), she sees us twice before birth and is then on call 24/7 for a two week period around the due date and will be with us through the whole birth. She'll then visit us twice after birth. You also have the option of paying for subsequent visits if you need some extra support. She's given us some DVD's and books to read and is helping us to write our birth plan. I'm so glad that I've decided to hire her as I think that she will be a god send during labour. [Week Thirty Two] Wednesday 19th May Doctors appointment today. I'm now 62kg, so I've gained another two kilos is two weeks!! The doctor says it's normal and I'm just noticing it more because I was small to begin with. I just looked on a website that had a weight gain calculator and it says that at 32 weeks my average weight should be 61.83. So I'm actually spot on. By week 40 it says I'll be 65.42, so three and a half kilos to go. My blood pressure was about the same as last time 122/74. She said it was high last time at 120/68. It was previously always around 103/67. But she didn't say anything about it, so I am just presuming that it's fine. Fundal height is 31, so a 3cm growth. She could feel the position of the baby this time which was good. She felt the feet because she got kicked and she then felt the back and the head. Good thing is that she was head down. I hope she stays that way. I told the doctor about my pelvic pain and how I thought it was Symphysis Pubis. She pressed the Symphysis and it was quite painful, so she agreed that this is what it was. She wasn't at all concerned and just said that it was the pelvis loosening and is probably a good thing. I asked if it would impact labour and she said probably not. But I was reading a website on SPD today that says a bit differently - http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/pubicpain.htm. It says on there to be careful of labour positions, don't lay down or squat and don't have an epidural as you can't feel the pelvis pain and you may overextend. You can cause yourself serious injury if you overextend it. It also said that women with SPD are prone to malpositioning of the baby. So now I'm scared that the baby won't engage properly and I'll have to have a c-section. I went to the chiro again on Monday for another session of fish slapping. I must admit that the pain isn't quite as bad today, but perhaps that is because I had the day off and have just been laying around watching TV. I'm now watching how I sit to try and stop any malpositioning. I'm not slouching or sitting with my legs up on the couch. And there is definately no more laying on my back, not that I could anymore with the weight of my stomach. My neighbour asked me today if I knew how much the baby was going to weigh at the end....I got the feeling that she thinks I'm bigger than I should be. [Week Thirty Two] Saturday 22nd May Went to our first prenatal class at the hospital today. There were about five other couples there as well. This week was all about what happens during labour and your pain relief options. I found this quite boring as I've alredy read countless books about this, so I didn't learn anything new. She did however say that epidurals have come a long way and you can get an epidural "cocktail" which still alows you to move around and feel your legs. I'll have to investigate this as I'm really doubting that I'll be able to handle the pain and go drug free. We had a brief look at the labour rooms. They look quite nice and are very roomy. They provide birthing balls and have a bar that connects to the bed to enable you to squat. I was afraid that the hospital would make me lay down during birth, but it sounds like they are very open to vertical births. There is a shower in the room but unfortuantely there is a problem with the baths and they're not functioning. There is some legal problem that they haven't installed any hand rails/lifting devices to get people out of the bath if they become stuck. This was a big blow to me as I wanted to spend a lot of my labour in the water. I asked a friend who went to the Womens and Childrens hospital in the city if they had baths and they don't. I'm hoping that they'll have the bath situation solved by the time I'm in labour, but these new rooms were built six months ago, so I'm not holding my breathe! My sister is visiting from Melbourne for the weekend. We went out to dinner tonight and the waitress at the restaurant was fluffing around me and asking about the pregnancy. What is it about a big stomach that gets women so excited. [Week Thirty Three] Monday 23rd May I had my 4th chiro session tonight to try and fix my kooky pelvis. I think that the chiro has given up as nothing seems to change after the treatments. At least she is honest. I was thinking the same thing and was probably going to give up after this week as well. She suggest that acupuncture might give me some relief. I'm happy to put up with the pain for another seven weeks, but I don't want it affecting the birth. She said that some regular appointments to keep my pelvis aligned would still be good. I have to see her again on Friday and then I'll give accupunture a try. I'm going to see a Physio on Wednesday, but I just know that I'll be wasting my money there. But it's worth a shot. Apart fromt the pelvic pain I've been fine. A work mate said to me today that apart from my swaying gait when I walk and my big belly, you'd never know that I'm pregnant as I've been so well. Speaking of work, I've only got 10 days to go!!! I'm slowing starting to get concerned about the pain during labour. My doula has given me some dvd's to watch and they're totally freaking me out. Of course they're all natural births and the women are in agony. I'm not a strong person, I'm not going to cope! My stomach has also popped out again, it felt very heavy today and quite uncomfortable. [Week Thirty Four] Wednesday 2nd June Doctors appointment today. She weighed me at 61 kgs. I've been weighing myself this week and have been hovering around 61.7kgs. So I haven't put on any weight these past two weeks and may have even lost a few grams, which is very odd. Fundal Height was 35cm, but she thinks that she measured it wrong as when she plotted in on the graph it looked a bit too high. She thinks it was more like 33cm, but she said it's hard to find the exact spot when you're so big. Blood pressure was back down to 104/72 which is good. The baby was head down again today. Next appointment is at the hospital at 36 weeks, then I have to see the GP weekly until 40 weeks. I also went to Chiro and Physio today, so lots of running around. I'm absolutely exhausted and need some rest. I've been overdoing it this week as I've been out every night since Saturday. I've also been very busy at work as there have been lots of dramas this week. Everything is taking its toll on me. [Week Thirty Four] Thursday 3rd June I was awake all night last night itching. Itchy legs, soles of my feet and hands. It was driving me insane. It continued a bit today at work, but mainly on my arms. [Week Thirty Four] Saturday 5th June Went to the final prenatal class at the hospital today. The class was supposedly about baby care, but all they talked about was breast feeding (which was so brief and vague that it was of no use) and we went for a walk up to ward 4C. It sounds like a psych ward from a horror movie, but it's your post natal ward. There are 12 single rooms in the ward, if they are all full then you get a shared room in a ward around the corner. When we were there all the rooms were full. A family let us borrow their baby for half an hour while the midwife gave him a bath in front of us. Looking at the baby, it's hard to imagine how that fits inside my belly! Headed out to a friends hens night in the evening. I don't know how I survived as I spent the afternoon lying in bed. I've been so tired lately. There was another pregnant girl there who is 20 weeks. She has the some pelvic problem as me and wears a pregnancy belt to hold her together. She was telling me that one of her friends had it so bad that the doctors told her that she shouldn't try for another child for at least six years and that even then she might cause herself so much damage that she might need a wheelchair for the rest of her life. How scarey is that. It makes me think that maybe I'm not too bad off with my pain. [Week Thirty Five] Wednesday 9th June My itching has become unbareable. I feel like I'm scraping my whole skin off with how hard I'm scratching. I also read of something called Obstetric Cholestasis. It is caused by a problem with the liver/bile. There's a good medical article about it here - http://www.health.sa.gov.au/ppg/Default.aspx?PageContentMode=1&tabid=104. It's scared me a bit as it says that it can cause your baby to suddenly become stillborn and they don't like you going past 38 weeks. It also says that it is hereditary. My mums second baby was stillborn, but Dad can't remember her having any itchiness. When I went into the doctors she said "This isn't your normal week, something must be wrong". I told her about the itching and she said she would test for OC. So she drew some blood to do a liver test. I think she must be concerned as when do GPs ever do their own blood tests? They normally send you to a clinic for that. She prescribed so antihistamines that would help with the itching and I have to call on Friday for the results [Week Thirty Five] Friday 11th June Today was my last day of work. I was spoilt with morning tea and a big lunch with all my workmates. I received a few presents from individual people as well as a big group present and some lovely flowers. I was also sent some flowers from one of our customers, which I thought was fantastic. My boss secretly invited DH to the lunch as well, so when he turned up it was a nice surprise. I forgot to say that on Tuesday he sent me a big bunch of native flowers to work, which was nice of him to do. They asked me if I wanted to work next week seeing it's only a short week because of a public holiday. I said I would but then changed my mind a few hours later. Today just seemed so final with lunch and presents, so I didn't want to come back again next week. I was also quite tired today as well so I thought it's better to get some rest at home for a few weeks....even though I'll be insanely bored. It was a bit sad packing up my desk, taking down my photos and all the ornaments that have been stuck to my computer for 13 years. But I'll be back there working part time in a year, so it's not goodbye forever. I rang the doctors clinic twice today for a my blood test results. My normal GP wasn't working so I needed to speak to any of the other eight doctors. I didn't receive a call back, so I'm a bit miffed about it. Too bad that it's not life threatening at this stage, but it is important. I'll have to wait until Tuesday to ring them. [Week Thirty Six] Tuesday 14th June I went to an ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association) meeting this morning. It was coffee and cake at a members house. There was only me, the host, a ABA councellor and two new mums there. The two new mums both had their two week old babies with them. I don't think I'd have the courage to leave the house after two weeks, but their babies just fed and slept with no noise at all. We just had a general chit chat about babies etc. Nothing riviting. I rang the GP Clinic again and was put through to some vague sounding doctor who told me that there were some abnormalities on my liver function test. She then babbled something about getting a hospital doctor to look at them. So none the wiser and starting to freak out I rang the Womens Health Clinic at the hospital. The woman looked at my results and said that they were high and put me through to a registrar. She told me to come in tomorrow morning at 8am for a Bile Test and they should have the results back before my Midwife Appointment at 4pm tomorrow. DH is thankfully coming with me so that if I have to see a Doctor then I don't have to deal with it on my own. I'm getting a bit concerned about it now. The registrar asked me if the baby was still moving, which freaked me out even more! I don't want to be induced and it could mean that I have to have the baby in a week or so. I'm not ready for that! [Week Thirty Six] Wednesday 16th June Went to the hospital this morning at 8am to have my bile test. We had to go to the Birthing and Assesment ward first to pick up the form for the test. We struck a grumpy worker who couldn't find the form and threw her hands up in the air. She eventually found it and had a personality change and was nice as pie. We then had to go to the pathology area for the blood test and had to sit around until 8.30 for them to open. Blood was taken and the results would be back before my 4pm midwife appointment. DH had taken the day off work to be with me so we went to the Marion shops and pottered around and had a coffee. Had a chiro appointment mid morning, and then spent the rest of the day at home. We went to the hospital at 4pm for the appointment with the midwife. She started going through my yellow booklet to see what had been happening during my pregnancy. She didn't mention the bile test so I presumed that she was still getting to that. I was chastised for not taking my Iron tablets. I told her that my GP said I was borderline and didn't have to take them. But she thought the opposite. She then took my blood pressure and started to measure my fundal height when her phone rang. It must have been a registrar on the other line talking about my bile test, the midwife then said "She didn't even mention it". She hung up the phone and said to me "Soooooo, you've been itching?" and I said to her that I was about to mention the bile test to her. So I was in trouble again!!!! She explained that the liver function test (which they also repeated today) was still high, but the bile test hadn't come back yet. They wanted to do some fetal monitoring, so I was hooked up to a fetal monitor for 20 minutes where it measured the babys heartbeat and any uterine movements. I finally got to hear the heatbeat! I had to press a button everytime the baby moved, this always corresponded with an increase in the babys heartrate by about 30 beats. It was interesting to listen to and to see the graph on the computer. Everything was fine with the heartbeat. By this time it was 5.30pm and most of the midwives had gone home and the doors had shut. My midwife wanted to take me up to the Birthing and Assessment suite to speak to the registrar to see what we were going to do next. I felt like a bit of an inconvienence being there after hours as the midwife commented that she "wanted to leave on time tonight". We raced up to the Birthing Suite and we were told to wait down the end of a corradoor while the midwife found the registrar. We sat outside one of the rooms where we could hear that someone was hooked up to a fetal monitor. The womans parents were waiting outside the room and going in and out. They didn't understand the sounds of the fetal monitor and they were getting upset. It was a good example of why you don't tell your parents when you're in labour. Imagine having them hanging around, it would stress you out even more! After about 15 minutes I heard a big voice saying "She has cholestasis". My heart sank as I knew that I would now be induced. A few minutes later the midwife came and told us that the results had come back and that the bile acids were at 12, so I did have cholestasis. She had made an appointment for me to see a Doctor on Friday and would probably be induced next Wednesday. We were then free to go. On the way out a woman was wheeled past us with three staff in towe, her back was uncovered and she had texta marks on it. I knew instantly that she was on her way to a ceasarian. We followed her down the passage and she was wheeled into the passage of doom that lead to the operating theatre. All I could think about was that it would be me going down there in a weeks time. I managed to hold off the tears until I was just out the front door and then started crying. I'm so upset. I know that I'm going to be induced, nothing will happend and it will lead to a ceasearian. I'll be bed bound and unable to have an active birth. This is not how I wanted things to happen. I don't want to have major surgery and be in pain for six weeks. I don't want my baby to be taken away for two hours while I'm in recovery. I've had such a smoothe pregnancy. I can't believe that it has to end like this. [Week Thirty Six] Friday 18th June My doctors appointment at the hospital was at 11.45 this morning. I didn't get much sleep last night as I was itching and still upset from the news. The doctor confirmed that I had Cholestasis and then did a vaginal exam. My god it hurt, I never want to experience one of those again....although I know I have no choice. After the horrendous exam the doctor said that the head of the baby was well down and I'll be able to be induced. She rang someone and they gave her a time of 3pm next Tues 22nd June. She briefly said that I'd be given the gels on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday. I asked if I could go home as Flinders have been doing a trial of sending women home after the gels. But she said no. She gave me an admission card and that was that. The doctor said that she'd seen some women whose bile acids were over 300, mine were only 12! But I guess it's better not to take any risks. I wasn't so upset after leaving the hospital today as I knew that the induction is inevitable. I still haven't excepted it though and my thoughts are constantly on a cesarian. DH went back to work after the appointment to try and tidy up some work before he takes leave. I spent the afternoon in the kitchen making a giant curry and batch of pumpkin soup to freeze. By 6.30pm I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. I'm now trying to cram to much in to my days. I spent some time on the phone cancelling appointments, then one of my friends, my sister and the Doula all rang to chat. In between that I managed a bout of tears, I've got so much to do in the next few days. My Doula is being supportive but has said that I'm now down that track of intervention. If labour is not bought on by the breaking of the waters then they'll put me on the Syntocin drip. She said that she has only ever known two people to survive the drip without pain relief. So Epidural here I come :-( She also said that the Syntocin makes the contractions longer and stronger which puts stress on the baby. That's when the babys heart rate may drop and they wheel you away for the C-section. All I can do is hope that I don't have to have the drip. [Week Thirty Seven] Monday 21st June Spent the day relaxing today and tried not to think about anything. Went to chiro for a last minute tuning, my pelvis has been so much better in the last week but it still hurts to roll over in bed. I'll have to tell the hospital to make sure the bed is down low. As I type this she's moving around in my belly, I'm going to miss all those movements, it'll be so weird without my belly. She had the hiccups this morning, it could be the last time I get to feel them. I also feel sorry and a bit guilty that we have to force her to come out when she's not ready. She should still have a few more weeks to relax in there and plump up. But I guess it's better that she does come early as the alternative could be disasterous. I've packed my bags and just have to do some tidying up around the house tomorrow before we leave. DH is taking me out to a surprise location for dinner tonight. Our last dinner outing as just the two of us. I still can't think past labour, so I haven't even imagined what it'll be like bring her home and caring for her. I've resigned myself to the fact that after the gels they will put me on the drip and then I will have an epidural. I don't have much of a choice so I'm just going to go with the flow. And my final weight was 63.3kg, so I gained 13.3kg. Wish me luck! Next, Labour and Birth or, back to My Pregnancy 
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