Another interesting week in terms of pregnancy related business, although I hadn’t planned for it to be. Over the last few weeks I had noticed that my skin felt really itchy, I mentioned it at my last appointment with the midwife and she told me to go to the hospital if it got worse. Of course it did, I really did not want to go to the hospital but after not being able to sleep one night this week due to my skin feeling like it was on fire. I finally decided it was best to go in and get checked, at least then if it’s nothing I can safely ignore it.
I should add that itchy skin in pregnancy (particularly on your hands and soles of your feet) can be a sign of Obstetric Cholestasis. It’s really rare though so I had high hopes that all would be well and that it was just due to all the hormones, my midwife told me It would be an in out job and they would just take some blood then I could go home. It didn’t quite turn out that way but I’m glad that the hospital midwives seemed to be checking thoroughly either way. What it ended up being was blood tests (once they could actually get my blood out of a vein), the usual routine checks and some time on the CTG machine. Just is just to check the foetal heart beat and contractions which all turned out fine and dandy. But the blood tests took much longer than expected, my veins were too narrow and kept bursting so after around three attempts on one arm and three on another I finally opted for having it taken from my hand.
Have to say, having blood taken from your hand does not feel too great which apparently is why they don’t usually do it. Anyway the good news is that my results came back clear, which is great as otherwise I would have ended up high risk and possibly being induced early.
I’d love to tell you that’s where the weeks events got boring but it isn’t, soon as I got home from the hospital I starting having lots of braxton hicks. Which I’ve had many times before but again another episode started with intervals getting closer together, they stopped eventually but started up again at 3am the next morning slowly getting closer together and more intense. We were due to drive 100 miles to go pickup the new car and just when I was about to get up and call the hospital again they stopped.
I think over the last few weeks I had maybe one episode of these false labour contractions a week, with all the others being irregular and just normal braxton hicks. But again while driving they started up again every ten minutes apart, but not getting any closer until they stopped after two hours. Thought that might be it for the weekend but again Saturday evening every ten minutes, seven minutes, three minutes then stopped right before bed. Sunday again after lunch they started and stopped, finally on the drive home they started up at 3:30pm and kept getting closer together until they were about seven minutes apart. Decided it was probably time to call the hospital as I’m not full term yet and last time I mentioned it to the midwife I was told I should go in to be seen if it happened again.
After waiting around for hours to be seen, hooked up to a CTG again and checked I was basically just told come back when they are closer together. In a way that’s great news, they obviously aren’t worried if I do happen to go into early labour before 37 weeks but also I feel like perhaps they could have just told me that over the phone!
Top moment the week?
Picking up the car, finally feels like everything is ready for her pending arrival now. There is a space for her, I’m going to be able to finally put her stuff in the car this evening and everything should be just right and ready. I also think it’s great now that there is only five more weeks until she’s “due”, two more weeks until she’s full term so that’s nice to know.
Stretch marks?
Still no stretch marks, I thought yesterday that maybe I had some but they turned out to just be red marks from lying on my sides. Still plenty of time to get some though, I don’t expect to get away lightly.
Sleep?
Gah, really not so great this last week. Either from itching or braxton hicks, being up late in hospitals or just restless legs from the days events I have not been sleeping as well as I was before.
Maternity Clothes?
Nothing new to report here, looking forward to getting back into my old shape or near enough.
Food Cravings?
This week has lacked cravings, I did fancy subway and managed to get one on the weekend but I’m not sure that really was a craving as such.
What do you miss?
Drinking lots of coffee without thought, wine, champagne, spa’s and eating any kind of cheese I fancy eating.
Movement?
Normal movement, lots of strong kicks to the ribs, she’s still in the LOA position I talked about last week and I’m keen to keep her that way. She has certain music she likes to move around to and I think that means she likes it but who knows, I suppose I’ll find out when she is born.
Symptoms?
Backache – Only with my braxton hicks lately or if I move something heavy in the day.
Tiredness – I am tired, but also weirdly energetic even though I don’t feel like I’ve been sleeping well.
Braxton Hicks – Starting and stopping for days now, have to wonder what’s going on and whether I’m in for many more weeks of this!
Itching – It’s soo annoying! Must up the moisturiser.
What are you looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to her coming out now, for this stage to be over and on to the next one. I think pregnancy does go quick at times but also slowly and certainly the last few weeks have felt quite slow. Each week feels like a big hurdle but once it’s done it feels like it went by quickly, that’s how I feel anyway.
