Yes, I am still pregnant

Ok, rather sarcastic title for this post. But I am getting seriously hacked off with people saying 'any sign of baby yet?' or 'has he not arrived yet?' or even more annoying, 'when do you think you might have him?' errm, well let me just bloody well ask him when he's thinking of making his appearance you moron! And yes, sorry I have had the baby, did I not tell anyone? That's why I'm still walking around sporting a massive bump. Arghhhh, ok rant over.

I am only 38 weeks pregnant, so actually, he isn't even late. I don't know why I seem to be getting all these enquires so early on.

So a bit of a bump update...

He is now 'fully' grown and apparently doesn't get any bigger now before labour. Thank god for that. He constantly has his bum either in my left or right ribs, depending on his position of the day and it's getting a bit uncomfortable. Although not as uncomfortable as it was a couple of weeks ago, which could be down to the fact that last Wednesday he was 3/5 engaged - yey! Although, that doesn't mean anything and labour can still be weeks off.

I must be honest and say that the past week or so has been a bit shit (sorry). I had been told at my last consultant appointment (when I was 35 1/2 weeks) that I would be induced between week 38-39. I was given another consultant appointment for last Wednesday and assumed (incorrectly it turns out) that we would get there and they would give me a date for induction. Since I turned 38 weeks preggo on Saturday I thought they might have brought me in today. But no...

On Tuesday, around tea time, I started getting the most intense pains in my lower tummy and what felt like shooting pains down my bottom (sorry!!). They came in waves around every 5 mins for 4 hours and I thought it might have been the start of something. I went to bed as I couldn't get comfy sat up or stood up and I managed to get a bit of sleep. However I awoke really suddenly at 3am and I could feel something wasn't right with my hands and face. I had a look in the bathroom mirror and they were both really swollen. The baby was having a rave in my belly and I started to get a bit worried, thinking that he was in distress. Anyway, I knew we were at the clinic in a few hours so I tried to get some sleep. The swelling went down but I tested my blood pressure and it was sky high. I got to the consultant appointment and the midwife asked how I was so I told her all that had been happening. She took my blood pressure and it was high and she said I had protein in my urine again. She then listened in to the baby's heartbeat and went off to get a doctor. Cue immediate panic. He came in and had a listen and said it was quite fast (but it has been fast on and off all throughout this pregnancy) and that there may be a bit of a skipping on it. In light of all my results and this they said they were admitting me to the ward upstairs. They wanted to do a CTG trace of the baby's heart rate and monitor me. They said that it was likely they would just induce straight away.  They also arranged for a scan of the baby and sent me on my way. I was really starting to panic now, although I was hoping that they would just induce me there and then. Anyway 7 hours later, they discharged me. The baby's heart rate baseline figure came down as my blood pressure and pulse came down, so they think they are connected. The scan showed no abnormalities on his heart and everything seemed ok. The doctor who discharged me said to keep an eye on my blood pressure and any episodes of reduced movements to give them a ring. The pain that I got the night before, could be down to the baby starting to engage since he was 3/5 engaged that morning.

So since then I have been a wreck. If the baby doesn't move for a couple of hours I freak out. And I mean freak out. I was a worrier before, but this has stepped it all up a gear. I am really fed up of feeling like this now. I want to enjoy the last week or so and look forward to finally having this baby in my arms, but I am so worried that I have convinced myself something bad is going to happen! It doesn't help that the baby is a monkey sometimes and he has very active days followed by very quiet days, which of course then freaks me out as he isn't moving as much. However, I am trying to calm down a bit. He does move every day and he moves more than the minimum and if he doesn't I know that the ward are just a phone call away and I will just have to call them and probably have to go in.

So, I am very much pinning my hopes on my next consultant appointment on Wednesday. I will be 39 weeks on Saturday and so I am really hoping that they either induce me on Wednesday or bring me in by the weekend. If they don't, well, I really don't know what I will do or how I will feel. I'll probably cry on them.

So all in all, not feeling too great at the moment. I am trying to rest and get some last bits done, like clean the windows. But I am finding I have to keep sitting down for a rest. I feel like rubbish. I can't really go anywhere or do anything as no energy and I am running out of clothes that fit me. I feel like a scruff, constantly wearing leggings. If I ever see another pair of leggings after birth it will be too soon!!

These last couple of weeks of pregnancy are tough, much more than I thought. What were the last few weeks for you? Any recommendations?

mummystartingout x