It’s hard to tell when this trimester should really start, but we’ve decided to split the blog at our 28 week antenatal appointment, rather than at the 24 week scan. This is our first appointment in the UK and it’s at The Portland Hospital in central London. We’ll have a second appointment here at the end of August to get our ‘Fit to Fly’ certificate ready to return to Egypt, but we wanted to have a mid-holiday check-up (and Dr Cherif thougth that was a good idea as well) as we would be away for so long otherwise.
We were quite looking forward to seeing what an appointment would be like at a private hospital in the UK and to be able to compare it to the private care we get in Cairo, but I must admit we were a little underwhelmed by it all. Scott here - underwhelmed is itself a bit of an understatement. We felt massively ripped off!
We’d spent ages setting up the appointments and navigating our way through BUPA’s procedures. I ended up speaking to nearly a dozen different people over three of four days at first explaining what we wanted (two antenatal appointments) and then explaining when we wanted them. The next series of phone calls was to explain all of this and follow up the emails that they had sent with the wrong dates on them!
After all that the hospital didn’t have us on the list of appointments for that day, but we were seen anyway. The consultant was nice, but seemed a little bemused as to why we had sought out the appointment when we replied to all his questions that we had ‘no problems’ and that ‘all was fine’. We showed him our various notes and told him our case history and he was impressed by the care and I have been having. I then had an examination on the couch and he prodded my stomach a bit. He then measured the height of my womb whilst doing some prodding. This is what I had read happens at most antenatal appointments as it is obviously an easier (and cheaper) alternative to scans that we get in Egypt.
He seemed happy with everything but said that a blood test normally takes place at 28 weeks and so I had a blood sample taken after the appointment. The only problems I mentioned to him were the numbness that I get most nights in my hands and that despite all my best efforts my default is still back sleeping. I knew that the back sleeping was a problem for me as it means that there is more pressure on my spine, but I was trying not to worry too much about it because it wasn’t causing me back ache. The doc pointed out though that the pressure can also be applied to some of the blood vessels there and then affect the blood flow to the baby. It was this that meant we finally decided to go out and buy one of these ‘body pillows’ that I had previously thought were a bit of a marketing ploy.
So the appointment was over pretty quickly and without event – it seemed almost that he didn't see any point in us having an appointment. At times we wondered too whether the appointment was really necessary once we were there and saw how little there was to do at the check up. We’re glad that we’ve had the appointment – as there is no way that we would have gone the whole summer without one – but may change our mind when the bill for those 15 minutes comes through!
At first using the body pillow was a bit weird and hard to get used to. The one we decided to buy was shaped with two ‘sides’ to it to encourage you to lie a certain way. After a few nights I had sort of figured it out, but turning over in the night was even more of a chore (I guess that is the idea though). Getting it did make me think I should have got one sooner and not been so stubborn, but it hasn’t totally solved the problem. The two sides of the pillow are separated by a flat section for you to lie in, but somehow my body has figured out that if I lie ‘just right’ I can in fact fit into the side section on my back – naughty! With the pillow I am definitely sleeping on my side more and finding this more comfortable than before, but I still wake up a few times a night and find myself on my back!
When planning the summer we knew that by the time we got to the Olympics I’d be quite heavily pregnant and so we tried to spread our tickets out and to pace ourselves. We ended up with tickets to five different Olympic events during weeks 29 and 30 and they were all at different venues, different times and for different sports! Concerns that we had beforehand included the need to walk between stations and the venues, having to stand in long queues to get in or to go to the toilet, and feeling cramped and uncomfortable in the seats. To be honest though, none of these were major problems and I generally felt well throughout the two weeks. One problem we managed to solve at the first venue was drinking water, which we had heard you needed to buy for extortionate prices or bring in a bottle to refill. We wanted to spend our money on other things and so planned to refill bottles but when we saw the queue for this we were really put off. Luckily though one of the Games Makers told us that the water that was plumbed into the sinks in the toilets was the same water that was also plumbed in to the taps advertised for refilling and so Scotty managed to jump all of the queues for us! At the other venues we kept an eye out for the plumbing and employed the same tactic, saving us enormous amounts of time.
Another aspect of the summer / pregnancy that we were slightly concerned about was that we were planning to redecorate our house ready for new tenants. In our initial plan we were just going to redecorate it ourselves, but in the end we decided to get a painter/decorator in to do it for us. We did have some slight concerns at first about doing the painting ourselves because of the fumes, but then reasoned that lots of pregnant women will do painting as part of their nesting / preparing the nursery, so it can’t be that bad as long as you ventilate the room. It turns out, through research, that emulsion paint is absolutely find - but that you should stay away from gloss if you're pregnant. The other slight concern was that of general tiredness and not wanting to get worn out by it all. It was this in the end that made us go for getting someone else in and, although I haven’t been overly tired, it was definitely the right choice as it meant we could enjoy the summer a little more.
Despite looking (what I think is) quite pregnant, I have not been offered that many seats on trains. I can really see why people get the ‘Bump on Board’ badge! Having said that I don’t think the reason for not being offered a seat is always that people aren’t sure if you are pregnant (I used to hate trying to work out ‘fat or pregnant’ and therefore whether offering a seat would be welcomed or considered rude!). I think it is probably a Londoner/commuter thing of people just not looking up and not making eye contact when they are travelling, so people don’t notice that you are standing there with your belly sticking out. I have had more people who are standing say to me ‘Don’t you want a seat?’ than I have had those sitting down get up and offer me theirs. I have been alright on trains mainly and not felt that I’ve needed a seat – in fact standing up feels good exercise.
There was one time though when I did really want a seat, as we had been standing on the platform at Vauxhall for over 45 minutes as the trains were all delayed and so I was pretty tired. I felt a bit bad about asking for a seat, as I knew that the people in the seats had also been standing for ages waiting for a train and so were probably really pleased with themselves that they were one of the few people to get a seat on the packed train. What I did though, rather than ask the person in the ‘Please offer your seat to others’ seat, was call out to the whole carriage to ask if anyone could give their seat up for me. Of course it wasn’t the person in the designated seat who did the right thing, but a nice man sitting half-way down the carriage who realised that no one else was going to do it and so offered me his seat. I did quite like pushing my way past all the people who had just ignored me and letting them me see my belly as I passed. At the NCT course I found out that this was typical for all of the women there and that London commuters are just generally quite good at ignoring pregnant people!
I have started to get some back ache when sitting down and have been finding that I have difficulty getting up from sitting down and from lying down too. When I sit on the futon I need all the cushions we have to prop myself up and stop me slouching into the back of the couch. I find that I sit like this for a while, but then am happy to sit on a dining chair or to even stand for a while to stretch it off. When I am getting up from the couch though I need to make sure I’m sat forward before trying to get upright – my stomach muscles somehow seem really weak when surely they should be even stronger than before?! This is most noticeable when I am trying to get up from lying down and I can no longer just get straight up, but have to make sure I am on my side, then lean my arm over and push myself up to a sitting position before then standing. It’s so weird to have (nearly) lost this control that I once had!
There have been some really hot nights this summer which have made sleeping quite uncomfortable. The actual temperatures are nearly 10C below what we would expect in Egypt, but they are affecting me a lot more than Cairo nights ever did. I think this is because in Egypt not only do we have AC, but all the buildings (are designed to) release the heat well. In England though it’s so humid and close all night and we’ve both struggled to sleep through it sometimes.
At 31 weeks we had our ante-natal course which we’d booked on to with NCT. It was great timing to have eight heavily pregnant ladies in a room for 6 hours a day without adequate ventilation on what turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year! I experienced some swelling of my ankles by the end of each day, but this was nothing compared to the others on the course (who are all about a month ahead of me). When we got home in the evenings it was nice to be able to put my feet up for a while and really relax. I generally found though that there were enough breaks during the day of the course to feel comfortable there. Seeing the other women there with their bumps I felt quite small in comparison and so had to keep reminding myself that they were ahead of me and that I will be their size in about a month’s time.
Overall we both found the course very useful and were glad that we had booked on to it. If we had been able to attend a weekly course I think it would have been even better for developing friendships with the others on the course and given us the chance to revisit ideas or cover other issues, but with our short and hectic summer in the UK this wasn’t an option. The course covered enough of each topic to be useful, but didn’t overload us with information to make us feel out of our depth. In fact we felt that we knew a fair bit about each topic we covered from the books we’d read, but rather than feel we were spending time on things we already knew it was actually reassuring and increased our confidence in many ways.
The other couples on the course were nice and it was reassuring that we were of similar age and mind-set. There wasn’t anyone going for hypno-birthing and accupunctures which is what we thought there might be a lot of, although the course teacher did wear tie-dye tops with large pictures of animals on them (!) and insisted on sistting in the lotus position while teaching the class. To keep in touch we’ve set up a Facebook group which is great for us as we know we can’t make the planned post-birth meet-up. It would, however, be nice to try and get together a year-on from the course to all compare how we are doing, so I think we’ll try to initiate that nearer the time!
After all the faff of the first appointment we had at the Portland I wanted to be sure that this second appointment of the summer at 32 weeks would go smoothly – especially as we needed the letter from the doc to be able to fly home for the birth! I called them up a few weeks before to confirm that they still had the appointment on the books and I mentioned that we would be needing the ‘fit to fly’ certificate. All seemed good. On the day of the appointment we were waiting about an hour to be seen in the clinic which didn’t impress us much. We come ot expect delays in Cairo when an appointment only costs £15 quid a time, but not at the Portland at £200 a shot! We also weren’t that impressed that despite this being quite a major thing (i.e. can I or can't fly back to Egypt) I just got a bit of prodding and the doppler for the heat beat. It turns out that the baby has turned around and although the head is still facing down, it’s back is now on my right, rather than my left. As we’ve again got no major concerns (and the blood test from last time has come back fine) the consultant is happy to give us our letter for the flight. Easy money for him!
The flight back to Egypt at 33 weeks wasn’t too bad. Mummy and DaddyP were with us and MummyP suggested asking for an upgrade, which Scott did. Although they didn't bump us up they did give us a row of three seats in the middle of the plane to ourselves, and they kept the middle seat free so we have a bit of room for our stuff. I spent most of the flight playing games or blogging, as the films were the same on the flight as they had been on the way out in June (!) This was probably a good things actually as it meant that every 30 mins or so I could get up and have a walk around.
Landing back in Cairo though I knew that I’d be feeling the heat. The whole summer I have been ‘hotter’ than Scott (as I’m always kicking the covers off the bed when usually it’s the other way around!) and back here I am definitely feeling the need for strong AC and vest tops (and that my Jojo Maman Bebe skirt was a very good buy!). I knew that with the heat my fingers would get chubbier and indeed they have done. After a day in Cairo I’m struggleing to move my rings around so I resolve to take them off the following morning (reasoning that in the morning my hands will be at their coolest). I hadn’t wanted to take my rings off, partially because I like to wear my rings because I am married and that hasn’t changed (!) and partially too because I know that mum lost her ring when she had to take it off before her operation. I think that it will be for the best to take them off now though, as I really hate the thought of something going wrong and then needing to cut them off. So in the morning I get up and run my hand under cold water for about 30 seconds to cool my hand down (although of course this will have made the rings contract a bit) and then have a go at taking them off. It’s not easy, but they come off. I try putting them on a chain to wear, but two platinum rings prove to be a little heavy and they don’t sit quite right, so I just put them in one of my jewellery boxes beside the bed for safe keeping.
It’s weird to think that after having scans every month we now haven’t had a scan for over two months. We know that the baby is fine, as the consultant at the Portland examined us, but it will be nice to see it on a scan again. Our first appointment back in Egypt is a week after our flight, so we are at 34 weeks now. Dr Cherif was very reassuring as always and he was able to confirm what we thought which is that the baby’s head is down and the baby’s back is on my left. What was amazing about the scan now though, was that where we had been searching and searching the screen before trying to identify body parts, there are so many body parts on the screen that it’s hard to tell what is going on! The cool thing is that on this scan we can see the ribs all across the screen.
The symptoms that I mentioned to Dr Cherif were just that I had been trying to sleep on my side more, but sometimes would still find myself on my back. He wasn’t concerned about this which is good. The other thing that I mentioned to him was the swelling of ankles that I have had. I didn’t think this was really bad, but it was worse that it had been in the UK (not really surprising as it’s so much hotter out here). Dr Cherif examined my ankles but was not worried – all good then!
This week I went swimming for the first time in ages. We had planned to go in the UK over the summer as we thought we’d have lots of opportunities too, for example the pool has reopened in Buxton and we figured there were so many days when we were in London without any plans, but it just didn’t seem to work out like that. We did manage one trip when we were in London, but this wasn’t quite the experience we were going for as because it was the holidays every day had been designated ‘splash time’ and so the pool was full of kids playing, which wasn't ideal with a bump! This week though has been good as the pool at school is just the right temperature and feels good for an hour after work. I don’t swim much as I’m not a great swimmer and the bump is kind of weighing me down even more (!), so I tend to just lounge. I have been doing aqua aerobics with some of the older ladies at work which is nice as it is not too strenuous, but I have found that my bump gets in the way of half of the exercise that require you to lift your knees up!
We’ve been getting in to our routine now that we are back in Cairo and I’m 35 weeks, but I haven’t been feeling overly tired yet. Yes I’ve been feeling tired, but you always do after a summer break and then getting back in to work. I have been trying to pace myself though and so in the first week back at work I took a day off, then in the second week took two days off. On the days off I haven’t been in bed all day or in front of the TV – I have still been doing things, but it is just a bit different to be doing things myself at home and at my own pace, rather than with work going on around me.
I have noticed though that in the evenings my back starts to ache and I have trouble sitting for periods of time. The ache is in my lower back and I try different positions; sitting on on the couch on a cushion with a normal cushion and the triangle cushion behind me, sitting on the ball, standing and leaning over the armchair, sitting on a turned-round dining chair and finally lying on my side with the triangle cushion under my belly and two cushions under my head. When I am leaning against the armchair or am on the ball then Scotty will often come over and give me a bit of a massage. It’s this final position of actually lying down that tends to give me the best response, but I always try the other ones first to try and keep moving.
At night I don’t find myself waking up on my back so much anymore – maybe just once a week. I think this is a sign that actually back-sleeping is uncomfortable for me now (rather than I’ve conditioned my body to side-sleeping!). I still find I toss and turn to get comfortable though and need to sleep on my right for part of the night. I have tried sitting up to sleep too (with an extra pillow on top of my normal pillow and with the long leg support under the small of my back) and found that I can do this for about an hour. I am finding that I don’t wake up with ‘numb’ hands anymore as I did over the summer, but I do find my hands feel puffy and a bit achy during the night until they warm-up from use in the morning. My feet too get puffy overnight and feel really ‘big’ when I step down on to them to get out of bed. I have tried sleeping with an extra pillow under my feet, but this doesn’t seem to change much. Although I’m pleased that I am sleeping on my side more what I have found is that my hips start to ache in the second half of the night. It feels like ligament pain, rather than anything else, and I’ve rationalised it as being either because my legs are having to stretch over themselves when I lie down, or because I am pressing down on my hip from sleeping on it for so long. I talked to Zo online and she said that she had the same thing and couldn’t solve it (!) so I’m just keeping with the changing of sides during the night and then sleeping upright if I really can’t get comfortable.
Over the summer people tended to describe my bump as being ‘neat’. I didn’t always know how to respond to this, but I guess it was ‘neat’ as it was small and round. Within a week of being back in Cairo though it has moved beyond being small and round to bulging a little at the sides. I don’t think this is me putting on weight, but just the baby bulging differently! So I don’t think people will describe it as ‘neat’ for much longer!
The baby’s movement is different now compared to the start of the summer; I could feel it loads then, but it was all very light. If I sat down I could feel ten kicks within a few minutes most of the time, but now there are definite times when it isn’t moving and I have had to wait a good 10 minutes at times before starting my kick counting. When it does start to move though some of the kicks are really huge. Some have been so big that I did mention it to the Doc at one appointment (even though I didn’t think it was a problem). Ironically, after that appointment the kicks got harder, which makes me think that the Baba Ganough can hear better than it’s been letting on! I’ve been trying to film the kicks, but they hard to capture from a single angle. I do think that you can see my belly rippling though. The baby still gets hiccups regularly and I can feel these at least once a day.
Our appointment today was with Dr Mohamed, as Dr Cherif was out delivering a baby, and at 36 weeks it’s hard to believe that we are a month away from having our baby! Dr Mohamed was happy with everything and his manner, like Dr Cherif’s is so calming. We still had a few queries about the process at the hospital and our birth options and although we weren’t sure if he would be able to answer them all (as he is an assistant to Dr Cherif) we asked anyway. I'm keen to go 'natural' for as long as possible (ie. without painkillers) but wanted to know the options. We knew already that gas & air isn't available in Egypt, and so the only alternatives are pethadine or an epidural. We wanted to know if we could request an epidural at any time, or whether there was a point after which is would be ‘too late’. He reassured us that we could ask at any time which is what we thought would be the answer. We also thought it would be good to check what things we needed to bring in the Hospital Bag as we’d started to pack ours already based on the millions of different lists and ideas in each baby book/website. His answer was great; “You just need some clothes for you, clothes for the baby, the hospital will provide everything. It is like a hotel” As we were leaving he tried to reassure us after all our questions (even though we were feeling very reassured already!) and said “Don’t worry, you will have a wonderful time there” I looked at him quizzically and said “Wonderful time?” to which he added “With an epidural! Ha ha!"
My ‘neat’ bump has turned into an ‘over-hang’ look. I sometimes feel like an overweight man who has such a beer belly that they have to sit with their legs slightly sprayed to allow the belly to hang in between. My belly is also definitely making picking things up more difficult too as it is just in the way and so I can’t bend down unless I bend at the knees (which is what I should do) or I bend at an angle (which is what I do when I forget what I should be doing). I still get back ache in evenings. At first I thought the back ache had been related to what I was doing during the day i.e. lots of sitting down, or lots of walking around or bassoon playing. But now I think it is just something that happens regardless of what I have been up to in the day. I also still find myself sometimes getting tired or with swollen ankles, but these aren’t a huge problem really.
I’ve just passed 37 weeks and we had our appointment today. From now on we will be going every week to see Dr Cherif every week. We had our appointment this evening and it all went well. Dr Cherif did the scan but with the baby’s head facing down and back he was actually struggling a bit to get the scan to show the dimensions to allow him to calculate the weight. At the end of the scan he announced that the baby was healthy and he could see all of the organs etc. and so the baby was ‘perfect’ and that the baby was ‘ready’. We were really surprised and excited to hear these words. We’ve said before that we’ve never been happier to have the word ‘normal’ be used to describe us (i.e. the baby) but to then hear the word ’perfect’ instead was a nice surprise. I think what he means is that the baby is now full-term (37 weeks) and he is happy that the baby is ready to survive outside of the womb if it is born now.
Dr Cherif was able too answer a few of our questions from last week again and he reassured us that we can have the epidural at any time if needed and that we will get skin-to-skin straight after the birth and the that cord won’t be cut immediately. He also told us that within the first hour they will help us try to breastfeed and that then the baby can be taken to be washed, or if we prefer it can just be wiped, to keep some of the cheesy womb-ness on the baby’s skin. We were very reassured by his words and don’t feel the need for a ‘birth plan’ as it feels that his way of working is in line with what we want and that his team will have been built around his way of working.
I mentioned to Dr Cherif that I have sometimes been feeling some tightness in my stomach. I don’t find it painful and it doesn’t feel like what a Braxton Hicks (practice contraction) is described as because sometimes I notice the pain and sometimes not, so it doesn’t feel like it lasts for a particular amount of time, just that I notice it sometimes and sometimes don’t. It sort of feels like period pains but not lasting all day. It reminds me of the pain I was getting in the second trimester really which was due to the muscles expanding to accommodate my growing abdomen! Dr Cherif though does think that these are Braxton Hicks contractions. He then said that I would know the difference when the real contractions start because I would feel them all across my womb. He them simulated this by putting his hands either side of my bump (I was lying on the exam bed at the time) and squeezing my bump. My response to this was “Ow! That hurts!" I am going to be rubbish when actual contractions start!!!
So the baby is ‘ready’ but I think that we aren’t yet! I still have another few days to do at work, Fabs is coming out next week and we need to practice the route to the hospital again. Having said that though, I don’t know if we’ll ever feel ‘ready’. Having the baby will happen when it happens. The birth will happen and we can think about what we’d like to happen, but we don’t know what will actually happen. Life will change and we know that, but we don’t know exactly how it will change.
I am finding that I am going to the loo more and more again now. I had read that this would happen as the baby presses down on the bladder in the final few months. I find that when I am busy during the day I go as normal, but at night I need to go at least twice just before bed and get up twice again during the night. I find that when lying down I can sometimes feel a sharp need to go to the loo – which must be the Baba Ganough again pressing on my bladder (as I had towards the end of the second trimester). When I go at bedtime and in the night I never need to pee much, but just having a small wee means I can feel relaxed again in bed and try to get back to sleep.
I am at 38 weeks now and it feels close to the end for two reasons; firstly that I started my maternity leave a few days ago and secondly that Fabs has come out to stay for a week to help us get ready for the birth / distract me from the birth. Although I have been working part-time all term and picking and choosing my days it will be odd to not go in to work at all now for about two months, so it’s good to have Fabs here as a distraction.
At our appointment this week Dr Cherif did a swab and internal exam. Not something that you look forward to (!) but it had to be done. We’ll get the results back next week but he said everything looked fine and that my cervix was still intact (which suggests that things won’t be happening too soon). This may be TMI (stupid mumsnet speak for ‘too much information’) but over the last month I have definitely had an increase in discharge (totally normal I’m assured). It hasn’t been a real problem except that I need to change my knickers twice a day!
Sometimes I feel that I am getting palpitations as there are times that I suddenly feel very conscious of my heart beat, or I feel that it is racing for a while. I’ve read that this is normal towards the end of pregnancy, but I will mention it to the doc when we next see him.
There have been a few small perks to this later part of my pregnancy. I have been able to have afternoon naps without feeling too guilty (although I have only done this twice to be honest – as otherwise I do feel a little guilty!) Another cool perk I discovered when Fabs and I were out checking out hotels for the P’s visit next month. As we approached the Pearl Hotel the doorman stopped us from entering. This was really confusing at first, until we saw him bend down and unplug the body scanner that you have to walk through to get in! How sweet of him! When we first got back to Cairo at 33 weeks we had a few days lazing around the house before going out and doing some proper shopping. It was only at the point when we had just two bottles of water left in the fridge that we tried to get more water and found out about the bottled water shortage that had been hitting Egypt on and off all summer. That first shopping trip I went to four different stores to try and find water and ended up buying an 18lt water cooler bottle that we then decanted (using our ‘little bottler’ brewing gear). I couldn’t play the ‘pregnancy card’ until shops actually had some bottled water; as when they did they would only sell it one case at a time, but by looking sorry for myself and stroking my bump I managed to convince stores to sell me two cases at a time – result!
I’m 39 weeks now and we’re pretty much as ready as we’re going to be for the baby to arrive, so we just want it to come now! I am still feeling these jabbing sort of pains in my lower stomach – which Dr Cherif thought before were Braxton Hicks – but they don’t really feel like practice contractions yet.
Today (39w+1) for the first time in ages I had the runs. Now I’m not sure if this is because of something I ate (decaf coffee and a chocolate muffin at Costa) or if this is one of the signs of labour coming on as my bowels clear out. We’ll just have to wait and see!
This week we've been having curry for dinner as the old wives tales suggest that this is a way to bring on labour. I've started making sure that I have a long walk every day now as this is meant to help the baby's head engage. It's not like I've been sitting around at home up until now - I have been out for a walk every day (to and from the shops, the CSA or something), but now I'm trying to make sure that I have walk that is an hour-long to try and get things moving.
So this blog post is being published on 13th October which is 40 weeks and the baby's due date. It doesn't seem like the baby is in any rush to join us as Dr Cherif reckons the head is only just starting to engage. The Baba Ganough is obviously unaware of how we run our lives around here! We keep telling the baby that even if it arrives late doesn't mean we're going to be any more prepared! Today we saw Dr Cherif for a check-up and we'll see him every two days now so that he can monitor how the baby is doing, which is the same as they do in the UK. We decided though that we need to keep making plans and keeping busy so now that we are back from the appointment we are going to put a brew on!
This week I have been having a CTG every other day so that Dr Cherif can monitor how the baby is doing and that it is still happy in there. At 40+2 the Baba Ganough was actually moving so much that the CTG was hard to read and so he asked me to come back the next day. The next reading was fine and so my next appointment was at 40+5. As the clinic wasn't open that day I had instead to go to El Nada hospital to have the CTG scan.
At 41 weeks we had another appointment with Dr Cherif with another scan, CTG and exam.
