It was strange going into one of the rooms in the delivery suite, knowing that in a few weeks' time I'll be in there giving birth. The baby had made a few half-hearted movements in the car on the way in, but still I was filled with apprehension. I needn't have been. As soon as I reclined back on the bed (I do think beds where you can raise the back and rest at whatever angle you like are fab.) and was attached to the monitor he began wriggling like mad: and didn't stop for a good 25 minutes. It was as if he had been saving it all up until he could show off to the midwife!
The midwife was lovely: in fact so lovely that I shall break my self-imposed 'anonymity rule' and mention her name here: Navia Ghafoor. She didn't once make me feel that I was being a paranoid pregnant woman and what was more she also told me that she'd read my notes and that although the amniotic fluid was low, it was only slightly low - at the bottom of the 'normal' range - as opposed to nearly all gone (which was what I had imagined from the conversation last Monday). She also did various other tests as well, all of which were normal, and brought me a lovely weak cup of tea.
I had taken a book in to read but in fact lying there listening to the baby's heartbeat, concentrating on his movements and pressing a button whenever he moved, were all I needed to keep me occupied. His good strong heartbeat was music to my ears and I didn't care about the slight discomfort from his rather vigorous movements.
He eventually calmed down enough that the midwife could also get a sense of his resting heartbeat, and I went home: not only reassured but tearfully happy.
Today I had another scan to check the amniotic fluid and the flow from the placenta to the baby: the amniotic fluid, I was delighted to hear, had increased: from 8 to 11 something (why they didn't think to tell me the actual figures last week I don't know, though I suppose I would have worried anyway) and the doppler (the flow) absolutely fine. Meanwhile I have more photos of the little guy and have scanned one in. It shows his face, with his hand(s) on the left and his eyes clearly looking straight out of the photo. I hope his mouth and nose won't look so squished once he's born: his nose looks decidedly piggy!
What was also lovely was that just as I was leaving the hospital today the midwife I had seen last week came up and asked how things were, so I was able to tell her the amniotic fluid had increased. She looked really pleased. I thought it was touching that she recognised me and bothered to ask. There are distinct advantages to going to a small hospital.
Of course I came away feeling full of beans and thinking that perhaps I could sing in the choir concerts after all: but I know in reality that I made the right decision. I have been getting more physically tired with this pregnancy than I remember with the other two, and getting stinging pains in my stomach, and I think I would just feel pressurised if I knew I had a solo coming up and even knowing I had to stand up for a couple of hours in a concert. I hope I can get to the concert in Brampton to hear the choir though: it would be nice to be in the audience for a change, though I'm sure I'm going to feel very jealous of whomever sings 'my' solo! So long as everything continues OK I shall go ahead with my Grade 7 exam however: I'm not singing for as long and it's during the day rather than in the evening.
Otherwise, apart from maybe a bit of swimming, I'm going to use the next couple of months/five or six weeks as a good excuse just to take things easy: perhaps something I'm not very good at!
No comments:
Post a Comment