Early Arrival or Big Baby?? 25+1?

Well, i had an interesting experience with the midwife yesterday. I was really looking forward to the appointment, as there were loads of questions and concerns i wanted to get off of my chest. As i hadn't seen her for 10 weeks, the bump was quite a surprise to her. She commented as soon as she saw me, which lead me nicely onto asking about my size and how 'low' i keep being told i am. She didn't seem concerned in the slightest to begin with, she said that the fact that its low doesn't matter at all. Its just that my tummy muscles are struggling to hold the weight, which is whats causing the stretch marks to be so bad too. She did my blood pressure while running through my notes, and i gave her my tinkle sample. She dipped a little stick in it with coloured patches on, and left it there while she carried on discussing my notes.

After a few minutes she looked at the stick. Apparently there were a few things in my tinkle that shouldn't be, Protein, and two others (which i cant remember). So she's had to send the sample off to the lab, and i had to have swabs. One positive thing though, is that there was no sugar present, so i may have escaped Gestational diabetes for now.

We sat and had a chat for a while, and then i hopped up onto the bed to listen to Button and get measured. She commented again saying 'that is quite a bump!'. As soon as she put the Doppler on my tummy you could instantly hear kicks and turns etc. Then, there it was, that little heartbeat that instantly brings a smile to my face every time i hear it. It was louder and clearer than ever!

Then came the time for her to do my 'fundal height' measurement. She measured my bump and stood looking at it for a minute. She said, 'well you certainly are measuring a lot bigger'. Apparently bump measures at somewhere between 29-31 weeks! I am supposed to be 25! She said that a lot of people measure bigger than they should, but not usually to this extent. She wanted to ring another midwife, at the hospital. She couldn't get through, so she told me she'd let me know what was happening.

She told me that i need to closely monitor Buttons movements, if they start to get less powerful or less often I'm to go straight to the hospital, as this could be one of two things:

* They are growing at a really rapid pace (lack of room would mean they wouldn't move as much).

* I am gaining way to much fluid in there, which would make the movements harder to feel.

Button seems perfectly happy for the time being though, but I'm certainly going to keep my eye on things.

Heather also said she wants to see me every two weeks for a while, so she can monitor my growth closely.

At the end of the appointment, she gave me a leaflet about prenatal classes that we can attend. Iv really been looking forward to this. They cover:

*Breast feeding.

*Pain relief

*Labour and delivery

* Post natal care.

She also said there will be some that i can attend through the hospital, so I'm going to look into that as well. Id like to be as prepared as possible for everything.

Heather text me after work yesterday and told me that she'd booked me in at the hospital today at 2pm for them to investigate.

I had a strange experience on the Train on Tuesday too, i have heard of 'Braxton Hicks' but for some reason was under the impression that they werent really painful. I literally doubled up on the train and thought that Button might be trying to make an early appearance. My tummy went really tight and my hips and back ached like mad, it didnt last very long but was pretty painful. Apparently this is totally normal, but if i get more than four in an hour i need to contact either a midwife or the labour ward to check everything's OK.

I'm feeling pretty puzzled at the moment really, like i now have no idea when this baby is planning on making an appearance. I hope we can get a clear idea again this afternoon, because at the moment I'm feeling quite unprepared, especially if Button could arrive up to 5-6 weeks early!

So i will probably be blogging again this afternoon, hopefully with a bit more news.

Love always, Mummy Elce and Baby Button xxx