u/odetoasquigglyline

Hi all, I’ve had some late stage complications including baby now being breech which means I’m now considering a c-section when I wasn’t before.

I’m interested in what recovery pathway to fitness has been like for you on these respective journeys, especially if you have experience of each!

In particular, do you feel any long term impact to your fitness or strength with one of these? How was your abdominal and pelvic floor recovery?

What was your mobility like in the weeks following birth?

Ultimately I’m going to discuss with my care team and do the best thing for baby. Maintaining a level of fitness is incredibly important to my mental health though and I do want to understand post-birth implications better from some more experienced mamas. My usual activities are long-distance running, strength training, and swimming.

Many thanks!

Hi all, just needed to share with a community who gets it.

It’s looking increasingly likely that I’ll have to deliver early via a c-section due to breech baby and a couple of other complications.

I’m feeling incredibly low about this as the experience of vaginal childbirth is something I’ve longed for almost my whole life - I don’t know why! It’s now dawning on me that I’ll never get to feel a contraction, or pushing, or the challenge of transition. This will be my only baby so there is no 2nd try at this.

I’ve had an incredibly tough pregnancy which has required a heap of medical intervention. What kept me going was that I was looking on-track for a vaginal birth and I could at least bring her earthside ‘on my own’. I now just feel powerless and as though my body is failing yet again.

I don’t feel this way for other women who have c-sections by choice or as an emergency. I just really wanted that primal experience of vaginal birth for myself, I’m not particularly spiritual but it’s one of the few things in life that I’ve felt right down to my soul.

Thanks for reading and if anyone has any tips for dealing with grief around birth plan I’d really appreciate it.

Hi all, FTM 30 weeks here. It’s been a tough slog - HG for the first half of my pregnancy, then worrying issues with placenta, then crippling PGP to the point I couldn’t walk…

For the first time this week I’ve finally felt normal(ish) and actually able to enjoy the feeling of being pregnant!

Now I’m feeling a little sad there are only 10 weeks left and I’ve not yet been in a position to embrace this huge experience my body is going through. I’ve booked a pregnancy massage and husband & I took our first photo together today with the bump.

Are there any things you had on your ‘pregnant bucket list’ which you’d recommend to others? Or things you wish you did for yourself before birth?

TIA!

Hi all,

I’m due to have my Glucose Tolerance Test this week in a birthing centre.

I’ve read a lot of stories from ladies who have struggled with the drink and it’s made them vomit. This really worries me as I have a severe fear of vomiting from other adults. I suffered with HG in my 1st tri so I’m (just) able to handle it happening to myself.

How does the test tend to go, and when are people most likely to be sick? I understand I’ll have the drink and then be in a waiting area - if I’m having to sit in an enclosed area with the possibility that someone next to me could be sick at any moment I know I’m going to struggle.

Also how often do they monitor you after the drink? I think there is a small garden attached to the centre so I could just go outside to wait!

EDIT: Thank you for all of your encouragement! Glad it went well for so many of you and there are some great tips here. I’m now looking forward to just getting some down time for a couple of hours while I wait :-)

Hi all,

At my 20 week scan (now 22 weeks) it was identified that I have a low lying placenta touching the cervix. I’ve immediately stopped high-impact exercise like running & heavy lifting, and I’m more mindful to look out for spotting.

Along with this, I have rhesus incompatibility (I am Rh-neg, baby is Rh-pos) which means a bleed could result in a potential sensitising event requiring an anti-D injection.

My question - is anyone else managing a low lying placenta and travelling far from your home hospital?

My work has been very flexible in giving me sick leave and then allowing me to work from home due to HG in my 1st trimester. Now my sickness is easing I’m thinking of returning to the office, but feeling very nervous as my commute is 1.5 hours from home via train and it would delay me getting treatment if I had a bleed.

I have a meeting with my manager tomorrow and I’m hoping to sense check ahead of that if I’m being overly anxious in asking to extend my WFH until the end of pregnancy. I thought about framing it until my rescan at 32 weeks, but 1) the rescan may show placenta praevia and then it’s even higher risk, 2) I’ll be 32 weeks in the height of a hot summer when rules about RTO are relaxed anyway so I’m unlikely to come in while heavily pregnant.

Thanks!

Hi all, think this may be more of a rant!

I was so looking forward to falling pregnant. I’ve dreamt of having a bump and doing lovely pregnant lady things for years, so when we saw that positive test I could have burst with happiness.

However, my first trimester was dominated by HG. There were weeks on end where I couldn’t get out of bed or even move my head for the sickness. I am so thankful this has finally lifted for me in my second trimester but I do feel like my body has paid the price in not moving around and a constant diet of toast and cereal.

As soon as the HG lifted I found an energy for exercise and healthy eating again. I was suddenly so vibrant and sparkly! I felt like I could achieve the vision of pregnancy I previously had where I could go back to lifting at the gym and doing long runs with my bump.

This has been short lived, as today I had both my 20 week ultrasound and the results of my baby’s blood test for rhesus:

1. My placenta is lying over my cervix, which is likely to rise as the uterus expands but until then I’ve been advised to avoid strenuous exercise which may cause a bleed. Also, no penetrative sex :-(

2. I am blood group O negative and my baby’s blood test indicates she is rhesus positive. This means if there is a sensitisation event (e.g. a bump to the stomach) it may cause complications for a subsequent pregnancy.

What I understand of these two together is that a bleed of the placenta could also be a sensitisation event, so I should be extra careful.

I’m starting to just… not enjoy pregnancy. I already feel like I’ve lost myself a bit in the first trimester, and now the rest of pregnancy is going to look very different to what I hoped. I also would love to experience a vaginal birth but if the placenta stays low I think I’m likely to need a c-section. I do feel like the experience teaches you to roll with things a bit more but I do feel quite sad.

Huge disclaimer, I do feel thankful that baby is healthy according to the tests. And I am in awe of the strong women who manage through far greater complications than mine.

I just needed to get it off my chest that I’m feeling a bit of grief for not experiencing the fun, active, glowing version of pregnancy my younger self had internalised. I will absolutely make this best of this (still wonderful) time but pregnancy is already life changing and I want to acknowledge it’s even more difficult when it doesn’t turn out how you had hoped!

I am 20 weeks pregnant with my first and have been feeling consistent movement for the past 2-3 weeks. We also had our first kicks felt from the outside early this week!

Yesterday I had a really active day of gym classes and then heavy gardening. I took a couple of breaks and couldn’t feel movement at all. I started to feel like something was wrong around bedtime when she is usually most active for me, my body felt eerily still.

Despite being ‘early’ I phoned maternity triage for some advice, and I think just some reassurance. The lovely midwife did assure me that movement can be inconsistent up to 24 weeks, but why don’t I come in anyway and they can check baby’s heartbeat.

I was blown away by the speed of what happened next - I phoned at 10.30, husband had me in the maternity triage by 10.50, I was seen immediately and done with my appointment by 11.00. I was back in bed within the hour!

I do think being seen on a Sunday evening did contribute, but it was absolutely down to how well our NHS trust was equipped to triage and quickly deal with this sort of concern.

I am so glad I phoned as I’m sure it would have been a sleepless night otherwise (despite now being up at 5am with acid reflux!).

Just wanted to share the positive experience. I was pleasantly surprised to be treated with such compassion and efficiency.