42 week pregnancy - advice!

looby75

so never mind the political stuff

Is your little one on the way yet???? lol

rozeepozee

Jay-Jay wrote:

rozeepozee, it's strange isn't it?

The fact is that midwife means 'with woman' and in an ideal world we would all feel confident about birthing our own baby so the midwife sould be there to support us and guide us while being trained to help if anything should go wrong. In the real world we submit to the medical profession as soon as we get a positive pregnancy test and we depend for their say so for everything from that point until they discharge us from their care.

When I had my baby at home my husband was scared to pick her up, waiting for acknowledgement from the attending midwives. They were lovely, as are most midwives and they didn't for one minute try to 'take over' but it really is time that women felt confident enough to take back birthing and let midwives get back to their supporting role.

Well in true money saving style I found a doula who is in training and will therefore provide her services for free. You've just reminded me to get in touch with her again - thanks!

Maybe the bottom line is that the midwives are now emplyed by the health service which in these litigious times is in the business of watching its back, which leads to super-cautious and possibly super-intrusive? I'm hoping a doula (and my mum) will act as my advocates during the birth (as you may appreciate, I'm not relying on my dp ) and make sure that there are no unnecessary procedures if I do end up having a hospital birth.

rozeepozee

bikerqueen wrote:

I didnt even get my fundus measured for the first time until about 6 weeks ago...

Bikerqueen, what I find amazing is the differences in care from one part of the country to another (and I only know this because of the internet and using message boards). I don't really have any complaints about my care. I had problems conceiving and my fab GP referred me to a consultant and I had all the tests and started treatment within six months (in some areas they simply tell you "not available - go private"), I was pregnant within the month and had had 3 scans by 20 weeks. My midwife will visit me at home if I can't get a slot at the GP surgery. Even some of the consultants are lovely (most in fact, although one or two I'm sure are robots and why are they all men??!!!).... Other women have had such meagre treatment, it's so sad.

rozeepozee

Jo, I'm sorry if I've hi-jacked your thread! How's it going? Any change yet? I'm almost as axcited about this baby arriving as my own!

jellyhead

i was told that fundal height doesn't matter before around 24 weeks, that babies are of an average size until then. both of my babies stayed tiny until the end, than had a growth spurt so i had lots of extra scans, a doppler scan etc.

as a crude measure i suppose it weeds out the high risk cases of tiny or huge babies and those women are passed onto a consultant who can order extra scans or other tests. when i was pregnant i read the bounty boards and there were women 3cm too big etc. who were told it didn't matter though, so don't worry about it too much

jo where's this baby? :rotfl:

Jo_R_2

looby75 wrote:

so never mind the political stuff

Is your little one on the way yet???? lol

Nooooooo! Still not!

Aaaaargh!

Kimberley

Jo_R wrote:

Nooooooo! Still not!

Aaaaargh!

Get a skipping rope and start skipping

patchwork_cat

Rozeepozee
I really wouldn't have thought that a 1 cm difference infundal height was even worth mentioning by your midwife - it is only a guide!the baby and your body haven't read the info. Normal gestation range is about 5/6 weeks.

black-saturn

I would say that as long as the baby and everything is fine and you are comfortable there would be nothing to worry about. But one thing I would be worried about is that they can get distressed very quickly at the 42 week and beyond stage. I would be worried incase baby got distressed and I wouldnt know about it until it was too late. I think you should bear in mind how long it takes to get to the hospital.

northernstar_3

rozeepozee wrote:

I had my midwife appointment yesterday and whilst she is absolutely lovely, I don't get the sense that she is a home birth advocate. She found that my fundus was 1cm higher than expected for my dates and said it would have to be monitored.

You are joking - right??? Fundal height measurement is very subjective - ten midwives could give you ten completely different measurements. 1cm is neither here or there, and at 24 weeks, I certainly wouldn't worry about it. If it was 5cm, then that would be an entirely different matter.