12-24 weeks pregnant (part 3)

RobotsinDisguse

Hi teabag,
i'm sorry to hear you're feeling so rough. I can't advise if this is normal or not, but didnt want to read and run.
there's a lady on the 'next thread' (MSE Pregnancy Club 27) who has had really bad dizzyness and light headeness and she was in hospital yesterday, it's a kind of vertigo. There's another lady also suffering and it's due to the baby pressing on her veins.
Can you ring your Drs surgery and have a telelphone consultation or home visit? I had my booking in with the midwife earlier than you are now so if you've had that can you call her? Or the midwife team at your local hospital? Or at least NHS Direct? (or it's replacement depending on where you are in the country).

Something that is repeated a lot is that the drs dont want you to suffer in silence with anything relating to pregnancy x

floatylight

Hi teabag,

While my symptoms are not the same as yours I've been suffering from hyperemisis since week 6 and I'm now 14 weeks, I've barely left the house since before Christmas and I'm on 2 lots of medication. I'm also struggling to look after my lo and my husband has been at sea so I'm pretty much on my own.

Brushing my teeth makes me sick and dizzy, pretty much all movement makes me sick, don't put off going to your doctor however rubbish they are, I'm lucky my doc is great but it's so easy to get dehydrated and it's harder to get better then. You may need some medication to get you back to functioning again, I won't say well as mine only helps me function.

Anyway just wanted to say your not alone, the things we do to be mummies and I hope you feel better soon x

fireyfirenze

teabag29 wrote: »

Ladies please help/advise me. This is my 5th pregnancy and will be my 5th c-section. I am somewhere between 10+1 and 11+4 and hav my 12 week scan on 26th this month. The problem is this....... I started to feel light headed just before I found out I was pregnant, this has got worse each week to the point i have spent the past 3 weeks on the sofa only getting up to go to the toilet/wash etc and sometimes need help doing that. If i stand for more than a minute i get so light headed i feel like im going to pass out and very sick. I have just brushed my teeth which has resulted in me almost fainting and being sick 3 times whilst recovering. I am in constant pain and sickness all day long (the pregnancy seems to have triggered my sunusitis which is giving me very bad headaches and nose pains to the left side of my head).
This is really affecting my life now, im unable to be a proper mum, my older daughter is having to take my younger one to school for me and my husband is having to work full time then cook and clean when he gets home. Ive not managed to see dr yet because i really cant make it there and husband works shifts but tbh our dr is pretty rubbish.
Ive never had sickness like this in pregnancy before never this bad and never not been able to stand like this, i cant imagine going another 29 weeks like this, its already making me depressed, im in constant pain and sickness. Has anyone had this before, is it normal or is something wrong?

please look after yourself, what you are describing sounds so awful, I dont know how you have coped, does the fact that you have spent 3 weeks on the sofa only managing to get up for a wee and a wash surely this has made you see that you need to see a doctor? and quite urgently? I know you said you're finding it hard to fit in the doctors, but if you're so dizzy you don't think you could make it there, how about trying to request a home visit? or even, get your husband to take you to a&e so that you can hopefully get seen straight away.

xx

cmace2

What happens at the appointment for Down's testing? Is it a blood tet? Do they scan you as well? My appointment was meant to be a week on Tuesday but I when I got back to work I realised I coudnt do that week at all so now it's the week after which they weren't too happy about as it doesn't leave much time for follow up checks apparently. Why is there such a small window? X

RobotsinDisguse

cmace2 wrote: »

What happens at the appointment for Down's testing? Is it a blood tet? Do they scan you as well? My appointment was meant to be a week on Tuesday but I when I got back to work I realised I coudnt do that week at all so now it's the week after which they weren't too happy about as it doesn't leave much time for follow up checks apparently. Why is there such a small window? X

Hi Cmace, I hope I can help. I had a time of it back over Xmas and jan with all the tests.

At the 12 week (dating) scan, they'll take a blood test (for various reasons) and offer you if you'd like to take a test for Downs (and other similar, but worse, syndromes).

The Downs test itself is in 2 parts
A) the Nuchal test - a measurement of the fluid at the back of the babies head... This might be why you have a time limit as they need to do this within a certain few weeks else the measurements can be altered by baby's growth rate).
blood test - they test for 3 different hormones.

They add up your NT and Blood results, add in your age and weight and give you a number of "likelihood" for Downs and the other 2 syndromes. Because of this the results aren't instant.
1/1500 means with those test results, 1 in 1500 babies will be Downs.
Under 1/250 means a higher risk and you'll be offered further testing.

I got 1/30, and was offered more tests.

There is a time frame with these tests too, so it would be the knock on effects of any delay that your nurse is referring to?

for the CV test as it can only be carried out until c.15 weeks (they take blood from the cord using a long needle). But there's a higher risk of miscarriage. I was tested too late to have this choice.

The Amniocentesis (use long needle to take fluid from the water sack around baby), can only be done after 15 weeks. It has a lower risk of mc, but it's still high so is worth thinking about, c. 1/100. Plus check your own hospital (and consultant who'd do it) stats (mine was 1/200). Results take 3 days for the Basic, and 2 weeks for the Full genetic Karyotype.

The other reason why they may be talking "timeframe" is that if the results were not 'good' and you choose to terminate the pregnancy, then there is a limit on how far along you can get before you loose options for things like the surgical removal option... Not wanting to be blunt but if too much time passes you'd have to terminate with a pill and then give birth.

So re the Timeframe, getting your 12 week scan as close to 12 weeks is important as it gives you more thinking time and more options should you need them. If you would refuse the Amnio/CV due to the risks involved or wouldn't terminate anyway, then there is less if a time pressure.

I chose to have the Amnio as i wanted to know if I'd have a special needs child in advance, or if one of the other 2 syndromes, if I'd only get a very short time with my child after birth.

I hope that helps? Feel free to ask any other questions. I also have a lot of info on the Amnio and would be happy to share if you get that far. But I Really hope you don't need to. I wouldn't wish it on anyone xx

moonbabe58

Has anyone suffered from really bad leg cramps? I keep getting woken up with cramps in my thighs and calves on whatever side I have been lying on, but these usually went away once I rolled onto the other side. But last night I was getting sharp horrible cramps in my calves and they are still really hurting this morning. Is it something I should be worried about? Is there anything I can/should do?

22+1

cmace2

Thanks RobotsInDisguise. Yes I had my 12 week scan at what I thought would be 12+4 but they put me forward to 13+3 at the scan. My initial appointment for the downs test I would have been 16+1 but now cause I coudnt do it that week it will be 17+1, they said the week before I would be too early for it? I'm hoping it'll be all fine and dandy anyway as I've no history of it in my family and I'm 26, so it's more for peace of mind, but now I'm worried in case there does turn out to be a high chance and I've !!!!!!ed up my further testing time frames.

ETA: my midwife said the more risky option of miscarriage isn't as risky anymore as they have more specialist people doing it so she made it sound perfectly fine to have done?

cmace2

Oh, and how do they do the Nuchal test? Thank you for all your wisdom!

sophiasmum

Cmace - sounds to me like you arent having the nuchal test but maybe just the triple test (blood) . Thats all we get offered in my area - I think that one can be done a bit later x

cmace2

Oh ok, why would they not offer the Nuchal test?