Back then, my main concerns day to day – aside from work-related tasks – were getting a seat for my commute to work, and trying to figure out what appealed to me from the lunch selection in the canteen.  I was also having “growth” scans every 4 weeks at the hospital (which was a bit of a drag) because the arteries to the uterus had “notches” in them (apparently caused by high blood pressure, although I don’t think that the medical gurus have a particularly firm hold on this one), which can sometimes be an indicator for other complications.

It was at a 32 week scan (which was inevitably combined with a check-up from a consultant), that I mentioned a slight rash that had come up on my arm and they sent off some (more) blood for various tests.  I had also been  getting spells of annoying itching on my shins for some time, but I was assured by various doctors that this happened to lots of women, nothing to be worried about.  Yet.

My final week at work had just started when my blood pressure meter at home started to give some oddly high readings one night and we gave the hospital a call “just to be sure”.  Turned out that it was all fine and my home meter wasn’t reading true any more (how annoying), but I got kept in overnight for monitoring regardless.  While the consultants were poring over my notes, they found the results of the blood test I’d had a month before and came up with the diagnosis that I was borderline for a condition called  obstetric cholestasis (OC).  (Something to do with one’s liver being stressed by the pregnancy — a possibility I could well appreciate given how squashed up everything felt around the liver area!)

As a fairly recent addition to the list of things that can go wrong in pregnancy, there’s a lot that’s still unknown about OC.  The doctors have a suspicion that there’s a slightly increased risk of stillbirth,  so are all for proceeding with great caution.  Which is how I came to spend my last day at work, and my (now) single week of maternity leave , thinking about the fact that I was going to be induced at the start of week 37.

Fast forward to the present, and this time for whatever reason (better BP management perhaps?), there were none of those artery notches.  So scratch the extra ultrasounds and consultant visits.  They’ve also been testing my blood for OC for a while now and none of that (or the itching that goes with it) to date.  Phew.  Which leaves me with 8 weeks of hopefully minimal medical intervention!

Just like last time, the bump is now feeling rather tight and very firm.  Like half a football attached to my front and covered with skin.  I have to press quite hard against taut skin to feel my bottom ribs and need to sit up nice and straight to give all the organs a bit more space.   At 7 months, the baby doesn’t have much wriggle room left in there, so the movements are less chaotic, and feel more like one’s insides are being rearranged!

Other things are different though: my maternity trousers that I’d been so relieved to find back in 2007 (which lasted me to at least 36 weeks), are already feeling uncomfortably tight!  Oops.  My weight gain has been about the same so perhaps it’s all just hanging out more.   I’m also having much worse heartburn this time around – controlling it, mostly, with pills and revoltingly thick peppermint-flavoured goop – and consequently feeling more tired because it hits most severely when I lie down.

Anyway, there’s nothing much else to do for it now aside from sitting back and waiting to see what happens.  Taking it easy while also trying to give Jon some of the attention he needs and finding things to keep him busy and stimulated. And trying not to panic at the thought that within the short space of 10 weeks, we’ll definitely have a baby!

I will admit that it’s definitely been easier being pregnant (so far) the second time around.  If you don’t count the occasional requirements for lugging heavy toddlers around, the advantages of being a stay-at-home mum for this stage are huge.

For starters, when the periods of complete and utter exhaustion began – round about week 8 – I was able to collapse for a half-hour power-nap while Jon had his lunchtime sleep.  This was a massive tonic for my afternoon / evening alertness and I felt immensely grateful not to be reliving the endless first trimester afternoons at work back in 2006 which ground on and on under a blanket of weariness.

Now that I’m onto week 16, things are feeling a lot better in general.  The tiredness is still there, but these days it’s more down to my blood-pressure meds than the pregnancy.  And the all-day queasiness has passed too, thank goodness, so I can get rid of my food obsession.  (Of course while I was feeling queasy and tired, it was a big perk not to need to be applying my weary brain to anything more intellectual than management of domestic chores and finding a quick and easy supper recipe!)

Blogging, in the meantime, has had significant time-resource issues as the blessed afternoon nap jumps to the front of the queue, followed closely by its cousin, the early night.  And for the moments when I’m feeling quite alert and inspired to write, there is young Jon whose demands for attention (particularly when I’m engaged in a solo-task like tapping away at the keyboard) are becoming ever more insistent as the months go by.

I must say that things at the moment feel about as normal as they ever have.  Naturally nothing is static with a toddler in the house, but our routine is comfortable and familiar, and overall, the effect of the additional bump in our lives has not been significant to date.

Most noticeably, things are happening at a more relaxed pace as I learn to cram less into a day, and in the spaces that open up I’m gaining extra appreciation of time spent alone with my amusing, enthusiastic, energetic little guy.

We also acquired a copy of the obligatory 12 week scan:

It’s really exciting seeing this little one – so full of unknown promise, and contrasting him/her to Jonathan who we’re getting to know quite well.  Strange to think that this person will be part of our family life for 9 months and at the end of that time still be a stranger.  But after that, we’re looking forward to getting to know you little one!

This year we are once again being hosted by the lovely Simon and Nicola, who very kindly offered to have us back again, even knowing that we’d be bringing along our delightful, but potentially noisy, family addition this year!

(And that was before we asked if they would be Jonathan’s godparents. )

Simon and Nicola B live all the way up in York which at 3 – 4 hours drive away will make it our longest car trip with Jonathan to date.

The current plan is to leave on Saturday evening, after the 17h30 feed, and try to get there not too long after the 22h00 feed. (By which time Mom and Dad will definitely be ready for bed too!) The theory is that Jon will spend the entire trip asleep. We’ll let you know how that pans out.

And doesn’t litle Jon look ever so dinky in his quilted Christmas stocking. Nanna was sewing that while we were visiting SA and the first thing both Tom and I thought of was to see how Jon fitted into it! It’ll sure hold a lot of Christmas loot when he gets bigger!

Julie is walking around (slowly). Jonathan is still in the neonatal high dependency unit. They think he’s not making enough surfactant for his lungs. This should resolve itself fully in time, but until then they want to keep him on the CPAP machine.

We’ve been advised not to expect him to be released until at least Monday.

For those interested in more pictures, there is an album here.

Julie is fine after the caesarean, but obviously not massively mobile and Jonathan is in the neonatal unit getting a little bit of help with his breathing. This is something that should sort itself out in time, hopefully soon. I wheeled Julie up to there yesterday afternoon and she was able to get a good look at our son and do some cuddling:

Julie and baby are both fine, despite the mass of appliances he’s attached to. He weighed in at 3.2kg, or about 7 pounds 1 ounce.

We don’t have a name finalised yet because we’re still awaiting a chance to get to know him. But watch this space…

Turns out that Amazon stock some pretty cool stuff for babies…

People have been really generous to us in the way of clothes and baby hardware, but we’ve not really looked at any baby toys and books. So for those who like having a list to choose from, I’ve been having fun creating a wishlist for the little guy to redress the imbalance.

Eek! It makes it all feel so final! :zipit:

Then came Tuesday night when my home blood pressure (BP) monitor was indicating that things were running a little high. Added to that, the urine analysis sticks from the doctor showed that there was protein where it shouldn’t be, and my ankles were quite a bit more swollen than usual. (I’ve come to expect a certain level of puffiness around the feet, it’s been a fairly low-key side-effect so far.)

All those symptoms together were enough to make us call the hospital at 21h00 to see what they thought. Which – very unsurprisingly – led to an invitation to visit the labour ward so they could look at things for themselves.

45 minutes later found us in one of the delivery suite rooms with me strapped down with the standard set of foetal and BP monitoring gear.

One of the first things that we noticed was that the home BP monitor’s results appeared to have been wrong. That was after a series of impressively low readings on the hospital’s machine.

Not enough to get us off though.

By that point — past midnight I should add — the doctors had turned their intense scrutiny over to my blood test results from the week before and some fresh results from that night. And that had them concluding that I should stay over for some further tests the next day… sigh :yawn: (Tried offering to come back in the morning but it didn’t work.)

We’d come prepared so Tom brought my bag in from the car and then headed off home (around 01h30) to get some sleep.

An hour later, they woke me up to say that my bed in the antenatal ward was ready and a large, friendly nurse herded me downstairs to my, blissfully, private en-suite room.

So instead of another day finishing off at work, I got to spend Wednesday with my feet up, reading, napping and submitting to more tests. Including a liver ultrasound (didn’t show anything special) over in the main hospital where the sonographer gave me another look at our little boy’s profile.

Fortunately, as the day drew to a close, it started looking fairly certain that I’d be let off in the morning, when my consultant came by on her rounds.

Thursday morning, Tom and I were all ready and waiting to hear the verdict. The conclusion was that it probably wasn’t pre-eclampsia (BP too low) — a relief — but they had settled on another condition called obstetric colestasis and they were fairly sure that I had a mild case of that instead. Whee! :huh:

The general outcome of this sort of condition is that they want to deliver the baby at 37 weeks — not because it’s bad for me, but there is a risk for the baby. More details to be finalised at a slew of further out-patient appointments for baby-monitoring, blood tests etc.

So that left Thursday afternoon for a brief time at work, and then Friday to say my farewells and finish everything off. Slotted between another session with the over-worked maternity blood services (9 — 10), and another baby monitoring session mid-afternoon.

So all in all, hurrah for the weekend! (And to the start of maternity leave!) :party: