Well, I'm currently firmly esconsed in week 21 of my 40+ week "confinement". I turned 20 weeks last friday, and that makes it approximately half way... a scary thought.
It hasn't been plain sailing by any means, and every time I think I can "enjoy" being pregnant, I seem to stumble over yet another hurdle. Wednesday afternoon found me @ St Thomas's (part of Guys' Hospital in Waterloo), having various needles poked and prodded into my arms and legs (needles in arteries HURT, dammit), with a suspected P.E. (I only went in to get checked out on advice from the midwife) - luckily it didn't materialise, I am still here and nothing seems to have gone wrong, though it was pretty scary at the time (the not-being-able-to-breathe-thinking-i-am-having-a-heart-attack bit especially).
The care I got at St Thomas's maternity unit was second to none and the doctor was excellent, which helped calm my nerves, despite being told I would be admitted overnight for an Xray and second shot of anti-coagulants. My seemingly 'sensible' idea at the time to move to my booked hospital (St Peters, Chertsey) so that I could fetch my notes backfired, and found me on the labour ward until 3am, only to be told to go home... a totally different picture to that in St Thomas's. Still, I was pleased to be in my own bed.
It was certainly an education - being on the labour ward surrounded by very-soon-to-be-mums was quite a new experience for D, and he took it pretty much in his stride (apart from leaving the room for the blood tests). There was a lot of yelling and screaming at certain points, and I felt a bit of a woos for swearing very loudly when they came at me with a syringe (the St Peters doc was hopeless with a needle).
The good thing to come out of all of that was getting to see Beanlet again, as the midwife at St Thomas's panicked when she couldn't find a heartbeat (SHE panicked?!!!). She packed me off to see the obstetrician, who popped me on a table, and said "I am not very good at this". She lied, as I got the best scan of the 5 so far (Beanlet is definitely destined to be an actor/actress if this penchant for being on screen carries on!). She showed me the teeth, eye sockets, skull, heart beating away, a little hand waving at us, and then the freakiest moment as I watched a hefty kick to my stomach as I simultaneously felt this prod from the inside of my belly - very odd! It's not so much like goldish any more, probably getting on for large carp or trout....
I didn't get a pic from this recent scan, as it was just an emergency look-see... my proper scan is in 2 weeks. But here's a sneak view from back in January.
