My experience of giving birth in Cambridgeshire

L was born on the Saturday 23rd of July at 16.22, after irregular contractions and ever increasing amount of show since previous Tuesday. Surviving with paracetamol, then TENS machine over the contractions that varied between 5 and 30 minutes between them, after several phone calls to the Labour ward over the previous days, we drove in early hours of Saturday after the show turned very fresh and plenty. At arrival I was checked and found to be 4cm dilated, that my blood pressure was a bit high and I was taken in after being given a paracetamol, beta blockers to curb the blood pressure and some Gaviscon (as the reflux I had been suffering for a month was really in overcharge at that point).

The hospital was very very busy at the time and they had called some of the community midwives to help with the influx; my birth preferences mentioned that we wanted a delayed cord clamping which the first midwife did say she didn't see anything stopping us from having. Things went ahead, shifts changed and another midwife took over, I kept on huffing and puffing my gas and air, waiting for the pain to get worse. Around two o'clock the doctor had made the decision that things weren't getting along fast enough on their own even though I was about 7cm dilated and the midwife broke my waters. That certainly got things going, after that I had to fight against the urge of pushing really hard. Once I got the permission to push, things went quite fast and she was born at 16.22. Apparently we didn't take too long from the crowning; she was fully out on the next push, being a rather small baby (3.24kg or 7lb 1 ½oz). Despite our request, apparently my beta blockers and blood clotting disorder meant that we couldn't have delayed cord clamping after all, which came as a surprise to both of us but especially the Bear rather late in the process before she was born and didn't really have time to contest the issue. However, she was lifted on my chest straight after being born, and eventually we nursed for an hour before she was weighed. She scored full 10's on both Apgar checks.

We got transferred to the postnatal ward around nine o'clock. The Bear stayed in until around one and went home then. His brother and mother came over from LN the following day, thinking we'd be discharged on Sunday they left early in the morning. However, at some point we realised she hadn't peed, so we were forced to stay in another night, and so the guests just popped in the hospital during the visiting hours. Sunday evening was consumed by a cluster feeding session that lasted five hours until one o'clock. Around two o'clock the midwives decided that I needed a break and took the baby into their care for a while, and as I was in the loo taking care of my own bodily functions, the midwives changed L's nappy to find a soaking wet diaper. We got great breastfeeding advice in the hospital, including how to safely co-sleep in the bed if the baby is going through a clusterfeeding night, and after an excellent nights sleep (after all, I had been sleeping poorly for nearly a year with our shoddy bed and then pregnancy) we got discharged the following morning. C had her baby on Sunday morning and D was induced around noonish, so we were all in the antenatal/postnatal ward at the same time.

L's umbilical cord stump came off on the following Friday night, and her sleeping improved greatly after that. We've been using our cloth nappies ever since and that seems to be going well too. While baby and daddy seem to be sleeping quite well, I've had a few nights when my sleep has been lacking due to them both snoring quite loudly when I've wanted to sleep myself. Nosefrida is a gift from heaven! Also, the freezer burritos for lunches and readymade freezed dinners have been heavensent. L was registered on the Wednesday following week, after nearly two weeks of staring at her face and wondering what name would suit her. Eventually her first name came almost as a revelation as it wasn't in the original list at all.

All in all, L's been a relatively easy baby. She doesn't really cry for no good reasons, so far the only reasons have been wind or poop, or hunger, all of which we've been able to solve. She's slept through a few shopping trips to nearby shops we've been to and didn't seem to mind being breastfed at Tesco's Harris and Hoole either. I've been quite happy with my post pregnancy body, having actually lost about five kilos from when I got pregnant. I'm also extremely happy that L was born exactly on the due date, as now I've got something positive in my life on that date too, not just the anniversary of my mother's funeral.

Cat's out the bag!

Welcome new readers! You've probably found your way here because we've finally come out in public that we're having a baby! We put up a Facebook post and it's probably been the most popular Facebook update I've ever done. However, I've been writing a few blog posts before, so you might want to pop down the page and read up what has happened so far... Don't worry, this post will still be waiting for you once you finish reading them.

A few weeks have gone by since the last update and it's time to write another update on how me and Larva are doing. We had a growth ultrasound scan on the 21st of January and got some new pictures of Larva then. Unfortunately things went as I suspected and the technician was unable to do the nuchal translucency (aka NT) measurement, so we had to wait until February 1st (last Monday) to have blood drawn for the quadruple test. The results for it came on Friday with likelihoods of less than 1 to 10000 that there's anything massively wrong, and so we were able to give a go-ahead for those members of the family who already knew, that they can tell others that we're having a baby!

Here I am, 13+5

The due date was now shifted a week earlier than what the previous scan said, so now it's the 23rd of July. Scan and blood test results have been relieving for not only knowing that Larva is doing all right, but also finally being able to go public and as a result being able to ask other recent mummies for advice on what to buy, what to do and what to avoid. I can now *finally* shop for some maternity kit and can really start planning for other purchases. The only purchases I've done so far for specifically pregnant me has been two pairs of non-wired full support bras and an exercise ball, which I plan to keep and use as an office chair after Larva's made The Exit. The only big 'purchase' we've done right after the quadruple test results came in was to book in NCT antenatal classes in May and June.

I've done 48 subcutaneous injections so far. My sharps bin, located between the bed and the bedside table on the floor, is slowly getting filled with used, bent needles. I'm slowly learning to do the injections without a massive bruise and agony and it's not a 10 minute procedure any more. I'm glad, because I do need to keep up with this until September, if for nothing else then for my own sanity and peace of mind.

Sharps bin filling up

Otherwise things are going pretty much as usual. We're still cooking food from the Hairy Dieters books, and I'm still enjoying most of the foods. I still don't have any more nausea or throwing up than what I've had in the first trimester, there's some things that I dislike but nothing new has come on the list, it's mainly just moved up a notch - I downright hate parsnips now when I earlier just disliked them, for example. I still have problems with my lunches, just like I did before I became pregnant, now I just become hungry out of the blue and I get angry really quickly if I don't do anything about it. My sense of thirst has also started to develop to a more natural or normal state to what it has been for the past 30 years. And my sleeping has become worse, but I've had trouble sleeping for years. Until now I've used a rolled up towel under my tummy when I sleep on my side, but I think a maternity pillow is going to be on the shopping list next, right before maternity jeans.

And speaking of foods, I haven't really had strong cravings, apart from once when I cried because I wanted raspberries right now. I just have strong desires for foods, most that I can talk myself out of or have given up on them, only to reminisce every now and then; that is: Finnish food. I want cloudberries, leipäjuusto, rahkapulla, mustamakkara, mämmi, Finnish cottage cheese, Christmas carrot casserole etc. Basically either foods that are impossible to get, even by mail because they'd get bad before arriving to UK, would be available from the Finnish seaman's church in London, or are so laborious to make with all the prep needed (ie. cleaning up the kitchen to make space for prepping) that I've just given up. At least some things, like Finnish sausage, can be substituted without noticeable difference. Polish cottage cheese is quite close to the Finnish, but it's not entirely there. And one thing that's the same world over, that I seem to go through in quantities, is milk. I've had days when I've done my two litres of liquids with milk alone.

Continuing on the subject of foods, I live and die by my daily breakfast of Kellogs Allbran and psyllium fiber with plenty of milk, if you know what I mean...

I've had only a few big mood swings and hormonal emotional breakdowns. Biggest came few weeks ago, when I first cried over someone being mean at me in the Internet, followed by getting upset and crying over the Bear putting his mobile phone on the upstairs balustrade where I could have easily dropped it down the stairs, quickly moving on crying over crying over (yes, this did happen! not a mistake!) a phone that I could've, but didn't drop, while I managed to keep my eyes dry when we told the Grandparents on Christmas, which I felt to be very upsetting... aaaaand finally... crying over the Bear laughing at me for crying over crying over not being as upset when we told the baby news to being super upset about something that didn't even happen. This all happened within 30 minutes...

Glucose tolerance test invite came in the mail few weeks back, and it's scheduled for mid-May. I'll have had at least one ultrasound scan before that. Next midwives appointment is week on Tuesday. I've got no idea what to expect (apart from the obvious joke).

Following big purchases are probably a car seat, the Finnish baby box and a baby carrier of some sort (not a Babybjörn though, for sure!). Furniture will have to wait until we make an active effort in trying to decide how to arrange the house.

For the past week, every now and then, I've been feeling an odd sensation in my lower abdomen, that I could on the first occurrence describe only as if someone had put an effervescent drinks tablet in my tummy, and a few days later as oddly located air. I'm trying very hard to not read too much into this as we're barely on week 16, but suspicions are high...

I think I've spent my remaining energy for today, so I'll just finish by thanking you for reading this far, and hopefully I've not bored you to death. Until next time!

New beginnings

This is my first entry on this blog. I've titled it quite literally as 'New beginnings' - that is exactly what is happening. I'm pregnant. This came to me as a slight shock, even when the Larva was planned and wished for. My husbands reaction, after I redid the home pregnancy test the following morning just to check what I saw was correct, was pretty much predictable...

We got married about a half a year ago, after being engaged since 2012 and being together since 2008. We're both in our mid 30's, relatively successful in our lives and love each other enough to consider having children a idea good enough to embark on. It took some convincing from me to get honeymoon relatively quickly over and done with after the wedding, and some more convincing for us to actually start trying to conceive. I'm old enough to want the magic to happen sooner rather than later, so on the first cycle I started eating specifically formulated multivitamins, supposedly effective in helping the mother-to-be to be as fertile as possible. On the second cycle we started using Tesco ovulation tests to hone our timing perfect, and it seemed to work marvels, together with a bit of morning temperature taking and an Android app Ovuview (Google Play). I had mentally prepared myself for at least six months, if not longer.

So, now I'm pregnant. I did a test on Thursday evening and again on Friday morning, and a few times since, and the test result is the same - I'm still pregnant. The initial shock and disbelief has taken a few days to wear down, and I suspect once the first physical signs start to really kick in, the disbelief is properly gone.

The whole situation is made a bit more difficult by my medical history. I've not been diagnosed with a DVT or any other kind of blood clot yet, but I know from the genetic tests that I've got extremely high probability of getting one, especially when I'm pregnant. I'm likely to be put on prophylactic low molecular weight heparin or some other anticoagulant from weeks 8-12, continuing some weeks after childbirth. This doesn't make me overwhelmed with joy, as the heparin is administered as shots, probably twice a day.

It's weird to be in a situation I frankly didn't believe would ever happen, just hoped it might. I'm almost woefully unprepared mentally for the challenge, but I'm hoping I'm going to do a good attempt. I'll try my darnest to give it the best shot I can. In the future blog posts I'm going to tell you about my experiences of being an immigrant Finn in a foreign country, being pregnant and maybe even about our little family. Me, my husband, and the Larva.