So this time last year I still didn't know that I was pregnant with twins (we found out about Oliver and Matthew on the 20th of July 2012 at our 12 week scan) At this point I was still firmly of the opinion that I was going to our local hospital and having a low risk water birth, with nice music and mood lighting obviously!
What a difference a year makes! This week I have had a scan, spent one night in hospital and several hours back there in the Maternity Assessment Unit!
Our scan on Tuesday was fine, both babies growing well, both well over 2lb- In fact they should now be over 1kg which, if they were born now would make them "very low birth weight babies" as opposed to "extremely low birth weight" babies! Most importantly, they are both about the same size and sharing the amniotic fluid nicely.
On Wednesday I had lots of random cramps and Braxton Hicks. I went to MAU where they checked my stitch and put me on a monitor. They couldn't find anything obviously wrong but decided to keep me in over night for observations due to my history. They were really nice and that explained that if I was a "normal" pregnant woman they would have sent me home but what with the whole history / twins / stitch scenario that they would like to keep an eye on me. Lots of the staff on the ward recognised me from when I got my stitch put in and made me feel at home.
Anyway, everything calmed down, they reckon it was ligament pain and Braxton Hicks probably made worse by dehydration and the boiling weather. I was sent home to following afternoon with instructions to call back if ANYTHING else happened. sure enough Saturday evening was back with lower abdominal pain which turned out to be a UTI- Lovely!
The care we have had has been amazing but I'm now getting to the point that I can spot my own hospital notes in the piles that the hospital staff sort out. They are the really, really thick ones!
When I was in hospital, I was reminded that one of the things that I quite like about maternity care is that it is a brilliant social leveller. Nearly everyone has their baby/ies on the NHS (unless you are Royalty!) and it doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, what religion or race you are, if you are in your teens or your 40's everyone is in it together.
This point can be well illustrated by the ladies who I was on the ward with the past few times I have been in hospital. This week I was in a bed next to the wife of the Imam from the local mosque. I cannot imagine another situation when I would end up talking to an Imam's wife but we had a good chat and I learned lots about what you do in Ramadan when you are pregnant.
Meanwhile, opposite her was a lady who was full on Chav-tastic -Geordie Shore. She was friendly enough but spent most of the time swearing at people loudly on her mobile- and I mean proper swearing! The 4th was a very studious but smiley PHD student who had all her uni books, Mac book etc in with her and spent all day working- clearly she isn't easily distracted by day time telly and trashy magazines like me!
When I was getting my cerclage done, 2 of the girls in my bay were much like myself and the 4th was a really young girl who was lovely but kept having loud domestics with her partner, who was electronically tagged, when he came to visit (was a bit Jeremy Kyle... especially the way he kept rolling up his jeans so everyone could see the tag!)
I love people watching... as you might be able to tell.
I'm going to finish this post with this picture, which someone else put on Facebook so I can't take full credit for it. It freaks me out and makes me amazed at the same time, pretty much in equal measure.
Also the pedantic part of me wants to point out that line 3 should say "At two points"...
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| So that must be why I have no space for any food and raging heartburn! |
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