It's Oh So Quiet!

...and peaceful until....Bam! That sums up the past 3 days.

I had that reaction/tummy bug and felt awful, truly wiped out but by Monday, life went on and I threw myself back into it but I think I did it all too soon because Tuesday saw a relapse of all those nasty tummy bug symptoms and I spent the day feeling very sorry for myself indeed.

I decided to take yesterday easy and go back to basics, I did nothing but lounge on the sofa, drank only flavoured water (and lots of it) and ate plain toast but spent a good portion of the day in and out of the bathroom feeling dreadful once again. I noticed that Boo was quieter than normal but figured he was just resting after the past few days too and giving his tummy mummy a break.

As the day wore on, I realised that actually, he was really quiet. My instinct told me that he was OK and the doppler confirmed that much, but there was that niggling feeling that perhaps he wasn't as happy as he had been before and so I did the sensible thing and called Delivery Suite at the hospital for advice - although I already knew the drill ('this ain't my first rodeo!' is fast becoming my pregnancy phrase!) and duly ate something sweet, drank something cold and laid on my left hand side for an hour to see if we couldn't spurr baby into some action in there. But nothing happened. Not for ages, a good 40 minutes and then I felt him slowly slide around in there and so I called them back and was told to pop in for a check over.

Thankfully my husband was on a night off and so was able to take the childcare reigns and I text K & B to tell them what was happening. I felt bad because I knew they would be worried and yet I knew it was probably all fine but they needed to be aware just incase. Traffic was light and parking was easy which was a bonus to having to go out in the wind, rain and darkness of late evening I suppose.

It was very surreal walking into Delivery Suite. I've been there before with my own so it's not alien to me but the butterflies in my stomach told me that I was nervous nonetheless. I handed my notes in at reception and sat down in the waiting room for a spare room. And I waited. And waited. Annnd waited. Then some kind passing midwife asked if I was being seen to and I said that I thought I was but was getting a bit concerned now so she went and checked for me.

Another midwife appeared rapidly and apologised profusely for leaving me, I assume they had forgotten I had arrived. LOL, that's fast becoming the story of our pregnancy! Honestly though, apart from feeling rough still so wanting to get checked and home again quickly and the parking meter ticking outside, I didn't mind waiting - after all, they were busy and there were ladies in labour, who's needs were a lot more urgent than mine.

Straight away, once in the room, I gave a sample, laid on the bed and the midwife had a feel of baby - yes, still breech. *sigh* And then I was put on the monitor.

Lots of texts flew between K and I, as I kept him informed and tried to calm his fears by telling him that the heart rate was fine and I was feeling Boo move now etc. Boo was very quiet for quite some time on the monitor though.

At one point however, Boo's heart rate flew up to just over 170bpm and the machine started to flash and an alarm went off. It did settle, going back down to 111 actually but at least it didn't remain high and the fast period was during some intense wriggling around so made sense.

Below you can see the trace print out - on the bottom left hand side was when recording began and it was steady and then towards the top left hand side, when he went mad in there, you can see how wild his heart rate went! Pretty cool I thought.

The mw returned and seemed pleased with the trace and I was taken off. Blood pressure was fine but she said there had been some blood in my urine sample. Quickly she added that it could be simple contamination or at worst, a UTI but not to worry. So that sample has been sent off to the lab and I have to call Delivery on Friday to find out the results. Even though I don't have any UTI symptoms, to be honest, I've felt so so rough since Saturday that I could well have and yet they have just blended in with the general aches and pains and feelings of crappiness.

I saw the doctor before I was discharged, who also said that he was happy with the trace and that I was free to go and so with that positive news fired off to K & B, that was the end of the drama for the night and we all breathed a huge sigh of relief.

I did apologise to K & B for the stress that it caused them and that I would never make a fuss if I wasn't really concerned. I know they knew that already but I just felt awful that they probably lost 5 years off their lives in fear and concern last night. I did take comfort in the fact that we'd got to 34 weeks without any major baby-well being related scary stuff.

So, the day after the night before and I strangely slept better than I had in days, which was nice but I know that neither K nor B did unfortunately. This is probably the start of their time to be on edge, which is not nice but we are on the birth countdown almost so its to be expected.

I'm still not feeling 100%, probably around 70. That bug has really knocked me sideways and combined with other things going on, the scare with Boo and the realisation that birth is just around the corner and I'm an anxious and teary mess right now to be honest. I'm hoping that with some rest, I'll bounce back but I feel all over the place.

Physically, I'm feeling very uncomfortable which isn't helping I'm sure. Everything in my tummy, uterus and butt hurts. It's a sore/dragging/heavy/painful type feeling and it's all over. Also SPD has begun and it hurts to move much. Maybe the bug shook everything up, probably. I hate feeling anything less than fighting fit, it starts my anxiety off and then there's that viscious circle off and running. Ugh.

Anyway, main thing is Boo is fine, I'm OK and we're all just a little more alert on the baby front now. I hope however that we won't be visiting Delivery Suite for at least another 3 weeks but more would be better!