Since I wrote the previous post on Pregnancy and the NHS I've had some interesting experiences that weren't quite so positive.
First off, I had to go to the hospital a few weeks ago because I was having heart palpitations. I was about 35 weeks at the time. In the morning I went to see my GP because my heart had been racing and skipping beats since the night before. When I saw her she had me do an ECG (EKG) and also checked the baby's heartbeat. The heartbeat was fine, but she told me that the baby was definitely breech. It's hard to stay calm when your heart is racing to start with, but finding out that I had a breech baby was even worse. I went out of the room and started crying (which of course made Vivian start crying). After my ECG she sent the results to the hospital and the cardio specialists there told me to come in.
My whole experience in the hospital was quite good. They took me very seriously and performed many tests to ensure that I was okay before sending me home. Apparently it's "normal" for your heart to skip beats sometimes. Nothing else was wrong besides an elevated pulse, but it didn't signify anything scary.
So, after getting discharged from the hospital I went home and called the midwife about this breech baby situation. And this is where things got frustrating. I said that the GP told me that my baby was breech and they said that I couldn't do anything about it until my 36 week appointment (which was actually at 36 weeks + 5 days). I begged them to just come in so that they could check and see what they thought. They said no. They wouldn't do anything about it until 37 weeks anyways because the baby could just flip back over. I did some research and learned that it's best to get the baby the right direction around 30 weeks, so I was freaking out. I ended up going in for acupuncture just in case because they say that acupuncture is very effective in turning the baby if it's breech, but won't turn it the wrong way if it's not.
After the acupuncture I didn't feel the baby turn at all and continued to be concerned. When my 36 week appointment finally arrived the midwife felt around and said she couldn't tell which direction the baby was facing and scheduled me for a scan two days later. While at my appointment she also told me that my sugar was high and referred me to a diabetic midwife. I didn't quite know what that meant, so I called back later to inquire and apparently that means that they send a letter to the hospital and a diabetic specialist midwife sends a letter through the post to you. I'm 37 weeks pregnant! Why are we sending things through the post about issues that need to be resolved as quickly as possible?
She also informed me that my iron was low based on blood tests taken at 26 weeks... SERIOUSLY?!?! Why wait 10 whole weeks to tell me that? I could have been working on this for 10 weeks! So frustrating. (Apparently it wasn't low enough to recommend supplements, but borderline which is why they didn't call... but still. COME ON.)
So, at 37 weeks I went to the hospital for my scan. The baby's head was down and everything looked normal. Apparently she appeared to weigh 8 pounds already, which is quite large, but those tests are often on the high side, so I'm not freaking out about it. While I was there I went to the Day Assessment Unit (which is where people go when they're having problems that the midwives can't help with in their regular neighbourhood offices) and politely demanded that they check me again for sugar and give me a strep b test. They reluctantly did both. (I had a friend tell me that with the NHS you have to be the squeaky wheel, so I was.)
After that I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. I was excited about giving birth and the fear associated with what to do about the breech baby was gone. I wasn't too mad at the NHS anymore.
Now I'm 38 weeks + 4 days and I must say that I'm feeling pretty ready to go. There is absolutely no sign that anything is really happening, but life being this pregnant and still carrying on normal activities with Vivian is quite challenging. I'm doing it, but it's exhausting. On Mondays we walk a mile to ballet and a mile home (if we go straight there and back, which today we did not. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home.). Tuesdays I have a babysitter come in the morning so that I can run some errands and get some stuff done before the baby shows up. Wednesdays we do a playgroup at the church. Thursdays we have the morning off so we usually do things like cleaning and playing at home. Friday we have Music class. The afternoons are usually not scheduled but we often do playdates with other families. That might not sound like much, but it feels like a lot. Especially because in music class we stand up/sit down about 85 times during the course of 40 minutes. It's brutal. I'm looking forward to that particular activity not being such a challenge.
So... 10 days to go until the official due date, but we'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted!
