So the countdown to my due date finally begins today! I am officially full term, and if and when Tyler comes he will be fully developed and perfectly healthy :) (according to gestation). I am definitely feeling full term, too. I never used to swell up with Lilia but with Tyler my legs and feet swell up if I am on them for too long all the time - too long is apparently cleaning my downstairs! Also I stood up for two hours straight and they ballooned to like triple the size! They ache all the time too. I am constantly feeling tired and drained. Which brings me to my next point.. Yesterday, I had antenatal. I got the blood results back from the surprise bloods they took at my last appointment. Now they told me that they'd phone me if I needed to go on iron tablets, but I didn't get a phone call so I assumed everything was okay.. How wrong I was! My iron level was 9.5, and my midwife was furious that I wasn't on any iron tablets! It was the appointment where you discuss your birthing plans, so you have to see your named midwife. My named midwife seems to be the only one that actually cares about my well being beyond doing what she has to at antenatal, which is a bit ridiculous. (I have the same team as I did last time, and they never seemed this bad when I was having Lilia!) I explained to Amanda (my named midwife) that they told me they would phone me if I needed to go on iron tablets, but no one had phoned me so I just assumed everything was fine and I didn't need any.. She was disgusted that no one had phoned me. After I said this, she turned to me and said "you should have been on iron tablets since twenty eight weeks. Then, your iron levels were ten. At thirty four weeks, they were 9.5. They are dangerously low and someone should have told you about this. Now you only have three weeks to build them back up again otherwise you WILL be having an iron transfusion. Your iron levels are so low that if they drop any further the next time you are tested I will be admitting you for a transfusion. I understand that you didn't know, but now you have to really work hard in getting them levels up. Eat lots of veg, citrus fruits, drink orange juice, red meats, and if you can get any iron supplements to take for tonight then that would be great. Tomorrow first thing you need to phone up your GP and tell them I have told you you need an iron prescription. Any problems, phone the midwifery team and tell them to tell ME about it. I am taking this into my own hands and I will sort this for you." Clearly she wasn't very happy with her colleagues. I wouldn't be either! I was so nervous about this, because they said that I could go in for a transfusion and I know from seeing my nan go through it that it is not very nice at all! But I spoke to someone from my area who was severely anaemic and she said her iron levels dropped to 8.5 and they didn't do anything about it. She didn't have a transfusion, but when she went into labour they got everything ready for one just in case her body didn't cope but luckily it did. I am really going to work hard on building my iron levels up now because I am so nervous about needing a transfusion it's unbelievable! I wanted to buy some Floradix to help build them up, but it is so expensive! I am so skint for the next two weeks that I don't think I can afford to spend a tenner on one bottle!
Anyway, other things that happened in my appointment was I actually remembered to ask about positioning and measurements! Amanda told me she didn't know why they hadn't talked about it with me or even bothered measuring me, maybe they had forgotten because they were busy.. But she told me he is head down. He isn't engaged yet, his head bobs in and out of where it should be ready for labour but apparently that's normal for second time mums because everything is stretched. Lilia never engaged until labour anyway so I'm not really taking too much notice of him not being engaged. My bump is measuring 35cms, so that's 2cms smaller than what it should be. But I don't think they are worried because Amanda didn't say anything. I am more baby than anything else this time around anyway so I guess it makes sense.
I feel my tummy pulling and aching underneath my bump because of supporting all of his weight and him being so low. It isn't nice but usually it goes if I am sitting down, it just begins hurting if I've been stood up for a while or active. I still have a bad hip, just not as often. Same with my back. The pains are not so severe now either. More annoying, ha ha. I still have horrid heartburn too.
Exciting that Tyler is nearly here this seems to have been a super fast pregnancy! Shocking that your community midwives let you down so much, things like that can be really dangerous, some of the things I eat to up my iron levels are, lentils (you can make really yummy soups with them) raisins, prunes (probably quite good if you take the iron tablets to have the prunes too so you don't end up with *ahem* plumbing troubles *ahem*
ReplyDeleteBless you I had aweful leg swelling with Betsy no fun at all & it is all well and good people telling you to keep your feet up as much as possible but not really practical!
Ah well honey all the leg swelling will be gone soon Xxxx
Doesn't it! It has just flown by, gone so much faster than my pregnancy with Lilia did!
DeleteI know, if I had to have a transfusion I would have complained! I just can't believe they failed to let me know even though I should have been on them! My levels were 10 at 28wks, and they told me I was borderline anaemic then.. But apparently that isn't borderline at all because 12 is the cut off! SO annoyed with them!
I might have to use prunes to be honest, my friend has just informed me that she got piles from the constipation, and still has them now. Her baby is like 16 months! I asked her how she still has them and she is too embarrassed to go to drs. I would be too, so I hope to God I don't get them!
It's a nuisance isn't it! At least my swelling will go soon even if nothing else does, eh, haha. I only ever swelled up once with Lilia and it was after I had her when she was a few days old! Didn't ache though, not like this one at all. This pregnancy is definitely VERY different!