05-03-2013



After my bloodtests // Our first glimpse of our little sprog!




Tuesday 5th March 2013

This was the day we were booked to meet the midwife who would be monitoring my pregnancy at East Surrey Hospital. Ole and I had to wake up early as our appointment was at 09:40 in the morning (about 3 hours before we were used to getting up!), although it wasn't that hard as we were so excited.

At this point we presumed from my LMP (last menstrual period) that I was 14+0 weeks pregnant. We were quite eager to get an ultrasound scan that day due to the cut off point to check the nuchal fluid (fluid at the back of the foetus' neck) for Downsyndrome is 13 weeks. Hopefully getting a scan would mean that we'd have one less thing to worry about if the nuchal fluid was of a normal amount.

We sat in the waiting room with a few other expectant mother's but I was definitely the youngest there. This didn't really worry me but in that situation you automatically think they're all thinking the same: 'Ooh another teen pregnancy', 'Look how irresponsible she is', 'How is she going to afford a baby'. The list is endless but it is a shame that young women are generally perceived in that way - I may be wrong, and the other mother's may have not even battered an eyelid, but from what you see in the media and the people that go on Jeremy Kyle, you can see why some older women would think that. It settled me that at least Ole was there to keep them from thinking I was a single mother-to-be!

Eventually my name was called by a lady in a blue uniform and those awful white slip on shoes (you must know the ones I mean). Her name was Elizabeth but she introduced herself as Beth and told me to come alone for the first 15/20 minutes or so of our supposed hour-long conversation which would consist of a lot of questions and information overload! We went into a small room and she explained that anything we discussed, she would have to type into a file onto the computer. This, coupled with her being deaf in the ear I was speaking to the whole time did prove time consuming. She measured my height (1.62) and weight (54.3) which gave me a BMI of 20.7. (Will be interesting to see if and when this changes during my pregnancy!)

She asked me the general questions of occupation, allergies (lactose intolerance), mental health and social wellbeing - which were all fine! She asked about family history - interestingly all of my siblings were born early apart from myself, but only by 1 day! She gathered from the information that my EDD from LMP (estimated due date from last menstrual period) would be the 2nd September 2013. She said this could change after having my first scan, as the sonographer can tell for sure from the size of the foetus exactly how far gone in the pregnancy you are. Ole and his mum were offered back in and Ole had to answer a few questions. She then gave me an orange slip and told me that I needed to have a blood test as a routine check for HIV/AIDs and that an ultrasound appointment was booked for 3pm that day.

It was overwhelming to know that after a few hours we'd be seeing what we'd made on a screen wriggling around, but at the same I was nervous for the blood test I was about to have. I walked anxiously down to the phlebotomy department and took a ticket. It was busy but the number on the screen quickly rose and soon it was my turn. I told Ole to hold my hand and told the phlebotomist not to tell me when she was going to put the needle in. I gave her the orange slip and she replied in shock asking: "5 blood tests?!" I was also shocked and my nervousness increased. She queried with another lady in the room but went ahead all the same. I hated the pressure and the feeling that was happening in my arm but soon after it started, it stopped. I took a sigh of relief and asked if she was finished. She then said that she could only fill up half of one of the tubes but no more blood was coming out. She tried in a different location in the same arm, then twice in my other arm - each failing to produce any blood! They advised I go and drink as much water as I can and return after doing so to try again.

After going through a bottle of water (I've never drunk much so this was a huge achievement for me) we returned after 2-3 hours. They first tried my right arm - which was the arm that failed to produce any before; again it failed. The lady then tried again in my left arm and managed to fill the other 4.5 tubes. Everyone in the room were chuckling away at me for being such a wuss, but I don't ever remember having a blood test and apart from my nose when I was 2, I've never broken a bone in my body (touch wood) - so I've never had to deal with any real pain. We departed for the ultrasound department and took a seat in the waiting area. We sat looking through the pack Beth had given me, going through the relentless amounts of leaflets and small brochures etc.

Finally after what seemed like forever my name was called. Julia (Ole's mum) waited but me and Ole went through. The room was fairly dark but I hopped onto the bed in anticipation and lifted up my baggy top. She then asked if either of us had a history of twins in our families to which both of us replied no (I found out at a later date that I infact do have a history of twins!). I asked her why she'd asked that and she responded by saying: "It's just you've got quite a bump there haven't you". This scared me a bit as obviously this lady looks at women's stomach's all day, so she's quite a pro - and to think about having two babies to look after at this age was frightening!

She squelched the jelly onto my lower abdomen and placed the doppler in the middle. Immediately the screen lit up and staring back was our baby! She jokingly mentioned that there was only one baby in there, not two. It was the most surreal experience and I couldn't stop laughing. She even had to tell me to keep still so she could measure him and check the nuchal fluid. He was quite still and the lady told us he was really easy to photograph and that she was excited to see him at my 20 week scan. She shook the doppler to try and wake him up and as she did so he kicked and span around. She then told us that I was earlier in the pregnancy than we first expected, telling us that I was in fact 11+6 days pregnant, not 14+0! 

She told us that to get a more accurate percentage of the chance of Downsyndrome I'd have to have one more blood test - as you can imagine I was not happy after the ordeal I'd previously had trying to fill up the other 5 tubes. Seeing him wriggling inside me put us on such a high I didn't really think about being nervous for my 6th blood test of the day. My 20 week scan was scheduled for April 30th - about 8 weeks from this one. Definitely one of the best days this year so far!!

J xxx