Pregnancy update

I haven't posted in quite a while but I'm actually armed with a good excuse this time - I have had pretty horrible morning sickness for the last month and, coupled with exhaustion, I haven't felt like posting. It would probably have been a big moan, anyway.

So... here I am at 9 weeks pregnant. I had a scan at 7 weeks and saw a baby that was perfect for the dates with a heart pumping away. It is quite amazing the difference between a scan at 6 and at 7 weeks. With Michael, I was scanned at 6 weeks and just saw a flashing dot. At 7 weeks this time I saw a chest and the heart itself pumping. Amazing. The sonographer could see a small bleed on the scan but said it was probably an implantation bleed that was being reabsorbed.

Today I saw the midwife for my booking in appointment and I cannot believe the huge amount of paperwork I have been given! I have a dating scan next Wednesday, a consultation for the Downs Syndrome testing on Thursday, then I have to give a huge number of vials of blood and have another scan at 12 weeks to check the nuchal fold. Because Michael was such a large baby I have to have a test for gestational diabetes. I have had two diabetes tests in the past (one during pregnancy) and both have been normal. I think that the midwife should just take a look at Phil and recognise that no child of his is going to be small. Michael is still pretty much off the chart for height at 16 months. Still... I can't blame her for being cautious.

I have probably mentioned before that homebirths are standard in Holland unless there is a medical reason necessitating a hospital birth. I have been advised to give birth in hospital because of the complications with Michael's birth. His size led to a ventouse delivery and him suffering a broken collarbone. I can have the baby at either Spaarne Ziekenhuis in Hoofddorp or the VU in Amsterdam. The difference is that an epidural is not available at Spaarne outside normal office hours. It will probably all come down to how quickly the labour progresses. There will be regular growth scans in the third trimester and I may be induced if the baby is approaching a size where there is concern that I won't be able to deliver naturally.

I informed the midwife that Michael is still breastfed and she is happy for me to continue as long as I am comfortable to do so and the pregnancy remains low risk.

Whilst all this information was being exchanged, Michael was charging around like a small bull elephant and managed to bang his head on the desk twice. Poor Phil had a hell of a time keeping him still. I think he'd better stay at home next time!