31 Week Midwife Appointment

Today I had my 31 week midwife appointment. Due to the pre-eclampsia last time, I see her every two weeks. Urine was free from protein and blood pressure was fine, as it has been throughout my pregnancy, thankfully! Baby's heartbeat was lovely at around 128bpm too. 

I got my blood results back from two weeks ago and apparently I am anaemic with my haemoglobin levels being at 97 so I need to be taking an iron tablet in the morning and at evening with pure orange juice to help me absorb it. 

This was the first time I'd had questions for her. Firstly, for the past few weeks I've had a dull "pins and needles"-like pain in my right rib and it only seems to get tolerable when I put pressure on it. She felt my tummy and told me that the baby is head down, her back is to my right side so the pain in my rib is her feet - lovely! 

My second query was that her movements seemed to have changed since late Sunday evening. Usually she is active almost every minute of every day but I noticed a real difference all throughout Monday and she only really started moving more last night but even these kicks felt a bit more "muffled" than usual. From listening to the heartbeat, she told me that movement does seem okay but that she was obliged to sent me to the maternity unit to be checked over. At the risk of sounding awful, I really couldn't be bothered. I knew I'd be there for ages and I hate feeling like I'm wasting peoples time. 

I got my whooping cough vaccine too and now my arm is really starting to ache - boo! 

I got to the Maternity Unit shortly after and a lovely student midwife checked my blood pressure, urine and baby's heartbeat again and then I was hooked up the monitor and I had to push a button every time I felt a movement. I felt so silly because as soon as the pads were put on my tummy, the baby mustn't have liked the pressure and kept kicking away! 

All in all, everything was fine. The doctor gave me a quick scan after and she told me that the baby's head is right down in my pelvis (and so is unlikely to move) and as she grows, movements may change but I should never have periods where I don't feel anything at all. I was given the phone number for the unit and told that if it happens again, to have something sugary to eat or drink and lie on my left side. I should feel around 10 movements in a two hour period. 

I did feel like I had wasted time but luckily they were lovely and said that it's never a waste of time if it's something like this!