Jen's Pregnancy Diary: Week 14

This week was a good week. We had our booking in appointment with the Rotunda. As I am hoping to be with the Community Midwives I had to book in under the public system. 

Our Baby - Week 14 Ultrasound

We were seen to at each area pretty quickly. First I had to answer some questions at reception and receive my chart. I also signed an application for the Rotunda to request a copy of my medical notes from Holles Street (NMH) for my first two births. Then myself and Paul went down to a different waiting room for a scan. This was just lovely. We saw baby doing somersaults and waving and a good strong heart beat. Baby looked like a real baby as opposed to the peanut we saw in our early scan. All seemed well and the lovely sonographer printed out lots of pictures for us to being home and show the boys :)

We then had to go to the midwives desk where I had my blood pressure and pulse taken, and had to give a urine sample (by the way the pots they use now are significantly narrower than before and extremely hard to aim for while hoovering over the loo! What were they thinking with that new design?!) 

We then had to wait to see a midwife to go through my medical history. A lovely midwife called Ann introduced herself and said she was just waiting for a room and then we would get everything sorted. We waited about 10 minutes and then she called me in. Paul was not allowed to come into the room for this, which I found strange but went ahead. We had just started when someone knocked and needed the room so we were booted out! Back out to the waiting room and half an hour later Ann still hadn’t managed to find a free room, so she sent me to get my bloods done. Thankfully we only waited about 5 minutes for this and in the meantime I had to nip to the bathroom to get sick.

Another 15 minutes passed (and yet another trip to the bathroom to be sick) and then Ann found a room. We filled out the form in about 10 minutes. I highlighted my desire to have midwifery led care as all the evidence shows that women have better outcomes. She totally agreed but as Leon was an emergency caesarean birth she couldn’t book me in. So she has scheduled a meeting for me with the community midwife team to plead my case....and I am crossing fingers they will take me on! 

If the Community Midwives won’t take me on I can attend the NBAC clinic within the hospital or change to semi private.  I will wait and see when I get the appointment and make a decision then. 

As we spent 3 hours in the public system at this appointment I’m not keen to do that each time, however I do get that there most likely wouldn’t be the same wait on future appointments. 

This week was also Pauls birthday so we had family over for take away and cake and showed off our baby pictures. Then myself and Paul had a lovely night away on Saturday while the kids had a sleep over with their Grandparents. Fitting in clients alongside all this,  meant it was a busy week but very happy.

Overall a great week. Still lots of nausea but I am getting sick less....hopefully we are turning a corner (touch wood!). 

Until next time.....Jen

Week 14: What Is Happening To Your Baby:

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

• Your baby is now the size of a peach.
• Your baby has eyebrows.
• Your baby may have some hair on their head and is now covered with lanugo (a thin, fuzz like hair all over that will keep their body warm). This will start to fall off before baby is born (though some babies will not loose it until after the birth). 
• Your baby is drinking your amniotic fluid and their kidneys are working so they can pass urine.
• Your baby can now make facial gestures. Inside they are frowning, grimacing, squinting and smiling (awwww!).
• Your baby's liver starts to make bile this week.
• Their spleen is now producing red blood cells.

Week 14: What Might Be Happening With Your Body

• You may notice your hair getting thicker and shinier. 
• You may notice you are gaining weight now more rapidly.   
• You may notice a dark line running down the centre of your abdomen. This is called the linea nigrea and will start to fade after the birth of your baby. 
• Some of the early affects of pregnancy (sore breasts, nausea, lack of energy), should all be now gone by this week. 
• However, other symptoms may start occurring! Some women find they get nasal congestion around this time, as the increase in blood flow around your body can cause the mucous membranes in the nose to swell. 

Week 14: Pregnancy Tip: 

Is it a boy or a girl? Do you want to know this beforehand? It can be helpful to start thinking about whether or not you would like to know the sex of your baby now, as with your next ultrasound (around the 20 week mark), you can choose to find out. There are pro's and con's to both finding out and waiting. So perhaps yourself and your partner can sit down now and discuss what you would like to do. If you decide you want to wait until the baby is born, make sure you let your sonographer and HealthCare Provider know so that they don't inadvertently say it to you! And if you decide you want to know - do be aware that sometimes the scans will get it wrong (so you still may get a surprise at the end!).