I'm Growing A Tiny Human: 2nd Trimester

Initially I didn't really want to document much of my pregnancy on my blog but the further along I go I'm using forums and other blog posts to read and learn so I'd like to actually publish more of my own experiences and what I found useful. I know a lot of people will already know a lot of things through previous pregnancies, family and friends pregnancies and the like but I'm an only child and this is my first pregnancy.

Moving along, rather than documenting things weekly I figured each trimester would be a good start seeing as most of my pregnancy up until now has consisted of going to work or sleeping. 

So I've just come to the end of what is considered the second trimester (you can read my first trimester post here) I am now currently 27 weeks and heading into the final trimester which I have to say I'm pretty glad about because it feels like I've been growing this baby for forever.

NIPT TEST

After the initial test at our first scan and getting the results back that the baby had a 1:64 chance of having Down syndrome, we went ahead with the NIPT test which is just a blood test. We received the results for that about a week and a half later. The baby is a 99% high risk of having Down's syndrome - but they don't explain the results very well if I'm honest because high risk doesn't mean has. I was never having any invasive tests so I really wish we'd never had the tests in the first place but that is all a personal decision and we all have different reasons for and against.

Because of this result I will have to go for growth scans after my 20 week scan so that they can check the baby's development.

16 WEEK MIDWIFE APPOINTMENT

I was only there about 20 minutes I think, my midwife went over all my test results I'd had, stuck them in my notes and asked me some questions about how I was feeling and how things were going. She tested a water sample and then listened to baby's heartbeat. I recorded the heartbeat because my boyfriend had an exam and couldn't come with me, but it was lovely to be able to let friends and family listen afterwards.

20 WEEK SCAN

This felt like a long time coming, in the earlier stages of pregnancy it tends to feel like your pretty unimportant no one really wants to know until you're further along which a lot of the time made me worried. I didn't really start showing until I was 18 and a half weeks and at 20 weeks I still hadn't felt any movement from the baby so I had my little moments of panic.

So for me, this scan couldn't have come soon enough, not only was I super excited to find out what we were expecting but mostly to know that the baby was okay and growing nicely. Before we found out I did try out a couple of old wives tales to see how accurate they were (you can read those here). We found out we were having a little girl.

That morning I felt what I thought was the baby moving, and during the scan I felt her move and ever since she has moved more and more. Rhys also got to feel her move that week and it’s my favourite part of being pregnant, I smile every time I feel her moving around.

FURTHER SCANS

Since this scan and now we’ve had a further 3 scans because they found her left kidney to be a little over the normal range, also the ventricles in her brain her enlarged, so we had to have another scan to check these, then we had a fatal echo scan to check her heart - but by this scan her brain and kidney had returned to normal and were nothing to worry about but they had found what they thought was a tiny hole of 1.2mm in her heart so then we were referred to Liverpool Women’s Hospital for another scan. Turns out they’re not worried and believe the hole will probably close by the time she is born, so we’ve had a fair few ups and downs so far and I still have to go for some growth scans so that they can check her size.

I’m so glad to be into the third trimester, I can now start to see the end although it still feels like a million years away. I have 8 weeks left in work and they cannot fly by quick enough.

HAYLEY