Pregnancy Diary - WEEK 38

Well didn't I just know that was going to happen ... the antibiotics killed off all the good bacteria and gave me thrush again. The midwife called the doctor to prescribe me another pessary. She again, suggested having sex to bring on the labour. What with infections, thrush and udders for breasts, its hardly a recipe for a passionate night under the duvet! She said the head was fully engaged which explains why I am not getting breathless but am visiting the loo more often. On your second pregnancy, the head doesn't usually engage until the baby is ready to come so she thinks it could be any day now. I hope it is!

The car seat and buggy arrived this week. The buggy is bigger than I thought it would be but its light, sturdy and easy to use. The car seat is heavier than I remember our last one being, but they are making these things safer all the time which also means they will be heavier. It will be even more heavy with a ten pounder in it! The car seat is made by Maxi Cosi, I have always found their products brilliant; safe and good quality but in nice trendy colours and fabrics too.

I had a false alarm at the weekend. On Saturday night I was out at a Bar B Q and I started having braxton hicks about every 15 minutes, they were a bit uncomfortable but nothing painful. They carried out for a couple of hours and when I got home I had diarrhoea about 4 times. The contractions got more painful and I had period pain and backache with them. They got down to about 10 minutes apart and so I phoned the Labour Ward to ask their advice. They told me to take some Paracetamol and rest for 45 minutes and see what happened. I did just that, and I had a bath but it didn't make any difference so I called them back. They told me to come in as they couldn't tell what was going on unless they saw me. I called my Mum to come over as my daughter was fast asleep in bed (it was 11pm!).

By the time I got to the hospital it was after 12, they saw me straight away, took my blood pressure, checked the babys heartbeat, then did an internal. The midwife explained that the symptoms I was telling her, indicated early labour but only time would tell whether I went into established labour. I was 1cm dilated but this is normal for a second pregnancy as your cervix doesn't close completely after childbirth. She told me to go home and hope that the contractions continued. They did on the way home and I had a really painful one in the kitchen (where I muttered some choice words in front of my Mum)just after I walked in the door and then they eased off until they stopped completely by 7 a.m. the next morning. I felt exhausted. I did sleep okay but my body was shattered from having all those contractions. I felt a bit silly really, I should have known whether I was in proper labour as I had been through it before. The thing is I was induced last time and that is completely different from starting naturally. Apparently natural labour is full of stops and starts and can take days to really get going. Beginning to think that being induced may be easier after all!