Out and about plus more scares

 

First time getting out properly.

Firstly a brief update on how Ben is doing, so it has now been 4 weeks since he had the stitch put in, seems like such a long time ago. Ben had be on bed rest either laying in bed or on the sofa, only getting up to go toilet, shower or grab things from the fridge. I have been busy making sure he has everything he needs, my day is getting up moving Ben and everything he needed into the front room, making him breakfast, making sure he has snacks, lunch and water all in the fridge or at arms length. Doing his progression. feeding and cleaning the cats and washing or hanging clothes up all before 7 am. Then going off to work. I am working 4 jobs to save money, not getting home until 6 sometimes 8 at night. To then do dinner, clean, feed cats again, sort washing and anything that needs doing aka shopping, hoovering, showering and helping Ben. Then doing his progression and injections each night. Thus not getting into bed or sitting down til 9/10 every night. I am unable to sleep, just overthinking and planning on everything that needs doing still, or just because I am worrying. Ben also getting up to go toilet or tossing and turning to get comfy keeps us both awake.

He sleeps a lot during the day mainly to pass time out of boredom and due to this his sleeping pattern is all over the place, he is uncomfortable with aches and pains which affects both our sleep. At the moment it is so hot for London this time of year, we have windows open and fan on but with pregnancy hot sweats and 28+ degree heat it making sleeping difficult for Ben and then for myself. His general aches, back pain and around ligaments stretching also keeps Ben awake. Apart from this he is doing well, so is the baby. Ben is keeping busy and most importantly keeping to the bed rest which is hard for him, not only physically with aches and heat and boredom, but mentally too. He is used to being busy and active. therefore with nothing to keep him active and distracted, he is left with his thoughts or worry and anxieties. It effects his mental strength to just keep positive and his mind busy. 

Other then a few trips to his aunts house where he is literally in the car 2 minutes to her house, lays on her sofa or lounge chairs in the garden, then back in the car to lay in bed again. He has not be out. We went in the car to our private scan with my dad and Kim, however again was round the corner then to come back and lay down. He is allowed out in a wheelchair which we have only just got. when we was at the hospital he was told that he is not allowed to walk around a lot, that he was allowed 4 hours upright or sitting each day. In account of this we planned to get him out for a bit, the weather has been so nice and he is struck in door, he needed to just be out and around people for his mental well being. Since there was a fate at my school for our charity and we had Logan for the weekend we decided to go for an hour. I pushed him in the wheelchair and we get the bus there and back for an hour. 

It was a lovely day and was really good to be out. Ben got to see some of the kids from my school who he had previously worked with as well as some colleagues. Logan had a good time, we played some games and he won prizes. However Ben started to get tired and had a few pains so we headed back. It was so busy and the bus took a long time due to Wimbledon tennis being on too.

More scares, this baby keeps us on edge

On the bus Ben's pains got worse, they were sharp stabbing pains on the right lower side. I felt so bad, I was anxious about taking him out and would never forgive myself if anything happened. Trying to stay calm and reassure him, while looking after Logan and it being busy was hard. Again it felt like I was just going to crack and scream. I made Ben ring the hospital who encouraged us to come in and get checked. So off to the hospital we went, more so it was vital to get checked with us being there last Sunday because Ben got a bit of spotting. it was even more important to just get checked. 

Last week at 19 weeks, 4 days Ben had a small amount of spotting, he had a few cramps and back pains however all this can be common in pregnancy. considering our history, plus having these symptoms together whether it is just due to being achy on bed rest, from his uterus growing or if it was linked, they will always advise to get checked if your worried about anything. It did end up being nothing to worry about, meaning we were not to worried this time with just pain. He had got this pain yesterday after being sick so I believed he just pulled a muscle. 

We had to wait a bit longer this time but at least we get seen in delivery triage instead of having to go to A&E. Luckily as Ben has the stitch in and with previous history. They did general observations, which was fine his blood pressure was a little low and heart rate a bit high but all normal for being on bed rest and then being a little worried would raise his heart rate. They listen to babies heartbeat which was regular and strong. Our rainbow was doing fine. The doctor also had a look and confirmed the stitch is all still in place and his cervix is long and closed. This was really reassuring. They did notice he had a bit of protein in his urine which he had already been given antibiotic from GP for having a urine infection, they also said from swabs that he had a bit of thrush again to so to use cream again. 

After knowing everything was okay we went back home to rest. It had been a long and busy day, Ben's pains stopped and midwife said it was nothing to worry about. It is normal as around ligament stretching can be painful as the baby and uterus grows. That the baby can kick or sit on nerves or it is common to just pull muscle and they stretch. On the way out we bumped into our specialist midwife Mel who said she would check Ben's urine and swabs on Thursday when we had our next appointment with her and when we had our 21 week scan.  

So a few more days and we can know more, see our baby again and get a better plan for the next few months of this pregnancy.

(Written at 20 weeks)