I'm 22 weeks pregnant now. It feels like I'm slowly, slowly getting there; I can feel movement, I'm definitely into my maternity clothes, I've sent the paperwork off for maternity leave and I've started clearing the spare room.
There are a couple of things niggling at me though.
The first is the scar tissue and scans. I've had to have two extra scans as I've been chopped up quite a lot, and it's more difficult for the sonographers to see what's happening.
I'm fine with the extra scans, but at the last one I got told that the placenta was sitting over my last CS scar and that I "shouldn't worry about it" but that I was having an extra scan with the consultant in 3 weeks.
In the absence of any solid information, I went and dug around on Google. From what I can gatherr, depending on how bad it is, the placenta might move out the way, or I might have to have a more complicated section with a longer recovery time, or I might need a hysterectomy, or I might end up with damage to my bladder.
All of that is, literally, liveable with - but I wish I'd asked the sonographer a bit more at the last scan.
The second thing is the urinary tract infections. I tested positive for one in October, and then got put on antibiotics that made me barf.
After a week of throwing up, I handed in another pee sample. I heard nothing so assumed I was fine.
At my next midwife appointment, a third pee sample came up positive. It then turned out that the middle test had been positive too - once the midwife went back and found it in her notes.
I'm now on a second lot of antibacs that don't make me barf. Rather alarmingly, they can cause heart defects if I keep taking them past 28 weeks; if I'd known I would have stuck with the puking.
A consultant who I've never seen has decided that after I finish my current meds, I'm getting put on a third kind of low dose antibiotics for the rest of the pregnancy, and will be tested at every appointment for UTIs (but I already was getting tested at every appointment!).
I'm feeling a bit, if you'll excuse the pun, pissed off with the whole thing.
I have read that scar tissue can cause bacteria in pee but the midwife says she's never heard that. Which is entirely understandable. But then, she hadn't heard that the benefits of cranberry juice were now considered dubious either.
If the two high dose antibotics don't clear out the infection I'm not sure why the low dose one will help.
The only time I've felt remotely like I had a UTI was when I was on the barfy antibiotics.
My husband was full of good advice telling me to trust the medical staff, until I pointed out that if I'd done that in the past I would almost have certainly got a worse outcome from my last ectopic.
it's deeply unfair that assertive middle class women get better treatment. But it's in my best interests, physically and mentally, to read up on things, ask questions and not neccessarily accept everything at face value.
Anyway, I've got another couple of weeks in limbo before I can see a consultant and, hopefully, get some answers to all of this.
