A Little Scare

Yesterday morning (Saturday) found us in at the hospital with our back-up midwife.

I had been really uncomfortable all day Friday, and the baby's movements seemed a lot quieter than normal. I spent several hours on Friday night trying to get baby to move, but none of the normal prodding and tricks seemed to have any effect. The last time I could recall feeling any movement was around 2pm that afternoon.

When I woke up Saturday morning I spent another hour trying to get the baby to move, squashing it, drinking cold juice, lying down, lots of things recommended to get the baby to move, still with no result.

Dave got on the phone to our midwife, and got through to our back up midwife, Karen, who reassured him that there was probably nothing to be too concerned about, but if we wanted to be sure that we could meet her at the hospital for a check up.

What followed was perhaps the longest hour of our lives. I don't think we have ever been so early for an appointment. We tried to kill some time by stopping to pick up coffee's (hot chocolate for me) on the way, but we were still sitting in the car at the hospital with almost half an hour to wait. Thank goodness for the invention of mobile phones with Facebook access, that kept us occupied for a few minutes.

Soon we were inside, where we were blessed beyond measure by Karen's calm reassurance and care for us. She gave us a listen to the baby's heartbeat for a good while, and was able to point out to us the different noises coming through the monitor that indicated baby moving.

She then went and got an ultrasound machine and an obstetrician to come and do another scan, and we were able to see the baby's heart beating and also it's movements. From the look of where they were holding the scanning wands over my womb, baby seems to have changed position a little, and I think that is what caused me to not feel much. We are guessing that baby is lying right behind the placenta, which is masking a lot of the movement.

We are so thankful that we live in a country where we can call our midwife at any time and meet her at the hospital, have multiple scans to check for the heartbeat and watch the baby move and drive home, comforted, without even paying a cent. We are so thankful for the staff's gentle care of us, for the lengths that they are willing to go to make sure that we are confident that the baby is ok.

We are so thankful for the baby's movements we have been able to feel late yesterday afternoon and today.

And we are so incredibly thankful that we have a God who walks with us through anything and is a strong rock during times of storm.