OcUK Dadsnet thread

[dl8860]

My wife is 36 weeks and 2 days pregnant with first child. Early hours of 29th April she had some bleeding, about a couple of tablespoons, which according to the 24 hours helpline at our maternity unit is an immediate A&E call. We immediately went in, and she had a CTG monitoring for the baby's heartbeat, an ultrasound to check placenta and baby positioning, visual observation of downstairs, and blood tests. This was done at a different hospital to our usual one as we were away for the weekend. They couldn't find a root cause for the bleeding, but all observations and results showed no issues, so we were discharged after ~18 hours.

Monday morning just gone, she had similar bleeding except this time not so much, more like a couple of teaspoons. Rang the helpline and again they said go in, so we went into our home maternity ward. She got another CTG scan quickly, but it took 4 hours for a doctor to come and do a 3 minute observation. No blood tests were offered, and no finding of the root cause again. We were told to leave, and come back if the same thing happened. The same thing did happen yesterday. My wife went in at 3pm while I was at work, and she didn't get properly seen until midnight and discharged at 1am, exactly the same spiel from the doctors. And yet again they say just come back in if the same thing happens. This isn't practical and is stressing my wife out, and we don't really know what to do. What more can you do than what doctors say? I don't know what we do to try and find the root cause.

 

[booyaka]

Whilst I can understand your frustration - stressing etc won't be helping. The simple fact is that unless your wife is deemed as an emergency/or likely to give birth asap - they will continue to check her and then send her home. A friend of mine was sent home recently and ended up getting home, turning around due to contractions and gave birth in the car on the way back to the Labour ward!

Try and get your wife to relax, take some chilled out time etc. If the doctors are happy with her then just got to trust all is well.

 

[dl8860]

Thanks booyaka. I agree to an extent, and I would like to place as much trust as possible in the doctors, but when there is such little time dedicated and no effort made to get to a root cause then it's hard to trust that they have a full picture. I know my wife isn't an emergency currently, but would like to do everything I can to prevent her from becoming one. And like you say, the doctors won't be much interested until we get to that point.

 

[Raumarik]

Chances are they don't want to go poking about for a cause this close to her being due. The fact they are asking you go to back in if it happens again means they are monitoring the situation, probably know what could be causing it ,but not worried enough to make her pop now - that's actually a GOOD sign.

Try to get her to focus on that, not worry about something she's got no control over.

 

[ci_newman]

If the CTG scans are coming back as healthy and the baby is still moving regularly, and the bleeding isn't consistent, there's not really much else that you can do.

Yes it's stressful, but the baby is fine. Trust me, things get far far more stressful when the little one arrives, consider this as a soft introduction (my wife had several emergency visits and CTG checks during both her pregnancies too).

 

[dl8860]

Thanks guys. Good reassurance, I guess I just really want the bleeding to stop as I don't want her to have to go to the hospital every single day for the next 3-6 weeks.

@Raumarik , what do you mean it's a good sign that they don't want to find a cause? I get that it's a good sign if they know what it is and don't see it as a reason to induce - but if they still don't know what it is, how can they know they shouldn't be taking some sort of action.

 

[booyaka]

By proxy I know a fair bit about labour/midwifery etc - (missus is a Labour ward sister - 23 years now) - I know what it's like at her place. Lack of beds, lack of staff, doctors on call etc - As above - a little bleeding here and there is nothing to be overall concerned about - By all means - get it checked every time - don't hesitate to call/go up to get it checked.

If scans are fine, wife is generally fine health etc - then just relax and go with the flow. Baby will appear when they want....They won't induce for the sake of it. They would only do that if they feel there is any issues/stress for the baby.

Chill, get the wife to put her feet up and enjoy the last few weeks before all hell breaks loose!

 

[Raumarik]

Thanks guys. Good reassurance, I guess I just really want the bleeding to stop as I don't want her to have to go to the hospital every single day for the next 3-6 weeks.

@Raumarik , what do you mean it's a good sign that they don't want to find a cause? I get that it's a good sign if they know what it is and don't see it as a reason to induce - but if they still don't know what it is, how can they know they shouldn't be taking some sort of action.

If they thought there was a major problem they'd be poking around her and keeping her in or inducing. The fact they aren't and are just saying come back if it happens again - that's reassuring IMHO.

This close to term they won't take risks they'll induce the second they think it's necessary.

 

[dl8860]

So not long after my last post an obstetrician did an examination and declared that it was categorically a urology issue, and nothing to do with uterus/cervix/baby etc. So we waited a few hours for urology consultation, who basically said there was basically no sign of any bladder or urinary tract infections, and no concern from their point of view. So no one has any clue of the cause whatsoever. We left once we quizzed the registrar over how worried we should be if this indeterminate cause of bleeding goes on continuously, and she said so long as it doesn't get worse we shouldn't worry. Just have to hope it improves, as I don't think we can ignore another 4 week of bleeding like this.

 

[a1ex2001]

My wife is 36 weeks and 2 days pregnant with first child. Early hours of 29th April she had some bleeding, about a couple of tablespoons, which according to the 24 hours helpline at our maternity unit is an immediate A&E call. We immediately went in, and she had a CTG monitoring for the baby's heartbeat, an ultrasound to check placenta and baby positioning, visual observation of downstairs, and blood tests. This was done at a different hospital to our usual one as we were away for the weekend. They couldn't find a root cause for the bleeding, but all observations and results showed no issues, so we were discharged after ~18 hours.

Monday morning just gone, she had similar bleeding except this time not so much, more like a couple of teaspoons. Rang the helpline and again they said go in, so we went into our home maternity ward. She got another CTG scan quickly, but it took 4 hours for a doctor to come and do a 3 minute observation. No blood tests were offered, and no finding of the root cause again. We were told to leave, and come back if the same thing happened. The same thing did happen yesterday. My wife went in at 3pm while I was at work, and she didn't get properly seen until midnight and discharged at 1am, exactly the same spiel from the doctors. And yet again they say just come back in if the same thing happens. This isn't practical and is stressing my wife out, and we don't really know what to do. What more can you do than what doctors say? I don't know what we do to try and find the root cause.

My wife had exactly this, got steadily more frequent until she was admitted to hospital when she spent 5 days on a ward being monitored every three hours until eventually she went into labour naturally and our little man arrived safely. They were never found a cause and it was all very stressful and annoying but it's very difficult for them in the late stages of pregnancy as these things happen and nobody does research on pregnant women for the obvious reasons!

 

[Mark1989]

Okay so any ideas please! For awhile now my son has been in good routine for sleep bed at 19:00 and up around half 6.

However it's got allot lighter in morning and he can now open doors etc himself, for past few weeks he gets up at 5am or half 5 runs into our room jumps on me and Mrs, we have tried constantly putting him back in bedroom, left his toys in there, but no matter what runs back in or just makes lots of noise or shouts.

I don't know what else to do doing that time of start every day with work just means me and Mrs constantly tired and by time works done and he is back to bed neither of us can be arsed with much

 

[Tefal]

Okay so any ideas please! For awhile now my son has been in good routine for sleep bed at 19:00 and up around half 6.

However it's got allot lighter in morning and he can now open doors etc himself, for past few weeks he gets up at 5am or half 5 runs into our room jumps on me and Mrs, we have tried constantly putting him back in bedroom, left his toys in there, but no matter what runs back in or just makes lots of noise or shouts.

I don't know what else to do doing that time of start every day with work just means me and Mrs constantly tired and by time works done and he is back to bed neither of us can be arsed with much

Go to bed an hour earlier and get up at 5am too?

 

[Mark1989]

Go to bed an hour earlier and get up at 5am too?

Tried that but I don't sleep, (partly due to my back issues) I wouldn't say I go to bed late anyway around 11/12, when I try go earlier I just lay there not sleeping cause I'm not tired.

I just don't get why it's suddenly changed, I can only Assume cause its lighter now but he has blackout curtains and blinds et

 

[robj20]

So George is doing amazingly well. The whole team looking after him are amazed by his progress so far hes showing no signs of issues from the grade 4 bleed. His latest MRI showed no changes though it is deeply upsetting to see half of his head virtually empty. Its honestly amazing what the brain can compensate for though. Next one due in December.

Hes currently flying through his oxygen weening, off it 8 hours a day now and maintains 98%+, 10 hours next week followed by 12 then 12 overnight, then hes off for good.

Been a bit off his food lately and lost a bit of weight this week but were putting it down to the warmer weather.

 

[EdwardTeach]

Go to bed an hour earlier and get up at 5am too?

Put him to bed later?

We always put our kids to bed later than most, and were never disturbed too early.

 

[ci_newman]

Tried that but I don't sleep, (partly due to my back issues) I wouldn't say I go to bed late anyway around 11/12, when I try go earlier I just lay there not sleeping cause I'm not tired.

I just don't get why it's suddenly changed, I can only Assume cause its lighter now but he has blackout curtains and blinds et

Are the blackout blinds & curtains definitely making it pitch black in there? In the morning the sun shines on that side of the house for me, so we have to use magnets to "pin" the blinds to the window to stop the sun seeping around the edges.

You don't mention if he is still napping either, maybe it's time to drop the nap if you haven't already. As they age, kids need less and less sleep overall. You may even need to try a later bedtime (e.g. 30mins). My 3-year old does 7:30pm - 6:30am and has no naps at all (and usually stays asleep the whole night).

 

[Schizo]

Tried that but I don't sleep, (partly due to my back issues) I wouldn't say I go to bed late anyway around 11/12, when I try go earlier I just lay there not sleeping cause I'm not tired.


I just don't get why it's suddenly changed, I can only Assume cause its lighter now but he has blackout curtains and blinds et

My daughter who is 11 does this as well during summer,it's warmer in bed so more uncomfortable and of course the early sun rise,just ride it out until he sleeps in.

 

[Devrij]

So George is doing amazingly well. The whole team looking after him are amazed by his progress so far hes showing no signs of issues from the grade 4 bleed. His latest MRI showed no changes though it is deeply upsetting to see half of his head virtually empty. Its honestly amazing what the brain can compensate for though. Next one due in December.

Hes currently flying through his oxygen weening, off it 8 hours a day now and maintains 98%+, 10 hours next week followed by 12 then 12 overnight, then hes off for good.

Been a bit off his food lately and lost a bit of weight this week but were putting it down to the warmer weather.

Congrats man, glad to hear things are going well.

Re sleep, if it's any consolation my daughter is also springing up earlier "daddy wake up!". We adopted a 30 min later bedtime and that's actually made a positive difference.

 

[Mark1989]

Are the blackout blinds & curtains definitely making it pitch black in there? In the morning the sun shines on that side of the house for me, so we have to use magnets to "pin" the blinds to the window to stop the sun seeping around the edges.

You don't mention if he is still napping either, maybe it's time to drop the nap if you haven't already. As they age, kids need less and less sleep overall. You may even need to try a later bedtime (e.g. 30mins). My 3-year old does 7:30pm - 6:30am and has no naps at all (and usually stays asleep the whole night).

Thanks he naps still, however I limit it to 1hour, there is days though where he wakes up himself much earlier for example he had a 30min nap yesterday but still got up early.

I think it must be karma, my mum said I did it as a child always early riser.

I get the logic for just put him to bed later but it doesn't change, he has stayed up till 20:00 before and makes no odds of difference.

It might just be his way of sleep if so fair enough ill ride it out just seems a very sudden change, he doesn't wake up during night he sleeps through in that sense

 

[Spacedeck]

Daughter slept at her aunties around 2 weeks ago, day after they woke up they discovered her son covered in chicken pox. It's taken a while but they finally hit our daughter yesterday.

Happy it's hit now and now later when she starts school.