“I’m pregnant and I can’t feel my baby moving” the thought filled me with dread
This was my third baby so although not a font of all knowledge I knew in general what to look out for and I knew that the fact that I was pregnant and unable to feel my baby kicking and wriggling was cause for concern.
I just had to convince the doctors that too.
It wasn’t the smoothest of pregnancies from the start, I had bleeding at 6 weeks and thought I was miscarrying, bleeding that continued on and off for the entire pregnancy.
I was under consultant care after my second baby was born weighing 6lb 10oz and on the 3rd centile line. I was booked in to have 2 extra growth scans.
At 28 weeks just before Christmas I was having regular contractions and was admitted to hospital after the Fetal Fibronectin (FFN) test gave a positive result indicating that I was at risk of indeed having my baby prematurely.
I was given 2 injections at 12 hours apart to help mature my babies lungs encase I did go into premature labour. Thankfully the contractions came to a halt and I was allowed home on bed rest.
I had 2 active little girls at home already and any parent knows that having children already makes any kind of resting difficult. I did though, or at least I tried to.
It wasn’t until I was 32 weeks pregnant that I started to experience problems with my movements.
It was a normal week day and I had been doing my daily routine and thought it was strange that I hadn’t felt baby moving come dinner time as I had normally had a few wriggles and kicks by this time.
I remember looking on the internet for way to ‘wake up my baby’ trying not to panic even though I could feel my heart thumping.
I quickly go to trying the different techniques advised, such as drinking a cold drink, pressing gently on your belly, having a warm bath, lying on your side. Nothing worked.
I rang my local MAU (Maternity Assessment Unit) who asked me to come to the hospital to be monitored. They didn’t seem concerned, even then.
So I did, and after waiting for what seemed like forever in the waiting room I was seen.
As the midwife placed the Doppler onto my stomach and I heard that unmistakable sound of my babies’ heartbeat I felt like crying.
I was so happy; I had been thinking the worst.
After a short monitoring I was allowed home, I still hadn’t felt my baby move and I was reluctant to leave because if ‘m pregnant and I can’t feel my baby moving how am I supposed to know that my baby is okay.
For the next 4 weeks I was back and forth to the Maternity Assessment Unit almost daily.
I was feeling on average 2 / 3 movements in any 24 hour period.
They say any less than 10 is cause for concern. Yet they did not seem concerned about my unborn baby.
I felt let down. I was hurting on the inside despite the hospital and my midwives reassurance that everything was fine.
I just kept thinking “I’m pregnant and I can’t feel my baby moving inside me” how is this ever going to end well.
At 35 weeks and 4 days I finally got an appointment with my consultant who agreed that something wasn’t right. Finally someone was taking me seriously. She agreed to book an induction for me at 38 weeks & 2 days.
I was relieved that someone was final listening to me but scared too because clearly I was right, they wouldn’t just induce me for the sake of it so something must have been wrong.
I was also given scans and monitoring twice a week routinely between being seen by my consultant and being induced.
When I was 27 weeks and 4 days, I had my last consultant appointment, last scan and last monitoring before I was finally induced. I begged with the consultant to move it forward.
My movements were getting worse, some days now I wasn’t feel any movements at all and I was visiting the hospital daily now.
The consultant said no. I had to wait until my booked induction date which still seemed a lifetime away.
I just wanted my baby here, safe in my arms.
My impatience got the better of me and on the Sunday morning at 9am I rang the Delivery Suite and asked to be induced a day early. To my delight they agreed. Finally I was going to have my baby.
It was long, painful and tiring but my daughter finally entered the world at 4:42am on my original induction date (25th February 2013).
To this day I still have no answers. I do not know why for sure why I was unable to feel my baby moving. I am just very thankful that my consultant listened to me and that my baby arrived healthy and safely into the wold.
Did I do the right thing to keep going back and forth to the hospital or was I wasting their time?
Could the hospital have done more for me and my unborn baby?
All I know is that if anyone ever says to me “I’m pregnant and I can’t feel my baby moving” I would most definitely be urging them to go and get themselves checked out with their midwife or local maternity hospital.
I was lucky, my baby was fine but I know all too well it could have been a very different story.
My daughter is now 3 months old and doing well.