Pregnancy Health | My Mills Baby

I think it’s fair to say that pregnancy doesn’t agree with me. Every weekly update so far has been full of doom & gloom and this one will be no exception. So as I’m giving away a BabyWatch doppler on the blog at the moment, I sneakily asked for the entrants to leave me their number one pregnancy tip by way of a comment. The general consensus seems to be that I should rest as much as possible and try to enjoy it. Unfortunately I seem capable of neither.

The biggest problem this week has been sleeping. I’m not uncomfortable, I just struggle to relax and let my mind shut down. I’m only averaging 2-3 hours per night, and the little sleep I do manage is plagued by nightmares about people breaking into the house, Dexter being abducted, or Craig dying. These nightmares sometimes spill into the day resulting in mini day terrors. This means I can be sat on the bus and panicking that someone is wearing a IED, or something equally ridiculous. Clearly my inability to switch off is causing my mind to race. Couple this with my anxiety about completely mundane things and it seems all this is manifesting itself in my dreams - whether I’m awake or not.

Think I’m overreacting? Well if you weren’t before, you will do now.

On Saturday, Craig went to a 50th birthday party and I stayed home. At some ungodly hour in the morning, as I lay tossing and turning in bed in a state of exhaustion, Alistair McGowan entered my house. He crept up the stairs and I saw him plain-as-day stood on the top step decked in a white turtleneck. He didn’t do anything. He just stood there staring at me and Dexter before running back down the stairs, and out the front door. I was utterly terrified and had to call Craig and beg him to leave the party early. This is how ridiculous my life has become.

None of this is aided by my thankfully soon-to-be ex neighbour indulging in a bit of over-dramatics in the bedroom with her new boyfriend. I can’t work out if she’s blissfully ignorant that our terraced house means her bed is actually less than 3 foot away from ours, or she likes the thought of being heard. I’ve never met her other half but I already know so much about him thanks to their x-rated bedside ‘chats’. I’ve never been brave enough to mention this before but it seems insomnia breeds recklessness. I do hope by some freak coincidence she stumbles across this blog and saves me the embarrassment of having to confront her myself, if not for our sake, for the sake of whomever next moves in.

All of this has left me feeling decidedly flat (which is laughable really as you couldn’t get anymore convex than me right now). I barely have the energy to parent Dexter, and I’m very jittery. Tiredness sees me doing very strange things like crying when I have a cuddle with Dexter, or heading for my bed mid conversation with Craig. I actually burst into tears when watching Joey Essex on I’m a Celebrity last night as I felt sorry for his parents! Nothing I do seems to make any sense.

The only person who can give me the reassurance I need right now is my Craig, but for him it’s like living with someone who should be committed to an asylum. I’m not depressed as such, just constantly alternating between pawing over him, or throwing my toys out of the pram.

This pregnancy just doesn’t seem to have registered with him as much as the last one. I had to practically drag him into the bedroom to listen to the baby’s heartbeat on our new doppler, and we won’t spontaneously talk about him / her like we did when I was this far gone with Dexter. The only time he’ll ask me about the baby is when he catches sight of me grimacing when I sit up awkwardly and accidentally treat baby to an abdominal crunch.

It’s not his fault - I think I’m just feeling very guilty about this pregnancy and projecting this onto him. I feel like I’m just getting on with daily life and parenting Dexter rather than talking about / making plan for this baby. With Dexter, at 19 weeks pregnant, I had the nursery set-up and was simply waiting on the gender scan before adding all the finishing touches. With this pregnancy I’ve spent all day being sick, crying and having the occasional bout of IBS - it only serves to increase my anxiety that the gender won’t be the only thing I discover at next week’s anomaly scan.

So that’s it. I’m off to Google some relaxation tips. I clearly need to!

The 16 week midwife appointment is one of those landmark antenatal appointments where most of us get to hear the galloping heartbeat of our unborn baby for the first time. It’s when most of is feel reassured that there is actually a baby in our ever-expanding tummy’s, and not just a curious case of wind that’s stopped our menstrual cycle. The fact that you’re piling on the pounds and now in over-the-bump maternity leggings and ill-fitting tunics is forgiven, and you’ll often see us emerge from the medical room stroking our bumps grinning like lotto winners.

With Dexter, Craig came to this appointment. In fact, during my first pregnancy, Craig came to every appointment. This time around though he’s overwhelmed with work and it just isn’t feasible. He’ll still come to scans and consultant appointments, but he’s having to miss many of the minor check-ups. He’s pretending this isn’t a big deal but I can tell he’s slightly upset.

When I heard about BabyWatch and was given the opportunity to give it go, I was really excited. It’s a highly sensitive pocket doppler device that resembles the ones in hospitals - albeit much sleeker and less messy. More than this, there’s a free smartphone app that allows you to record, visualise and share your experience with friends and family through your social networks. Sounds complicated? Nope, it’s actually really simple.

You simply connect up the doppler to the headphones provided, then hook it up to your iPhone using a cable (also provided). Use it as normal to locate baby’s heartbeat and select either listen (to visualise) or record to save the sound on your phone.

At BabyWatch, our mission is simple. We make tracking pregnancy easy, relaxing and interactive. BabyWatch allows active, working and modern mothers-to-be to hear their baby’s heartbeats from the comfort of their homes and to share these moments with friends and family. The future of prenatal care lies in making medical technology easily accessible and understandable. Our product is opening a new niche in the quantified self movement and encouraging moms-to-be to be more active and engaged in prenatal care.

To say I was excited was an understatement. I’ve used cheap dopplers before and been hugely disappointed. It’s impossible to hear the heartbeat and you end up incredibly worried rather than reassured. This one sounded really promising and might just mean that Craig will get to hear baby.

Here’s how we got on…

First up, the BabyWatch looks far more professional that high street versions we’ve all grown to hate. You pop some of the lubricating gel (provided) onto the conductor plate on the doppler, take a rough guess where baby is chilling out in your tummy, and lightly press down on your tummy with the device to listen in. Moving the doppler gently from side to side will eventually locate baby (it took us less than 30 seconds but I’m well aware it could take much longer - I guess we got lucky).

Battle scars on display - but don’t I look exotic draped in a silk scarf?

The sound of a baby’s heartbeat is pretty distinctive. It’s much faster than our own and sounds like galloping hooves. If it sounds pretty much like your own, the chances are it is (blood flow through the placenta or your own pulse). There are plenty of other sounds you might hear too - if you’ve just eaten a big meal you’ll hear some eerie sounds going on that might just make you jump if the volume is up too high! When we first heard Dexter I remember it sounded like a dog barking when the midwife was trying to find him - we ended up referring to him as ‘puppy’ after that until he was born.

When you’ve located it and had a listen, you can begin using the app. Not only will this give you a graphical visualisation of the heartbeat, the app also offers much more. You can use the calender function to track all your important dates, set reminders for upcoming appointments, get weekly medical fetal illustrations and more. Here’s the app in action.

It’s worth pointing out that the weekly fetal updates and illustrations are second to none in my opinion. I’ve hundreds of pregnancy apps on my iPhone but this is by far my favourite. The language is easy to understand but it’s also very detailed. As I follow my pregnancy using books too, I was suprised to discover that BabyWatch’s app contained much more information than my bedside reading material.

As always, I like to try and offer a balanced review. Obviously, there are minor improvements I would make, but these really are minor. Firstly, I’d love to see BabyWatch available in black - if you’re using it regularly and not cleaning properly, or your hands are a little grubby, the device does mark up a little.

Secondly, BabyWatch only comes with one set of headphones and one cable to connect to your iPhone. Naturally there are two jacks for this purpose. I’d much rather have seen three so both parents can listen in via the headphones and a phone can also be connected. I appreciate some women might not be in a relationship, but for those of use who are, it makes the experience a little less inclusive.

That’s it, otherwise the device is simply excellent. The fact you can share the recording on Facebook or send as an audio file via email is groundbreaking in my opinion. For peace of mind it’s also amazing. Hearing your baby is one of the most soothing, relaxing and also exhilarating experiences in the world. I’d go so far as to say it’s priceless. For just $99.99 BabyWatch is well worth its weight in gold.

Twitter: @BabyWatchTweet

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FANCY WINNING ONE?

I’ve been given a second doppler to send to one of my readers. Whether you’re pregnant, considering extending your family, or are entering on behalf of a friend or relative, you could bag your very own BabyWatch doppler. Entry is via rafflecopter so good luck. Remember, only one option on the Rafflecopter is mandatory (leave me a comment), the rest only improve your chances of winning.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&C’s – a.k.a – the boring bit!

Only 1 option is mandatory (leave me a comment) – the rest only improve your chances of winning so just complete as many as you feel like
UK entrants only – you must be over 18 too (sorry)
The winner will be contacted by email and must respond within 1 week of having been emailed (I’ll try all known avenues to contact them) or a new winner will be drawn
When the giveaway is closed, Rafflecopter will select the winner completely at random
The winners name will be published on this site

Disclaimer: I was sent a BabyWatch device in return for this review however all opinions are my own.
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