37 weeks today!

I am very pleased to say that I am now oficially full term! Given all that I've been told and that I've read about the possibilities of preterm labour due to lack of space, and the vastly increased risk of breech presentation I am very very pleased to be here at 37 weeks with the little man still seemingly very happy where he is and head down.

Woohoo, final countdown now!

The difference between a uterus bicornis bicollis and a uterus didelphys

Cowboyboot recently asked me what the differnce is between a bicornuate bicollis uterus and a uterus didelphys, so I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to trying to explain.

I shall try and put a couple of links on as I am not a medical expert, but there can be variations in both I think, and sometimes some medical people seem to consider the bicornuate bicollis as a varient of a uterus didelphy, while other seem to just consider it a variation of a bicornuate unicollis (which I sort of disagree with)

I guess I should try and start with the basics for those just starting on this trip. These irregular uterus shapes occur when you yourself are in utero, when the body is developing at something like 6 weeks I believe. The uterus is made from two seperate parts which normally fuse together to make one normal uterus, however for whatever reason this sometimes doesn't happen and only partial fusion or no fusion takes part, resulting in several different types of dodgy uterus, or mullerian anomalies as they should actually be know. It's just one of those things some people are born with. I'll put this picture in again just as I find it a really clear picture of the different types


If you have recently been told you have some form of mullerian anomally, whether a bicornuate, unicornuate, septate, didelphic, or any other form of dogy uterus the first two places I'll send you to check out are this blog and this yahoo group. They should give you lots of info about the differences and pushing for a correct diagnosis, there are loads of links on there and lots of answers to FAQ too.

Right the difference between uterus bicornis bicollis and a uterus didelphys, which is what I was getting at in a very round about way. They both have two seperate uterus and two cervix. I think first and easiest way to show the difference is with these pictures taken from here

The main difference is that UD is more independant and unattached then the BBU. Although both have two separate uterine cavaties, the walls of the BBU are still slightly joined together, but not just by a thin septate but rather by a thick uterus wall. In a UD these are completely separate, the two uterus cavaties are not partially joined. Another difference, although not a defining one as it can occur in both, is that a duplicated vagina is much more likely in a UD.

I'll throw in another link here for a bit about the differences, and then I will leave it there for now. Hopefully that has been useful to someone out there!

26!

That is the grand age I reached yesterday. However before I start wittering on about my birthday I shall do a quick pregnancy update.

All went well at the scan on monday, the scanner managed to get me in one of the most uncomfortable positions and then hold the probe myself while she did something else, however the placenta has moved enough out of the way and all is well which is the main thing. So all being well I should now not have to have a c section. He is head down and all is how it should be, and at just over 36 weeks he still seems fine for space. I have now started the intake of raspberry leaf tea, and it doesn't taste too bad, I was expecting it to be foul but fortunately not. I did say I would try and get a picture of how wonky my bump can look, but this little one likes hiding when I try, so here is a picture of a just slightly wonky bump, plus a general bump shot of me yesterday at 36+1


As for my birthday I had a really lovely day. My hubby took the day off work and we went out shopping during the day which was great, finally managed to get a forest green nail varnish which I have been after for ages, and a skirt in the same colour. Hub bought me a jewellery box and a pair of sandals
as pressies, as well as the trap door dvd he had given me in the morning. I had forgotten just how good that programme really was!

Then in the evening we went out for a meal to a little local restaurant, so all in all it was a really lovely day.

Oh and I almost to forgot to add and introduce, but here is Geoff the Giraffe My hub came home from the supermarket with him the other day as he said he just couldn't resist. I think someone is getting quite excited!

Find me a family

Here in the uk channel 4 have been running a series of programmes under the banner of Britain's forgotten children. One of the series I have been watching has been entitled 'find me a family', about finding adoptive families for hard to place children, disabled children, older children and sibling groups.

This particularly was something I wanted to watch, as at some point in time I do want to adopt a sibling group. Two of our own and 3 adopted has been in my head for a very long time. I have so far only watched the first two of the three episodes, and I also want to watch the dispatches programme about the care system, however I do think things were being portrayed with somewhat rose tinted glasses. I know that the adoption process is often a lot longer then that shown, and that to then be placed with a child often takes a good while longer too, however I did find the programme very interesting and quite informative in a few ways. It also lead me on to thinking about my own experience of having an adopted brother and what I want for us personally as well as what would be best for any children we do eventually adopt.

I don't remember what I have previously put about my own family, but the general background is this. In my immediate family there is me and 3 brothers. I am the second eldest, then I have a younger brother who is 3 years younger then me, who was adopted when he was nearly 4, and has fetal alcohol syndrome and the youngest who was born about 6 months after 3rd brother arrived. In my wider family there is an adopted aunt, who was adopted as a baby by my grandma after being told she shouldn't have anymore children or it would kill her (she then had my Dad several years later and both her and my dad survived the experience) and 2 foster cousins. So adoption and fostering has always been something I've grown up around, although not always something that has been easy for the family. Even the house we live in has a history of fostering and had a definite feel of being right when we bought it.

As for us and what would be best for our children, having seen a little from my own family, having watched the experiences on this programme, and having read comments on a few adoption forums I think that would be best for us and for any adopted children would probably be to have any more birth children first and then adopt after. I don't want this little one to be an only one for too long, so it will probably be ttc next. I also think the disruption potential caused by another ttc period and new baby may be a lot for an adoptive family to deal with as they are settling in a new home. It didn't work like that in our house, my adoptive brother saw the new baby as his baby, but I think it must be unsettling for a lot of adoptive children to have a new baby born into the family. So with all this I feel kind of more certain about the future, although obviously we will see how we get on with this one and ttc is never a game with a predictable ending and time scale, that looks like it will be our path for the future.

I think this post has gone on long enough, but it has just struck me that I do talk about adoption quite a lot for someone who is now 8 months pregnant.

Scan no.5

After my 20 week scan I was referred for a further scan at 32-34 weeks due to a low lying placenta, so yesterday at 34+5 I went for said scan. Having had an unscheduled scan inbetween but at a different hospital, I had been told things were ok with my placenta, so off I went, thinking it would be a nice simple straightforward scan and that would be it, signed off from the hospital to the midwife until I give birth. No chance.

Turned up for my scan, actually had the scan as soon as I got there which was great given the big queues, told her about previous bleed and scan in York then started on the scan. Everything is fine with the little man, and they confirmed again that it is a little boy we are having, which is good given the amount of blue clothing in our house! However when it came to seeing the bottom of my placenta and cervix it was just not happening. He is so far head down that they just couldn't see anything. They even had me lying sort of upside down on the bed, with my hips and legs significantly higher then my head (which was such an easy and comfortable position to be in!) to see if they could shift him slightly, but he just didn't want to play. The result of this was that they could see the placenta is still slightly under his head, but how far away from the cervix they just couldn't tell. Then had a nice long wait to see the midwife and doctor, and have been refered back for an internal scan next monday morning with a specialist scanner, followed by an appointment in the afternoon with the consultant if needed.

So all in all not quite what I was expecting, however the positives are that he is doing well, seems perfectly happy in there, and I got a really good look at his face and at him again. Final countdown now whatever the outcome of the placenta issues!

Dreams -attempt 2

Or should that be attempt 3, as I actually started on this earlier this morning, but then went for a sleep instead. Anyway some musings. (erm now attempt 4 as it is a new day as this post never got finished, my musings are obviously quite disjointed)

This was kind of inspiried by my Dad preaching at church on Sunday morning, he was talking about having dreams and preparing for them, not just sitting about waiting for them to happen, but making them happen. About stretching yourself so that when dreams become reality you are in a place to fulfil them.

I don't know entirely what the point of this post is but bear with me. I think dreams are so important to all of us. I think if we don't have any at all we just stagnate in ourselves. They may be big dreams, small dreams, life changing dreams, world changing dreams but unless we have dreams and do anything about them what's the point? Ok we may not fulfill all of our dreams, some of them may be for the future rather then now, some of them may just be silly things, but without them what motivates us?

One of the quotes my Dad used was by Christopher Reeve

“So many of our dreams at first seem Impossible, then they seem Improbable, and then when we Summon the Will, they soon become Inevitable.”

This then prompted me to have a bit of a search for other quotes about dreams.

“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.”

What a great quote, wouldn't you just love to be one of those people?!

“You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.”

Ok so this quote was from some dodgy woman who fraudulently took lots of money in a dodgy church of some description. The point is I liked the quote though and I think it speaks a lots of sense and truth.

Gets me onto thinking about my own dreams. At the moment a lot of them focus on this baby, that he grows up feeling loved and happy and healthy, I guess the things that most people dream for their children. Beyond that most of my dreams seem to revolve around children in one way or another. The main dream to adopt a sibling group, a possible dream to become a children's social worker, and I guess my continuing hope to make a difference in some way.

Hmm the post is now taking a while too long to actually get posted and I'm not entirely sure where it is headed, so I will leave you with those thoughts and with a couple of recent knitting photos. I shall hopefully provide an updated bump shot soon, but I'm waiting for one of those moments when he really stretches out so you can really see what have a bicornuate uterus sometimes looks like!

Photos and dreams

Have just been having a little look through some old blogs, and realised at one point my aim was to try and take a picture at least three times a week. I think that long went out of the window! However it may be improving again as I have bought a little point and shoot so at least I don't have to lug my big camera around with me everywhere I go on the off chance of something to photo. There is always that very irritating feeling when you go somewhere, see something fantastic to photo, and then realise you haven't got a camera with you as it is actually bigger then your handbag.

Took it out for a try yesterday, I'm not really up for going out my way or walking very far, but stopped off in the car and took just a couple and it seems like an alright camera. Obviously when I went to go out taking photos or when I'm off to weddings I'll take my good camera, but I do like this idea of something more portable.

Anyway here are a couple of snaps I took. This months theme is spring sunshine (not that we have any of that today, it being a typical british bank holiday monday) so here you go. This isn't the best bluebells picture I've taken, took a few last week(unfortunately a bit early for this months theme) on my big camera, but you get the idea. The lamp post is very spring time in Narnia to me.



As for last months architecture theme I came third with my picture of York Minster. Well sort of third but not really,as a trio of people came joint second with one vote each more then mine so technically I came 5th. However I am pleased with that, I liked the picture and was really pleased with my result too.

As for my comments on dreams they shall have to wait for now. I think I have just spent too long messing about on deviantart so I best actually go and do something useful now!