The CTG Experience

Our last checkup was on Wednesday, and everything was great, except that she's still breech. =( Justin's still calm about it though.

Then yesterday, her movements changed a little. She was less active. Her normal pattern is such:

She wakes when I wake, usually around 8.15am. There are usually a few nudges here and there, nothing big or sudden (typical of a girl rite? =D).

At about 9.30-10.15, she really starts her morning aerobics. Lots of big waves on mommy's tummy, and it seems as tough she's really close to the surface. So a gentle rub on my tummy and you'll be able to feel her! This continues on till about 11.30 or so. Usually she finishes her 10 movements around this time.

Then there's a short break for lunch and after lunch, she's probably energized by the food or annoyed by the sounds of my digestion, so she moves and squirms again!

Then it's lots of rest till about 2.30pm. Rest again till 3.30ish -4pm. That's when she's super super active again! Then we leave office, she enjoys the car ride and falls asleep again till 6pm when daddy comes home. She moves about when he's back. She most probably misses his voice after a long day of listening to screaming mommy and her screaming students.

After that, she's quiet till after dinner. And in the past week, has been awake somewhere around 9pm. When I sleep, she sleeps. The routine continues.

Yesterday she didn't follow the routine. In fact her 10 movements finished at 1pm. And at 4, she wasn't moving much. This carried on till the night. Moved about when daddy came home, but after that, nothing much... My night was spent trying to relax, prop my legs up, lie on my side, everything, to try to make her move. And nope.. nothing much.. I prayed and prayed... But my emotions were all over the place and it was just so hard to listen to Him...

That's when we started to really worry. cause we've heard how these atypical movements can signal that the cord is entangled, or around baby's neck etc... and the midwives in antenatal class and at the hospital mentioned to just go to the emergency ward should any variance in movement happen.

We tossed and turned, weighed the pros and cons and finally decided, at 12.30am, to visit the emergency ward for a CTG (cardiotocograph) which jots down baby's heartbeat. This can give insight as to whether there's anything wrong e.g. cord round neck, etc.

2 discs were strapped to my bump and I heard her heartbeat for a full 25 mins. It was amazing to hear her heart go. But then my heart would skip a beat when it became faster/slower. And I also heard her kick the discs, big "doof, doof" ... Must've been invading her space. =)

So yeap, the midwife assured us that she was very active, told me to get some rest and to learn to worry less (yeap... hehehe). And this cost us RM71.

We left the hospital at 1.20am and were seriously drained. But Justin reminded me, that trading a little sleep and money for assurance that our girl is fine was worth it. =) He even joked "Hey, so now we can say that we've had the CTG experience!" hahahhaha. I love my husband, he's just so cute!!!

To all my friends out there who are worry-warts like me... one thing I've learned, since we're no expert in this, and there's no way can tell if everything's alright... there's nothing wrong in being extra cautious. As the midwives said, once you feel off, just pay a visit to the ward and get a CTG done, it doesn't harm the baby, it's affordable, and most importantly, it's better to be safe than sorry. =)

Thank God everything's fine!!! =D


p.s, today, she's back to normal.. in fact, she's more active today... it's like she was making up for yesterday.