Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mum and mea podcast. Mama Maya
Speaker 1: acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this
Speaker 1: podcast is recorded on.
Speaker 2: I am pregnanty.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Hello Bump. We're making pregnancy less overwhelming and
Speaker 1: more manageable. I'm Gracey Rufrey. I'm pregnant for the first
Speaker 1: time and I can't tell if I have round ligament
Speaker 1: pain or constipation.
Speaker 2: I'm had a hitman. I'm a former Olympic athlete, I'm
Speaker 2: a mum of six kids, and I'm now training to
Speaker 2: be an obstetrician and gynecologist.
Speaker 1: Each week, Leanna and I will be holding your hand
Speaker 1: week by week through the mysterious, perplexing, and sometimes anxious
Speaker 1: miracle that is pregnancy.
Speaker 2: Week nineteen.
Speaker 1: That's we're almost halfway. So what size are we at?
Speaker 2: A baby is now the size of a grapefruit fruit.
Speaker 1: Or like a pint of like a small little tub
Speaker 1: of ice cream?
Speaker 2: Or what are those like kids basketball or you don't
Speaker 2: have I have. There's lots of little balls everywhere around
Speaker 2: my house, those little kids basketballs.
Speaker 1: What are little balls on the foot of the balls?
Speaker 2: Baby is fifteen centimeters about two hundred and forty grants.
Speaker 1: Okay, getting bigger? And what else have they grown or
Speaker 1: gotten bigger this week?
Speaker 2: The baby's skin has now actually started to make that
Speaker 2: really white, sticky substance you sometimes see on newborn babies.
Speaker 2: We call it vernix from it's there to protect the skin.
Speaker 2: So over the next couple of weeks, your baby will
Speaker 2: start making more layers of skin, so the skin has
Speaker 2: five or six layers in it, and it actually takes
Speaker 2: time to build it up as to protect them from
Speaker 2: that amniotic fluid that's starting to increase in volume. And
Speaker 2: now they can hear outside the womb, so they'll start
Speaker 2: hearing your voice and your heartbeat, so it's not just
Speaker 2: what's happening inside the uterus. It can be a little
Speaker 2: bit beyond that.
Speaker 1: And their brain.
Speaker 2: Continues to develop rapidly, so it's actually starting to make
Speaker 2: what we call synapses, the connections within the brain that
Speaker 2: will be required for later sensory processing and movement, cognition,
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. So the really important parts
Speaker 2: of the brain are now developing quite rapidly.
Speaker 1: When they can hear, can they hear an exterior voice
Speaker 1: better than my voice? Is my voice vibrations or is
Speaker 1: it the same noise.
Speaker 2: At this point, they'll hear more of what you're oh. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So even if it's movements, they'll hear how your gut moves,
Speaker 2: they'll hear fart, they'll hear all those sort of things
Speaker 2: that are quite close to them.
Speaker 1: A sonographer once said to me that in an ultrasound,
Speaker 1: if they want the baby to move, they get the
Speaker 1: partner to come over and talk yeah, because they are
Speaker 1: used to that. Yeah, or they've started to. I guess
Speaker 1: when can they recognize the voice.
Speaker 2: Not for a few more weeks. Okay, so it's coming.
Speaker 2: I think it's the size of the world. They've got
Speaker 2: a bit more growth to go.
Speaker 1: What what's happening to me and what's happening to us?
Speaker 1: What's happening to the women's body.
Speaker 2: We talked about this before, but this is the time
Speaker 2: when most women complain that they're definitely feeling their feet
Speaker 2: relax and get bigger. So we have already discussed that,
Speaker 2: but that is probably the time it happens most And
Speaker 2: now your breaths are really starting to grow their milk
Speaker 2: ducts and increase in blood flow and fast aor so
Speaker 2: this is the time I'd say it's time to get
Speaker 2: either a new bra or at least a BRAH extension
Speaker 2: so you can keep using the ones you have.
Speaker 1: They definitely sometimes they look in the mirror and I go,
Speaker 1: this looks ridiculous. They've gotten quite big.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I often get cussed past by women too.
Speaker 2: Or does that mean I'm going to start making milk?
Speaker 2: You know what's happening. But it's inhibited at the moment
Speaker 2: by the east grogen and progesterone of pregnancy. So it's
Speaker 2: when you actually have your baby that that inhibition is
Speaker 2: released and you'll start they producing prolactin, which will then
Speaker 2: lead to lactation. But at this point it's all stopped
Speaker 2: by pregnancy, which also means obviously if your baby does
Speaker 2: come early, that same process will happen as that inhibition releases,
Speaker 2: and then the lactation will continue, will start.
Speaker 1: Is this normal? Is it normal? What I want to
Speaker 1: ask about? Is this normal? Is I want to talk
Speaker 1: about mental health? At this point, we are almost halfway,
Speaker 1: which can feel like such a milestone. But for me particularly,
Speaker 1: I was still vomiting at this stage, and I'd tried
Speaker 1: a lot of things like I tried I'll read the
Speaker 1: list of things just in case anyone else is in
Speaker 1: this position. I tried small meals, eating late at night,
Speaker 1: setting an alarm to eat in the middle of the
Speaker 1: night so I wasn't getting up and vomiting. I tried
Speaker 1: snacks every hour, sea sickness tablets, seasickness bands, acupuncture, ginger tea,
Speaker 1: ginger loll these, ginger biscuits, ginger tablets, ginger juice, two
Speaker 1: types of anti nausea medication. I wasn't prescribed the cancer
Speaker 1: medication because they guess we've talked about. They said that
Speaker 1: I wasn't eligible for it this day.
Speaker 2: They said, you weren't. I know, I promise you listen
Speaker 2: as I'm not trying to dish doctors. But they weren't.
Speaker 2: They didn't recognize it as hyph premises yet was were
Speaker 2: you not wretching and vomiting? And when we go back
Speaker 2: to the puke score, you weren't. I still was not
Speaker 2: just every day. I was not just every day all day.
Speaker 1: I was still only vomiting three times maximum, and I
Speaker 1: think maybe I could count on one hand to the
Speaker 1: amount of times it was more than three times. But
Speaker 1: it was vomiting every day.
Speaker 2: And your weight loss was going maintained.
Speaker 1: I was losing weight. I think it's because I was
Speaker 1: eating terribly.
Speaker 2: So and I think that's what's hard is the diagnosis
Speaker 2: is so difficult because you don't fit the ball part.
Speaker 2: We still feel crap. So yeah, you've got to see obviously,
Speaker 2: like for example, you can see kidney dysfunction in people
Speaker 2: with severe high premises and they lose five percent of
Speaker 2: up to five more than five percent of their body weight.
Speaker 2: But you know what, I actual think it's almost as
Speaker 2: hard for you ladies who actually aren't formally diagnosed because
Speaker 2: they don't meet your criteria. But yet you're persistently feeling You're.
Speaker 1: Still going to work and you still trying to hold
Speaker 1: onto a job. And I definitely got into a dark
Speaker 1: place about it because everyone had said you're going to
Speaker 1: feel better by this point, by this point, and then
Speaker 1: that point came and went, and then the next point
Speaker 1: came and went, and you go, Okay, I'm starting to
Speaker 1: have to get used to the idea that this could
Speaker 1: be another twenty weeks of this. And I did start
Speaker 1: to go low also because if you are having a
Speaker 1: bad time and everyone's excited about your pregnancy and especially
Speaker 1: your bump is starting to show, everyone's like are you excited?
Speaker 1: And you'd have to start well, I had to rehearse
Speaker 1: a response to say was I excited? Because I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I was just feeling awful.
Speaker 2: And let's be honest, it's hard to fake something for
Speaker 2: a long time and you want to be excited, and
Speaker 2: then the guilty setting because you're like, I should be excited.
Speaker 2: Everybody else is excited, but I'm not excited.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's hard.
Speaker 2: And look, there's lots of things in pregnancy that make
Speaker 2: people feel terrible. You know, the veins, the nauseous is
Speaker 2: the obviously huge one, the lack of sleep. There's relationship
Speaker 2: considerations at this time. Sometimes partners are not engaging and
Speaker 2: they're not, you know, being as excited as you are,
Speaker 2: or vice versa. They're super excited and you feel terrible
Speaker 2: existing mental health conditions. So the biggest key there is
Speaker 2: to recognize if it's happening, if you're feeling dark, do that. Hope.
Speaker 2: Hopefully I've done the Edeburd depression scale at some point
Speaker 2: in pregnancy, how midwife should have done it with.
Speaker 1: Yesh did redo it?
Speaker 2: And if the scale is high, it's time to actually
Speaker 2: prioritize some funds towards yourself, find out whatever it is
Speaker 2: it might be, you know, fun social things like going
Speaker 2: out for coffee more frequently, reaching out to a friend,
Speaker 2: being honest. The more authentic you are with this situation,
Speaker 2: you might you know, inspire someone else to do the
Speaker 2: same when they're pregnant. Or go and see a psychologist,
Speaker 2: you know, go and see your GP, get a mental
Speaker 2: health plan. You'll get five to six free appointments with
Speaker 2: a psychologists, not free, but rebated at least appointments with
Speaker 2: a psychologist. And if you can't afford that, most hospitals
Speaker 2: have a perinatal mental health team. So it's actually time
Speaker 2: to be actually brave, brave and say, look, I'm feeling
Speaker 2: pretty low. Here can I be you know, put in
Speaker 2: contact with someone at the hospital caveat there, guys, if
Speaker 2: there's anyone suicidal, which does happen in pregnancy. So with
Speaker 2: hear of post natal depression, we have intrapartum depression as
Speaker 2: well and pregnancy depression. It's really important and to reach
Speaker 2: out through the emergency department and get acute help today.
Speaker 1: And what are some things that we can do apart
Speaker 1: from if we are struggling with our mental health, what
Speaker 1: are some other things on the checklist that pregnant women
Speaker 1: can do.
Speaker 2: I think more at this point trying to find just
Speaker 2: active ways to keep your mind well, so mental health
Speaker 2: or non if you excited to start preparing some things now,
Speaker 2: so cooking some nice meals that you won't be able
Speaker 2: to Let's be honest, you're going to be feeling a
Speaker 2: bit like a whale and the last trimester of pregnancies
Speaker 2: are starting to prepare the freezer full of food for
Speaker 2: pre and post baby, going out and having those coffees
Speaker 2: and those regular walks. Exercise I think is a really
Speaker 2: big key at this time in pregnancy because you can
Speaker 2: sort of just finally feel well enough that you can
Speaker 2: engage in exercise again and start planning around social activities
Speaker 2: with your exercise, so just all your well being stuff.
Speaker 2: It's really important to discuss this at the moment.
Speaker 1: My talk kid is actually centered around this as well.
Speaker 1: This is around the time that my partner and I
Speaker 1: just ordered dinner Ladies. Yes that's great and it's too
Speaker 1: hard to cook. And also I think it's important to
Speaker 1: talk about the mental load of the partner who if
Speaker 1: they have been a career for you, yes they should,
Speaker 1: but that can start to become fatiguing for them, and
Speaker 1: I don't think you can be annoyed at them for that.
Speaker 1: I think it does just take a toll. So instead
Speaker 1: of him just having to be the cook, we just went,
Speaker 1: let's just order stuff and so it wasn't uber eats,
Speaker 1: it was nutritious, it was healthy. So we got dinner
Speaker 1: Ladies and we've been doing that since weeknight. Great good.
Speaker 2: I mean I even like muscle Chef yes at Willaks like,
Speaker 2: I think it's quite I take it to work nowadays.
Speaker 2: And it's also for mums that are looking after other
Speaker 2: kids at home, Like if you're at home all day
Speaker 2: looking after one of your children and then you're like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, another one's coming and I can barely
Speaker 2: look after this one. Very normal, by the way, that
Speaker 2: that's exactly find a way to outsource. So get a cleaner,
Speaker 2: get your meals sorted out. I do outsource as much
Speaker 2: as you can. Get a babysit a couple of days
Speaker 2: a week to help with the todd level. You're trying
Speaker 2: to get a bit of rest, because those self priority
Speaker 2: and that self care stuff will really set you up
Speaker 2: for the next couple of weeks. And then obviously when
Speaker 2: this baby comes, there's a lot less time for those since,
Speaker 2: so it's time to really put them in, book them in,
Speaker 2: not just assume it's going to happen. Actually find a
Speaker 2: place in your diary in and make it happen.
Speaker 1: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Hello Bump. We
Speaker 1: have so many episodes of this series filled with tips
Speaker 1: and stories from women and experts who've been through it
Speaker 1: all before.
Speaker 2: You can go back and listen to everything else Hello
Speaker 2: Bump related in this podcast feed, and.
Speaker 1: While you're there, we'd love if you could give us
Speaker 1: a flying star rating and maybe leave us a review,
Speaker 1: or even share this episode with a friend.
Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Courtney Ammenhauser with audio production
Speaker 2: by Tom Lyon. We'll catch you next time. Bye.
Speaker 1: This episode of Hello Bump was made in partnership with
Speaker 1: Huggis