Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mum and me a podcast.
Speaker 2: Mom and mayor acknowledges the traditional owners of land and
Speaker 2: waters that this podcast is recorded on.
Speaker 1: I am pregnanty.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Hello Bump.
Speaker 2: We're making pregnancy less overwhelming and more manageable. I'm Grace Reebray.
Speaker 2: I'm pregnant for the first time, and it's starting to
Speaker 2: feel very real but also far away, but it's also
Speaker 2: very close, like it's there's seven more weeks, but then also,
Speaker 2: oh my god, it's only seven more weeks, or it could.
Speaker 1: Be three or four weeks. You never know. Sorry, we're digressing.
Speaker 1: My name is the Outa Pitman. I'm a former Olympian,
Speaker 1: I'm a mother of six, and I'm a training obstitrician
Speaker 1: and gynocologist.
Speaker 2: Each week, Yanna and I will be holding your hand,
Speaker 2: week by week through the mysterious, perplexing, and sometimes very
Speaker 2: daunting miracle that is pregnancy, all the way from a
Speaker 2: poppy seed.
Speaker 3: To a pupkins.
Speaker 1: Week thirty three sounds like a lottery three. Sorry, ol Bingo.
Speaker 3: How big are we?
Speaker 1: A small two hour goldfish bowl?
Speaker 3: I've got a little red panda.
Speaker 1: That's much nicer than my two babies now between one
Speaker 1: point nine and two kilos, so really starting to get bigger.
Speaker 1: You know, we're starting to approach that size where baby's
Speaker 1: going to do very well if they were to come
Speaker 1: forty three to forty six centimeters in length.
Speaker 3: Definitely feeling heavier.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm a baby is heavier. And again we've talked
Speaker 1: about it before, but it's all that amniotic fluid. You've
Speaker 1: got the placenta or your blood volume and your baby.
Speaker 1: And now you definitely see women starting to complain of
Speaker 1: more edema, which is that swelling around the body, hands, feet,
Speaker 1: in your lower limbs, sometimes even above your knees. Now
Speaker 1: you might find if you push on your lower leg,
Speaker 1: it's actually stays there, like a little indent from your
Speaker 1: finger stays there. So obviously be careful because that can
Speaker 1: be an indication of something with your kidneys or with preoclampsia,
Speaker 1: but unfortunately is also a normal part of bregnancy.
Speaker 3: And how has the baby developed.
Speaker 1: Baby's brain and nervous system are now almost fully developed,
Speaker 1: which I think is phenomenal, Like it's extraordinary to think
Speaker 1: that that's already happening. They can suck and swallow, which
Speaker 1: you already know their reflexes aren't quite coordinated yet for
Speaker 1: another week or so, but they're getting very much more mature.
Speaker 1: And they're also starting to store iron in their liver,
Speaker 1: which I don't know, I don't think that's really cool,
Speaker 1: and they'll use that from now up until about six
Speaker 1: months after birth.
Speaker 2: That's incredible that they're starting to get like the nutrients
Speaker 2: that they're going to need.
Speaker 1: On the other side, that's right, I mean, the little
Speaker 1: pancris is working too, which again is why diabetes is
Speaker 1: so important because if mum's got too much glucose circulating,
Speaker 1: baby will also have the same, so they can they
Speaker 1: start producing what we call hyperinsullinemia in a baby, which
Speaker 1: means they start getting more and more insulin going to
Speaker 1: try and store that sugar that's circulating around their body,
Speaker 1: which is why diabetes can lead to problems after birth.
Speaker 1: Because Bubby has that reflex change where it's made two
Speaker 1: months inchulin, it's a little bit chunky. It therefore makes
Speaker 1: too many white blood cells and then actually becomes jaundice
Speaker 1: after birth, so white and red blood cells and then
Speaker 1: becomes jaunders. So there's lots of things to look out
Speaker 1: for at this point.
Speaker 3: What what's happening to me and what's happening to us?
Speaker 1: Well, I think not much is changing, just getting bigger
Speaker 1: and bigger and bigger, more heartburn, more leg cramps, more indigestion. Again,
Speaker 1: we kind of just touched on it, but it's really
Speaker 1: important to start looking at your symptoms. So are there
Speaker 1: any concerns for high blood pressure? Are you getting any
Speaker 1: funny vision changes? Is your headache there? Have you got
Speaker 1: itchy hands and feet? Unfortunately most women do go oh,
Speaker 1: I've got itchy hands and feet. Do I have Collie
Speaker 1: stasis which we are worried about, but in most cases
Speaker 1: just if tummy is stretching and it's itchy. So I'm
Speaker 1: a big believer in getting some nice wet towels and
Speaker 1: putting them over your itchy bits at night.
Speaker 2: But do let your midwife know and what type of
Speaker 2: vision changes are they because one of them, I know
Speaker 2: is flashes in the eyes, which I've had things like
Speaker 2: that for like fifteen years from like anxiety.
Speaker 3: And stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So it's when you're looking out for things. Is it
Speaker 2: something that would be very obvious when it's a change.
Speaker 1: I think any change is what we're looking for. But
Speaker 1: people do describe it as spots or blurry vision. Again,
Speaker 1: terrible things can happen in pregnancy, which we're going this
Speaker 1: is not podcasts, it's not about the terrible, terrible things.
Speaker 1: But you can get central venus from Bosa's all their
Speaker 1: different cerebral problems and even stroke in pregnancy. So we
Speaker 1: do need to be careful because we know women are
Speaker 1: at a much increased risk of what we call DBT
Speaker 1: and VT, which is you know, problems with clots lodging
Speaker 1: in your lungs and if you've got any changes in
Speaker 1: your cardiacy, so many little holes in your heart they
Speaker 1: can even go to your brain. So if there is
Speaker 1: a weird vision symptom, it is not something no matter
Speaker 1: what to be sitting on and all truth, I'd prefer
Speaker 1: it to be preclamsier than a stroke. And it's very rare,
Speaker 1: very rare in a young healthy woman to have a stroke,
Speaker 1: but it does happen, so I think it's important that
Speaker 1: it's investigated straight away. It could be something transient, you know.
Speaker 1: It could be just that you're fatigued and you're tired,
Speaker 1: and you haven't slept enough and you're uncomfortable, you know,
Speaker 1: and a migraine's coming because obviously we can get that
Speaker 1: sort of aura before a migraine. But again it's just
Speaker 1: better the come and see as we were all out
Speaker 1: that there's nothing nasty.
Speaker 2: We spoke about it a few weeks ago about the
Speaker 2: growth spurt stage. Are we in there when the baby's
Speaker 2: having a big growth spurt in these weeks?
Speaker 1: Yeah, from about twenty eight to about thirty four weeks
Speaker 1: is I mean after that they still put on a
Speaker 1: lot of fat and get bigger, but they've had a
Speaker 1: rapid growth in terms of its size, in terms of
Speaker 1: its what we call it's well, you used to be crowned, remember,
Speaker 1: but now it's head to feet. So in the length
Speaker 1: and the whole size of your baby has grown rapidly,
Speaker 1: which is a good thing because you know it's not
Speaker 1: that far away that birth is coming, and so your
Speaker 1: intake is going to go up as well. You're going
Speaker 1: to be hungrier and we need you to fuel your
Speaker 1: baby at least four to six hundred extra calories a day.
Speaker 2: What's it like an equivalent of like what's like a snack?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's an actually extra meal. So again, at
Speaker 1: this point it gets hard to have a whole where
Speaker 1: am I going to fit a whole extra meal in
Speaker 1: so you can split it into three. So, particularly if
Speaker 1: you have pre existing diabetes, for example, especially type ones,
Speaker 1: they need to sort of have a morning and afternoon
Speaker 1: snacker one before bed. So it's just kind of monitoring
Speaker 1: what you do and you know you're probably fine. In
Speaker 1: most cases, they'll be weighing you and if they're concerned
Speaker 1: you're not putting on enough weight, they'll probably let you know.
Speaker 2: Is this normal?
Speaker 1: Is normal?
Speaker 2: Why is this normal? Is more of a mental health one.
Speaker 2: It's about potentially having an identity crisis as you get
Speaker 2: closer to this, because the life that you have lived
Speaker 2: is now going to change.
Speaker 3: And rapidly, and you'll be off work.
Speaker 2: Your social situations are going to change, like there will
Speaker 2: be some social situations which will be strengthened by spending
Speaker 2: time with other mothers because they'll also be off. But
Speaker 2: the fear of am I going to be irrelevant from
Speaker 2: my workplace? Is this you think that you felt when
Speaker 2: you were even training or when you have completely switched careers.
Speaker 2: Is this something you've felt and to people talk to
Speaker 2: you about this?
Speaker 1: So I still feel it even now that the maternity
Speaker 1: leaved blocks that I've had have obviously, you know, a
Speaker 1: couple of my friends have finished and fully fledged consultants
Speaker 1: in obstetrics right now, and I'm still training to be
Speaker 1: one because I made the decision to have babies. So
Speaker 1: I think it's a really natural and healthy discussion to
Speaker 1: have with yourself. It doesn't make you worse or guilty
Speaker 1: or you know, or have a concern. I love my
Speaker 1: children and I'm really glad with the decision that I
Speaker 1: made to have them, but it still does take a
Speaker 1: huge chunk out of your life and facing that at
Speaker 1: this time in pregnancy is scary. You know, what's it
Speaker 1: going to do to my relationship? If you're single? How
Speaker 1: am I going to do this on my own? Like,
Speaker 1: there's lots of conversations that go around in your head.
Speaker 1: And look, I'm obviously a motivational speaker outside of pregnancy,
Speaker 1: and I always talk about fears are really something that
Speaker 1: needs to be addressed. And if you can write down
Speaker 1: on a piece of paper what your greatest fear is
Speaker 1: and then write around all around it, so like, literally
Speaker 1: what is the worst case scenario? Ninety nine percent of
Speaker 1: the time, you can cross most of them off as
Speaker 1: irrational in a good way. And so then when that
Speaker 1: thought comes back in the middle of the night and
Speaker 1: starts telling you can't do this, or I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be a good mother at this, or I'm to
Speaker 1: progress my career here, I'm going to be jobless. All
Speaker 1: the things that you know your little heart's saying, you
Speaker 1: can say, well, I've already discussed that with you. I
Speaker 1: gave you air, I wrote it down, we've had a chat,
Speaker 1: I've reconciled it, and this is the path that we're on.
Speaker 1: And it's more important these days because a lot of
Speaker 1: us are working mums and it's a hard decision to
Speaker 1: know what's right and what's wrong. And now this time
Speaker 1: in pregnancy is about the time it gets the hardest.
Speaker 1: So he has lots of patients come and talk to
Speaker 1: us about that, particularly me because I've obviously had so
Speaker 1: many kids in a very eclectic career.
Speaker 2: And is there advice of your life is going to change,
Speaker 2: like some type of mantra or something about like it
Speaker 2: is going to change, but the parts that you want
Speaker 2: will still be there, or your they.
Speaker 1: Won't be though, Grace, I'm gonna and I think that's
Speaker 1: the reality of it, that your life is going to
Speaker 1: change and don't get me wrong, there are lots of
Speaker 1: ways to parent, and again it is okay if the
Speaker 1: decisions you make to not parent as much as someone else,
Speaker 1: it's okay. Like I think we have so much judgment
Speaker 1: out there of you know, this person works full time,
Speaker 1: she's a better stay at home mum. You can decide
Speaker 1: what your life's going to look like. In other words,
Speaker 1: you can go back to work at three or four
Speaker 1: months if that's what you choose to do. You could
Speaker 1: go back to work a week after if your partners supportive,
Speaker 1: and you've got the options to do that. And it's
Speaker 1: okay whatever your decision is, but that it is not
Speaker 1: going to be like it was before birth. That's never
Speaker 1: going to happen again. There's always going to be sacrifices
Speaker 1: in this space. But I can tell you the day
Speaker 1: that your kid turns around in its school audience and
Speaker 1: points at you and sings the entire anthem to you,
Speaker 1: remember it vividly the whole he's supposed to be looking
Speaker 1: at it at the crowd, and he's literally just singing
Speaker 1: to me, You'll know that it's worth it.
Speaker 3: I love that you do.
Speaker 2: You hear so often of losing identity and all the
Speaker 2: terrible things.
Speaker 1: But then the baby smiles.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I want more of those stories like the
Speaker 2: love and all those moments of assemblies or watching them
Speaker 2: do a dance concert or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And I think it's just you share that
Speaker 1: with each other. So I think if that's something you
Speaker 1: feel is not adequately out there, then make a motto
Speaker 1: that when you become that you do share the good
Speaker 1: things as well as the bad, but you try and
Speaker 1: celebrate those little victories along the way. And my mother
Speaker 1: was a very successful mom, and when she had me,
Speaker 1: she said the hardest identity crisis was that she wasn't
Speaker 1: actually good at being a mum. And she been so
Speaker 1: and she's an extraordinary mum, just putting it out there
Speaker 1: like literally the most amazing one. But for her, she
Speaker 1: was such a high successful career woman and then so
Speaker 1: she just thought that she would just become a good
Speaker 1: mother and that she'd work it out, you know, she
Speaker 1: would find a way to make me eat and find
Speaker 1: a way to make me sleep, and it would just
Speaker 1: be all smooth sailing. And so for successful women to
Speaker 1: realize that actually terrible at it initially because they've never
Speaker 1: done it. Before even six time. Mum found it really
Speaker 1: difficult because I couldn't make the twins sleep. That's really normal,
Speaker 1: and finally reconciling saying that's okay, I don't have to
Speaker 1: be great at this, I just need to be present.
Speaker 1: Is doing a good job.
Speaker 2: In the toolkit this week and how to do lists.
Speaker 2: I have a pregnancy pillow that I just wanted to mention,
Speaker 2: which I had one before that I've been sleeping with,
Speaker 2: but then this one. I look, I did get opsolted
Speaker 2: at a baby fair, but I was really in the
Speaker 2: mood to purchase something, so it's all fine.
Speaker 3: I think the brand was Butterfly.
Speaker 2: It looks like a butterfly like but yeah, like too a.
Speaker 1: Scop your partner or that's the biggest argument we get
Speaker 1: with people is that they feel like they're pushing their
Speaker 1: partner out the pillow become their new lover.
Speaker 3: No, well he's not said, I don't think you said anything. No.
Speaker 2: This one is like it's a two pillows, but it's
Speaker 2: joined by something in the middle, and you sleep out
Speaker 2: of sides. You've got a cushioning either side, but it
Speaker 2: doubles up as a nursing pillow, which is What sold
Speaker 2: me is that you put on a new cover for
Speaker 2: it and then you twist it so there's no hole
Speaker 2: in the middle and it is a bit more plump
Speaker 2: so it can be your nurse.
Speaker 1: And look, the nursing pillows are great. I had a
Speaker 1: twin z for my twins, which was wonderful because you
Speaker 1: can obviously put you can either feed bottles with a
Speaker 1: baby or wrap it around and put both babies on.
Speaker 1: But I think that, I mean, that's amazing to start
Speaker 1: thinking about things that can be used for both because
Speaker 1: otherwise you use it in pregnancy and then what what
Speaker 1: you know? I mean, yeah, the waste, the waste the
Speaker 1: waist is very real.
Speaker 3: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Hello Bump.
Speaker 2: We have so many episodes of this series filled with
Speaker 2: tips and stories from women and experts who've been through
Speaker 2: it all before.
Speaker 1: You can go back and listen to everything else Hello
Speaker 1: Bump related in this podcast.
Speaker 2: Feed, and while you're there, if you could give us
Speaker 2: a five star rating and maybe leave us a review
Speaker 2: or even share this episode with a friend.
Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Courtney Ammenhauser with audio production
Speaker 1: by Tom Lyon. We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 3: This episode of Hello.
Speaker 2: Bump was made in partnership with Huggies Bye Bye