12w3d Second midwife appointment

We got to hear the heartbeat tonight! Our midwife R said it could take a while to find the heartbeat using the Doppler, or even be impossible, but our little TF was loud and strong straight away.

It is nestled low down, and R thinks that my uterus has come up above my public bone already. She noted that the pubic bone itself was quite low down.

The appointment was about 1.5hrs and we were able to ask a lot of questions and learn about all manner of things.

We spoke about pre-eclampsia and how it could be detected in me since, as a woman with Type 1 Diabetes, I unfortunately already spill protein in my urine. Thankfully there are other markers of the disease such as high blood pressure. Hubby suggested borrowing my Dad's home blood pressure monitor to test me every couple of days and R agreed that from 28w that would be a good idea. She also told us about some other women she'd worked with who had experienced pre-eclampsia and told us what happened for them.

I still has to do a urine dip stick test for both protein and glucose (!) and surprisingly the protein test came back near-enough to negative. I have no idea how that happened. As expected the glucose test came back 3+, and I offered to do a blood test for her, and showed her the Dex readings but she didn't want them. Sigh. Will keep working on that one!

I have had this nasty head cold for a couple of weeks now. Last night I gave in and took 2x paracetamol which of course threw the Dex readings out for 8hrs :( Boo. R suggested that a trip along to the GP would be a good idea to check I don't have a sinus infection. R said that it is now a bit safer for me to take antibiotics should I need them.

I asked about the pains I've been getting low down just above my hips. These happen especially when I wake up at night and turn over too quickly. Or reach for a tissue because I'm up all night sneezing. Seriously, I was up 6 times last night variously peeing, sneezing, or treating lows. R said they are probably just round ligament pain and completely normal, however if they are low and central then that would be bad. She also advised to roll over with my knees together, and advised not to stand on one foot as it can aggravate a central ligament.

I'm sure we talk about more, but that's all I remember for now. Next appointment will be in about a month.