It has been a fair few weeks since I last had time to update this blog and once you have read the below catch-up post I am sure I will be forgiven!
Our story picks up again on the evening of the 7th August. The evening started the same as every other we have had since Lyndsey entered the second trimester – lazing with a cup of milk to stop her heartburn in front of the TV, when our cat went mad; running around the house, crying at Lyndsey and then scratching at the floor in front of us. Standing up to see what was bothering him we noticed blood pouring out of Lyndsey all the way down her legs. At just 22 weeks and 5 days pregnant we were not ready for Pudding and Pudding was definitely not ready for the World! We called the hospital straight away who in turn called an ambulance for us and let us know to come directly to the ‘delivery suite’ – scary.

Upon arrival at the suite they were pleased to see Lyndsey was not in any pain and that she still had the ability to walk rather than be pushed in a wheelchair; not that there were any wheelchairs there so she didn’t really have a choice! Luckily the delivery suite that night was very “the Q word” so they were able to get ready for us and Lyndsey could be examined straight away. She was popped on a bed so a speculum could be done to see if the cervix was open, thank goodness it wasn’t! They then got out an antique scanner so they could monitor Pudding and he was great- bouncing around without a care in the world with a strong heartbeat.
Lyndsey was admitted to Bramber ward, the midwife and doctor were discussing what this bleed could be pointing to, unsure of the jargon that was being talked at us we braved it and asked the question “what would happen if the baby was born now?”. I don’t think we were prepared for the answer “if the baby were to be born today the hospitals only concern would be the mother, some hospitals will look after the baby from 23 weeks, our policy is 24 weeks and definitely not 22 weeks plus 5”. Ouch I think me and L could both the feel the stab through our heart!
Luckily Pudding behaved and stayed inside to keep baking. Lyndsey was discharged the following day and we even got the okay from the doctor to go the Olympics the following weekend! Whoop!
After being discharged Lyndsey continued to bleed for 5 weeks solid, during this time we had about 5 more emergency trips to the hospital (generally every Wednesday!) and we had begun to hate seeing that welcome sign!

We had also become a bit desensitised and blasé to the bleeding Lyndsey was experiencing over these 5 weeks. So when on the morning of our 25 week ‘madwife’ appointment and Lyndsey had another heavy bleed in the morning we went on about our normal business, waited in the waiting room at the family clinic for our appointment and casually mentioned to our midwife that Lyndsey had more blood this morning. The midwife did not take it so casually and asked why we had come to her and not gone straight to hospital – oops! She rung ahead to triage and we were on the road to the hospital again. Upon arrival Lyndsey had another speculum test which again showed the cervix was closed, Puddings heartbeat was also tested again – it was perfect! Proud parents! Lyndsey was sent home to rest so she didn’t even get her cup of hospital tea that day!
Lyndsey still had continuous bleeding until Wednesday the 5th of September (last Wednesday), that morning Lyndsey woke up and was blood free. It was the beginning of a normal day just blood free, so normal in fact that by 10pm that night we actually thought we had made it through a Wednesday without a hospital visit, but oh no, come 10.30pm and Lyndsey had painful cramping in her stomach and lower back that came every five minutes lasted for 30 seconds to 1 minute and came over a 2 hour period until we had to ring the hospital and we were back on the Bramber ward! After the many, MANY trips to hospital we had had and the many, MANY women we had seen in labour when we were there we knew it wasn’t labour but we did know it was definitely something because of the pain Lyndsey was in.
Our midwife this time was actually the first midwife we had met at the hospital on the night of the ambulance ride. She read through Lyndsey’s notes and asked if she was there because of bleeding, our reply “nope not this time, this time it is cramping” she was excited that we had a new symptom and reassured us she also thought it was not labour, that in fact it was probably a water infection so she wanted Lyndsey to do a urine test. However also to put everyone’s mind at rest she wanted a doctor to come and do a fetal fibronectin test, that would either come back positive or negative to whether Lyndsey would go in to labour in the next 2 weeks. If it came back negative it was a 99% chance labour wouldn’t happen within 2 weeks, if positive a 60% chance labour would.

The urine test came back positive for a urine infection, unfortunately the fetal fibronectin test result also came back positive so Lyndsey was admitted again and this time she got her cup of tea! She was discharged in the morning because she was not in labour (obviously) and so far it has been a week and Pudding is still safely tucked inside, with what the hospital midwife described as a gorgeous heartbeat!
Lyndsey has had one other test since I last posted, this was done yesterday and is commonly known as the ‘Lucozade test’. It involves drinking 410ml of Lucozade at 7.30am in the morning after not eating from 9.30pm the evening before and then giving blood. It is done to discover whether during pregnancy you have contracted gestational diabetes.

I think the Lucozade test process is enough to make the most hardcore of people sick, but for a queasy pregnant woman it’s like torture (for everyone involved!) Luckily for Lyndsey and me there is a McDonalds drive through just ten minutes from the hospital where this test was done – I don’t think anyone anywhere has been as pleased to see those golden arches as Lyndsey was yesterday!
Today it is Wednesday and we have had a relaxed ‘madwife’ appointment where we received a great big negative test result back from the Lucozade test and thus far no bleeding and no cramps – Whoop! Wish us luck for the rest of the day!
Tags: Alternative Families, bleeding, Egg-Sharing, fertility treatment, hospitals, IVF, Lesbian Family, Medical, Midwife, Pregnancy, Scan