The Pregnancy Chat Thread!

spottybananas

Thanks, dammit, I shouldve gotten it today, I'll never get an appt on Monday for Monday.

autumnbelle

I got my flu vaccine in boots it was €25 I think or free if you had medical card

January

Will Boots do it if you are pregnant though? I know when I was getting mine done in work and they found out I was pregnant they referred me onto my GP to get it done.

deedless

I got mine done in Boots Grafton St, late October or early November. I told them I was pregnant, they didn't have an issue at all. There is a form to fill in, it's on line and I guess if you had an issue other than pregnancy they might refer to GP.

It was either 20 or 25 euro. I think 20. I think the price is cheaper for those in the at risk category.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I have found Boots to be ridiculously over cautious when it comes to pregnant women. I had a lot of trouble trying to buy a bottle of Corsodyl in there last month, you'd swear I was looking for heroin or something :eek:

er1983

The whooping cough & flu vaccines should they not be free at your gp? I got mine for free in October

spottybananas

Dammit I forgot all about this again, I meant to do it yesterday as that "suited" if I was to get a bit sick in the last day or two, I'm off work and my husband is around so I could've coped. Work tomorrow for the rest of the week though and I'm very busy Saturday so that's no good.

I would've thought it would be free, but I'm happy to pay to not be sick again! After ending up in hospital last night and getting well looked after for free paying €20-30 for the flu jab doesn't seem too bad

BelindaL

Flu vaccine should be free for pregnant ladies. Got mine for free from gp in October anyway. Did anyone get whopping cough vaccine? No one has mentioned it to me yet but due in 4 weeks so must ask midwife today.

angeldelight

It's technically only free for people with medical card or GP visit card but some GPs will administer free for pregnant women signed up for combined care. They don't have to though!

seventeen sheep

There's a place at the top of Grafton St (if you're in Dublin) called TMB, they do it for €25. Definitely have no problem doing it if you're pregnant.

Dolbert

Just an idle curiosity really but I see a lot of posters seem to be going to private ultrasound centres to get very early scans (around 7 weeks). I'm wondering if there is really much merit in them, as to me an early scan just confirms that everything is okay at that moment only. I've known people to get scans at 7 weeks, announce the pregnancy and sadly miscarry at 8 or 9 weeks Or pay for an early scan, realise it's still miles too early and wait the 12 weeks anyway. I'm not thinking of going again any time soon(!) but to me waiting for the 12 week hospital scan makes the most sense, obviously things can still go wrong after that but it's a lot less likely. I guess I feel that these early 'reassurance' scans offer a bit of false security for big money, but they seem so commonplace! Thoughts?

mirrorwall14

Dolbert wrote: »

Just an idle curiosity really but I see a lot of posters seem to be going to private ultrasound centres to get very early scans (around 7 weeks). I'm wondering if there is really much merit in them, as to me an early scan just confirms that everything is okay at that moment only. I've known people to get scans at 7 weeks, announce the pregnancy and sadly miscarry at 8 or 9 weeks Or pay for an early scan, realise it's still miles too early and wait the 12 weeks anyway. I'm not thinking of going again any time soon(!) but to me waiting for the 12 week hospital scan makes the most sense, obviously things can still go wrong after that but it's a lot less likely. I guess I feel that these early 'reassurance' scans offer a bit of false security for big money, but they seem so commonplace! Thoughts?

We got one at 9.5 weeks with heartbeat etc the miscarriage rate drops at that stage. I had been watching/testing so I knew I was pregnant very early and couldn't hack waiting another 3weeks for the hospital scan! It was nice reassurance

spottybananas

For me the 8 week scan I had proved that a. It wasn't an ectopic pregnancy and b. That it was a viable proper pregnancy at the time of scanning. The ectopic thing wasn't going to change, and while I knew its heart could stop at any time before the 12 week scan for me personally I needed the knowledge/reassurance that for now I had to get my head around a viable pregnancy, particularly as I'm self employed so had to know what plans I could and couldn't make. I couldn't wait another 6 weeks for the scheduled "12" week scan at 14 weeks in the public system. We didn't announce afte the early scan, well we didn't tell family/friends until 15+ weeks and many still don't know, so for us it was for our own peace of mind, not to tell others early.

A friend of mine got her 12 week appt for when she was almost 17 weeks, that's a long time to be waiting to see if it's viable and all looking good so far. So she had a private one at 9-10 weeks, a much more useful timeframe.

Dolbert

Yeah I suppose different hospitals will have different time frames for scans, in that case I probably would get one myself. Just wondering more than anything as I seemed to be the only one in my group not getting one!

spottybananas

Depends too on how far along you are when you find out. I got a positive test when I was a few hours late, so by 8 weeks we had already known for a month. A few friends and relatives have been 8-13 weeks when they found out, much easier to wait just a few days for a scan.

angeldelight

I'm incredibly impatient so for me getting an early scan was nice reassurance. I'm not sure I would have paid for an additional one because I was already going private and was offered a scan at my booking in appointment when I was 7 weeks

autumnbelle

I went for the private scan at 8 weeks too, my hospital 12 week scan wasn't til 14 weeks and as I'm a ftm and knew almost straight away I was pregnant I went more for reassurance and I'm so glad I did. I know you still have risk of miscarriage after but in my mind the way I felt was that if the heart had stopped I would have rathered known at 8 weeks then wait till 14.
The lady doing the scan was amazing. However I have a friend who had an early scan where the baby was ok and then at her 12 week scan found out the baby had no heartbeat i feel the first 12 weeks are so worrying in a way that I loved my early scan x
When did you all buy your buggy and car seat?

autumnbelle

sorry double post

angeldelight

I just bought ours today at 25 weeks, didn't want to buy it too early but at the same time want to have all the big things got before I get too huge and uncomfortable!

Roesy

Took a marks and spencer chicken salad with rice out for lunch today and one of my colleagues said to me that should be avoided during pregnancy. Never occurred to me. Is she right? I knew deli stuff could be dodgy but I thought I'd be safe enough with that. Usually just follow the NHS guidelines as I find they are not too hysterical.

Blingy

Roesy wrote: »

Took a marks and spencer chicken salad with rice out for lunch today and one of my colleagues said to me that should be avoided during pregnancy. Never occurred to me. Is she right? I knew deli stuff could be dodgy but I thought I'd be safe enough with that. Usually just follow the NHS guidelines as I find they are not too hysterical.

Did she say what exactly was wrong with it or needed to be avoided? I think some people can be hyper about avoiding foods.

Sligo1

Roesy wrote: »

Took a marks and spencer chicken salad with rice out for lunch today and one of my colleagues said to me that should be avoided during pregnancy. Never occurred to me. Is she right? I knew deli stuff could be dodgy but I thought I'd be safe enough with that. Usually just follow the NHS guidelines as I find they are not too hysterical.

Hse says to avoid things like prepackaged sambos, deli meats etc. tbh, I didn't avoid deli meats etc. only avoided salads if they had raw egg in the dressing or other foods that were contraindicated. I think the reason they say avoid is because you can't really be sure how long it's been sitting there or could have possibly left out and the possible resulting listeria bacteria.

As I said... I would've eaten a packed salad so long as it didn't contain the raw egg etc

Roesy

Blingy wrote: »

Did she say what exactly was wrong with it or needed to be avoided? I think some people can be hyper about avoiding foods.

The dreaded listeria.

Roesy

Sligo1 wrote: »

Hse says to avoid things like prepackaged sambos, deli meats etc. tbh, I didn't avoid deli meats etc. only avoided salads if they had raw egg in the dressing or other foods that were contraindicated. I think the reason they say avoid is because you can't really be sure how long it's been sitting there or could have possibly left out and the possible resulting listeria bacteria.

As I said... I would've eaten a packed salad so long as it didn't contain the raw egg etc

This would have been my thinking too. Her comment got me wondering was I being too blasé.

greenorchard

Roesy wrote: »

This would have been my thinking too. Her comment got me wondering was I being too blasé.

Sounds way over the top to me. I would eat the salad!

Neyite

Dolbert wrote: »

Just an idle curiosity really but I see a lot of posters seem to be going to private ultrasound centres to get very early scans (around 7 weeks). I'm wondering if there is really much merit in them, as to me an early scan just confirms that everything is okay at that moment only. I've known people to get scans at 7 weeks, announce the pregnancy and sadly miscarry at 8 or 9 weeks Or pay for an early scan, realise it's still miles too early and wait the 12 weeks anyway. I'm not thinking of going again any time soon(!) but to me waiting for the 12 week hospital scan makes the most sense, obviously things can still go wrong after that but it's a lot less likely. I guess I feel that these early 'reassurance' scans offer a bit of false security for big money, but they seem so commonplace! Thoughts?

Mine was done at 7+4 as a fertility check to count embryos and make sure they'd not implanted in the tubes. A follow up one was done at 9+4 because the smaller twin was measuring smaller and they wanted to check growth. Second twin measured 7+1 at the first scan and 8 weeks on the second one. No trace of it at the 11 week one, so I'd have never known there was a vanishing twin only for the scans. Apparently its quite common.

I think that some people feel that somehow the risk goes down by the first scan, so think that if they have the first scan earlier, it reduces the risk. But I think its moreso that the first scan usually was at 12 weeks, so by that stage the risks decrease a lot anyway.

Some women get them though because there is no 12 week scan offered to them on the public system.

Roesy wrote: »

This would have been my thinking too. Her comment got me wondering was I being too blasé.

I think the deli meats refer to the types of counters that are for sandwich bars with food out all day long. Pre-packaged salads and sandwiches from a reputable shop would be fine I'd say.

The risk is for food poisoning. Which is pretty unusual (and not counting the 'food poisoning' people get from a kebab after a heap of drink or from an actual bug) and usually self inflicted due to people not storing raw and cooked food correctly, using utensils on raw meats then the same for a salad.

And it depends on the person. Someone berated me for having a single can of coke when they ate unpasteurised cheeses throughout their pregnancies. Honestly, some people are so pass-remarkable!

Sligo1

Roesy wrote: »

This would have been my thinking too. Her comment got me wondering was I being too blasé.

Na you're defo not being too blasé . I'd eat it . And I'd eat it pretty fast if I were pregnant and hungry

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I wouldn't be going looking for raw meat or mouldy cheese but I have been a bit naughty at times during pregnancy. My reckoning is that I've never gotten food poisoning before so I'm not likely to get it now (within reason). A little bit of what you fancy won't hurt I think the guidelines are only there to make women more aware of the kind of things to avoid and watch out for but some people really do go OTT. I was berated by a male childless colleague during my last pregnancy for drinking one small cup of coffee every evening :rolleyes:

Xdancer

My sister and I were pregnant at the same time; me in Spain and her in Ireland. My list of foods to avoid contained 3 things: cured meats, unpasteurised dairy products and undercooked eggs. That was it. All other things on the Irish list were advised in moderation here.

I think you just have to be sensible about it. Some people like to follow the rules exactly (my sister wouldn't even eat homemade quiche that was well cooked).

spottybananas

The New Zealand What Not to Eat list is amazing, basically just eat bread and meat that you just cooked to cremated this very second.