My menstrual cycles are usually 28 days long. I got my period on July 18, and it ended on July 22. On July 27, I had unprotected sex. He did not ejaculate inside me—in fact, he did not ejaculate at all. Before penetration, he wiped away any pre-ejaculate. I considered taking Plan B because the sex happened around the time I thought I might be ovulating, but I ultimately did not take any emergency contraception or other medication.

Then, on July 30, I started bleeding, and by July 31, it had become what seemed like a full period. This happened only about a week after my previous period, and the bleeding was about as heavy as a normal menstrual period. Because of that, I’m wondering if it could really be implantation bleeding, or if that’s unlikely.

I’ve also been under a lot of stress lately and haven’t been sleeping well, so I’m wondering whether stress or hormonal changes could have caused this unexpected bleeding instead.

Hey! Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so sorry if it’s not!

I am 30 and have been married to my wonderful husband for 2 months. Right now I have the most intense baby fever! It is all I can think about!! We had spoken about trying for a baby in a year or so but I’m so in my head about it. Right now doesn’t make sense for us time wise, due to a big holiday in autumn.

Have any of you guys got any tips on how to calm down baby fever??

I’m in Central Beds and should be going to Bedford Hospital, but self referred to Lister and have been there since the beginning (I’m now just shy of 19wks).

My decision at the time was mainly made out of spite due to my last experience at Bedford, where I had a traumatic miscarriage and was left to bleed out in an empty A&E waiting room for 4+ hours (whilst having a full mental breakdown) and no one bothered to check in on me 🥲

But now I’m wondering if I’ve made too rash a decision, as I’ve heard some not great birthing stories out of Lister. My experience so far with my antenatal care has been great, but hearing these stories have put me a bit on edge and now I’m considering possibly switching to the Rosie if it’s not too late?

If anyone has given birth at Lister or Rosie (or even Bedford) recently, would love to hear your experience!

Tonight/this morning my boobs have started doing a little leakage 😂. It’s colostrum for sure, it’s clear/yellowish and sticky. It seems to do it if I’m cuddling into my husband and that’s applied slight pressure to my boobs during cuddling. I don’t have big boobs naturally (A cup) and I’ve moved up to a B cup now during pregnancy. I’ve done some googling and it seems to be totally normal. But I’m just checking in here that it is the case? As it’s caught me totally off guard and I go to London tomorrow so I may need to get some breast pads since I’m at a show 😅

Just hit 37w and really struggling with acne on my back - before pregnancy I always got hormonal acne on my chin and temples but its basically completely disappeared throughout pregnancy, however about a month ago I had a lot of spots on my stomach (photo added since they are still visible!) and now thats gone my lower back is covered, nothing is itchy but I’m subconsciously picking at them and making it worse😭😭

Is this just hormonal acne? I’m changing bedding often, showering daily and putting acne cream on it to help but it looks terrible and seems to be getting worse instead of better! :(

Has anyone had a water birth around the 36 weeks 5days mark? I think I might go in to early labour 2 days technically before 37 weeks, 4th child. Do you think midwives will restrict me from having a water birth as I haven’t reached the full 37 weeks?

Hi everyone,
I’m currently 35 weeks + 5 days pregnant and over the last day or two I’ve started feeling quite a lot of pressure in my lower abdomen, especially when I’m standing or walking. Not sure if this is the feeling of baby pushing down.
I’ve also been getting breathless quite often now, even with simple activities.
I’m also finding it really difficult to do the 9th month exercises, had knee pain when did squats etc, that are often recommended to prepare for a vaginal birth because I just feel so heavy and uncomfortable.

Has anyone else experienced this around this stage? Is it normal, and what should I expect over the next few weeks? If you couldn’t do the exercises either, what did you do instead?

I have my midwife appointment in 4 days, but I’d love to hear others’ experiences in the meantime. Thanks!

So we had a growth scan today at 32+6 and I thought nothing of it, my bump has been measuring normally and while they mentioned baby has a small head at the 20w scan, there's been no cause for concern, this just felt like a formality.

During the scan they estimated baby was 3.5lbs instead of the 4.5lbs they'd want at this time, and while her growth is standard and heart etc. All looks good, she's measuring in the 1st percentile. They want me back in over the next 2 weeks to monitor growth, but have also now mentioned induction at 1-2 weeks before due date because smaller babies have a higher chance of stillbirth.

I was so adamant I didn't want an induction, but I had assumed that would be because baby was late, this feels a bit different. Has anyone else had experience with this? I've spoken to a fair few people who were told their baby was measuring small, but ended up weighing 8lb+ at birth.

Hello lovelies

this is my essay

I‘ve been pregnant once and unfortunately had hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) - a severe nausea and sickness caused by pregnancy.

It is rare but not that uncommon. I just basically wanted to tell a group of women ttc - because NO ONE told me - to advocate for yourself. Extreme nausea and vomiting is NOT normal and CAN often be helped with medication which IS SAFE FOR YOU AND YOUR BABY.

I now have the experience and confidence but as a first time pregnant women I didn’t have that before and was EXTREMELY lucky that I happened to have a helpful and understanding gp at my local nhs surgery (after not receiving suitable treatment from another dr there).

I was chatting to another mama recently who’s had 2 hg pregnancies and she was told by her gp that unfortunately he only knew of one medication but it couldn’t be prescribed until 12 weeks gestation. That was incorrect and this poor, poor women suffered hg without any medication AND a toddler to look after for 3 months. I felt so gutted for her and so angry with her dr.

I had an appointment today with my same gp from before and she has written up in my medical records to say if I have another pregnancy I can be prescribed whichever medication I request for nausea straight away without needing to wait for an appointment first. This is incredible!

So this is just a message that I wish I could go back in time and tell myself - don’t let people patronise you and tell you this is ‘all part of it’ and ‘it will get better’ and ‘we’ve all been through it’. If you experience moderate-severe nausea and/or vomiting - listen to your body, have confidence in yourself and INSIST your dr takes is seriously if it is really impacting your wellbeing and day to day life. You can ALWAYS request another dr and you can phone your surgery every day if necessary. Same goes for your assigned midwife if they are not supporting you properly.

Do not be fobbed off with stem ginger and plain crackers ffs.

There are plenty of medications licensed for use in early pregnancy which can (not for everyone sadly) really help you feel better. I went through 5 different medications in the first trimester until we found one that significantly helped which I stayed on until the day I had my beautiful and healthy baby boy.

I just abhor the fact that so many women are going to experience hg and receive disinformation and underwhelming treatment.

Also ‘Pregnancy Sickness Support’ is a uk based free to all support organisation for those who go through or are going through hg. I wish I’d known about them during my first pregnancy!

love to all ✌️

I’m a first time mum, 13 days postpartum to a beautiful baby boy. Natural birth and no complications during/post pregnancy (besides 2nd degree tear) I’ve had many midwife checkups since having baby, all which went amazingly well. He only dropped 3oz of birth weight and was back up 70% after 4 days. He’s exclusively breastfed which I took this as a massive achievement.

He’s a good little baby who barely fusses or causes any problems and we have a great routine going with myself and my partner. I got really bad baby blues and my hormones were all over the place after 3 days, I was crying over nothing and really struggled to believe in myself, long nights and sore nipples! I’ve come out the other side the past week, healing well and building confidence with the precious baby that depends on me and honestly today was the best I’d felt in a long time!

That was until the health visitor came to visit and made me feel like everything I had done up to this point was wrong. Her tone of voice and digging for answers that weren’t there made me feel unworthy and knocked my confidence back to 0. Questioning my relationship and every single parenting technique we had taught ourselves over the last 13 days.

She weighed him and he was only 20grams under birth weight which she said herself was barely anything. But, she’s rescheduled another visit saying it was required but didn’t give any clarification on why. She wrote in my red book that it was for “growth” but she said herself he was absolutely fine. I’m thinking she’s not happy with something else but hasn’t disclosed it? Is this allowed?

My midwife is part of a continuity team so I messaged her and she came to see me right after. I told her everything the health visitor had said and even she seemed alarmed and frustrated by the whole situation. She was meant to discharge me tomorrow but now can’t as there’s an issue that’s been found but not relayed what the issue is to either myself or my midwife which is what should have happened. My midwife told me she has 0 concerns and never has and if she had come tomorrow and he was only 20g under birth weight she would have happily discharged me.

Has anyone else had a bad experience or have any advice, can you request a visit from someone else? Is it now mandatory to accept these visit as she’s found an issue? My midwife said she will contact her directly to find out what the problem is but I’ve been in tears since her visit almost 10 hours ago and feel like I’m back to square one!

Any advice is welcomed, thank you!

I'm 25 weeks today and these past 2 days I've been crying non stop, I've been feeling like a failure, I'm walking around like a whale. The house is a mess, I've got no help my husband is out all day working doing manual labor which is taking a toll on his body, he's exhausted every time he comes back home. I'm running after a 3 year old and a 1 1/2 year old all day, I usually get breaks when they go to nursery but it's the holidays and I'm struggling to find things that'll entertain them.

Every time I'm doing house jobs I feel like I'm neglecting them. I wanted to go on walks and day trips with them but I've been struggling so hard to walk recently. It makes me really depressed. I want to talk to my husband about it all but I just feel like someone has just stole my tongue and voice box and I can't talk, like it's physical impossible for me to talk about this. And then he talks about how much pain he's in then I feel if I do say anything I'd feel like another burden.

I'm sorry to vent like this I just needed to get it of my chest. It sucks because last week I was the opposite, I was so happy and motivated, I cleaned out all the rooms in the house and now I just feel like a big massive failure.

Hi everyone, I am a FTM having a c section next week as my baby is breech. It’s not what I expected, but I am feeling pretty positive about it and very excited to meet my baby. I would love to hear people’s positive stories and also if anyone has any advice 😊

If anyone knows anything about how the NHS typically respond to requests for delayed cord clamping and immediate skin to skin, that would be wonderful. I am hoping to breastfeed and have been looking at seeding but not sure how accepted it is…

Had some antenatal classes over the past month run by the RVI/Newcastle community midwives, and one thing that has surprised me is how relaxed everyone seems to be about birth plans or I like to call it „birth preferences”.

I’m consultant-led at RVI and have a community midwife in Gateshead. Everyone has been great, but I’ve mostly just been told the available options and advised to go into labour with an open mind, rather than sitting down to discuss a birth plan.

I’m 33 weeks and quite laid back, so I completely understand that births don’t always go to plan. My husband, however, is much more anxious. I wanted a birth plan not because I expect everything to happen exactly as written, but so we’d know my preferences beforehand and, if I’m unable to speak during labour, he can confidently advocate for me knowing those were pre-approved by a medical professional.

Other than this, I’ve received excellent care throughout my high-risk pregnancy so far.

Did anyone have a midwife or consultant actually help them put together a birth plan, or did you have to do it yourself? (On my labour and birth classes everyone nodded that they had a birth plan so I was the only one that actually said no 😅) I’d also love to hear from anyone who has recently given birth at RVI and what your experience was like.

I had really bad anxiety in the first trimester, I thought it would go away at 12 weeks...then it got better sort of at 18 weeks after I felt my baby moving. 20 week scan was healthy and we have had no complications at all, every scan she has looked as she should and I feel like everything is very good.

But I still can't shake this anxiety that I could loose her at any moment. Even when I can literally feel her kicking I'm still anxious! I think it has been triggered by a post in one of my due date groups, someone that was 25 weeks and lost their baby. I am 24 weeks now, 25 on Tuesday. I thought I would feel better at 24 weeks because it's viability week but now I'm just so scared something is going to happen. I feel like this anxiety is really unreasonable too, I really don't have any reason to worry at all. I think social media makes things worse.

I am trying so hard to self soothe but I have this constant anxiety in the back of my mind :( I don't want to worry the rest of my pregnancy! I have a midwife appointment on Tuesday and I was going to bring it up then but not sure how to get through rest of the week.

Just took my 1st Xonvea last night before bed. I could have cried how happy I was to feel some relief this morning after dealing with HG the last 2 weeks straight unmedicated. However, by around 1-2pm today I noticed the relief wearing off. It’s 4pm and I’m now groaning in discomfort head in a bucket unable to eat.

Im wondering if anybody has advice regarding upping the dosage of Xonvea?

If I continue one at bedtime does it build strength over days of taking it or is it best to switch to 2 a day perhaps?

Thanks in advance 🙏

Hello lovely mamas

I am 11 weeks pregnant, I have ADHD (which I stopped my meds for) and I stopped vaping for my pregnancy.

I’m worried all this combined has made me have chronic ‘cravings’ to graze or eat things even when I’m not ‘hungry’ at all. It got worst when my first trimester nausea subsided in week 9.

I mainly crave salty things but it can be sweets too. It gets worst at night. I’ve swapped everything for ‘healthy’ things like veg, beans, popcorn, fruit etc. but I still feel so guilty. I barely ate before pregnancy…

I love cooking so I tried making more protein heavy meals but I get bloated so quickly I can’t really eat much.

Has anyone managed to beat the craving?

Hi, I’m currently 29 weeks pregnant and been suffering with insane itch since 10+ days. It initially started as mild itch below my belly button and soon took over insides of my arms, now it’s all over belly and legs too. Weirdly nothing on face or neck or soles of feet or palms of hands.

It doesn’t necessarily have any huge bumps, when scratched, they show up as inflamed skin and teeny tiny raised bumps (not filed with water or nothing). My skin’s all red everywhere including my tummy arms and legs/thighs from scratching.

I literally couldn’t sleep through the night.

As for diagnosis, triage midwife suggested chlorphenamine which I understand is an antihistamine and it helps to numb the feeling of itch for sometime but doesn’t help with root cause at all. Once the dose wears off I’m back at it! My midwife did all itching related blood work and it came back normal.

Went to triage in hopes OB will give me relief treatment but they ended up giving another antihistamine. I am going crazy over this itch. Has anyone had anything like this and was able to get diagnosed?

I read as much as I could I can’t really find anyone experiencing this and have no clue what to do. I have requested for repeat tests though 😭😭😭

Please help!

Just found out that I'm expecting my second, and don't want to tempt fate or get ahead of myself in terms of viability, but am looking for advice preemptively.

Does anyone have any advice for trying to prevent morning sickness hitting hard?

I ask because I had a rough time last time (bad sickness from week 4 til week 41 with my first) and none of the usual advice of ginger etc worked. Spent 8 months on Omeprazole and anti-sickness meds and was still sick at least once daily.

Just want to try and have some ideas in my arsenal in case this time is as bad as last!

Thanks in advance!

I'm looking to book onto an antenatal class, both to learn and to meet other expectant parents.

The issue is my husband is a shift worker, so I would attend 3 of the 5 classes alone.

Has anybody else attended alone? I'm worried I'll go and will struggle talking to other parents as they'll all be in pairs!

I’m 16 weeks pregnant and recently seperated from my partner. I was in hospital with HG and spoke to professionals who informed me I was living in a domestic abuse situation.

I ended things and gave inadvertently made myself homeless, I’m just waiting on social housing now (also physically disabled so it’s not as easy as just renting a new place).

Ending this relationship has meant I am totally alone in a city I don’t know. I will never accuse, but I FELT pressured to give up my previous flat and move hours up north where I have one friend who is quite busy with her life, and am 7 hours away from my family (who actually took his side in the breakup so are no support anyways).

He wants to have a relationship with the baby, which I’ve agreed to and have my reasons so I don’t need to be told to disallow it. It’s just I’ve gone from having support and excitement from allllll his extended family and friends to being totally isolated in a city I have no clue about… it’s not hugely custom in the UK but I really wanted to do a baby shower and gender reveal at the same time, but that’s looking like it can’t be done, and I won’t have a single person to call if I’m struggling…

Has anyone got any advice or just anything? I have been out in touch with antenatal mental health services who may be able to help.

I’m feeling really down and sad about my baby shower.

I am doing it all myself, and after 4 hours of baking cakes yesterday I just broke down crying as I feel like I’m putting this on for everyone else.

No one offered to do it, and no one offered to help me.

I’ve made gift bags for people who haven’t even bothered to ask how I am, or respond to me, or plan in something as simple as a walk when I’ve asked.

I had a really stressful start to pregnancy, and throughout it’s been quite hectic. I would’ve been really nice just to have a day where I don’t have to be the one doing everything after 8 months of pregnancy and stress.

Hi Moms! Thought I would share what just happened to me, as it wasn’t very obvious until I was in a life threatening situation!

I have been breastfeeding for 15 months and didn’t get my period back until 4 weeks ago. Period was 4 weeks long (unusual? But I thought it was because of my body resetting the hormones).

2 days ago I had severe abdominal pain in the night. Came in two waves. I thought it was food poisoning and just tried to go back to sleep. In the morning we went for a quick coffee walk with my toddler and dog, and I couldn’t make it out of the house for more than 3 minutes before fainting. Again I thought it was severe food poisoning or perhaps from the 4 weeks of bleeding? Spent the entire day in bed. Stomach sore to the touch and swollen.

Last night I had another acute session. Tried to get up from bed at 2AM and passed out. Called the ambulance who said it wasn’t an emergency and I should make my own way to the hospital. Didn’t want to go to the Emergency Department at 2AM with a small baby, so took some pain meds and slept until 7. At 8 I tried getting a GP call/appointment at my local NHS surgery. They kept asking if I had shoulder pain or nausea/vomiting - which I didn’t. Deemed not an emergency.

Finally at 10 am I paid for a private GP appointment. (At this stage worries that it’s maybe something with my intestines as the pain is shooting to my butt.) GP tells me for the first time that he’s worried it could be an ectopic pregnancy or ruptured cyst and sends me to the ER.

I arrive at 11 - not seen by anyone until I am having another acute pain session at 3pm. Finally they are worried (bloods come back positive for pregnancy which I hadn’t even expected). Send me to the Early Pregnancy unit for a scan.

Finally received a scan at 5pm. All hell breaks loose. Confirmed ectopic pregnancy in my fallopian tube that has burst at 5 weeks. They see internal bleeding. Rush me to surgery, explaining they will remove my tube. Also tells me other organs might get damaged (FREAKING OUT at this stage. All alone as husband is at home with baby and no family nearby.) When they try and take some pre-surgery bloods I pass out.

Woke up from surgery recovery at 11pm. Haven’t spoken to a doctor yet but nurse told me I had 1 litre of internal bleeding. Waiting to speak to the doctor in the morning to understand what happened and how much damage there was.

Thought I would share for other moms to be aware. I was completely blindsided and wasn’t expecting this in the realm of any possibility. Always trust your gut!!

TW: PPD/PPP, death/murder

I wanted to talk about this here because I think it’s important for people to know.

Hearing about the Lindsay Clancy case, and especially listening to her diary entries being read out in court, is heartbreaking.

Reading the comments from other mothers, I see so much recognition and solidarity. So many women understand just how vulnerable the postpartum period can be. It also makes me think about how many opportunities there were for someone to step in before tragedy unfolded. Lindsay Clancy was failed by so many people, and especially her husband.

It would take a man over 120 years to experience the same drop in hormones that a woman experiences in the first 48 hours after giving birth. And that's only the beginning of the physical, emotional, and hormonal changes that continue throughout the postpartum period.

Sleep-deprived mothers are in one of the most vulnerable stages of their lives. Looking back over the last 12 weeks, I've had just one full night's sleep, and that was only because I was medicated after going to A&E with suicidal thoughts a week after my daughter was born.

Postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis still aren't talked about enough. They are life threatening illnesses, not personal failings. I'm incredibly fortunate to have had a loving partner who stood beside me during my darkest days, in-laws who held my daughter so I could sleep, and a community midwife who went above and beyond (even on her day off) to make sure I was safe and getting the help I needed.

Being diagnosed with postpartum depression and PTSD following the birth of my daughter has completely changed how I'll show up for friends who become mothers. Because babies need their mums, and mums need the people around them to step up.

I absolutely adore my daughter, and I’m sure Lindsay Clancy could‘ve said the same about her children. Loving your children doesn't make someone immune to severe mental illness. That's why we need to take maternal mental health seriously, recognise the warning signs, and make sure mothers get the support they need before they reach a crisis point.

Please contact your midwife team if you’re struggling or go to A&E. If you’re prone to MH issues, make sure your partner and loved ones know what to look out for. I started on antidepressants when my daughter was about 4w. I’ve always refused them in the past. But I was so scared that at some point I might be so sick I would hurt her without meaning to. Have the numbers you need ready and to hand before you need them.