Well, apparently, there really is no time for writing at the moment… The last two weeks have once again been full of emotions… Not only was hubby home for 4 days (to celebrate the national day of the beautiful country that has welcomed us one year ago already!), we also welcomed Luca’s new granny (a German nanny of a certain age) in our family. Little L had his first operation with full anesthesia (all went well but I am more than glad that it is behind us now…) and I rushed to Al Zahra emergency section one night… The latter was not really planned I have to say. I’ll tell you more about it in this post.

The symptoms I am supposed to have in weeks 19 & 20 (and how I am really feeling)

• Dizziness: Apparently, a lot of pregnant women feel dizzy, especially in the second trimester. This is due to many reasons, including the low blood pressure and low levels of iron in the blood. Thankfully, I haven’t experienced dizziness so far. At least, not very often.
• Leg pain: No real pain but my legs definitely feel much heavier than usual, especially after a long day spent running after little L and carrying him…
• Stretch marks: No sign of stretch marks for now and I am really happy about this. Maybe the fabulous products I am using have something to do with it (see previous post ;-)
• Itchy skin: I’ve experienced this a lot during my first pregnancy but not that much in my second one. Well, it might still come. Let’s wait and see.

 

Little Miss M
We had a special meeting in week 19, little Miss M and me. I was happy to see her on the screen of my doc, of course, but I would have preferred to see her under other circumstances… But the most important thing is that she seemed to be perfectly fine. She has grown so much again and is now nearly the size of a banana! Apparently, our little miss can now clearly hear my voice (she will know all the nursery rhythms I am singing for little L before even being born haha). I should talk more to her but it has been so busy the last days or even weeks that I barely had the time to sit down and spend a moment only concentrating on the two of us. Will make that a priority on my to-to-list: spend more time with Miss M ;-)

  

This week’s topic

Take care of yourself…
…even though you might think that you don’t have time to do so. And even if it is you’re second pregnancy and you might think that all will be fine anyways.

When I was pregnant with little L I wanted to do everything right. I paid attention to every little sign that could indicate a potential problem. But when you’re pregnant for the second time and have a toddler to look after, well, everything is a bit different. In general, you are more easygoing. After all, you’ve all done it before – and everything went well. I am not as worried as I was in my first pregnancy. I know that I shouldn’t carry any heavy things. But my 16-months old doesn’t know about it. Or rather, he doesn’t care. So, when he wants to be picked up and carried, I do it. Because I love him (and because I don’t have the choice anyways haha).

When you’re pregnant with your second child you also have much less time to think about the little bean growing inside your body. Of course, you’re excited but you don’t think about it 24/7 (which I feel I did when I was expecting little L ;-) )… But then, suddenly, something happens that reminds you that you’re carrying another human being and that you should pay a bit more attention to yourself…

The last weeks have been super busy. Moving flats, an ill toddler at home who hasn’t gone to nursery for weeks and who wasn’t sleeping that well, a new granny arriving, a first operation for Luca… There was not much time for sleep or a nap during the day. Then, one evening, I saw blood in my urine. (Sorry for the details…. I was hesitating to writing about it but then, I thought it might be good to share this experience as well as it is also part of the whole pregnancy journey). When I saw it, I was a bit scared at first but not too much to be honest as I felt no pain whatsoever. I called my gynecologist to ask her if there was any risk for the baby and any reason to worry. She told me to go directly to an emergency section as all doctor cabinets were already closed and the long National Holiday weekend was about to come up.

Even at that point, I was still more or less relaxed, mostly due to the fact that I had no pain. Our new granny and me went to Al Zahra Emergency section while my husband stayed home with little L (it was the first day after our granny’s arrival in Dubai… Not exactly the welcome package we had planned for her but what can you do…). At this point, I would like to underline how well organized Al Zahra Emergency section is (at least, that’s the impression I got). Staff is very friendly and knowledgeable as well. Plus, they were constantly in contact with my gynecologist, Dr. Anni Engberg Faelling. That’s something I really appreciated.

We hesitated quite a long time before choosing a hospital where I would give birth. If you want your own gynecologist to be present at that moment, it’s quite important which hospital you choose as gynecologists don’t do deliveries in just any hospital. We considered three hospitals in Dubai: American Hospital, Mediclinic City Hospital and Al Zahra Hospital. All of them give you the possibility to visit their respective maternity sections, which is quite useful and nice.

Here are the timings:

Al Zahra Hospital
Saturday afternoons and Wednesday evenings
For exact timings call 04 378 6666
On appointment only

Mediclinic City Hospital
There are 3 session every Friday, at 11am, 2pm, 4pm
No need to make an appointment
For more info call 04 435 9999

American Hospital
When I called they told me that there was no maternity tour organized but that we could come and have a look at the maternity and talk to a nurse. Very friendly staff on the phone :-)
For more info call 04 336 7777

We had a look at the maternity sections of Al Zahra and City Hospital. Both of them were satisfying, really, although the one of Al Zahra seems to give more options for women who want to go for a natural birth. They even have Dubai’s first water birth facility, which is part of a new suite offering a unique environment for hypnobirthing and active birth! Read more about it in Sassymama’s article and on Gulfnews.com.

But this was not the only reason why we finally opted for Al Zahra Hospital. It’s also much closer to Dubai Marina where we live. You can of course reach Dubai Health Care City in less than half an hour from here but this depends on the traffic… And who knows when little Miss M will decide to say hello! It might just as well be at rush hour haha :-)

So, well, back to last week’s events.

We spent the whole evening at the emergency section of Al Zahra Hospital doing different tests, talking to different nurses and doctors. I was much calmer than I would have been during my first pregnancy, for sure. Also, talking to our new granny helped. I even went home before we got the results of the tests as I was pretty sure that everything was ok.

It’s only when the doctor called me one hour after arriving at home and told me that I had a severe urinary tract infection (UTI) that might have reached my kidneys that I got concerned. He asked me to come back immediately and prescribed antibiotics and a check with my gynecologist as soon as possible after the bank holiday…

Hopefully, this stupid UTI has gone away by now, after a 5-days treatment with antibiotics… I will have a second check with my gynecologist soon. Let’s wait and see.

I wanted to share this experience for several reasons. First, I had no idea that you could get a urinary tract infection and have no symptoms whatsoever. Usually, UTI is very painful, so, I was not expecting this. This makes it so much more dangerous… So, drink loads and loads of water when you’re pregnant (and even when you’re not ;-) ) and go to the toilet as soon as you feel the need to do so to prevent it (no more “first, I finish preparing my toddler’s lunch and then I will go” and then you forget about it). You can also drink cranberry juice or take cranberry capsules.

Second, listen to your body. I had some light pain in the lower part of my tummy and in the back, felt a bit tired and had a headache before discovering the blood in the urine. But I completely ignored these symptoms as I thought that they meant nothing at all. Just a bit too much stress the last days. Well, fact is that you should never ignore this kind of pain when you’re pregnant (have a look here to discover, which symptoms you should watch out for).

 

Must haves for Miss M:
Let’s continue with something a bit more joyful ;-) One of the things I am really looking forward to is to go shopping for little Miss M. Of course, there are really nice clothes for boys as well – but dressing a baby girl simply is something different. Just have a look at this super cute top and bloomer from Jules & Juliette (music box from Annabel Kern)! Can’t wait to start the shopping :-) You can have a look at Jules & Juliette’s beautiful collections the next time you walk across Ripe Market. Or simply check out #julesandjuliette on Instagram or on .

xxx Tani