Finding out

Wow where do I Start? well how about my 'Name' it comes from my little girls most favorite thing in the world! 'Peppa Pig' Tia started calling me Mummypig about three months ago, then followed Daddypig for her Dad my amazing fella Chris! oh and let's not forget our family pet dog 'Candypig' who happens to be a big, 'well actually huge' Rottweiler...... a well huge pathetic Rottweiler lol

So there's Me, Chris, Tia  and my biggest inspiration for writing my Blog, My beautiful baby boy !
Blake Tyler James... born 17.06.2011

After Tia we decided to have another baby it was a big decision as my first pregnancy was tough as I suffered with OC a rare liver condition brought on by pregnancy hormones.... this condition plays havoc with your Bile Acids, and liver function pregnancy hormones make your body produce excess Bile that can then leak into the blood stream, if the bile was to pass through to the placenta it could harm the baby, If untreated it could result in stillbirth.  the main symptom is itching in your hands and feet.
We went ahead and within a few months I fell pregnant, so I prepared myself for the dreaded itch! 'this is one of the symptoms for OC that can be so bad it makes you want to find a tree just like Balou from jungle book as the itch got me everywhere while being pregnant with Tia, nightmare is not the word! lol

As I thought the condition did surface at about 12weeks in bouts. We had our 12 week scan and all was great... that's when the excitement kicks in and you realize....
 'Yep I'm going to have to go through labor again!!' Time went by and as it was drawing nearer to my 20 week scan I had a feeling something might be wrong I even confided in a work colleague she reassured me everything would be fine... it still niggled at the back of my mind. I was so sure something was going to be revealed to me.

The day arrived and we all got in the car and traveled the 45 minute drive to the hospital, that feeling was still there! so I was very nervous. We booked in at reception and we waited.. and waited... then waited so more there were only one other couple left waiting to go in people were going in that had arrived after us!... then my name was finally called! I nearly jumped out of my skin!
went in got comfy on the bed , then I was attacked by the warm sticky gel! I was hoping to be in and out but our 'Spud' as we nicknamed him was not playing ball! so we had to go and have a cup of tea then go back!!!

Twenty minutes later we went back, all was set up again it was the baby's face that needed checking, and he finally moved his hand.. that's when I saw the shadow ..then I saw the sonographers face fall in to a concerned expression! but I knew what she was going to say, and she did

" I am so sorry to have to tell you this but I suspect your baby has a Cleft Lip and that could also mean the hard palate may be affected also" my reply was  "Its OK Then what happens now?" I think she was expecting me to cry... but my instincts had prepared me for this news. She asked would we like to see the consultant so he could explain things to us in more detail? but to be honest I just wanted to go home! She told me to make an appointment to see my consultant on the Wednesday... we did then when home. The next day I was bombarded with calls from different midwives and it was quite a shock! so many people were saying how sorry they were...why were people apologizing? it could be worse! I then got a call from the specialists they wanted to see me on the Wednesday and they cancelled my appointment with the consultant for me. I became very emotional and rang my Auntie Dawn for advise, it helped so much she calmed me down and told me not to worry.

So many emotions consume you, sadness, anger, guilt, but you get over them all in different stages! at first I wondered if it was my fault, but deep down I knew it wasn't anybodies fault. throughout the pregnancy my Chris was brilliant especially when the OC really kicked in at 26 weeks! the condition was wrose second time around. It was so frustrating, there were lots of scary trips to the hospital for different reasons we had two specialist scans at the Princess Ann in Southampton (where they film one born every minute) to find out more about the Cleft. At one point it looked like he had a deformed eye, and I was like 'OMG he's got something wrong with his eye!' the specialis laughed and said 'No Jemma don't worry he's just pressed up against your womb!!' So well I left feeling a  little silly after that! how embarrassing!.

We were told our baby had a Unilateral Cleft Lip to the left & the Hard and Soft Palate was possibly affected also, the Cleft had affected his gum as well it was at this scan that we decided to find out the sex as we wanted to focus on something new, we were delighted to be told it was a blue!