How long would you wait..........

to contact your midwife or go to the emergency room if you hadn't felt bubs move in a while????

I know this may be a sensitive thing to ask, but was just curious what others had been told or what you felt you would do in that situation.

For me, (when I was pg) if I hadn't felt anything for a couple of hours I would have a big drink of really cold water or eat something sugary and lie down for a while and see what happened, and everytime bubs would move. I think if it got to 5-6 hours I would do something more proactive like ring my MW. Of course for me this is hindsight so cannot say as I was never in this situation.

The reason I ask is someone I know didn't feel her baby move and waited more than 24 hours as she thought it was 1-2 days and didn't want to be a bother I guess. They said the MW never told them when they should contact her or anybody about it.

Tragically the baby has now passed away and I guess they are trying to get their heads around all that has happened in the last couple of weeks, and asked me today what I would have done.

I really feel for them and am finding it hard with not long ago having my baby and never dreamt something horrible like this would ever happen to someone I know. It has been a very sad couple of weeks.

i'm sorry if this upsets anyone.

I think for a normal pregnancy it could be 6 times in 12 hours. I could be wrong but that's what comes to mind from discussions with my MW.

However at 28 weeks pregnant with twins, I was put under the 'High-Risk' OB team at Wgtn and I was told to monitor movements and to see if I got on avg 4 movements every couple of hours. If after a few hours of no movements, I was to drink a glass of water or a fizzy drink to see if the bubs would move.
If after this I didn't have any movements I was to ring my MW or call into delivery suite.

We did call into delivery suite one night and they were very helpful. By the time we were half way there I could feel both babies move but we decided to continue in just to put our minds at ease.

My MW never said, but I read an article in Little Treasures that stressed the importance of baby movements and it talked about 10 movements in 12 hours, and if you were at all concerned, to contact your MW.

Daniel went on a movement strike at about 26 weeks and I got really paranoid. Nothing worked - poking him, putting my feet up, cold water, curry ...I kept talking myself out of it "don't be silly, it's nothing, don't worry the MW", but after 8pm (when it got dark) my paranoia increased and I ended up ringing the MW (not able to get through) so I rang the hospital and burst into tears on the woman who answered the phone. They contacted my MW and I went in for monitoring - of course as soon as I got in the car he started moving, but I remember that horrible feeling of fear.

I know that for me, it's easy to say "of course I'd ring my MW if I was worried" but I was also so concerned about seeming like a stupid paranoid 1st time mum (which I was) and I didn't want to bother them.

How incredibly awful for your friends, and it must be a hideous "what if ...., if only we'd ..." process they must be going through

I would post here first... and I did!

I dont want to bother my mw, which is silly. If I hadnt felt bubs at all through the day I would ring her in the afternoon though. My midwife hasnt told me what to do, she just asks me if I have been having movements.

In my little book it does have a whole page dedicated to movements and a kick chart to start at 33 weeks. It says if baby is much less active and doesnt respond to food, drink, rest or activity; or has been a little less active for 2 days you should contact your LMC.

Its so hard because you dont want to panic over everything but you want to be cautious.

I am so sorry your friend went through this.

Slight hijack, when they talk about movements do them mean literally each movement or each cluster/group of movements.

I could feel 10 kicks in an hours but they could have been in 1-3 groups of movements. I was taking it as groups... Just curious as I am not sure what they mean.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I think they are still in shock that this has happened to them and trying to find reasons etc.

I think that for me I was just a little paranoid that something couls happen so made sure I kept note of times of movements etc, so I am probably at the other end of the scale .

I really can't think of anything worse to happen. Loosing one so late in a pgcy or still born would be the end of me. I really don't think I could cope.

Not sure about the cluster movements melnel. I guess if they were very close together I would class it as one but if it was kick space kick space then I would count it as two.