Pregnancy diary part 4: I had multiple dreams about my baby’s sex before I found out gender

Imogen Bailey has revealed the strange dream she had while pregnant - and why she chose to find out the gender of her baby.

Every Sunday you’ll get to hear more about Imogen’s pregnancy journey.

This is the fourth instalment of Imogen’s pregnancy diary.

Part one: Why I was dumbstruck when I found out I was pregnant

Part two: The first doctor’s appointment, blood tests and dating scan

Part three:Photo reveals why pregnancy announcement didn’t go to plan

The 12-week scan is the first major ultrasound in your pregnancy where the baby’s development and the position of the placenta is checked.

It is also part of the screening process for any chromosomal abnormalities, and can be used in conjunction with the non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) which is conducted in the weeks before your 12-week scan.

The ‘percept NIPT’ is a genetic test of your pregnancy to estimate the chance a chromosome condition may be present.

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It’s done through a blood test that you pay for and it costs $449 and is not covered by Medicare or private health insurance. It’s not a compulsory test, but my doctor had recommended it to us.

It tests for things like Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome and Patau syndrome as well as:

•other less common conditions caused by changes to the number of chromosomes

•conditions caused by missing or extra pieces of chromosomes and

•sex chromosome conditions caused by changes to the number of X and Y chromosomes

My results came back low risk for these conditions.

But we found out what sex baby we were having, thanks to the testing of the sex chromosomes in the NIPT.

Since I’d been pregnant, I’d had three dreams that I was having a baby girl.

Back in the day, before I went on the pill, I used to have dreams about getting my period and it leaking all over my clothes and then usually about two or so days later, my period would come.

Not just a white blob anymore! The baby’s side profile in the 12-week ultrasound.

So in my mind, the dreams about me having a baby girl were similar to my dreams about my period – it was like my body telling me that I was pregnant with a girl.

One of the dreams was actually about the 12-week scan; I’d dreamt that Michael had somehow gotten the baby out of me and was holding her up in front of me and she was dressed in this little fluffy pink jumper. I started panicking because the baby needed to be inside me for the scan, so I was desperately trying to put her back inside me (through a C-section cut in my stomach) – jumper and all – before the doctor came to do the ultrasound. Weird, I know.

In another dream I had, the baby was named Evie. I can’t quite recall the third dream, but Michael also had dreamt about a baby girl.

So you can imagine my surprise when the NIPT results said I was pregnant with a baby boy!

I was shocked because I was so convinced I had a sixth sense! Michael said that we both were probably dreaming about baby girls because the most recent babies we’d been around had all been girls.

Of course, we were both thrilled with the news of our boy. Although because I’d been so sure about the girl, I’d only really been thinking about girls’ names – so that threw a spanner in the works.

Side profile of baby holding his hand up in front of his neck.

At the 12-week scan, the baby looked far more ‘baby’ like. You could make out his head and some of his limbs, although it was still difficult to make out other features.

Mostly, I was in awe of how my body – without any intervention from me aside from some dietary changes – could create a whole other human from scratch. Like it just knew what to do and how to do it.

That was mind blowing.

My body – just casually – had made a brain, a beating heart, organs, bones, arteries and veins – as well as pregnancy accessories like a placenta and umbilical cord – with no direction or conscious awareness from me! WILD.

I also was in awe of ultrasound equipment! How does that all work? How can this machine see through my body and into the baby’s body with that level of detail?

If you’re curious, ultrasound machines direct high frequency sound waves inaudible to the human ear at internal body structures being examined. The reflected sounds, or echoes, are recorded to create an image that can be seen on a computer screen – the more you know!

The baby’s left foot, viewed from underneath.

My first hospital appointment was basically a screening/intake appointment which went over the results of the blood tests I’d already done and my family’s health history.

As Penny (Michael’s mum) is a nurse/nurse educator, she’d connected me with a student midwife named Jordyn who accompanies Michael and I to our appointments at the hospital. I think if you have the opportunity to have an additional information resource like a student, then it’s worth taking up because knowledge is power!

Even for mundane questions, Jordyn has been great as she’s given us extra insight into what to expect at the hospital appointments, which has helped us decide if Michael needs to take time off to come with me. I expect that as I progress, the questions I’ll have of Jordyn will become more complex.

Back when I’d decided with my GP what hospital I’d be going to, I was able to choose the type of care I wanted to receive.

I’d read that continuity of care – where you have the same team of people, be it midwives, an obstetrician etc – accompany you through the whole process, led to better outcomes for mum and bub, so that’s the type of care I’d gone with.

As the intake appointment was more of a general overview session, it wasn’t with the midwives I’d eventually go on to be with.

However, the doctor was very thorough and referred me for an early gestational diabetes test – as both my mum and nana had it during their pregnancies – and also instructed me to start taking low-dose aspirin (100mg) every day.

There are studies that have been done, and that are being done, around taking low-dose aspirin as a way to help prevent preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a serious condition in pregnancy characterised by high maternal blood pressure and protein in the urine.

Preeclampsia is characterised by high maternal blood pressure and protein in the urine.

It is the most common serious medical complication of pregnancy, affecting around five to eight per cent of all pregnancies in Australia. One to two per cent of cases are severe enough to threaten the lives of both the mother and her unborn child.

Currently, the only way to cure preeclampsia is to deliver the baby and the placenta, which may mean labour has to be induced early or prematurely.

I went for the gestational diabetes test – also known as the glucose tolerance test – the next week. Your local pathologist is able to carry out this test for you, you just have to make a booking.

The test runs for about two hours and you’ll have three blood tests over the course of that time. You also have to fast for about 10-12 hours beforehand, but you’re allowed to drink water.

Your first blood test is carried out on your fasted blood – the results of this blood sample will serve as your baseline.

Then you drink a glucose solution – I thought it tasted like flat lemonade – which contains 75 grams of glucose.

One hour later, you’ll have another blood test. Then an hour after that, you’ll have your third and final blood test.

Some women find it difficult to drink the glucose drink and can feel quite sick afterwards. I only felt a bit ‘meh’ for the first hour after drinking it.

The results of that test came back all clear, which was a relief, however I’ll still have to take the test at the normal time frame which is between 26 and 28 weeks.

Originally published as Pregnancy diary part 4: I had multiple dreams about my baby’s sex before I found out gender