Weekly chat thread Dec 20th-26th - Page 5

[LionTigerBear]

Woo hoo!!! I just got everything on my list done (except the laundry of course!) I feel much better-- much more cheerful-- and positively BOUNCY! : This Red Bull stuff is crazy.

[Nillarilla]

I had an emergency c-section with my son. My advice would be to pump before hand if possible in case the babe is hungry/has low blood sugar post surgery. Just in case they don't allow her to breastfeed before going to recovery. My mw recovered me in a room so that was nice but ds was whisked away to the NICU. Have them bring a wheelchair to her room so she can get around if walking is too painful.
Take it easy and don't lift anything except the baby. The incision is fragile and if it opens or she gets an underlying hematoma it can take longer and be more painful for healing.
My last piece of advice would be celebrate. Ask for music in the delivery room. Bring a cloth soaked in lavender or some other EO to breathe so you don't have to smell the sterile surgical room. Don't treat it like a surgery, treat the experience as a birth.

[Mainstream Hippie]

mama2simon and Nillarilla, thank you for your posts!

She is now into full-on preparations- finishing up shopping, cooking for freezer meals, all of that good stuff. She very thankfully has tons of local support- good friends and able-bodied family. And her OB/hospital choice are relatively natural-birth friendly. Unfortunately, they have indicated to her that having the baby on her chest right after his birth is not possible- they will take him to the warmer and do APGARS, weighing, and bath. But that he will stay in recovery with her in his bassinet/warmer, and transport in that back to her room. I found a fantastic birth blog about empowering women in regards to birth choices including in surgical births. I told her she could definitely fight some of that, if she wanted to. Like the bath. I know they really wanted to bath my baby when I had her at the same hospital, but I said no, and what could they say to that? They told me they would have to wear gloves. I said, uh, okay, then wear gloves. They said the warmer would have to stay in my room until after the bath. Okay, that sounds fine. Eventually, they mentioned a shortage of warmers and really needing it elsewhere, so I said I'd go ahead and bathe her. It was about a day after her birth, anyway.

She should be able to nurse the baby in recovery, but I will make sure she asks.

[AKislandgirl]

RabbitDancer, I'm so sorry about the drama your IL's have created. It is completly unreasonable not to put your dogs away if they can't be around people. that drives me crazy. I have two dogs and if people are uncomfortable around them we put them in the yard or garage. It's that simple. They are dogs and shouldn't be given priority over family and friends that we invite to our house. I think the point about making your own traditions is excellent! Focus on that and have a wonderful holiday with you DH and kiddos!

I have to wrap Christmas gifts tonight and do some cleaning of the house. I premade the main part of Christmas dinner last weekend so that I can just pull it out of the freezer tomorrow. I'll make some shrimp appetizers and some cookies and be done. DH gets to do the rest and our friends are bringing the rest of the food. It should be fun and relaxing. I'm looking forward to it.

Now, I'm trying to pretend to work today. I wish I had taken the day off because I've done nothing productive today. Thankfully we get off 2 hours early today. DH gets 3 though...so jealous! Happy Holidays to all of you. It's exciting to think that next Christmas we will all be celebrating with our new little ones!

[Mal85]

LionTigerBear I'm glad you got yourself going! I've been feeling the same way today. Not so much tired, but bored. Usually, DH is off work from today until after the New Year and we really enjoy spending this time together. This year, though, he started a new job and is working until 5 today and will work all week next week except for New Year's Day. It's kinda lonely spending Christmas Eve day alone when I'm so used to festivities by now. I should have left myself with things to do today to pass the time. My husband's aunt has been here all week working on the mural in the baby's room, and having someone here has made me feel like I needed to be doing something. So, today I just don't have much to do to make the time pass... I feel like I'm a kid waiting for Christmas again!

I really want it to be next Christmas already... with a little one crawling around getting into everything! I can't wait for that!

On a happy note, my birthday is in just a few days! Which means my mom is making me a yummy cherry cobbler and a birthday dinner. What I love about this Christmas is it is just the beginning of the festivities. I have three showers coming up in January, then I can really get in the swing of nesting and preparing for this baby to get here!

Oh and RabbitDancer I also do not blame you at all! Last summer my nephew was bit in the face by my sister's dog. The dog was normally very good with the kids, but honestly the boys had been very mean to her and made her afraid of them. It was a hard way to learn the lesson of animal cruelty, but all the kids in the family now know that you have to treat animals with kindness just as you do humans. His bottom lip was mauled and permanently scarred. He also has a small scar under his eye from it. Like I said, this was normally a very patient dog. If there is any indication that a dog could cause harm to anyone, the owners should take responsibility to ensure everyone's safety... especially their own grandchildren!

[BathrobeGoddess]

Originally Posted by RabbitDancer

Bathrobe Goddess, 45 stitiches -- how SCARY! That is awful. Did you daughter pull through okay in the long-term? How long ago was this? I'm so sorry to hear it. Yes, even otherwise safe dogs can feel threatened enough in an accident to bite like that. They can't exactly talk to us to tell us what's wrong, and children, especially, are accident-prone. I was also bitten in the face by the family dog around age 4 (again, I swear I'm not making this up...), though it wasn't nearly that severe, "just" a puncture wound to my upper lip after I'd gotten too close when the dog was enjoying a bone from the butcher shop. Then again, this dog was another one who arrived with obvious unknown emotional baggage and my parents never did anything to work with her or train her to be good with kids, and I mostly kept my distance from her growing up. I've never been close to a dog, so I suppose it's no surprise that I'm SO not a "dog person" today.

Blah.

dd is almost 14 but she was scared of dogs for a while..I think what really helped her was that she was around the dog that bit her until she died at the ripe age of 12.

[Jenivere]

Uggh! I wouldn't go to their house either. It's completely unreasonable of them to not put the dog away while your there. Their grandchildren's safety should matter more to them than their dog.

I went to drop off a small gift to the friend who gave me all the cloth diapers and she gave me a couple more newborn covers as well as a bag of newborn clothing including sleepers, gowns and long sleeved onesies. They are all of her neutral stuff and quite cute. She is hoping we have a girl so she can give us more. I have a lady at church that wants us to have a boy so she can give us clothes. Plus I already have clothing from my previous children so this baby will lack for nothing. Plus since she is having no more kids I am free to give or sell the diapers when I'm done with them so maybe I can find another mom who wants some but can't afford any. That makes me happy.

[Vegan Princess]

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!! Hope everyone has a relaxing and wonderful day.

Cindy

[nighten]

Merry Christmas. I'm exhausted. Was up until 3am putting together a train table for my daughter. Now I know why my teetotaler parents always looked hungover in Christmas morning pictures: they'd gotten no sleep the night before.

It was worth it, but holy moley I'm tired and my back hurts. I really hope I sleep tonight.

[Everrgreen]

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday!

We had a good day but very busy. Although I did sneak a nap in the afternoon which was nice . One of my Christmas presents was a gift certificate for a 1 hour pregnancy massage. I'm going to schedule it for around 36 weeks. I've never had a massage before (well, a professional one)so I'm really looking forward to it.

DH and I leave in 1 week for our trip! I'm so excited. I think I've mentioned this before but we're going to a resort about 3 hours from here for a week. It's going to be so nice and relaxing. I've been looking forward to it more than Christmas. And once that is over I'll just have a few more weeks to get ready for the baby!

[triscuitsmom]

Hi Mamas, I hope you all had a good Christmas yesterday for those who were celebrating it (and for those who weren't I hope you had a good day too )

It's been a rough couple of days for me. My blood pressure has been insane. It keeps bottoming out on me... I have never had high or low blood pressure, always very stable and normal even through my whole pregnancy with T (which was over 43 weeks long ) and labour and delivery. This time though it goes from being normal to hypotensive very quickly and when it bottoms out I am just flattened. My head won't focus on anything and I feel like utter crap.

Then on Christmas eve day I had that going on plus I was having contractions that were early labourish (as opposed to BHish). I ended up calling my midwife at quarter to 10 on Christmas eve and she came over and checked us out.

My blood pressure was the lowest it had ever been. She checked my cervix, and it's changing from what it was before. I'm starting to dilate, and it's mushy soft. I'm measuring two weeks ahead at this point for fundal height (which explains why I'm feeling huge these days )

Basically we wait and see and hope that baby hangs in for a few more weeks. I did this with my son as well, but with bedrest I got to term (and beyond ) It did freak me out though when she was talking about how I just needed to make it to 37 weeks and I could have my beautiful homebirth (which she knows I badly want) and I realized that was only 3.5 weeks away. That's so soon! (Which is a blessing since my body is starting to get ready early, but also a little overwhelming)

Anyway, yesterday was a busy day and today we have more family Christmas to go to. I'm sitting as much as possible and letting others do the work. It's weird for me, but if it means an inside baby then it's worth it

I hope everyone else is well today

[heinz28]

Hey Ladies,

I haven't posted in a while now but I've been keeping up (sporadically). Glad to hear everyone had a good Christmas. I'm still at my in-laws in Michigan.

I've really enjoyed the thread about what needs to be done in January. Like many of you, I'm also due on Feb. 12 so it's really starting to feel 'real' now.

My belly is large now and very pointy. I'm also moving slower but still feel okay. It's hard to believe that I still have several more weeks ahead.

Is anyone having problems with constipation and painful BMs? Any easy remedies you could offer would be greatly appreciated!

Other than that, Happy New Year!

[nighten]

heinz, I take magnesium every night (for sleep help, to prevent leg cramps, and to help reduce BH, which I have lots of) and that counters the iron I take, really well.

[Unconventional1]

Lots and lots of water, and good fiber- fruit, whole grain/rice, etc. I only have issues when I have too little of those two things. But lately I have been eating a lot of legumes and nuts for protein, which are also awesome sources of fiber. I drink about 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of water a day as well though!

Good luck.

[Queen of my Castle]

Just popping in- a lot has been going on around here with family (sister) visiting and my dad's broken ankle. It's been a crazy Christmas.

Lots to catch up on!

I'm the princess with the pea- I just can't sleep, everything and anything keeps me awake. And today I've been uncomfortable, I can feel cramping in my lower belly- I think my muscles and ligaments are stretching, and my pelvis seems sore. I'm getting uncomfortable. And I feel puffy.

[BathrobeGoddess]

Our bucket seat is on its way! I am so glad to have the choice made and purchased! I also got my dd a new True fit since her Britax will expire in March. They had it at target so I was actually able try it out before I bought it! A new novelty for me and carseats! Whoo hooo!

Birth kit is also on its way...34 weeks and counting! :

[AKislandgirl]

Hi everyone. Hope everyone's holidays have been great. we had a great Christmas with friends coming over to help us celebrate. It was mellow and relaxing and I really enjoyed it.

I can't believe how soon this baby will be here! I'm almost at the 5 week mark. I was just thinking about how long we tried for this baby and how grateful I am to be bringing her into this world so soon. I really can't wait! If we could pinpoint her name then I'd say we were ready but that has yet to be decided! I think we'll be going in with our top 3 and decide after she is born.

I'm planning to purchase my post partum supplies here in the next couple of weeks. Nursing bras and pads. What do you mama's recommend for pads? Also, anything else you think might be nice to have on hand. Being remote I will have to order most things online so any heads up would be great...no running to the local target for me. Thanks!