Weekly chat for the New Year! December 27th - January 2nd, 2009!

[DreamsInDigital]

Holy wow! 2008 is almost over!

Hope you all had a fantastic week. We had some serious snow in my area, bad enough to shut down the whole city for a while. It's melting now, finally but getting back to normal is hard!

[Jenivere]

My birth and post partum supplies came today! I thought they would be a while longer as I only ordered at the beginning of the week but they are here! I'm so glad to have them considering this baby could be here in as little as three weeks!!! Part of my head is thinking 3 weeks?; I'm not ready! But hey it could be another 7 so I'll try not to freak out on myself.

We had a lovely quiet Christmas with just my BIL as a guest for dinner. The kids have spent the past few days just playing with they new things and we haven't done much of anything ourselves.

I'm suffering from the typical symptoms of later pregnancy; some pubic and hip pain, a lot of trouble rolling over in bed along with pain when doing so and just being stiff and sore after laying or sitting for long periods of time. After spending a good deal of the morning in bed and part of early afternoon because walking hurt, I convinced my husband we should all go soak at the local hot springs. It felt great and everyone had a good time. My toddler especially loved the two foot area and spent most of the time walking around it in this funny bent leg walk. She was so happy and it made me smile.

We've have snow storm after snow storm here which is fantastic. But a lot of people live in the valleys around the town and are snowed in so church has been canceled for tomorrow. It's supposed to warm up and even rain tomorrow but then it should freeze so the roads will be nice and icy come monday morning. Wow, I can't believe how late it is, I better get some sleep.

[Larissa]

I am so excited for this week and New Years!!! 2009!!! The year our babies will be born. I am so excited about just getting to January! I can't believe that we are all getting so close.
I have really been through it with emotions during this pregnancy. I have struggled with being pregnant in the first place . . . since this was completely the opposite of planned! I have struggled with putting weight on after I had just lost 25 pounds. I have struggled with the thought of adding another child to our mix. And I have just been all over the map with my moods.
But I am so excited to say that all of those things have just corrected themselves. I am so excited about this baby girl that I can hardly contain myself. My children are excited and their excitement is so contagious. They can't wait to meet their brand new sister . . . something they have never had! My husband is excited about it too . . . I already told him that I know that he's going to want to hog her all to himself, but he's going to have to share her a little! And he just said . . . well, if you already know I am going to do that . . . you should just get used to the idea!
We went up north for a few days to spend some time with family, and we had such a wonderful time. It was very low key, which is good . . . and we really enjoyed it. I don't know where we will live come next year, but I hope to be able to repeat our pattern in following years for Dec. 25th.

I am going to try and make a pinata this week with the children. My children know what they are but have never done one before. So, I thought we could make on Monday, and smack it open on New Years Day for something fun. They will LOVE that!

In a few short days, we can all mostly say . . . our baby will be born next month. (although, potentially some of them will be born in Jan. and I suppose some may be born in March)

[CandyApple]

Larissa - what a great post. I can hear your excitement and I'm right there with you with the flux of emotions over the past few months! Every pregnancy I realize again that we need the full 9 months emotionally to process all that is taking place, like there is a bigger reason than just gestation on why it takes so long. There are so many stages to go through...

We had a great few days with family, too, and I loved the special Christmas time with my boys. Now that we're through with the parties and visiting, I am truly focused and excited for this baby. I'm so ready to meet him. I've been doing exercises, checking out birth announcements and washing little clothes. It seems so strange that there are only 5 wks left (for me) at the most, yet so exciting.

I'm excited, but slightly nervous. This weather is driving me crazy. I put off my last appt, because I didn't want to take another day off school so close to break (we've had a ton of snow days) but my rescheduled date we were snowed in with 8 ft drifts. So now, I've got another appt for tomorrow, and dh just said that the road is washed out on both sides from the massive melt down yesterday! Urgghh! I've lived here 9 years, and never not been able to leave the house with dh's 4WD. Maybe winter is getting it all out of its system so the next month will be clear, but I'm not counting on it. I'll definitly be checking to see what I need to do to be ready of a UC homebirth.

For the time being, I'm content to be home with no extended family obligations and the boys occupied with new toys and games.

[nighten]

Today has been such a great day so far, though I'm exhausted. My dear girl friends gave me an intention/fairy godmother baby shower today. They did this when I was pregnant with Guinevere and each woman gave a gift -- a spiritual/intention gift -- and something small, tangible, to represent the gift, to the baby.

Last time Guinevere got the gifts of compassion, love of music, and good sense of humor, etc.

This time new baby got patience, an adventurous spirit, and the gift of healing touch, etc.

It was precious. Each person wrote a note to the baby in a little book that detailed the gift she was giving (something she herself has as a strength), and I have it and the little tangible gifts set aside for baby to have one day. For now, these things will live in the box with Guinevere's book, and remaining gifts (she gets the ones she's old enough for as she grows into them). All in all it's just been a really neat experience, and I'm very lucky to have such sweet friends who would do this for both my children.

[LionTigerBear]

Larissa, I'm starting to gte more excited, too.

Renee, that sounds so beautiful! How special!

The winter weather acropss the northern part of the nation has been crazy, hasn't it? Things seem to be calming down here, though. The snow is melting, slowly, and the temperature is actually above freezing now I think.

[Vegan Princess]

I just dropped my mom off at the airport so it's back to normal for me. Had a lovely time with her here but walked around a lot looking at stores and checking out parts of the city and visiting people. Now we can sell the spare bed and get the nursery set up! I'm back to work tomorrow for 2 days but looking forward to an easy week and welcoming the year our babes will come. I feel like the baby countdown really begins once the new year hits. I'll have 6 weeks exactly from new year's day! And only 1 more month of going into the office (though I plan on working from home after that) - that seems the most unreal to me!

Anyone else bumping into things with their belly? I've done it 3 times in 3 days. I feel so awful when I do. I think my belly has grown faster than my sense of it in the last couple weeks.

[nighten]

Originally Posted by Vegan Princess

Anyone else bumping into things with their belly? I've done it 3 times in 3 days. I feel so awful when I do. I think my belly has grown faster than my sense of it in the last couple weeks.

Oh gosh YES! Ow. We have our stove knobs in a bowl on top of the counter (else Winnie would be playing with them) and so there are little metal pokey things sticking out. That get me every time now, when I'm near the stove. Ow ow ow.

I also cannot brush my teeth without making a mess down the front of my shirt.

[Mal85]

So, today is my birthday. About 20 minutes ago I officially turned 23 years old. It's strange because when I was a kid I remember thinking about how old I would be when certain things happened... how old would I be when I got married? How old when I graduated college? How old when I had a baby? And 23 is the age I had set in my mind for becoming a mommy... and sure enough I'll be 23 when this little one is born.

It's been a quiet birthday. We went to church this morning. My mom made me a cherry cobbler as my birthday treat. Then we went out to eat with my mom and some friends. Christmas and my birthday have both just felt different this year knowing I have this little one coming. I guess I just used to be very focused on myself, but my birthday just doesn't seem very important this year. I'm more excited for her birthday, which is quickly nearing!

People have started looking at me like they are surprised when I tell them I have 2 months left before my due date. This belly is getting quite large. I look close to term. I'm very short waisted and have no legs to speak of, so I guess the belly has no place to go but out. I'm feeling huge, does it honestly get bigger than this??

[justKate]

Mal85, Happy Birthday! I'm glad you had a good day.

nighten, your intentions shower sounds beautiful. And how wonderful to be able to tell your daughters about these showers when they're old enough to understand.

In a few short days, we can all mostly say . . . our baby will be born next month. (although, potentially some of them will be born in Jan. and I suppose some may be born in March)

Larissa, I can't wait! What a wonderful thing. :

This week is definitely going to be a busy one for me, but I really can't wait for 2009 to be here. I had a little slip this evening and fell "up" the stairs in my building...not hurt but it could have been bad if my hands had been full and I hadn't been able to catch myself. I guess I need to pay more attention and take things a little more slowly!

I hope everyone has a great week.

[nighten]

Happy birthday, Mal!

(Gosh, I feel old. I'll be 40 this month...)

[mommabear207]

i'm poppin' out too! i feel like i must be bigger already this time around but it's hard to tell...it's definitly getting harder to crawl out of bed in the middle of the night

[Bluebird9]

Happy Birthday Mal!! I'm glad you had a good day.

I know it sounds bizarre but I'm glad to know I'm not the only early twenties mom out there. I turned 24 in early November. Where I live most of the new moms are in their 30's! Among all my friends near my age, I am the only one expecting! I know the average new mom in America is aged 24.5, but not in my town, which is basically the liberal small town on the outskirts of a major metropolis. It's funny, because I always identified with these women waiting to have children and having a child at 24 has had me feeling like I was doing it really young, which is silly.

Not making a commentary about when people should have babies, more just commenting on how where you are definitely can skew your perspective one way or the other.

[cagnew]

bluebird:From what I have heard, there is a big advantage to having kids at a younger age because it's easier to keep up with them. I would think that would be true especially for the first child or two. Once the younger ones get older, they can be a big a help with the other ones. Seems like a good system if you plan to have more than one or two kids

I am always hitting my belly on things. My belly button sticks out kind of far and it always gets scraped Oh my gosh- I was on a plane a couple days ago and using the tiny little bathroom was so hard! definitly not made for big preggo bellies!

[Mal85]

Bluebird I live in a small, rural community and many women have their babies young here. Many younger than me. It really depends on socioeconomic status here, which is weird to say but it definitely rings true in my town. People of a higher class tend to wait longer to have kids. I'm older than most of my siblings were when they had their first, but I feel so young! I feel like I'm still a kid, really. So, it's kind of strange to think about being a mom. I think a lot has to do with the fact that we are also the first in our group of friends having a baby. I have a couple of close friends though that are considering it in the very near future and I have definitely been encouraging them to jump on the baby boat with me! I really want to share mommy-hood with them!

Personally, I always wanted to be a young mom. I can definitely see the advantages of waiting until you're older to start having children and did consider it for a brief period of time before we got pregnant. But being a mother is seriously what I was born to do. I feel like I have been preparing for it since I was a child and it's really the only thing I've ever wanted for my life. My husband is also quite a bit older than me...he's getting close to 30 already and he doesn't want to be an old dad so he was definitely ready to start a family.

[Everrgreen]

Happy Birthday Mal!!

I can't sleep because my ribs hurt so bad They only hurt when I lie down but it really sucks. I'm tired, I want to sleep. Ugh...

Okay, I'll stop whining.

I am also very excited about it being 2009 soon. It just makes it seem so much closer to when I'll have my baby boy in my arms. I'm soooooo ready.

I was thinking about something that is kind of strange. A couple of weeks before my ultrasound I had a dream that my baby was a boy and he was born on February 7th. My ultrasound determined that I am having a boy and the ultrasound estimated that my due date should be February 7th. So that alone was freaky, but then the other night I had another dream and in that dream my baby was born and he weighed 7lbs 2oz. So I seem to have some sort of thing with 2 and 7. I have no idea if it actually means anything but I thought it was interesting. Or maybe it isn't and I just need to go to sleep.

[k13]

I was 23 when I had my first baby! I think it's a great time to start. True here too that socioeconomically younger women tend to be poorer/have less education. I was! But I went to school as I went along and it was great. It took me forever and I'm still working on my masters! I had my second baby at 27 and now I'm having my third at 35. I feel like I am finally at an age when I will not be the younger mom in the yoga class, but I'm often the only mom my age who is not having her first baby!

From a physiological point of view 23 is a perfect time to have a baby anyway! Happy Birthday!

I am having trouble sleeping comfortably too. Luckily our bed is king size to accommodate all my strategically arranged pillows

My midwife wants to do an internal this week. I'm nervous about it. Both my other daughters were born 4 weeks early which would make the equivalent for this one in just a few weeks... So I think she wants to see what my cervix is doing. But I'm also worried that an internal could irritate my cervix or something.

[Larissa]

I go back and forth on the age thing and having babies. I have wished many times that I could have started having children much earlier than I did. I had my first at 28. I had my 2nd at 31, my 3rd at 33, and am having my 4th at 35. I have thought many times with this 4th baby, "I'm too old for this!". But on the other hand, we had alot worked out in our minds about how we wanted to raise our children that we didn't really have worked out when I was 24. We would have eventually worked those things out anyway, but it was nice having some direction prior to them joining us.

It's definitely the best time to have babies physiologically, though!! And I know several people who are having babies alot younger these days, and I think it's great!! I would have been having them alot younger if dh had been on board! And even he says we shouldn't have waited so long! (we were married almost 5 years before we had our first)

[AllyRae]

Amelia will be here in 2 weeks now! Holy cow!

Bumping into things...um, yeah. Me and walls and tables haven't gotten along very well lately because my belly keeps hitting them! : I have to be really careful cooking--I burnt my hand taking something out of the oven the other day because I was trying too hard to NOT bump my stomach on the hot oven! :

[LionTigerBear]

I had my first baby when I was 21-- a planned pregnancy, and I was married. (Our honeymoon baby! ) Anyway, everyone thought I was way too young, and it didn't help that I still looked really young-- Just last year I was still getting people telling me they thought I was 14. Now I am turning 26 and I guess my looks are finally catching up with my age-- thank goodness!!!! I'm so sick of people telling me I look too young to have kids.

Oh, my belly keeps bumping into things too! I feel huge but everyone tells me I still look little and "great", whatever that means. I'll take it, though!!! I'm getting excited because it's really not much longer now, is it!!! Less than 7 weeks for me now! Oh, and I'm happy about my weight gain too. I've gained about 35 pounds so far, give or take. So I'm right on target to hit 40 at 40 weeks.