September Mommies - Feb. thread! - Page 13

[shannon0218]

Keeping cats off stuff I may be able to help with! Tinfoil works like a charm. I would suggest taking the moses basket out a couple months before baby arrives and just leave a sheet of tinfoil in it--cat's hate the way it feels on their feet. Another thing that works is saran wrap, but I find the tinfoil works better. It's best to get cats used to the idea that they don't WANT to be somewhere, rather than that they aren't allowed to be there, otherwise you wouldn't be the first to discover your precious cat peeing on babies belongings. KWIM?? The other thing is discover now how your cat reacts to catnip (not toys just the dried leaves) Try putting a 1/2 tsp into his food everyday, many cats just get totally mellow (some like mine turn into raving lunatics) but if you have a stoner--put him on catnip a week before the homebirth and leave him on it for at least the first month.
Hope that helps (I guess my veterinary background has given me some experience with cat behavior)

[adventuregirl]

Good morning!

Greenbeing, don't even worry, I'm sure it was a wonderful experience and you feel good about it, that's all that matters! We're not going to judge you. If we were on the board Jen has told us about, I'd probably be called a bad mom or something for not wanting to do it.

3under3, congrats on your 13th week! That is so awesome! Yahoo!!!

Shannon, thanks for the great advice on dog intro to baby. I had heard about giving less attention, but not the pulling and grabbing thing. That makes a lot of sense, and I think would be a great idea for my dog. He gets afraid of kids if they are aggressive toward him at all. He usually runs away and once barked at a little one who backed him into a corner while screaming. Not good, I know, happened really fast while the adults were otherwise occupied. But now we have something to work with, thanks!

Jen, sounds like a great appt! Have fun gaining that weight eating all the yummy good-baby-growing food you want! We don't own a scale either. I actually don't really even know my pre-pg weight. Last time I was weighed was at my 8 week appt for my last pg back in August, I guess that's good enough.

Well it turns out my mw was away last week, so I heard from her yesterday. I have my first appt next Tuesday! I am very excited!

Happy beating baby hearts and calm tummies to all!

Remember how I said it was -20 here last week? Well its supposed to be in the high 60's today, yes ABOVE zero. Colorado has some crazy-ass weather! I'm going for a hike with the pooch!

[sistermama]

Oh the pregnancy guilt!!!! Ds has been eating WAY to many snacks (I can't just eat in front of him!) and is now addicted to Teletubbies. Dh finally got a job but leaves at 5:00 in the afternoon so I have been nursing ds to sleep while watching quality children's programming like Dr. Phil and American Idol (didn't it suck last night?). I can make it all up in a couple months when I feel better, right?

On a more positive note, today is my third day taking Prilosec OTC and I am starting to feel like a human being again. This pregnancy is so different from my last. With ds I was very nauseous but I didn't have any heartburn/reflux. This one I don't have any actual nauseous, but burn all day and night without the meds. Maybe a girl this time????

[boobykinmamma]

Bumping us us from page 2!

Finally getting a chance to post! I've been feeling pretty crappy for the last couple of days--more queasy and exhausted. I feel like I have to eat around the clock, which alleviates the queasies for a little while, but then they come back. My dd is still nursing like crazy, so I guess I'm still burning lots of calories that I need to replace, plus feed the new little bean growing within. I'll be 8 weeks tomorrow, and my belly is definitely poochy--not so anyone would notice, but it's definitely rounder. We started taking belly photos last week, and will continue to do so every week.

I am craving watermelon like crazy, but of course it's not in season, so it's still really pricey. My first trimeseter with dd was in the summer, and for awhile there I ate about half a watermelon a day. I might just have to splurge...

Shannon--Hi! Good to hear from you. It sounds like you're on your way to figuring out what's going on with your body. I wish you all the best!

Regarding the various posts about u/s, guilt/ whether to have one--I've been thinking about this whole issue, haven't had much time to research, though. With ds, our mw used the doppler at all appointments from about 10 weeks on, but seldom for more than a minute. With dd (different midwife) it was the same, but we did have an u/s at 16 weeks to check that growth was fine--ds was born tiny but full term, so we had a reason, I think, to make sure she was fine, which she was. We would have found out the sex, but she didn't reveal it! This time I feel fine about the doppler--it's very brief every time. I might decide to switch to the fetoscope after 20 weeks or so, or to hold off once I feel movement consistenlty (which was around 14 weeks last pregnancy). We thought about having an u/s this time, but now I don't think I want to--we loved the surprise of finding out the sex at birth.

Darn, wish I had time to respond to more of the recent posts, but dd and ds need my attention right now..

[austinmomma]

Shannon,
Thanks for all of the wonderful dog information. I'll put it to good use. I'm still thinking of hiring someone, though, to help with my border collie mix. Mathilda is her name... she's sweet but she's high-strung (I'm sure you know all about the breed).

On another note, does anyone have a suggestions as far as allergy relief is concerned. Cedar and Juniper are in bloom here in Texas and, boy, am I allergic. My doctor said not to take anything during the first trimester. That means that I've been suffering for two weeks. I can't breath through my nose, which makes me look disgusting when I eat, I can't sleep because everytime I get up I start sneezing (and I get up 3 or 4 times a night with all of the pressure on my bladder). I've tried hot showers, using saline for my nose but I can't get ANY relief. Sometimes I sneeze so much I feel like I'm going to sneeze the baby right on out.

Jen,
Is it you who knits, I can't remember. I just started knitting around Halloween and I love, love, love it. I need some more instruction, though, without all of the abbreviations for different stitches. Any suggestions for books, websites?

Well, take care everyone...

Love,
Kim

[banana girl]

be careful with cats and tin foil. Mine have been known to eat it! And boy does that mess with their digestive tracts! Yuck.

when I first set up the Moses basket at my house, Kitty Boy took to sleeping in it all the time, but he seems to have bored of it and is back on the bed.

I am more concerned about my female cat's nippy behaivior. Have taken to pinning her down and biting her ears when she bites me or my husband. then leaving her completely alone. She looks shocked each time, but seems to getting it. less biting anyway..

well there's my two cents

Love and kisses to all
Anna

[banana girl]

Yeah! my grumpy boss left early, I can post earlier than usual! And I get to sleep in tomorrow!!!! yeah! My first appointment is tomorrow at 11:00. so I will stay home in the morning and not arrive at work till after the appointment.

I am looking forward to getting some answers and reasurrances by having someone official pay attention to my pregnancy. Haven't heard back about any of the blood tests from last visit, which is probably a good sign. They would have called with bad news.
I am hoping to be reasured regarding my size at 9 weeks. yesterday, I actually had someone look at me quizzically and then ask if I was expecting! That was the first time anyone has noticed, who didn't already know! I was wearing a maternity top, but jeez... am i really showing that much? Is it twins????? I'm wondering if I am off on my conception date and am actually farther along than I thought.... Oh god, wouldn't that be wonderfull...
Anyway, now that i feel a little more confident about refusing any procedures that I am uncomfortable with, i am actually looking forward to my appointment.

P.S. I might, maybe, possibly be starting to feel a little bit better. Shhhhh. don't let the bundle hear that, or I'll start puking again, BUT.. I have been starting to have more energy, and am eating more variety of food with success.
Here's to the hope of settled stomachs and good nights of sleep.

Love and kisses to all
Anna

[JenInMpls]

Long - knitting + cats and babies

WOW! I ate chocolate! *happy dance* A friend gave me a Kinder surprise egg (don't know if you all know those? They're chocolate eggs with a toy on the inside, very popular in Europe, actually banned in the US but some stores do smuggle them in...) and I just ate it and it was SUPER.

I squashed my craving for a chili cheese dog from our local Chicago hot dog joint, but it was a difficult move *sigh*.

Kim: it is indeed I who knits, as well as Steph and Chrissy. I have given the book Knitting In Plain English by Maggie Righetti as a gift and I really like it. It has patterns in the back and best of all, it will teach you what all of those abbreviations mean and how to do them, which is your key to knitting any darn pattern out there. Even better than using a book is finding a nice knitting shop near you and seeing if they have knitting clinics that you can come to. One of our local shops (my favorite) has Sunday afternoon knitting clinics and you can sit with someone and get help for as long as you want. For free! You also can usually ask any knitting shop employee a question as long as they aren't too busy and you don't mind being interrupted by other shoppers (if they're the only person working). Most people working in yarn shops are really passionate about yarn work and are very happy to share what they know. I was really struggling with a multi-colored pattern on a Christmas stocking I knit and I showed up one day in July when there was no one in the store and the woman working helped me repeatedly over the 2 hours I sat at their table and worked on my stocking!

Here's my mom's 2 cents on cats and babies. And she should know: she and my dad had an award-winning Burmese cattery when I was born into the household. Luckily the latest batch of kittens came 4 months before me, but there were still 5 cats in the household when I was born:

1. Cats don't much care for babies. They are too loud!

2. Make sure you still pay lots of good attention to the cat. Mom declares that is possible to feed a baby in your arms with a cat on your lap, especially if you stretch out your legs and the cat sits on them. In her opinion, this was a great way to teach the cat that it was all right to be around the baby when mom was there.

3. Never, ever ever EVER ever, leave a cat alone with a baby, especially if baby is sleeping. Also never allow cat to get cozy on any of baby's things - changing table, crib, basket, etc.

4. More important (in mom's book) than training your cat is being sure to train your kid as they age. Children need to be raised to respect pets and have to learn how to properly touch them and interact with them. Cats especially don't care much for rough handling or being chased. When I was little, I always chased the cats, and then I wondered why they wouldn't sit on my lap. I was frequently mad at my mom for not "making" the cat sit on my lap. Finally one day one of the cats jumped up on me while I was sitting in a chair, and I was so startled that I couldn't move - and the cat sat down. My mom told me not to talk or move or even pet the cat - no problem, I could hardly breathe! I still have a picture of this glorious event. I was 3 years old.

5. If your baby has its own room, keep the cat out of the room for the first few years. If you think at some point that it would be ok for the cat to start going in the room, then you can leave it open, but don't be surprised if the cat doesn't go in it anyway.

These pearls of wisdom brought to you from Jen's mom Jan, very excited grandmother to be.

Must make dinner! Hungry hungry!

Kim - good luck with your border collie. Does it have something around to herd right now - like fish, for instance? Just asking, a colleague of mine had a border collie who got aggressive with the kids when they wouldn't go where he tried to herd them to go. They now farm him out to a beef farm and he's happy as a clam herding cattle. It seems that when working dogs with serious instincts have an opportunity to work, they are more content.

JEN

[Jodie]

Thanks everyone for the cat advice.
Our two girls are our babies Terra 9 and Zada 5. We will probably be trying lots of things till we find something that works.
I don't know how our cats react with catnip. They have never been exposed to it. It might be interesting if we got some stoners on our hands.:LOL
Our cats are pretty laid back as it is though.

[Lazuli]

I feel so accomplished! Our house has gotten into quite a messy state, with me not up to doing much and my husband working long hours or being out of town. I think all our dishes were dirty.... I got all the plates, bowls, and non-sharp silverware washed. Yay! Tomorrow I'll do the rest. And I had to empty soemthing nasty and smelly in the garbage and I gagged but didn't throw up, so I hope that's a good sign that the morening sickness is going away.

Spent yesterday so stressed out it wasn't even funny. My mil called me Monday night to ask if I'd have dinner with them last night and talk to her about what we're thinking in regards to homebirth and stuff. She'd called my mother and talked to her. (That's always a bad bad thing, those two say bad things about me when they talk and I'm not around.) And my husband is away so I had to do the dinner thing alone. Eep! Needless to say, I didn't sleep well Monday night and by the time I got home from dinner my shoulders and neck and head hurt so bad from the stress/tension. I gave her a book to read and printed out a bunch of stuff oh the safety of homebirth. It was at least civil. She made a comment about not being able to grasp alternative medicine at all. Oh, and she thinks it's completely wrong that the baby isn't going to have its own room. She said I need to read some books on fostering independence in babies. :

Oh, good cat advice there, Jen. We've got 5 cats, 4 very friendly and affectionate ones and one standoffish nervy one. They've been around a child maybe twice, which scared them. We're lucky that all 5 cats get along really really well.

Oh, and speaking of weight, I've lost about 15 lbs. so far. Eep! My mother is just thrilled about this, but then, she's been on me to lose weight for a couple of years. She'll probably say mean things to me when I start gaining weight. And now I'm going to wander off to the kitchen to make a pot of ham, green beans and potatoes. Mmmmm....

Lazuli

[JenInMpls]

Lazuli - you do not need or deserve such stress in your life!!! When hubby's home, make him run interference for your own sake, won't you?! I know the difficulty of trying to educate your mom - it took a while for her to understand why it might be ok to have a midwife instead of an obstetrician - but two moms conspiring against you while you're trying to grow a baby... that doesn't sound fair to you OR to your little babe!

If your mom objects to you gaining weight, she has a problem *growl* you can't have a baby and not gain weight!

Sorry to be such a grump at your moms but you deserve good treatment when you're doing such important work!

Jen

[Lazuli]

Don't worry about it, Jen, I'm pretty grumpy with them myself, so's my husband. A friend has offered to come over and smack some sense into my mil. I may have to take her up on the offer. At least my mom is 6 hours away. My mil wants to go with me to my first appointment with the new doctors on Friday. I honestly don't think that would be a good idea, it would just stress me out. Maybe a later appointment, preferably one when my husband is home to go along as well. At this point we're about ready to pack up everything and move to Canada or somewhere.

Lazuli

[JenInMpls]

Come to Minneapolis! the duplex down the street from us is for rent... and if you want to buy a house our neighbor's will be on the market in April :LOL

Your mil needs to learn about boundaries, I think!! Come to an appointment? Do you think her interest in going is to get the doctor to "talk some sense" into you?

You are a woman of great patience - I'd be close to blowing my top right about now

j

[Caroline248]

Hi Ladies...I know I have been MIA. I just have not felt like writing, but I have been reading.

There has been so much, I will probably miss someone...

Anna, I want to go swimming. I sent my stupid husband out to join a gym when we moved here, I ahd two requirements. A pool and childcare. He comes home, after signing a contract AND paying $$...NO POOL, NO CHILDCARE!! You are lucky! As for getting overwhelmed...I know that. And this id my sixth pregnancy. I WILL have several ultrasounds. I understand there is a risk, but there is from the microwave, the computor screen, water...it seems there is a risk around every corner. At some point we have to back off and say "woah". I need the ultrasounds for genetci issues my last daughter has, we need to be prepared. The benefits far outweigh the risks, IMO.

Shannon, glad you are getting ready to get some answers. I am praying for you still, and I thikn of you often. Kick your MIL in the butt for me!!

Lazuli..hugs to you...it will get better.

Jenn, you seem to be the cheeriest in the bunch. Hmm, does it have something to do with the sex of your chosen life partner??? My friends and I often speculate on that. Men just don't GET it.


Okay, I am going to eat some spaghetti. POst more later...

Caroline

[JenInMpls]

Aw shucks Caroline *blush* it could be Jo, that's true. I'm awfully lucky to have someone so wonderful who will read T.S. Eliot's Book of Practical Cats to me at night in bed when I'm crying for no apparent reason. I have to say that I've never dated anyone so caring and sensitive... and I've dated plenty of people, both men and women. (That's why I married her )

I only wish she didn't watch so much tv!

I have a membership to a club (YWCA) that has both swimming and child care, but there are always swim teams, water aerobics, lessons, and water polo in the pool and a slow little swimmer like me can't find a peaceful lane to swim in.

I'm totally yakky tonight

(was just waiting to get to use that smilie!)

j

[greenbeing]

Lazuli-sorry you have to deal with your MIL. My family is not so hip on the homebirth thing either, but I just realized it's not my job to make them feel good about my decision. It's my job to be healthy and grow a healthy baby. That has helped. I think it's great that you gave your mil info to read. Put it on her, and make it her responsibility if she's not cool with it. I know, easier said than done.

I think I'll have to check out that book too, Jen. I also can't wait to start sewing again as well. It will be sooo nice to have the summer off to dedicate to those types of pleasures.

[Caroline248]

I want to learn to sew. I really stink at it. I don't have time to go to any classes, plus I don't have childcare. I wish some of you all from here lived closer...noone in Pennsylvania???


Well, I wore maternity clothes yesterday. At just about 12 weeks, I popped. I guess becasue it is the fourth and all. And I think I felt the baby move. I thought I was crazy and imaginging, but I read that you can feel it as early as 14 weeks, earlier for each subsequent pregnancy, and earlier if you are small. I am on my fourth baby, and I am pretty small (5'1, started this preg at 108 pounds)...so I guess I felt the baby moving!!


Caroline

[badomama]

I did some homework on the u/s issue yesterday and decided not to decide for three weeks.

Need to vent a little this morning, so please excuse: my boss can't type and doesn't want to learn, which means I was hostage at her desk from 3 until 9 p.m. last night doing a PowerPoint pres for her. 1. I got way too hungry until I really felt like I was going to lose it, but her stupid PP was more important. 2. She gave me some money to get home by taxi, which I did, but then wanted to use the left over $ to take another taxi to work this morning so I could get another hour of sleep and have a relaxing morning, but my sweet dh told me he did not approve of me taking so many taxis and wasting our money and that I was not being a simple liver! Argggg!

I do take a lot of taxis here--you've heard my complaints about the buses. But I consider it to be my sanity saver since I have to work late about 4 days a week and on Saturdays.

Striving toward being an uncomplicated kidney, which differs from being a simple liver, IMO, by not requiring sanity saver deprivation...

Steph

[Caroline248]

Oh Steph, sorry things are so stressful right now. I totally see where you are coming from. Be more assertive, if you need to eat...TELL THEM!!! Try to relax, I can't imagine how hard it must be for you...

Caroline

[austinmomma]

Jen,
Thanks for all of the knitting and cat advice... I just told my husband that I'm looking into signing up for a knitting class. And I'm definitly going for the book you suggested.

On a more frustrating note, during our conversation on the phone last night I (like and idiot) mentioned to my mother that I was going to cloth diaper. She was not happy. She gave me all of these reasons as to why it's bad (she says it keeps the baby wet, is too hard, etc...). Then she got super quiet and started to pout because I wouldn't agree with her. It really bummed me out for a while. But then I thought, hey, this is my baby and I'm going to make the decisions here! I hate to say this because it sounds harsh (since she's so excited about her first grandchild) but if she brings it up again and tries to sway me, I'm just going to tell her that I'm not going to discuss it with her and that the decision has been made. And I'm not going to let it upset me either. I'm sorry, I just had to vent a little. I know I'll get the same reaction from others, too, so I'm trying to deal with it.

Anyway, thanks everyone for keeping the good advice coming.

Love,
Kim