Homebirth Mama's March 2nd... - Page 2

[mamaroni]

amyrobynne!! OH, I hope this is it for you! please keep us posted. . .

healthy good vibes to you!

[chrissy]

Amy,

:bf :

I can't wait to read your birth story!!!

Love,
Chrissy

[Greaseball]

Well, today my inlaws told me they could take dd "while I was in the hospital" and I didn't tell them. I just said "Oh, we're going to have her with us." For some reason I'm thinking I will jinx myself if I start telling everyone. I think the only people IRL who know are my parents, who are supportive.

Oh well. Everyone else will find out anyway. Besides, my dh's dad was born in 1930! So there is a chance he could have been born at home.

[amyrobynne]

Well, the ctx have slowed down this afternoon. On the upside, I was able to go to the tax preparers' and now we've got a $5000 refund coming our way. I just want these ctx to pick up by morning or I'll have to have my first u/s of the pregnancy in the afternoon. I've got until Monday before homebirth stops being an option (42 w/2 d). My husband and SIL have been home with me, which has been nice

Thanks for the wellwishes, everyone.

[Spark]

Oh, Amy! I was so hoping that was it for you! It must have done some good -- either puting the baby in the best position or getting you a head start on dilation. I hope you find yourself in labor soon... and it doesn't stop until you're holding your sweet baby in your arms!

I'm sorry you have a date hanging over your head.

[amyrobynne]

The ctx got to be every 5 minutes and fairly strong all night, but slowed down again this morning. My midwives now having me alternate blue and black cohosh every 15 minutes to see if that'll get things going.

[wildthing]

Hello all!

I have been here, reading a lot, and everytime I start to post, one crisis or another pops up that needs immediate attention....:

Amyrobynne, I hope you are doing well today. I am sure oyur body was doing some wonderful work, and is doing exactly what you need to do to have your baby.

Abby, Speaking of dreams....I had one last week. I had given birth to a beautiful chubby baby girl with lots of brown fuzzy hair, and rosy pink cheeks. but there were so many people around, they kept passing her from one to another, and I kept chasing them, asking for her. This went on for days in my dream. Finally, a very big, fat man that I didn't know took her and handed her to me. He said "This baby needs her mama." I took her, and she started screaming!!!!! I was so sad because she didn't know who I was because I had never held her. Interesting, because my ultimate plan is to not have ANYONE except my kids and maybe one or two close friends come over for the first two weeks.

Tabitha, I read your other thread...I hope things are looking better for you now. I will respond over there too.

I have been using cloth diapers for 17 years. Up until my last baby I only had prefolds and covers. I had quite a nice stash for Gunnar, but I gave away a lot of my little diapers. So far I have:

8 newborn fitteds
1 small AIO
1 small pocket diaper

I am planning on making
10 more newborn fitteds
18 small fitteds
24 medium fitteds (my babies grow big fast)
5 wool covers in each size, more if I have time

I never had any problems with meconium either. I used cloth from the time I first put a diaper on my babies born at home. Anything that didn't wash out was easily sunned out. Honestly, I even had yellow stains for a while from breastmilk poop. The sun worked great for those too.

I also want to make some kimonos, I have a pattern, but have a hard time finding cute, neutral 100% cotton knits. I love sewing, it is very stress-relieving for me.

Is anyone taking any supplements? I haven't been, since I am a big believer in getting what I need from my food. However, in the past week, I have had some leg and foot cramps on occasion. I mentioned it to the midwife, and she recommend a calcium/magnesium supplement. I am just reluctant to take it, because my feeling is then I will likely end up with more in my body than I am supposed to have. (All the supplements I looked at say they have 100%-150% of daily recommended amounts) Just seems like it would be an imbalance to me. Any thoughts?

On another note, I have seen a dr for some lab work. I put it off and put it off until last week. Well, they dr's office called me and said I needed to take an iron supplement because my iron was low. I said "Oh, really...what was it?" She said "11.6." I thought, that doesn't sound low to me. So I asked her "What shoud it be?" She said "12". : Oooookaaaaayyyy. Needless to say, I am not taking an iron pill for *that*! :LOL

I hope everyone is doing well today!

[Greaseball]

My last baby dream: I gave birth to a girl, but she was black (dh and I are white) and wearing makeup!: So I don't get that one at all!

The dream before that, I gave birth to an 8-lb, 10-oz cat.

[tabitha]

thanks , donna

at this very moment, things seem ok, but thats just cause we just got home from a walk (ds and i ) and hes passed out cold and i have a box of (organic) oreo cookies and a big glass of milk and i feel allright...

i have had it so bad with dh out of town. poor tristan is emotionally wrecked without karl and i dont blame him, so am i.

anyway,i too had a dream. i dont think i posted about it? maybe i did, i dont remember. anyway,at the risk of being redundant, i dreamt:

i had a baby girl at home. suddenly our whole family is in our room. i am holding her, her hair was still wet from birth but it was short and fine and reddish. i notice she is small, no more than 7 pounds. (ds was 8 10) her skin is light and translucent at her eyelids and she looks like she will have freckles in a few years. she had the sweetest little lips and smile.

it was a good dream.

donna,you might consider using some homeopathic remedies for your leg cramps (hylands and boiron both make ready to go multi remedies). i know a lot of mothers that they have done wonders for. (i dont know if you are versed in how homeopathy works, im not trying to be patronizing but you dont have to worry about the quinine in homeopathic form, it is not possible to overdose) i dont take supplements for the same reasons you mentioned. leg cramps CAN occur due to a calcium/ magnesium imbalance, but taking arbitrary superdoses of those minerals doesnt correct an inbalance.

this is my 2nd pg. wow i feel full term! i mean, i am having symptoms that i ONLY had at full term with my son... when i walk, i waddle (already) and i feel intense pressure on my pelvis and cervix. it isnt painful, its just there. i have tons and tons of 'braxton hicks' type contractions. its just so different formlast time, yk?

tabitha

[Ceili]

Hi y'all

I haven't posted on this thread before. We're planning a homebrith for our first, due at the end of June.

I've been collecting diapers since we started TTC over a year ago, so my stash is getting pretty big. I'm getting ready to start pre-washing alot of stuff soon. My stash so far:

Diapers:

24 kissaluvs 0s
2 FLAM Rightous Baby
1 xs berry patch hemp
3 small fuzzibunz
2 small AIO starbunz
6 infant cpfs
5 small fireflies

Covers:

5 newborn prowraps
1 newborn Rightous Baby wool cover
2 small kiwipie wool covers
1 small wooly bottoms soaker
3 small sugerpeas wool covers
1 small lizcloth wool cover
and 2 Rightous Baby wool sets (size 1)

I went a bit overboard on small covers. I have some larger size stuff too.

12 kissaluvs 1s
2 medium fuzbaby Wool-in-ones
and one SOS diaper that should be here soon.

I had to stop hanging out in the diaper forum.

Amy, I hope everything is going well for you today.

Donna, when I get foot/leg cramps it's usually because I'm not getting enough potassium. Eating a banana or two (or five) usually fixes that problem for me.

[2BMamaof3]

OOOO, Tabitha...the second pregnancy is SOOO much more uncomfortable than the first (well, at least it was for me as well).
and I think this is because those late term symptoms just set in a lot sooner.

With this third baby, for me...I'm finding I'm ok (except for emotionally). I've stopped puking!!! Which for me is a feat (considering I puked for 8 and 7 months with the other two). My body seems to be doing better as well...but I'm significantly lower in body mass than my other two pregnancies as well. I think carrying less weight makes it seem easier on some of my joints. But I am already feeling the loose ligaments, the intense braxton hicks (which started around 15 weeks this time around). It's tough some days.

Hang in there!!!

Abby

[liz-hippymom]

i had a birth dream last night-
i was at the hospital, alone except for a female doctor and a few nurses...anyhow, the doc tells me its time to push and i am squatting. she says to lay down..i tell her "no, i want to birth squatting." and she says " i dont know how to deliver you that way, i cant see!" i say, "well you dont need to see because all you need to do is catch her. " she tells me " if you dont lie down i wont deliver you" i say "fine, then i will catch her myself!" then everyone leaves the room and i push her out and pull he up to my cheast. it was very cool..
i dont know if i told you guys my nursing dream but here it goes again if i didnt
i had twin girls (but they were kittens!)..which didnt seem weird in the dream..i was sitting down somewhere in public nursing them and this lady walks up to me and asks me to cover up with a blanket. i tell he no, and she says "fine then!" , walks off in a huff and throws the blanket over her own head and sits down.. i woke up from that one LMAO . :LOL

[tabitha]

omg Liz! i had a dream like that last pg!

i went into a public bathroom and found that someone had abandoned tiny twin girls. they were so small. i thought,i must nurse these babies! so i have my breasts out and am nursing them then it hurts and i look down and they are little kittens with sharp teeth!

just had to say that :LOL

[mamaroni]

Amy, I'm thinking about you!

I can't remember my dreams much, but I like reading yours! Lately I've found myself dreaming about cloth diapers quite a bit. :

I had my appointment today with my mw, and everything went really well. I'm really OK with things. Also, she says the baby has dropped some (proably about -3 station) and is loa (she had been directly posterior) so that is good news. Not much going on today. Last night I had the stomach flu--it was awful, I was up every hour or so in the bathroom. today was rough, too, but I'm much better now and hoping to stay well so I can birth this baby! I still have 10 days to edd, so that should be plenty of time.

Donna, my mw also suggested cal/mag for the cramps and I take one at night every couple days. Also, I'm taking the 5W formula from birthjunkie.com, vitamin C and garlic and acidophilus, and an occasional rainbow light prenatal one formula. I totally agree with you about getting what we need from food, but I like the extra insurance of the immune builders right now while my immune system is down. I've also been drinking some green tea and some RRL tea occasionally.

welcome phoebe and ceili!

greaseball, let us know how it goes telling the ILs about your homebirth. My MIL had to leave the room when I told her (at thanksgiving, room full of people!). She has since not mentioned it once to me, but gave dh a lecture on the phone last month about how he needs to be the "voice of reason" and get me to the hospital if anything goes wrong. It's so frustrating--like we're doing this to be "cool" or something. She just has no clue and refuses to read anything I've given her. but I'm used to this now after breastfeeding, keeping ds intact, no junk food, etc etc. Of course, she always tells us what great kids we have.

Tabitha, it took me to my 3rd pg to really have the symptoms much worse, and they're bad! I've been very emotional, very physically hurting, noticing lots more BH, all that stuff. the price we pay, right?

[2BMamaof3]

I had a dream about nursing a litter of kittens with my second pregnancy...I even had THREE breasts (and it all seemed totally normal!).

Someone told me we dream of our in utero child's totem animal while pregnant. I haven't had any animal dreams thus far...but this definately fits for DD (#2) as she very much has catlike attributes.



Abby

[georgia]

I've had those sharp-toothed kitten dreams before!! Last night, I dreamed I was having to hide from my neighbors in the grocery store. I decided the best way to do this was to wrap the cart in aluminum foil and hop in so as not to be conspicuous. It all made perfect sense at the time I really pregnancy dreams!

I'm 14 wks, with my 3rd, and I'd almost swear the practice ctx are starting. I am not ready for this yet--I'm barely adjusted to the idea of being pregnant!

Amy, Monday is the full moon, I believe. Both my boys were born on the full moon so I'm sending you some lunar labor vibes!!!

Are we still talking CDs? I have 18 small pastel Fuzzibunz waiting in the wings. I'm praying my 16 mo outgrows his medium FBs by the time New Baby needs to wear them...otherwise, I'm sunk.

[mattjule]

Well, I feel like I am about to be vilified, but we aren't going to cloth diaper. It isn't lack of desire or education, we just can't afford it. When you have to pay to do your laundry, cloth diapering is expensive and difficult! I would do a diaper service for a while, a friend of mine in Berkeley did it for almost a year spending the same that I do on sposies, but we don't have a service here at all! How ridiculous is that?! I thought about starting one, I can't be the only person frustrated by it, but it turned out to be too much investment for something I didn't really want/love to do.

I had a dream that I woke from a nap and came out into my living room and an old friend of ours (male, that lives in another state) is sitting on the couch holding my baby. My dh is sitting in a chair and I ask if I had the baby and he says yes. I ask when and the friend says this morning, but dh corrects him and says "10 days ago, she needs to deal with the fact she blocked it out" Very mean and unlike him at all. I felt such an overwhelming sense of loss that I couldn't remember the birth, that I didn't know this baby, that I had never held it (that I could remember). I woke up feeling so robbed. Really made me think about twilight birth and general anesthesia with c-sections...

My only other birth dream was equally disturbing.

I take supplements. By choice. I agree that it is better to get what you need from your food, but it had gotten to be so much work for me. I was spending so much time figuring out what I needed to eat, it was making my brain hurt. Then I started getting anemic. I don't eat kale or arugula or any other member of that family-did you know that it has a chemical (natural that the plant makes) in it that makes it taste really bitter to some people? It is one of those genetic things like tongue-rolling, you either taste it or you don't. I do, but dh doesn't. So anyway, that leaves spinach (which I am not overly fond of) and red meat as good sources of iron. I just can't eat enough of those 2 things every day to fulfill the requirements, so I just started taking a supplement. I also eat very little dairy and so I take a calcium. It's one of those things that I decided I would try not to take them, but I would be receptive if I felt there was a need. I tend to do a lot of informing of my mw instead of advice taking. Another great thing about the midwifery model of care...

Just made grocery bags yesterday. It is so nice to have a huge pile-I hate the plastic ones they use at Safeway-they bag your stuff so fast and don't even ask which you would prefer. They also tend to put 2 things in each bag. Geez! Dh has been bugging me for them for a while, but we haven't had money to buy fabric. Then I figured I could use the muslin I had sitting around if I doubled it. They turned out pretty well.

BTW, I don't know if I can say this or not, but Tabitha, I really like the produce bags you sell on your site. I hate those plastic produce bags. I end up with 10 of them every time I shop and they are everywhere in the house and not very sturdy so not very reusable.

I sold some diapering stuff here (back in the day when we lived with the IL's for the summer I COULD cloth diaper) and now I have the bug to sell all sorts of stuff, which in turn gives me the bug to make stuff, so I am off.

Have a good evening!

[Ceili]

All my dreams lately have been rather... umm.. "steamy" I wake up in a really good mood most mornings.

I've told most people I know that we're having a homebirth. But I have avoided telling DSO's mom, it's just not a subject I'm comfortable discussing with her right now. If he wants to, then that's fine... he's an MD, so I doubt she'd question him too much.

[wildthing]

Aww Julie,
I don't think you'll be vilified for not cd'ing. There are many reasons to use them, but there are reasons not to as well. If finances prevent it, and from what I know of you, I believe you made a well thought-out decision. We don't have diaper service in San DIego anymore either. It sucks too. I used to get my pre-folds and basic wraps from them, but not anymore. However, there is a diaper service in LA that exhibits at the LLL Conference, and I got a bunch of great stuff last year. I plan on rounding out my stash with some more from her.

Besides my last dream, I usually, during pregnancy, dream about giving birth pre-maturely. And when I do, I always have huge babies...like 8 pounds at 20 weeks. I don't know what it means, but I always wake up feeling strong, like I grew this baby so fast, they were healthy enough to be born early. :LOL I also felt a sense of loss from my last dream, because I couldn't remember the birth, and my baby didn't know who I was.

Everyone and their brother knows we are having a homebirth, but this is our 5th. What no one knows is the UC part of it.

[mollyeilis]

Hi! I introduced myself a moment ago on the other thread, but figured I'd pop in here too.

I'm Molly and we finally changed midwives and birth places (center to home), and we're very happy about it. I'm not too worried about DH's family's reaction, as FIL was born at home (he's 77) and MIL is Korean and was born at home. But my stepmom is a neonatal nurse, so you can imagine what she has to say about it...:

I'll be CD'ing with DH's full blessing and assistance. I registered for bunches of CPFs, Kissaluvs, and a sampler pack through felicite.com (not sure if that's allowed to be said here, if it isn't please moderator just edit out the site's name), and am hoping that some of my friends buy me some CDs. I'd much prefer that than a bunch of gift certificates to Babies R Us, you know?

I had a thought regarding meconium, but it's really a question (since I have never seen it in person). I've seen disposable liners sold on WAHM's CD sites, and wonder if you could just line the nice CD with those for the meconium days? Or are those made of the same material as dispies, and therefore have the same potential problems on baby's skin (story goes...they put Pampers on me when I was born and I got instant diaper rash, so my mom insisted they change me to cloth and I never had another disposable again...I'm expecting that my baby will be sensitive too)?

Anyway, I thought it was a brilliant idea last night.

I've had two dreams recently that I had a baby girl, and one disturbing "vision" that looked like one of those 3D ultrasounds, where the baby had a severe cleft palate. That's a concern of mine, as I had to start on asthma meds just as the second tri started and cleft problems have been found when the meds are used in the first tri. So I don't know if that was a fear dream or a prophetic dream. DH has had two dreams that I had a boy.

Oddly, I've always imagined myself with only boys, and he really would adore a girl, so we seem to be having each other's dreams!

That's enough out of me tonight, must go to sleep now.