AUGUST Mama's: Mar 16-31

[Kim]

Here we all are:

USERNAME - REALNAME - DUEDATE - Preg# - CHILD# - SEX - BIRTHPLAN
ketilave - - July 31 - 3 - 3 - - Home birth
JodiM - Jodi - Aug 1 - 8 - 5 – - VBAC Hospital
Leah W. – Leah - Aug 1 – 2 - 2 - - undecided
madrone - Tiff - Aug 2 - 4 - 2 - - Home UC
thebipper - - Aug 2- 2- 2 – -
Thundersweet – Sandy - Aug 2 – 2 – 2 – -
Sweets - - Aug 2 – 2 – 2 – - Home birth
apmamma - Traci - Aug 3 - 2 - 2 – wil not - Hospital CNMW
klsabin - Katje - Aug 4 - 6 - 4 - - Home
Bearsmama - - Aug 5 - 2 - 2 – will not -
Josephsmommy – Angela – Aug 6 – 3 – 2 - - Hospital
ilovebeingamom - Melissa - Aug 7 - 2 - 2 – - Home or Hosp
Mamapajama – Michelle - Aug 7 – 2 – 2 - Birth center CNMW
mama-meg - Megan - Aug 8 - 1 - 1 - - Birth center
naturegirl - Cheryl - Aug 10 - 2 - 1 - - Home birth
Kim - Kim - Aug 12 - 3 - 2 –Boy! - Home birth
nmm2112 – Nicole – Aug 12 – 2 – 2 - -
trishshack - Trish - Aug 13 - 3 - 3 - - Hospital
Jillybean - Jill - Aug 13 - 2 - 2 - - Birth center
jenniferB - jenn - Aug 13 - 2 - 2 - - Hospital
cassiemommy – Aflora - Aug 13 – 4 – 2 - ? - Hospital
TEAK's Mom - Karen - Aug 17 - 2 - 2 - - Home birth
Got Milk? - - Aug 17 - 6 - 3 - - Hospital
juju – Julie - Aug 18 – 3 – 3 - - Home birth
TinyBabyBean – Leslie – Aug 19 – 6 – 5 - - Home UC
christeenbeeny - Christine - Aug 20 - 2 - 2 – will - Hospital
girlfactory - Terri - Aug 20 - 4 - 4 - - Home Mw
frognladybugmama - Heather - Aug 21 - 3 - 3 – - Hospital
Hannah's Mom – Monica - Aug 21 – 2 – 2 - - Hospital CNM VBAC
mat4mel - Mel - Aug 23 - 5 - 4 – will - Home birth
GiraffeLovin'Mama - Chris - Aug 24 - Surrogate - Has 4 - - Hospital
Myjo - - Aug 25 - 3 - 3 - - Homebirth midwife
Dodo - - Aug 26 - 2 - 2 - - Clinic or home
LizaBear - - Aug 27 - 3 - 2 - - homebirth
davidsmama - - - 4 - 1 - - Hospital CNMW
RothMommy--Pam--3--3----Hospital
Krista----1--1 dss--girl--waterbirth/birth center

[Kim]

Hi Mama's!

Hope you don't mind that I've started a new thread. I still need to go back to the old thread and add some of the new mama's to our list!

[BoxOfRainMama]

Re: AUGUST Mama's: Mar 16-31

Originally posted by Kim
Here we all are:

USERNAME - REALNAME - DUEDATE - Preg# - CHILD# - SEX - BIRTHPLAN

I’m new, this is my first post. I’m a lurker

I’m feeling chatty today my user name is Roth mommy real name Pam due date 8/23 pregnancy 3 child 3 birth plan hospital with OBGYN.

[Bearsmama]

Kim-Thanks for starting the new thread. I'm still thinking of you, of course. And I *think* your u/s appointment is tomorrow-if so, please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Roth-Welcome! Thanks for officially joining us.

Just thought I'd let you all know that my amnio yesterday went fine. I was so anxious about it, although I knew that none of my anxiety or potential physical pain could be worse than the fear and worry that I've been going thru over the past week.

I started questioning my decision to have it done before the appointment-partially b/c I read some horrible story here about an amnio gone wrong. It went quickly, and there was only minor pain during it, followed by some mild cramping yesterday and today. The amnio doc was also encouraging about things, so that made us feel more positive. So, we will know for sure the results on Friday. Keep your prayers coming.

I'm hoping to be able to get caught back up with all of you sometime in the near fuure! I feel so behind! And so self-absorbed. I'm looking forward to getting into all the fun stuff of pregnancy again (and not so fun, like all of our aches and pains!).

I'll be checking in...Hopefully with ALL good news. I'm thinking of all of my pregger friends!!!!

[christeenybeany]

We're homeowners! s ag
After a long roller coaster of a day, it is all finished. Yea! We celebrated with ice cream instead of champagne.

Has anyone else been weeping at the slightest thing? I swear, commercials get me everytime.

I haven't felt another kick since I was sick. I think I was so dehydrated and my stomach was so empty there was more sensation in that area because of the less fluid. Since then I've been back to my bloated self and haven't felt a baby kick. I know it will come again soon.

Bearsmama, I am so glad your amnio went well. I was thinking about you. I know I would have been so nervous. I'm squeamish with needles--even really small ones. I also hope your preliminary results are everything you want them to be. You must be so stressed out. Try to breath, and let us know.

Kim, I'm thinking about you too.

Welcome Rothmommy!

[Solange]

:
Kim can you please edit me on the list as we will not be finding out the sex of the baby now.
Thanks!

Welcome Pam
Congrats Christine!
I too am crying at the sillyest(sp?) stuff...

[KristaF]

Info on me

I am new here (been reading and posting for about a week now). My name is Krista and I am due with my first child on August 9th. I have one step son- Ethan, 6. We are having a girl (found out from our naturopath) and we are planning on doing a water birth at a private birthing center.

Thanks,Krista

[ketilave]

Wow there are a lot of us now.

I hope to check in and see how everyone is doing but I am in B-day party chaos. DH today, DS tomorrow - have to do it all over again with the in-laws Sat. and a friends Sun.

We are going out to dinner tonight without the kids!!!

[naturegirl]

Welcome Pam and Krista . Glad you came out of lurkdom to join us .

Bears, still sending my prayers and thoughts. And you have every right to be self-absorbed right now! Take care of yourself and try to do something fun and de-stress.

Kim, you too. Hope all is going well.

Not much new here. No mw appointments for a couple of weeks so just busy growing a baby.

TTYL
Cheryl

[Kim]

Hi mama's!!

Bears - It is so good to hear from you. Happy to hear that the amnio went well. Thank you, btw, for saying it wasn't so bad -- You are my trailblazer!!!

Just got back from our Level 2 ultrasound. Feeling more hope than on Monday, but there are still some issues.

1) The head is indeed round/oval shape. There was concern that it was shaped like a "lemon". This is a huge relief!

2) The choroid plexus cysts do in fact exist. There are several. The doctor doesn't seem overly concerned about these. They usually disappear before birth. This will warrant a follow-up u/s.

3) The kidney's are enlarged. Not to an alarming degree, but nevertheless it is still an issue. The sonographer says she see this often, especially in boys. The doctor hopes it will resolve on its own.

4) The baby has echogenic bowels. A "mild" case -- but still concerning considering the other risk factors. My web research confirms that this could be due to the baby swallowing a bit of blood (normal) or have a viral infection (treated after birth) or could be something as severe as Downs or Cystic Fibrosis.

5) Our main concern is the nuchal fold. Anything measuring over 5mm (according to this clinic, anyway) is a hard indicator of Down's Syndrome. Our baby's measures about 5.2-5.5mm. At age 29 my risk factor for Downs is 1:1360. The nuchal fold measuring over 5mm increases my risk factor ten-fold (1:136).

All in all, we are feeling so much more positive about the outcome. We will meet with a genetic counselor tomorrow morning and follow-up with an amniocentesis.

I really hope that I have not scared any of you! We are worrying a lot, but have to continually remind ourselves that pregnancy comes with all kinds of worry regardless of "tests". I *knew* instinctually that my baby was a boy. I *know* that no matter what (Downs, etc) this baby is healthy. I can just feel it.

[foxytocin]

Hi folks and welcome Pam and Krista......this is a great discussion group to belong to.

Oh, and Christeeny! Congrats on the house!

Bears and Kim: you both are doing great. Hope I can be that strong if ever put to the test. What a rocky ride.

Having a bit of a panic day here.......the babe is very, very active and I've been having very noticeable Braxton-Hicks over the last few days. All this activity got my head to spinning, so I just sat down and read Dr. Sear's chapter on labor as a bit of a re-fresher. Man. I could feel my blood pressure increasing with every page I turned. I'm a super woman for having birthed our 10lb 8oz first child at home with a midwife...shoulder dystosia and all.....this I know to be true. But still.
I feel (and felt durring the delivery) that somehow I just wasn't able to relax properly. That I somehow made things harder than they needed to be. Here's a particular: Because the labor wasn't progressing quite right, the midwives had me lie on my side for a long time (off and on for 10 hours) and concentrate on opening my hips. No one was satisfied with the results. I could not relax that way; it went against every instinct. In light of it all, we cracked open a bottle of red wine. Everyone had a glass. I had 3 glasses in a row and still couldn't achieve the proper position. Laid in bed on my side, wide awake, feeling stupid because I couldn't manage to get it right, while the midwives and my dh fell asleep for a few hours (the wine certainly relaxed everyone else.) The next morning I transitioned for hours and hours in a water-tub. 2 doses of black cohosh to speed things up and still no real progression. Should have been.

Ai-yi-yi. I feel much more worried about having this babe than I did with my first. Much more worried. And I know I have to get this sort of negative feeling out of my system soon. Can't be good to keep that sort of baggage with you. I was wondering: do any of you feel occasionally panicked about August? Although I don't wish the panic on any one, it'd be good to know if others are having similar feelings and what you are doing about them. Have any tried-and-true ways of ridding qualms?

With my last preg. I had the same emotional pattern I'm having with this one: great, beautiful spells of long tranquility interrupted on rare occasions by crash anxiety. Today is a crash day.

My apologies for the length of this. Feel like I wrote a book. Guess we all have our inner demons to battle with.

-Leah

[ketilave]

Oh- I forgot that DH wants to get rid of the cds. If anyone is interested in more info. pm.

Oh - read/found out the other day that women on baby 3+ feel a lot of BH and early labour from 35 on - I don't think that sounds like a lot of fun. Those in the know - confirm or not!

[christeenybeany]

Leah, I too worry about August but I just keep pushing it out of my head for now. Maybe that's not the best way to deal with it, but it seems to be working for now. I think the more reading and research you do, the more reassuring it will be for yourself and the better you'll feel when this baby decides to show up. With last pregnancy I used to worry about all the details, but this time I've kinda just told myself that it doesn't matter how he/she gets here anymore as long as he/she's healthy and I survive and everybody's happy. We can overcome the rest. At least that is what I keep telling myself.
Christine

[Trinnie]

another August mama

I've been reading the August mamas topics for the last few weeks and felt it was time to add myself to the list. I am not real new to the board. I have a step-son who is 14, a daughter who is 11, a son who will be 1 on the 27th, and am expecting another on 8/24/04. We are not planning on finding out the sex. We like the surprise. We are planning a vaginal deliver with our OB at the hospital.

I look forward to continuing to read and hope to have input and opinions or advice to offer others.

[myjo]

Is this your second baby Leah? I was nervous with my second baby because the first was so hard. Sometimes it helps to write out everything that is bothering you so you can be objective about whether or not it's really worth having anxiety over.

Usually second labors come much easier, as was my experiance. I had a very short and uncomplicated delivery. The key is to learn to listen to your own instincts. You don't necessarily want to be the obedient patient, since you're not sick, and you know more about how to birth your own baby than anyone else. Just do what feels right. I've heard many times of women who just could not progress with their family and midwives hovering over them (the watched pot syndrome). But once they carved out some personal space for themselves where they could have some privacy, things got moving.

Just do what feels right: walk, dance, sing, go outside and hang from a tree, hug your dh/dp, take a bath/shower, sleep, ask someone to leave, ask someone to come support you or give you a massage, whatever works. The birth script is yours to write! Do what feels right to you, not what someone else thinks will work. Only do what someone else suggests if your really feel out of control and need some support, and only if their suggestions feel right to you. And for right now, keep telling yourself how strong and intuitive you really are, and you may begin to believe it.

Hopefully I haven't overwhelmed anyone with advice! I just feel very strongly about the need for privacy and autonomy for laboring women.

Bearsmama and Kim, it sounds like you're both dealing very well with the stress you're under now. Bears, I'm so glad you're amnio went well. Kim, it's wonderful to see your willingness to love this baby regardless of any problem it may have! The power of mother love is awesome!

[lena_girl]

Hi, my name is Lena and I've been lurking a few days and thought I'd register and post too.

I am expecting baby #2 (a girl) on or about aug 1st. We will deliver at a hospital (we are military and don't have a choice) Our ds will be 2 in May.

My last pregnancy was horrible, but this one has been great so far.

[Bearsmama]

Kim! Check you box. So happy to know that you are feeling a bit better about things since your u/s. At least you are getting a clearer picture of what's going on. Really thinking of you often...

Ladies-We got our results early. EVERYTHING IS FINE. The baby is chromosomally fine. We are so relieved, I can't even tell you. They called late in the afternoon today when I wasn't even expecting a call until tomorrow afternoon. What a great surprise. I will get my full, detailed results in about 10 days, but these initial results are definitive for the 5 chromosomes that are typically affected by a genetic abnormality. And, of course, the one that I was at higher risk for.

We have a follow up level 2 u/s scheduled for a few weeks from now to check the kidney issue again. We are hoping (and being encouraged by what we've heard thus far) that it will rectify itself by August. And if not, it is a bridge that we will cross then. Plus, it's a "fixable" thing. What a relief.

One last thing, thank you, thank you, thank you, for all of your prayers and thoughts. It made the difference for me.


Lena-Welcome aboard!

I'll write more when more time... too sleepy...

[Dodo]

Bears, I'm so relieved!

[ketilave]

Bears -

[frognladybugmama]

bearsmama - where's the throwing confetti icon when i need one? i'm so thrilled to hear your news!!!