AUGUST Mama's: Mar 16-31 - Page 5

[juju]

i just had my second prenatal appt. today. i will be 19 weeks tomorrow. the baby sounds fine. the midwife estimated the fundus was at 21 weeks. both my other two were almost 11 lbs at birth. i guess i grow big babies.

she tried to take my blood today for routine testing. she didn't get much out and i blacked out briefly. i have only had that problem one other time while getting blood drawn. she will try again next month. does anyone know of anything i can do to prepare before the next blood letting to keep me from fainting? should i eat more protein or sugar before? any ideas?

i don't remember how the ap style/ birth style topic came up, but i will play and list my info. midwife attended homebirths (this will be my third), mostly organic/ veggie, extended/ tandem nursing (i am approaching the 5 year mark), intact (no circumcising), cloth diapering, baby wearing, family bed, stay at home, homeschooling, no vax, herbs/ homeopaths, no physical punishment, and i can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

i defintiely don't expect others to share my some opinions and style. i am totally open and respectful of others' choices.

is anyone else planning a waterbirth home, hospital, birth center?? my second was a water birth and i plan on having another one this time, too. i can't remember if we have talked about this yet.

i should be in bed.

julie

[myjo]

Juju, you sound a lot like me. I'm on my third baby too and I waterbirthed my last one at home. I'm thinking I will probably do it again this time. I'm really looking forward to it, but there was one thing about it that was rather interesting. It relaxed me so much that I seemed to have zero control over myself. I screamed the baby out and could not stop myself from tearing. I hope that doesn't happen again! The rest of your list sounds pretty similar too, except we're not vegetarian and the longest I have nursed was 3 years, never tandemed.

Bearsmama, I know what you're talking about! When I was pregnant with ds#2, I was still nursing ds #1. It was so hard to see him gradually lose interest. I also felt terrible because I had to encourage him to stop because my breasts were so incredibly tender. He would start nursing and all of a sudden I would yell because it hurt so bad, it must have scared the crud out of him! This time my youngest was already weaned before I concieved, so that hasn't been an issue. But it's always hard when the baby has to adjust to not being the baby anymore!

[mommycaroline]

I guess I didn't list my AP info earlier, so here it is. DD was born by cesarean after moderate to severe pre-eclampsia, we're going for a VBAC this time around, with the same non-medicated plan we had last time. We'll see how that works out. But, we cosleep, babywear (till DD was almost two and wouldn't deal with it anymore), extended/probably tandem nurse, selectively vax, eat whole foods with selective organic choices (milk and certain produce) nothing processed or with trans-fats is my biggest obsession these days, won't circumcise, cloth diaper, plan to homeschool, positive discipline. What other options are there? LOL

All that said, I'm fairly mainstream, I guess. At least I feel that way, although I just don't get along well with folks who spank or don't breastfeed (or make a very serious effort). I've tried, but it just doesn't work. Too many core differences. My mom calls me an earth mother, but believe me, I know some earth mothers, and I'm only touching the tip of the ice berg. I do my best, though.

Had a bad thing happen tonight, and being somewhat mainstream (as in not terribly spiritual) I'm at a loss as to what to do. I ran over an armadillo. I feel like I should light a candle or something. Ugh! I feel rotten that I killed it. It was a terrible noise, the whole car shook. I swerved, and did my very best to avoid it, but I didn't do so well. What can I do? I feel like I need to clear my karma or something, but clueless as to how to do that. I've never killed anything with my car before. Maybe a duck, once, but I think he flew away. (he flew into the grill of my car) It just feels so yucky.

I'm definitely not in the reality phase yet. It seems so far away! My DD is still such a baby, although lately she's insistent she's a big girl. I hate that phrase, and never use it, but she's picked it up from somewhere I guess. She's very excited about the baby, and is *certain* it's a girl (which is my gut feeling too, but I haven't told her that). She has a little friend with a baby brother, so I keep saying she might have a baby brother too, just like Jacob, but she insists "No, baby SISTER!" Very cute!

Well, I guess I'm going to try to go back to sleep. Mid pregnancy insomnia. Ugh! Hope it doesn't last...

Caroline

[Dodo]

Leah, my back pain is caused by sciatica or pain in the biggest nerve in the body, which extends from the buttocks to the heel. A lot of women develop it during pregnancy as their bodies rearrange themselves. In my case, my uterus appears to be pinching the nerve.

Bears, I don't see a chiro but I do see an osteopath. I had my first treatment last week, but it seems to have further disabled me. I was in tolerable pain last week, but am in intolerable pain this week. Yesterday afternoon I declared myself on temporary bedrest. This meant hanging out on the couch and watching a birth documentary with dd, who was surprised to learn where babies came from.

Katje, you asked for video names a long time ago. This one is called A Clear Road to Birth. It's a documentary on unassisted birthing. As such it's more professional than the one I mentioned with the messy birther, although it actually features some of the same births, all of which are pretty darn relaxed.

[Bearsmama]

Okay, woke up this morning with a scary question on my brain: Any of you mamas scared to death to go through the MAJOR sleep deprivation thing again? Especially if you have sleep-challenged tots in your house currently?????

DS has been sleep-challenged since birth. He was colicky for 5 MONTHS. I literally did not get TWO straight hours sleep until after month 6 or so. And then it was an entire YEAR (perhaps even 13 months) until I got maybe 3-4 hours/night-very inconsistently, mind you.

Still, if the least bit uncomfortable DS will wake VERY FREQUENTLY. Like now with this cold/croupy thing. Also, even when he's feeling GREAT, he still wakes about 1x/night. Although we've had many nights that he "sleeps thru".

SO, ladies, I'm just scared. I know what it did to my mental health. It was ugly. U-G-L-Y. Anyway feeling this way??????????

[ketilave]

Bears - I haven't slept the night since March 02. I'm hanging in there. To me 4 hours of sleep is glorious! Every once and a while we get six - the kids seem to know when we just can't function anymore and fall in. Big problem with that is that I still wake up and wonder if they are dead!

I am supplementing DD with rice milk and she is nursing 3/4 times a day but not getting a whole lot out of it. I feel really bad but she is pretty happy to suck regardless. Must say that I am still really tender and she just started cutting her first teeth - at least they are the bottom ones!

DH wants me off the boards because now I want to buy a new sling and am all hyped about cd again and feel we just didn't have enough info and didn't buy the right products for our kids. He sees me on here and sees $$$ :LOL BUT - he can't think of a single argument for either issue so is only gently grumbling. And, I get to shop for my dipes. Anyone ever cd three kids at once? That's got to be some laundry.

[BoxOfRainMama]

Off for now

Well I'm headed to Colorado in the morning first thing. I'm not thrilled about traveling alone with the children, but it will be a nice change of pace. Also it will be a blessing to spend time with my parents, siblings and extended family. I will be there over a week and I won't have a computer so I won't be able to post. I hope everyone is doing well. I will pop on and post when I return (the same day as my ultrasound...eeeeks!)
Take care mamas!

Pam

"It doesn't matter who you love, or how you love, but that you love" ~Rod McKuen

[myjo]

Bearsmama, I've been thinking about the sleep deprivation too. Both my boys had colic, but only for the classic 3 months. This time I have a few tricks up my sleeve to try and avoid the colic all together. Last time, we found out that many colicky babies have poor digestion becouse of spinal subluxations caused at birth usually, sometimes after. So we finally took ds to a chiro when we couldn't take the screaming anymore, and guess what? It worked like magic. Within a week of treatment the colic was only a memory, and not only that but he started to have regular bm's. Before that he never pooped on his own. I always had to use suppositories, yuck! So this time we're going to get the baby adjusted as soon after birth as possible and keep having regular chiro care throughout the baby stage. It makes their immune systems healthier to!

Caroline, I'm not too spiritual when it comes to animals either. But I guess you could take the rescue remedy to balance your emotions. I know how yucky it feels when something like that happens!

[mommycaroline]

Okay, here's a question. I'm still really sick. Smells get me, food gets me, all sorts of things and it's driving me crazy. So, on Wednesday mornings we take this music class for my daughter. One of the women in her class wears this perfume that gets me every time. She stands near me and I have to run out of the room and vomit immediately. Today, it was so bad that I was standing *across* the room from her and still had to go running down the hall. Would you say something? I don't really know this woman very well, and I've talked to one of my IRL friends who says she wouldn't, but personally, if I were making someone sick, I'd want to know. We've got 2 more months of class (it just started 3 weeks ago) so this could get really ugly.

And, on the sleep thread, yeah, I'm pretty nervous about that too. I don't know what we're going to do. DD will stay in our bed, I'm thinking, so I don't know how she's going to not wake up too, and I only have breasts on *one* side of my body. She *is* nightweaned, so I'm hoping that will help, but I bet it will be very confusing when she sees the baby nursing at night and she can't. I do have a guilty admission though. She has developed a fondness for Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. If I've had a particularly hard day, or just need a nap, she and I will curl up on the couch, watch a movie, and I'll snooze lightly while she watches the movie. I'm hoping that still works come August, cause it will make all the difference in the world, I'd imagine.

Caroline

[ketilave]

One time when my sd came over she brought a new teddy bear her mom had bought her and sprayed with her perfume. OMG - We had to stick it in the trunk and it wasn't allowed in the house! Let's just say that didn't help things out. Speaking of which - thought things were under control for a while the freakin' mad cow is back. DH got served again on Mond. The last order just got signed in Jan!!!

Perfumes are one of my triggers - when I can smell even the tiniest trace I know I am pg. I don't know how you can say anything without the person being offended. I know around here people would smile, walk away and mutter B***CH.

Good luck

[mommycaroline]

Yeee-owtch, ketilave, that sounds like a definite thing to avoid.

I feel like I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. She's eventually going to notice me running out of the room whenever she's around me, and what's she going to think then? I try to be discreet, but how discreet can you be, you know? *sigh* I don't know what I'm going to do. I hate being sick all the time, and I can't wait for it to end. It's not like I *chose* to be sick, you know?

Caroline

[myjo]

Caroline, have you ever tried giving both breasts without switching sides? There's no way I could have slept with both ds's without doing this. When baby is finished with the bottom breast, you just lower the top breast to baby's level. You'd have to see it I think. But it works. I got mine to sleep by nursing the babe on my left while ds was behind my back and played with my hair. I guess if your dd has no hair fetish this wouldn't work!

[mommycaroline]

Hmmm, trying to figure what you're getting at here, Myjo. I think I understand. I do actually nurse DD on both sides without rolling over frequently, but I'm more nervous about once babe has arrived, and is nursing, nursing, nursing all night long, and DD is laying behind me wanting to nurse at the same time. Are you saying you can nurse two babies while laying down? I know sometimes DD lies overtop of me, but I'm a little uncomfortable with doing that while sleeping. She could easily roll right over onto the babe, but maybe there's something even better than that?

Looking forward to your answer!

Caroline

[ilovebeingamom]

I had dr. appt. today. Went ok, except that the dr. told me that since I am attempting VBAC I have to deliver in the *operating* room instead of the birthing room. I was confused by this, and asked if I was going to be delivering on a table or what? I could not understand the logistics of this. And he agreed to bring in the birthing bed, but wanted to keep the table in the room in case they need to do surgery for rupture. This is starting to get so ridiculous. I understand that the liability for a dr. is high, but for cripe's sake, this is another hurdle. I get to look at the c/s table while I am in labor. To give the dr. credit, he is one of the very, very few in teh area even WILLING to do a vbac, and he does seem willing to work with me on some things. It seems that I just need to be very direct and tell them exactly what I want. I am going to study the hypnobirthing at home so hopefully that will help me block out all these distractions. I am also going to stay at home as long as possible. No way I am going to stay in a operating room for hours. I am just so resentful of this scar lately (and the entire medical establishment).

Anyway, I am also worried about sleep deprivation. This was one reason I didn't have another sooner. Ds will be 3 3/4 when baby is born. Not a huge difference, but no way could I have handled it any sooner. I can not picture how this baby and ds are going to sleep, but I figure we will work it out once the baby is here. AT least ds is weaned and out of diapers. Big plus in my book!

mommycaroline-I think you could approach her, maybe just say "I am so embarrassed to have to say this, but since I am pg, I have such wierd aversions to smell. For some wierd reason, your perfume is making me feel sick. I know that it is a very nice smell usually, but being preggo just wreaks havoc on me.Did you go through anything like that when you were pg?" I might not be the best person to give advice on this though, b/c I frequently stick my foot in my mouth and say stupid things. But if you are actually throwing up and it isn't getting better, maybe it is time to say something.

I bought a box of crunch n' munch today. I don't think I have ever bought this before in my life. but it looked just so good on the shelf. I am about half way through.

ok, sorry it got long. Good night!

[Solange]

:

....lol..wow...ok I am trying to figure out where to start....

juju..my dh also passes out when he gets his blood drawn..the only thing that he does is have them do it while he is laying down...sorry I do not have any other tips than that...

Naturegirl happy 20 weeks for you....

EC=elimination communitcation..we have a forum here for it over by diapering I think....

Melissa
ugh..what a deal from your OB about giving birth...I do not blame you for wanting to stay home as long as you can...hope something works out better for you on that front...

Caroline...bummer about the smelly stuff...I am still having bouts of m/s too here and there..nothing major..but nevertheless still having it.....

Dodo..hope your back gets to healing soon....

Madrone hope your little guy gets back to health soon..it must be hard...

Bears sleep deprivation has not even crossed my mind yet...hhmmm maybe just try to not think of it too much until you are there in the moment....I am sure it will all work out and we do have about 4 months to go yet and anything can happen with your ds #1 sleeping pattern by then...so don't fret....h

Baby is kicking up a storm and I got the rib kick today some of you have already been experiencing I am so excited....
Next week go for MW appt...tomorrow I go back to D.O. to have her check my lump again...I am also going to buy a natural deoderant...I need this to go away....

I think I am definatley carrying this one different than ds...I must be having a girl....but I have no real vibes either way.....with ds I knew he was a boy very early.....A girl is all ds says I am having and he gets mad if dh tries to tell him we could have a brother for him....

ok that is it for me....
ttyl

[mommycaroline]

Melissa, I so sympathize with you on the VBAC front. It's a rotten place to be in, no doubt. There's a huge part of me that wishes I could just decide to have an unattended birth, but I really don't think that's wise for me, especially since I'm about 25 minutes from the nearest hospital. It sucks that our birth choices are taken away like this! I've had a heck of a time resigning myself to the two OB's in town that will take me, and I've chosen the lesser of two evils, but I'm still not happy with her. She has three midwives who do the vast majority of her patient care, which I guess is better than it could be, but the one midwive I met, well, I think a more accurate term for her is "med"wife.

But on another note, here's an interesting site. http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/PredictSex.htm Want to find out if you're having a boy or girl? Check your older babies too. It's right for my first daughter, and it's predicting a girl for us this time around too, which is my gut instinct. What kind of results does everyone else get?

Caroline

[ketilave]

Melissa - how are the nurses on duty going to know that you need to be in the or vs. birthing room? Try to give everyone as little notice as possible. Until they get you naked, which they don't want, they want you covered in their gown, no one is even going to see the scar. Well, most people won't see it because of the belly.

From my experience with DD things I was willing to give on - I had a heplock and later when they wanted to start the iv (I needed some extra fluid) I didn't fight. I let them do the monitoring 20 minute every hour and continous for pushing. If they do stick you on the monitor full time give in but then take it off and go to the bathroom after 20 minutes or so. It will drive the nurses crazy but what can they do if you have to pee a lot or just have the urge. A good point to bring up with the OB - what access will you have to a bathroom or shower - never seen one in an or in my life:LOL There is no liability for the Dr. as long as he keeps you informed. He can't force you to do anything you don't want. Birth plans sometimes create a more antagonistic relationship between Dr. and pt but it also clearly defines what you want and puts them in a position to tread carefully. I wish I could be there for you. I do know how important this is...

Bears - I was laughing when you were talking about DS. DS is them same and DD is not quite as fast developing but still ahead of the game but we keep thinking she is younger than she is.

[madrone]

DS has his first ear infection now. He's on anti-biotics for the first time. After giving him his first dose yesterday, I started doubting that I should have started them up so easily after the doc prescribed them. But since he had that first dose, there is no way I will stop them now. And doc's here only prescribe anti-biotics on rare occasions. Since he did, I think he must really believe DS needs them.

With DS being sick for the first time, I keep thinking how wonderful breastmilk is. I mean, he's 2 years and 11 months now and just having his first ear infection and croup. Really wish I still had milk so that we could be putting it off for another year or so.

I screwed up this morning. I always wake up more around 6 am and cannot get back to sleep for a couple of hours. Just an insomnia type of thing. Somewhere between 8 and 9 am, DS starts needing to nurse constantly and I end up falling back to sleep during this. And then I have a hard time waking up. This morning, I woke up at 11. The market was until noon this morning and really needed to go get some things, so I hurried and got us dressed, thinking we would eat some biscuits on the walk up the hill to the market. But I forgot the biscuits. So, I went on and got my shopping done without either DS nor I having eaten anything yet and we started to walk back down the hill to go home and eat. This very nice woman that lives on the foot-road down the hill came out to talk to us and I wasn't really feeling well at that time. I ended up having to tell her I wasn't feeling well and ask if I could use her bathroom. But I almost fainted walking through her house to her bathroom. She took care of me as I was sick (not like I could be sick on this particular foot-road that has houses up to the path on both sides) and then had me lie down and gave me some mint tea. DS got upset when I was lying down and she comforted him a lot and then he came to me and nursed. The mint tea with honey helped give me the strength to finish walking down the hill and over the river to our house, where we had some breakfast. It isn't far and she can actually see our house from her garden, just that I couldn't make it that far at the time. Don't know if I would have been able to make it if I had not stopped to talk to her for a few minutes. So, I've learned my lesson on that even if I hadn't been sick in the past month and a half or so, I still have to eat or I will still get sick.

I'm kind of worried about sleep also. Or more specifically, I'm worried about those couple of hours in the morning. I really don't know how I would be able to continuously nurse DS if the new baby happens to want to nurse at that time also.

DS wants to help me type, so got to go. Take care, Tiff

[myjo]

Caroline, I guess I thought you meant that you have to turn over whenever you have to switch breasts. Honestly, I've never tandem nursed before, so I don't know what to tell you about the possibility of both wanting to nurse in bed at the same time. All I know is that I read an article once where the mama had a babe and 3 yr. old nurse at the same time in bed, and the older dd just hung over the mom's side to get to the breast. Maybe you could go over to the breastfeeding forum to get some more insight on tandem nursing? I'm sure it will all work out. Older kids usually figure out ways on their own to make room for baby.

Madrone, you probably already know this, but after the antibiotics, a lot of moms give either probiotics or lots of live culture yogurt. Sometimes it prevents really nasty problems like diarrhea and thrush. If he gets one again, we found garlic oil in the ears to be extremely effective in getting rid of infections (and it relieves pain even better if it has Mullein and St. John's Wort in it too). And I don't know if you can get this where you are, but elderberry syrup is very good for draining fluid from the ears. The brand we use is Sambucol.

I did the Chinese gender calender and couple months ago and it said I'm having a girl (yippee!) I'm not sure it's too accurate though, because it also said ds #1 should have been a girl. But it was right on with ds#2. Go figure!

[ilovebeingamom]

Hi,

Thanks for your replies, gals. Ketileve, you raised some good questions re: the bathroom. My husband says he is coming with me to the next appt. to see if we can be in the birhting room as long as everything is going well. The OR is only down the hall, if anythign were to happen, I think the minute to get there wouldn't matter much. I get so emotional sometimes that I can't speak my mind clearly, so it is good for dh to come sometimes. I emailed my doula, and she just completed the Birthing from Within training and said she would come over and work with me one on one. She knows how stressed I get about the birth sometimes, she is really great. She was also an OB nurse for about 20 years, so I feel that she is a good mediator also.


We are going to an open house tonight for a co-op preschool. I am pretty sure ds is going in the fall. I am excited about it b/c as parents, we have to volunteer twice a month in the classroom, and all the parents are very involved. It is only two days a week and two hours at a time, so ds should handle it ok.

madrone-that is pretty amazing that this is the first time your ds has had an ear infection. Still not fun though!

Have a good day everyone!