Queer & Pregnant: December & January - Page 10

[LibraryLady]

5G~ So wonderful! It makes it all seem real.  Just one hearbeat? Breaking the twin streak here on the boards. Still, I'm SO SO happy for you both!!

[AmandaHope]

5G: How fantastic!   Sorry you are having to be on antibiotics, but you must feel so relieved, now.  Enjoy the moment!

AFU: First midwife appointment today, including a full 30 minutes of paperwork and another 45 minutes of answering a nurse's questions as she typed them into the computer.  Good God! But then we chatted with the midwife, who informed us that since I am 1) 35 years old 2) have mild asthma and 3) have a history of premature membrane rupture, my next appt with be with the high-risk-OB group.  The midwives will still provide my primary care, but the high risk group will do testing/ultrasound, etc. (and almost certainly pressure me to do an amnio, which I plan to decline as long as the first tri screening is fine).  Ugh.  This has got to be the most medicalized midwifery care out there.  I'm fine with all this for now but may well switch to the laid-back independent midwives later on. 

The lovely thing was that we got to hear the heartbeat with the doppler.  It took her a while to find it, but then it was nice and regular and strong.  So amazing!  We'd seen/heard it once before at 7 weeks, but it was just as incredible this time.  What a magnificent thing we're all experiencing right now--so happy to have this community to share it with. 

[justrose13]

AHope, so awesome you got to hear the HB again!

[Coco99]

AmandaHope : So glad that everything is going well for you :):) I cried the first few times we heared the twins's heartbeats :)

As for us...

Sorry I havent been around much... just so much going on !

We are done with the nursery... we had our shower... the diapers are bought and stacked... the bags are packed... we are so ready... 35 weeks today !

Anyone up for belly pics ?

Here is DP at 35 weeks ! She hopes this was the last of our weekly pics...

The other one is us at our baby shower last saturday :)

Coco

xxx

[LibraryLady]

AHope~ So glad you got to hear the heartbeat again, and I'm glad you've settled on a midwife, though I'm sorry you're having to be so 'medicalized'.  At least you know it'll be as little intervention as possible, and that your voice can be heard in the midst of all this.

Going home in the morning. So glad! It's been a great (LONG) weekend, but I just want to have all the flying behind me, and be home with my kitties and my darling DP.

[LibraryLady]

Crosspost Coco~ Wow! What a belly!!!  It won't be much longer now, I can't wait to hear the tale and see pictures of the babies themselves. You both look so happy! And it's great to know it'll only get better x

[cejae]

 Coco, I LOVE the pics!!  And CONGRATS on making it to 35 weeks!! I know how important that marker is w/twins :).

Hey Amanda, wanna switch midwives?  I think mine is waaaaay to laid back for my taste.  I'll take the highly medicalized one and you can take the chill midwife. :).  Seriously though, sorry about the medicalization.  It can be very frustrating.  Stick to your guns.  They can't *make* you do much of what doesn't feel comfortable to you and, as you know, most of what they are doing is to cover themselves in terms of malpractice.  Sigh.

AFM,  lets see, working my way through the only good book written on twin pregnancies and loving it.  Give me some peer reviewed studies and I'm in geek heaven.  Still queasy and taking the meds and praying to whatever powers that be on a daily basis that it ends.  And starting to grow out of my partners' pregnancy clothes from our first child!  I'm accepting mumu donations now.  My friends swear they are going to be in fashion this summer.  Aaaaand, our lovely former nanny gave us the best Christmas present this year.  She's flying out to take care of our son for a weekend so DP and I can  have a mountain getaway.  I'm booking our reservations tonight and I'm so excited!

[gumshoegirl007]

AHope and 5GB - Congrats on hearing your baby's heartbeat.  That's just so exciting!!!! 

Coco - Congrats on making it to 35w!  I recall some of your DP's earlier struggles and wanting to keep the babies put.  Now, it's time to meet your Chloe and Charlie in the big old world.

LibraryLady - My next task is to go through your fabulous recommended reading list and order some of those titles from the library.  The key will be NOT to tell my DW about the subject matter so that I may stand a chance of actually getting to read the books myself .

AFU - Just truckin' along trying to get this damn work issue resolved.  I think my lawyer is a dud.  My regular lawyer was out due to a death in the family, so I got this new one.  She was 30 minutes late to our appointment on Friday.  And, she was supposed to have a letter out to my employer today (after I had reviewed and given my approval!).  It's 8:21 pm my time and I still don't have a copy of the letter.  Hell, I didn't even get a response to my email around noon.  WTF?  Not feeling so confident on this one.

DW asked me this morning if I needed to get more exercise because I was breathing heavily after having climbed a flight of stairs.  My response, "I walked the dog for 1 hr yesterday and shoveled the driveway twice.  That's more exercise than you got last week.  Perhaps it's because there's a baby squishing my lungs that I no longer can hack a flight of stairs?"  I just laughed at the situation.  The way she asked it was oh so very comical.  I may be getting slower and way more physically laboured, but I can still do it, damn it!!!

[JesseW]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice on the sequential screening. We had it yesterday and it went well. So far everything looks "normal" but they do two rounds of blood testing along with it to complete the analysis so we won't know more details for another week and then another month. But, I hope to avoid the amnio with normal range results.

Today is 12 weeks for me and I feel relieved. The technician told us that we had the most active baby of the day. My DP had our first child who was also very active and now definitely on the energetic side of 3 year olds. So, it looks like another active kid--need to start working out to keep up with them!!

[justrose13]

coco, you and your DP are so, so cute!!! congrats on making it to 35 weeks!

i was lurking in February's DDC and guess who had their babies?! Abeecharmer!! hopefully we'll get an update from her soon, but it was too exciting not to share! (i hope i didn't step on any toes... )

[AmandaHope]

Coco:  So glad that the babes have made it to 35 weeks and that they seem to be doing so well.  And your DP's belly is seriously impressive.  How is her back holding up?  Please remind me what your birth plan is.  With twins, are you planning a c-section or hoping for a natural delivery?  Is your doc planning to let you get all the way to term, if it works out that way (I'm sure DP is hoping it won't, though)?  So exciting!

Jesse: Glad the first part of the screening went well, and congrats on 12 weeks.  I'm exactly one week behind you and also planning, now, to do the screening (largely to avoid amnio).  Fingers crossed!

Gumshoe:  Love your response about whether you might need more exercise.  Sheesh!  Sorry to hear your lawyer is a dud--is there someone else you could work with?

Cejae: Ok, I'll do the swap.  How should we work out who pays for the plane tickets?  Your weekend getaway sounds on beyond fabulous.  What an incredible nanny!  So...about that belly growing out of DP's maternity clothes...how about some pics? 

AFM: About to sign off, get some coffee, and get some freaking work done today.  I drove all the way to campus (about 40 min) in the snow, so I'd better make good use of the day!  Anyway, I'm just starting to look for lawyers who do second parent adoptions around here (Western Chicago burbs).  I found someone, but her email was so brusque that it turned me off.  I suppose she is a lawyer who is used to her time being very valuable, but how hard is it to say congratulations and I'd like to work with you?  Ugh.

[Coco99]

Hey everyone, thanx for your comments :) We are very happy to have reached 35 weeks too ! Now we are simply IMPATIENT !

AmandaHope : To answer your questions, if the babies are well positioned, we do plan on a natural birth. So far so good, they were both in vertex position last week and they are both the right size for it too. We should know more tomorrow at our appt. Our doc is planning to let her go as far as she can unless there is distress from the babies or too much pain for her. They do non-stress tests weekly to monitor the babies's well being. As far as DP's back, it is painful but not too much so aperantly. She has much more discomfort from Charlie's head being jammed in her pelvis and from both twins pushing up on her stomach... It os not a very comfortable time for her.

Take care all !

Coco

xx

[burg]

AmandaHope- Good luck finding a lawyer for the 2nd parent adoption, is there anywhere/one you can look to for a recommendation? I am so happy that a friend passed along the info for the one that we're using- she is usually able to get the homestudy & 6 month waiting period waived and she gave us the "dyke discount" (her words.) 

Wehrli- I saw her announcement too- so exciting!! 

JesseW- Glad everything went well with the testing. Also, hooray for 12 weeks! I remember being so excited when we got there!

Gumshoe- I am very sorry about your work situation! I hope it all gets sorted soon and also that a good opportunity comes along!

Cejae & Pigirl-  I hope your m/s ends soon! Ugh, not fun!

Coco- Great Belly pic, DP looks great! Congrats for getting to 35 weeks! 

AmyPDX & 5grandbaby- Isn't the heartbeat one of the most beautiful sounds! Congrats! 

Library- Sorry to hear about your scare and glad you're home with DP now!

Kredmon- I am so very sorry for your loss! I am also sorry that you had that scare afterward and had to deal with such insensitivity! 

AFM- We had a very busy baby filled weekend- full day birthing class on Saturday & our shower on Sunday. The class was held at the hospital where we are delivering, so it was nice to learn specifics about the hospitals way of doing things- I am such a planner. Another nice thing was that it was facilitated by a doula, so there was a good balance. The shower was incredibly nice. Below are pictures of the cake that my best friend made for me and gist boxes that DP's sister made, I love them! Friday will be 37 weeks, I can't believe we're already almost at term. 

[LibraryLady]

Grrrr~I posted a big post from the Denver airport yesterday, but I guess it's disappeared.

Cejae~ I second the call for a belly pic of that growing tum!  I'm also laughing at your geeking out on peer-reviewed studies. You should talk to my DP.  Mmmm, data...

Gumshoe~ Let me know what you think of the books! I look forward to your thoughts, and to your DPs if she finds your stash :)    We have a few months' breather and then the new cycle starts again, and I'll have more fun titles for everyone!

Jesse~ Glad your screening went well. I know that even the u/s one we had being so emphatically negative made me feel loads better.  And as AHope says, much preferable to amnio. It's, what 1 in 250 chance of m/c after amnio? And when our bloodwork came back with the Downs chances 1 in 6,000 it made the decision a no-brainer for sure.

Wehrli~ Thanks for the update about the update!  Hopefully she'll come share her story with us.

AHope~ I don't blame you for being rrrtated at the lawyer's tone. Still, helps make it easier to narrow the field.

Coco~ Sorry your DP's so uncomfortable~ surely it won't be much longer now!  I'm glad all looks go for a natural birth, though. i'm getting excited!

Burg~ That baby swag is ADORABLE!!!  Such a cute cake! I've seen some nightmare shower cakes, but that one looks adorably prosh!!  And yay for being almost at term. Must be such a relief.

AFM~ SO GLAD TO BE HOME!!!  Aspidistra kicked and wiggled up a storm on the airplanes yesterday, I wonder if the pressure affected her? She's been a lot more active lately, and very strong. for which I'm grateful. When I was having my panic attack she was especially active, so at least I didn't have to worry if SHE was okay, just me.   Anyhoo, so happy to be home in my bed and near my midwife if there's trouble in future.

[LibraryLady]

Cejae~ I hear you!! I got no time for the drama!!!

A funny side-story. I told you all I sat next to  a pregnant woman on my flight from Denver to San Diego? She was very nice and we're due about the same time and we chatted, etc, very pleasant. Then when I flew from SD to Denver, who was next to me again!?  What an odd coincidence!!  Still, we had another lovely chat, and neither of us minded how often the other person got up to go to the bathroom.

[AmandaHope]

This board needs an energy boost.  I'm not sure how to make that happen...hmm....  How about a predictable QOTD: What is the most embarrassing moment from this pregnancy so far?

[Maluhia]

Friendly reminder of our User Agreement:

News and Current Events should be posted to the appropriate form here on MDC. 

Members may discuss news items in appropriate parenting forums such as breastfeeding items in lactivism, birth related items in the birth forums or chickenpox outbreaks in Health & Healing. However, keep in mind that threads still need to remain on-topic for the forum and should not be about individuals but about the general topic.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me with them. 

Some forums of interest:

Books, Music and Other Media http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/list/15

News and Current Events http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/list/302

[Coco99]

Hum.... why did we get "friendly reminded" ??

[justrose13]

Why did library's post from last night get deleted??? What is going on?

[Maluhia]

I'm going to type this publicly to attempt to assist in understanding: Our user agreement is important to the proper working of the MDC Message boards.  Posts outside of the user agreement can be and are deleted and friendly reminders are often given to the thread as a whole as guidance.  A lot of us read the User Agreeement when we joined but have not reviewed it of late, so these friendly reminders can help us all to stay familiar with the working rules of the board.  The friendly reminder is about some minor incidents that took this thread outside of the User Agreement, these are not some big bad thing linked with anger but rather something that we, as moderators, do our best to gently remind and correct.  We are working to keep a large and diverse board working properly in the interest of civility and organization that makes MDC both a great gathering place and a resource for many parents.  This wonderfully friendly thread on the experience of Queer & Pregnant is important to our community, as are discussion about books/news/and or current events.  Keeping discussions in their proper areas help new and established users utilize this space as a resource and community.   One of the rules is not to discuss moderator actions on the board, because it is really not a place to publicly debate or question the User Agreement (questions on the UA alone can go in Questions & Suggestions), if you have a question about a moderator action please PM us rather than turn the focus of any one thread into a discussion of moderator actions.  Kind Regards, Maluhia