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February Chat

14K views 474 replies 34 participants last post by  katroshka 
#1 ·
W.O.W. It is February and I guarantee some of the babies will be here this month. Who's going to be first???

Cleaning went well for me the other day. Cleaned our bedroom to an inch of it's life. Under the bed no longer looks like a dustbunny graveyard and the furniture is rearranged to make space for the birth tub. I am feeling more and more prepared everyday.

DH and I wrote our hospital transfer plan last night. I will be praying that we don't have to use it.

34 weeks today. Officially 9 months pregnant, according to Dr. Sears. I can't even believe it.
 
#2 ·
Wow! We ARE going to have some babies born this month!!! And, as my boss said yesterday, this is the last month before your birth month...AND IT'S A SHORT ONE! Needless to say, my goal for today (while I'm at work) is to complete my maternity leave paperwork for HR & my hospital pre-registration.

I had a really rough night last night. I'm not feeling 100% (super sore throat) and I've been SO TIRED. I got home from work with a mental list of things I wanted to get done. Instead, I made dinner, got everything cleaned up, gave the kids baths and went down to the living room to find Jason NAPPING ON THE COUCH!!!!!
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So....that resulted in a nasty argument and me crying big hormonal pregnant tears (and nothing else got done). Hopefully today will be better.

For the last few days, I've been having what feel like BH contractions, but instead of tightening my entire belly, it's just really low on my uterus and more painful than usual. There hasn't been a pattern, and it's only a couple times a day, but it's enough to give me pause.
 
#3 ·
Yup there will be some babies born very soon!

I'm 35+ weeks and ctx have changed to where I can feel pressure and some stinging on the cervix. I will spend the next several weeks contracting at night every few minutes for hours until they finally peter out. lol

But I'm always about halfway dialated once true labor begins and it goes fast from there.

I can see delivering a week-ish early but I'm expecting very near EDD.

How are ya'll sleeping at night? It is so painful to lay on my sides... just gets so sore. I can't help but lay on my stomach sometimes. Wondering if a mattress topper would help with soreness?
 
#4 ·
My belly also gets sore in bed--the underneath bit. It is such a bummer. We have a mattress topper...although I sleep on my sides. I've tried putting a pillow under my belly, but it doesn't seem to help much.

I have also been having a lot of contractions. I have been for a while. I backed off on the RRL tea and I think they've calmed down a little bit.
 
#5 ·
Good morning Ladies...how is it February???

I've been away for a while because of an 8 day work trip, which my husband and daughter accompanied me on (it was in Florida, and they had a blast at the beach, zoos, Disney while I was working). Now I'm sick with some gross cold....and my hips are killing me! Baby is finally head down, but facing out, and I swear he/she is on his/her hands and knees just PUSHING. My belly is like a rock (and I don't have a rock hard belly ever!), and sore. However, I'm so not ready for baby to be on the outside so my EDD of March 8 (or later!) is just fine with me.

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone....I haven't read any posts in over two weeks!
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by milosmomma View Post

I had a really rough night last night. I'm not feeling 100% (super sore throat) and I've been SO TIRED. I got home from work with a mental list of things I wanted to get done. Instead, I made dinner, got everything cleaned up, gave the kids baths and went down to the living room to find Jason NAPPING ON THE COUCH!!!!!
Cuss.gif
So....that resulted in a nasty argument and me crying big hormonal pregnant tears (and nothing else got done). Hopefully today will be better.
sounds like my Jason. He's really bad at reading when I'm not feeling well and need his help
 
#8 ·
C&P, I forgot that we were in feb.

I had my m/w appt today and I'm also 35wks and 2 days. :) It went well. I went to get dd2 beforehand and she got to hear the hearbeat this time. The hb and the bp were good. Baby is head down. :D I'm also starting to see her once a wk. O.O the time is almost here!!!

I washed all my wool sweater sets that my mom had knitted for the girls ready. I need to put them away now. I have all the dipes washed. Dh is good with any type of cd's. He actually like prefolds and covers. So this little one as that and some fb's. Newborn baby clothes and blankets are washed too.

Almost ready!
 
#9 ·
Crayfish, it sounds like you had a lot of fun in Florida! That's where I'm originally from - I left Florida last year to be with my DH, and the WINDS out here are brutal!

I only figured out this morning that I could apply light pressure around my belly to figure out where my Alistair is sitting - and he started kicking and poking back, which is what DH has been trying to do. Tomorrow morning, I'm taking a camera in the bedroom with me and doing it again! It really is awesome - because he'll kick harder, and my belly will pop out at that point - it's so cute! I love it!

There's a woman I sort of work with at Gordman's (it's sort of, because I am more of a rep there for the maternity department, not an employee of Gordman's) who is not far from where I'm at - and she is annoyed by all the kicking. And I feel the joy. Except when there's petty squabbles, Alistair starts kicking, so I look at my belly and tell him his feedback in unnecessary at this time. lol Every woman is different, of course. :)
 
#10 ·
C and P - I posted in Jan!

Adding: Wow! Feb already! I can't believe it. I don't expect to be having a baby this month (hope not - due at the end of the month), but can't believe we are the point where one or more of us might soon!

----------

We did not CD with DD - I really did not know much about it or know anyone who did it at the time... now tons of friends CD and I spent some time looking into it.

I was not so sure about DH being into it - I think the general "poop disposal" and laundry were his concerns. So I suggested the local diaper service for the first few months and then we will decide from there. What is kind of funny is that since the diaper service is pre-folds and covers the actual diapering might be a tad more work then if we just started out buying diapers as I would have been willing to go with AIO to help convince him to do CD.

It is amazing at thanksgiving when I mentioned to some of his family what we were doing how they instantly gave negative comments about how hard and awful CD was and blah blah blah... I explained that they had no idea what they were talking about (in a nicer way) and told about how much they have changed - then told them we are using a service and so it is even easier! But I was still kind of shocked, I don't think they meant it is such a way... but still.

Speaking of that I was also kind of shocked at my dentist last week. She was asking where I was delivering (using MW group at a hospital) and we were joking about the potential for snow storms in March. I make a comment that was clearly joking about me being ready to deliver the baby at home it labor was super fast and it was snowing (which I kind of actually have done very basic mental preparation as a just in case by me and DH reading the emergency childbirth booklet many people have posted in other forums on here). She practically freaked out on me about how Oh no... that would be bad, you really need a doc.. blah blah blah.

Wow - since I could not really talk more then a word or two I ended up just not really responding - but seriously! My kudos to you homebirthers who must deal with this kind of stuff all the time! I would have considered HB if I thought my DH would not totally freak out (he freaked out a bit when I even just mentioned a birth center!). But since I am comfortable with a hospital/midwife birth (really good group and hospital reputation etc.) it is fine. So this was just like a tiny glimpse into what you guys must have to deal with. Even not doing a HB I have tried to discuss with people how it really is a good/safe option etc - just to spread the word I guess. I think people would drive me crazy with those comments.

---

DH is home with a diarrhea and fever thing - sooooo hoping that DD and I don't catch it. I really don't want to deal with that myself - I will at least make sure that today I am very fully hydrated so that if I do catch it I am at least not starting off even a tiny bit dehydrated.
 
#11 ·
Every baby is different, too. I never really minded when my daughter kicked, but this one kicks a LOT more and a LOT harder and I get pretty dang tired of it. And he whomps me in the cervix regularly, which just out and out hurts.

Today I am so, so over it all. I'm due on the 8th, but I sure hope Little Brother comes sooner than that, because I'm feeling very ready to be over with being pregnant. I've got the changing table all set up in our downstairs bathroom, and every time I go in there, it's waiting impatiently for a baby to use it. Today, I just feel like I'm crawling out of my skin. It's supposed to be icing here, and nothing's happening at all, and I SOOOO want it to because I so want my husband to come home. It's a good thing my daughter's being great and entertaining herself really well because I just don't want to deal with...well, anything.

I'm feeling pretty ready in a practical sense, too. I've got most of the birth supplies gathered together, and most of the baby stuff hauled out and washed. There's certainly more to do, but I have no energy and no patience and I'm finding it harder and harder to care. Is that, like, the opposite of nesting? What the heck? My husband and I joke that I don't get hormonal nesting urges, and that all my housecleaning and preparation is motivated by fear--fear that such-and such will stay a half-finished mess for ANOTHER three years.
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At least that way he and I are right on the same page! The only urge I get is the urge to buy stuff, but that one I mostly have to squash. Right now I want a Tummy Tub so bad.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcregan View Post

DH is home with a diarrhea and fever thing - sooooo hoping that DD and I don't catch it. I really don't want to deal with that myself - I will at least make sure that today I am very fully hydrated so that if I do catch it I am at least not starting off even a tiny bit dehydrated.
I really hope you don't catch it too. DD and I had something to that effect last week, and it was miserable. especially since it triggered a ton of BH.

we didn't start CD until DD was 9 months, because all I knew of CD was Gerber prefolds and covers (yuck). as I learned more about it I decided to give it a shot, and I'm really liking it, especially because we started DD potty-learning at 12 months, but at 20 months she still has a long way to go. cloth has at least helped both of us know when she is wet. I also offer the potty a lot more often if she's in cloth, when she's in a disposable it just feel like a waste of a diaper.
 
#13 ·
Wow! February already! It kind of reaches out and smacks you in the face when you realize just how close we all are to having our LOs with us. At least I know it did DH and I yesterday.

I'm 34w2d today. And if I follow pattern (although with only one previous child it is hard to have a "pattern"), then I'll be one of those who give birth this week. I went at about 37w3d with DS. My goal is Feb 21. That will put me right at 37w and I'll feel comfortable delivering at home and not the hospital. Anything after that is gravy.

Although home really is a relative term. I won't be delivering at my home, I'll be giving birth at my doula's home. My family lives with my grandmother in her house. She stated early on that she didn't care where I gave birth, just not in her home. So.....I'll be driving about 45 mins away and give birth at my doula's home. Hopefully. She and her DH just had to put their house up for sale. If things move quickly for her, I may have to make a longer drive and drive to my midwife's house about 1.5 hours away. And all this doesn't take into account that I work an hour away in the other direction and am planning on working until whenever. LOL

I'm beginning to think I'm crazier than I thought I was.
 
#14 ·
Wow, I can't believe it's February already. I'm feeling prepared, finally. There are a few odds and ends, but nothing critical that needs doing. We had an ultrasound last Thursday, 33W3D. I am shocked to discover B flipped and is now head down! So that's what all that extra movement was the three days before that. The babies are growing beautifully, est. 5lbs 7oz and 5lbs 3oz. I can't believe there's roughly 11 lbs of baby in there now! So, the OB is pleased with their growth and doesn't need to see me unless we want a positioning scan. She asked about our birth plans, but didn't really push it. So, provided we reach term (really just another couple weeks!!) we'll be set for another home birth. I'm so thrilled that everything has gone so well! Friday we had our prenatal with the midwife and I'm measuring 46 cm. I only gained 4lbs this last month, which doesn't entirely surprise me, because who has room to eat? I'm trying! Doing at least one protein shake a day, as liquid just seems so much easier.

We should be on the down side of the puking pukers. After 6yo ds was sick last Wed, 8yo ds and 11yo dd came down sick on Sunday, then dh in the middle of Sunday night. I started feeling nauseous and completely lost my appetite yesterday, and most of today, but no puking. Thank you, Lord! That leaves 13yo ds, who has a great immune system, and 2yo dd, who has had diarrhea and I'm hoping that's it for her. Whew!

On a happier note, we celebrated 5yo ds's birthday on Sunday! We went over to our local outdoor ice skating rink. I stayed in the warm car and knitted, but everyone else had a marvelous time.
 
#15 ·
wow feb... i'm wondering if this will be the month I have a baby.

Spoke with one of the midwives today about my dates and what we are going to do. they do chart review every thursday and they will discuss it. with a 10 day discepency between lmp and a 20 weeks u/s i'm just not fully convinced that this baby is going to make it that long considering how i have been feeling. I'm getting almost nightly discomforts, but i can subside the discomfort and stop anyhting from coming still. I have cervical discomfort too.... so we'll see what next week brings after they talk about it.

I know the baby will come when the baby is ready but here in BC you can only have a home birth between 37 and 41 weeks gestation. Midwives are heavily regulated here so if i was to try at home for anything else they technially are not allowed to attend. we'll see how it goes though......

i'm measuring for the u/s dates but i figure this baby will still be early
 
#16 ·
It's blowing my mind that it's already February!! It feels like it was just Christmas. We're going to have some babies here this month!

I'm 33w 2d. MW came over Friday, baby was transverse but she told me not to freak out yet. We need to gather more stuff for the birth kit and then I think we're ready, stuff-wise. Amazing.
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aliy View Post

wow feb... i'm wondering if this will be the month I have a baby.

Spoke with one of the midwives today about my dates and what we are going to do. they do chart review every thursday and they will discuss it. with a 10 day discepency between lmp and a 20 weeks u/s i'm just not fully convinced that this baby is going to make it that long considering how i have been feeling. I'm getting almost nightly discomforts, but i can subside the discomfort and stop anyhting from coming still. I have cervical discomfort too.... so we'll see what next week brings after they talk about it.

I know the baby will come when the baby is ready but here in BC you can only have a home birth between 37 and 41 weeks gestation. Midwives are heavily regulated here so if i was to try at home for anything else they technially are not allowed to attend. we'll see how it goes though......

i'm measuring for the u/s dates but i figure this baby will still be early
my midwives can do 37-42 weeks, so they're going with my calculated due-date for now (because DD came before my due-date) and will change to my ultrasound duedate (a week later) if I go past my duedate.
 
#19 ·
MO- It would be nearly impossible to get a closing date on a house in 3 weeks from now, even if someone wanted it tomorrow. It sucks that Gma won't let you do it there!

Aliy- which date is more in-line with your thoughts on when you'll make it to, the LMP or the ultrasound?
 
#20 ·
I just changed my calendar to february! I was thinking one more time and it will be birth month! (If I'm not too late!) I am starting to get a little nervous about breastfeeding pain, as with dd I had really bad pain every time she ate for ther 1st 2 weeks, I would literally sit there and cry while she ate or cry when I knew she was hungry and had to feed her! Here the nurses come and check on you a few times a week for a couple of weeks, and we checked the latch and it looked ok, and they said maybe it was because I was so fair. I'm just hoping it doesn't happen again!! Either way I will be 100% bf-ing, but it would be nice if it didn't hurt!

I am ready for baby and I'm only 32 weeks! lol. Although I don't want baby to come for at least 5 weeks, I know I'll most likely go past my edd of march 28th. I think it will go quick though because of dd and school etc. Can't wait to start hearing some birth stories from mamas in our ddc, maybe not quite yet as it is still fairly early, but soon!

Enjoy the last weeks of your pregnancies!!!
 
#22 ·
ugh. my husband sprained his ankle yesterday. i felt bad for him for a while, and then i realized that he's going to have this sprained ankle for 6 weeks or so... 6 weeks of our last 8 weeks of pregnancy. this morning he slept in and i had to get up and get the coffee going and do all of his chores in addition to mine, and the "nesting" that i have planned for the day. this frickin' sucks. and, i woke up with a cold. :( and of course he's still planning on going to work and will probably be straining his ankle throughout the day rather than resting it so that it gets better sooner. sigh. annoying human bodies we have.
 
#23 ·
Sara--comfrey root soaks at night to speed the healing (healed my mother's broken foot over a month sooner than the doctor said, and my husband's broken rib in a couple less weeks than the norm) and Topricin ointment (get it online or at the health food store) during the day for pain relief and some more healing. Really amazing stuff--I discovered it for my pelvic pain, but it's helped several other people I know since then. I bet you can get that dang foot healed in a lot less than 6 weeks. Still totally stinks, though.
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This morning I had a nightmare where all the characters were running around trying to avoid seeing this one character who had horribly deformed himself in a fit of anger, and then finally one character decided to just see and accept him, and then "I" turned and picked him up and held him and looked at him, and suddenly he was just a bitty baby with a hurt eye and a puffy, damaged face. Then I woke up and wanted to hold my baby so bad, and my husband left right after I woke up when I was so, so hoping that the predicted weather would be bad enough to keep him home. Now I think I'm doomed to a weepy day. And I am not a weepy person and haven't cried in a long time, and the last time I did my daughter totally freaked out. Ugh. I want to be DONE being pregnant and I want my baby.

Also kind of freaking out because I really, really did not enjoy nursing last time--it went fine, no pain or damage, I just really don't enjoy the sensation and it makes me tense. Yeah, giant gyp. And my daughter nursed 'til she was three, and at the first flicker of an opening, I weaned--totally my idea, though at the time she accepted it. Now she keeps asking if my milk is back and clearly thinks she's going to nurse again when the baby comes. I don't know why, because we never told her that nursing was over because I dried up, or anything. The idea of nursing the baby is bad enough, for me...the idea of nursing her again too just makes my skin crawl. I wish I knew or could imagine some way to make this nursing experience different and better, but no one else seems even to have had the experience I did. I swear I didn't even finish bonding with my daughter until she stopped nursing.

Clearly, today is a day when I would be better to keep my thoughts to myself. Sigh...sorry.
 
#24 ·
Starting to feel like my pregnancy is really drawing to a close... If I go at 38 weeks like I did with my other two I only have 3 weeks left! I've been getting a lot more, and stronger Braxton Hicks, and baby feels like she is filling up a lot more space in there. Movement is a lot calmer, and a lot more rolling or feet pushing out instead of kicking. Also when I press around my belly I can just feel that she is taking up so much more of my uterus.

Finally getting DH to read "The Birth Partner", though he complains that it's not well written, he hates all the bullet points and stuff. Personally I feel like that is the easiest way to convey the info but we always have very different tastes in literature, so I guess it's not surprising. I'd been trying to get him to read that darn book for like 4 months and he kept saying "We have PLENTY of time..." Well, not anymore we don't! He does seem to be getting something out of it, though, last night he was talking about how we need to pack a hospital bag. He also said the other day that I would need to teach him how to cook a few things, sigh... I've been saying since I got pregnant that he needs to learn how to cook, NOW he wants to learn how to cook. He's really so helpful around the house, but he can't cook a single meal to save his life! If I don't feel like cooking he hops in the car and picks something up. I told him that will get pretty expensive after the baby is born.

We finally closed on our refinance- yes!- so we will be looking into vans this week. I really, really hope we can find one before this baby arrives.

I have another driving lesson today, I'm really not looking forward to it. So stressful! I'm expecting my instructor to want me to go on the freeway this time, too... Luckily traffic isn't so bad in San Diego, but people drive really fast here. The average speed is about 75 mi/h, which I just do NOT feel up to. Guess I will try to stay in the right lanes and hope for the best!
 
#25 ·
KaPow, that sucks! I hope it feels better sooner rather than later. I feel like extra stuff right now really steals my rest and takes a toll on my bodies.

Sqrrl, I'm so sorry. Did you maybe have PPD? I felt like DD was a needy little monster every time she needed to nurse for many months and am pretty sure I had undiagnosed PPD. You don't HAVE to nurse. If it makes you miserable and makesyour relationship difficult with the baby, I'm not sure it's a net gain, you know? If I had it all to do over again, I would have weaned DD rather than deal with the yeast, mastitis, food allergies, etc., that made us all miserable. DS had thrush and terrible food allergies from practically birth, but nursing him didn't make me resent him at all. I hope you have a better experience this time.

Katroshka, congrats on the refi and the van. Learning to drive is stressful, but it will give you so much more freedom. We live in L.A. (but not near any of the trains), and do use public transportation sometimes, but with little ones and such an awful system, relying on it completely would be MISERABLE. I hope your DH has a good attitude about birth, if not the materials he had to read, you know?

We're pretending it's a snow day in L.A. today. DH is stuck in the midwest, where he had to give a talk for work. Both of my little ones have croup and are miserable. I was up at least every 45 minutes last night fetching medicine and water and propping up pillows, etc. I will probably call a friend and ask her to bring us a chicken today so I can make them some soup, and I don't think they're really in any shape to leave the house.

I'm starting to feel REALLY overwhelmed. DH is going to be gone at least until Thursday night late, and then he will probably give another talk on the east coast in a couple weeks. I have so much I need to get done, and I just need some rest. It's been a really rough month or so for us with DH working late and weekends preparing for these talks. I'm tired of single parenting. I need to relax, do Hypnobabies, and be more than a child manager. I wasn't even particularly sympathetic to my sick kids because I'm so tired. I gave them what they needed, but they got a lot less cuddles and sympathy than usual. I don't want to get sick. I want DH to come home and be PRESENT and help me get ready for baby. It's a hard balance as a SAHM. With the other two pregnancies, I got the last week or two off of work to focus on home stuff. There's no maternity leave when you're a SAHM! There's no end of cooking or dishes or sick kids or bathroom messes and bad reports from school. I feel really whiney today, if you can't tell!
 
#26 ·
woke up in a bad mood today. my pelvis is hurting, I didn't get enough sleep, my calf is really sore (woke up with it cramped really bad day before yesterday, and it was okay the rest of that day, but yesterday and today it has been killer), DF complained that he has no clean shirts (which he does, they just haven't been put away yet because I'm always behind putting laundry away). my kitchen is still a disaster, literally all my dishes are dirty, there's no food to eat because DF has been putting off grocery shopping (I don't drive, so he has to be involved in that one), and DF has a friend coming over this evening. I feel like there's a million things that need to get done, but I don't feel like doing any of it. I'm feeling really pissed at DF because almost every day when he comes home from school he either gets on his computer, xbox, or puts on a movie, and that's all he does for the rest of the day.
 
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