May Chat Thread - Week 4 - Page 7

[kawa kamuri]

sharita - I cannot imagine turning my back on one of my sisters like that! However, I have a sister who I can totally see ditching me in a time of crisis. I'm sorry. 

[jshannyn519]

For all of you dealing with bone headed men, my sincere apologies! This baby's father has dropped off the planet, as in he's ignoring all of my attempts to contact him and we haven't communicated in any form since the beginning of March. That's nearly 3 MONTHS ago. However, I'd rather have it that way if he's not intent on actually being involved because it's just easier to not have to deal with him. We'll see what happens after baby is born. I suspect that since his new girlfriend still doesn't know about me and the baby, nothing will change. Except Baby Daddy will be paying child support.

Today was a gooooood day. I got to sleep in a little, the kids did their chores without too much nagging, my mom made yummy crepes for breakfast, the weather is beautiful and a friend of mine (and her sweet family) came for a visit. Not only did they bring an entire lunch to feed ALL of us (she and her husband, their 4 kids, me, my two, and my mom) but she brought fresh goat's milk, fresh eggs from her chickens, frozen taco meat x2, AND her husband wired our garbage disposal! The kids all had a blast playing together and us adults got to hang out and chat and relax. They brought a whole roasted little piggy for lunch, plus a yummy salad, and it was soooo good. The pig was a wild one that my friend's mom had captured (along with several others) and brought to my friend. They're fattening the piggies up and then killing and cooking them as they need meat. There's just nothing that beats fresh meat. For those of you that don't eat meat, I'm sorry if I'm grossing you out!

After my friends left the kids went down the street to play with their other friends and then their dad invited my kids to go see Thor with him and his kids. Off they went and now I'm having some quiet time. :) 

I think I'll take the dogs on a walk after it cools off a bit more and maybe that will increase these contractions enough to make actual labor happen. I'll be 38 weeks on Wednesday so I feel like he's probably had enough time in there, if he's ready to come out. I just wish I didn't have a deadline hanging over my head before I have to do something about a repeat c/s.  :(  It makes it harder to relax and enjoy these last few weeks of pregnancy.

Oh, and the dresser that my mom got at the garage sale (one of them) is now in my room as the new baby changing dresser. The other one is still in here as well, but I just needed more storage for all of baby's clothes and things. So now I have double the storage space and the top of the "new" dresser is deeper and longer so it works better anyway!

[Lidamama84]

Smokering-Thanks for the instructions; I will be definitely taking your advice, although how they turn out is another matter! My sewing machine/skills are super-basic. It does a straight stitch and a zig-zag, and a couple variations on that theme :) I figure that if I wear cloth around the house during the day, with disposable for outings/nighttime, I should be ok for diaper-rash, so maybe I can avoid the hassle of trying to sew wings.  With DD1 I didn't get my period back for a year, when I went back to work, so I'm assuming it will be the same this time round, and by then I'll be ok to try the DivaCup.

Snowflake-So sorry to hear about your DH! Does he know how you are feeling? My DH is in general a good husband and father, but rather too worried about his sleep.  I think it helps that he's older; he seems to have gotten the "jerky" behaviour out of his system before meeting me :)

Jenni-Also sorry to hear about your baby daddy; IMO, you and your LO are waaay better off without him!  That's a BEAUTIFUL dresser!  My DH is a "freegan," meaning anything he can score out of ppl's trash at the curb is fair game, scored DD1 an AWESOME dresser and bookshelf which we re-painted to match her room :D

Someone was talking about lanolizing wool covers in one of the earlier posts, and I just wanted to add that all I do is wash them by hand in a bit of baby shampoo, then fill up the sink with HOT tap water, a couple drops of baby shampoo and a pea-sized amount of lanolin (I use the Woolybottoms one, but expired Lansinoh is a great idea too...seeing as I have a tube due to expire this fall...) and I soak the cover for 15-30 min, I squeeze out the water gently and lay flat to dry. In winter I lay them over the heating register and they dry SUPER fast, but in summer they take a couple days to dry, especially bc where I live it's humid. Since I only use wool covers at night, I only need to do this every 6 weeks or whenever I notice the dampness soaking through in the morning.

On a related note, I had to start putting Pullups on DD1 this week, 'cause she keeps taking her diaper off before she goes to sleep, and I can't get the cloth on again without waking her up, and then as soon as she pees herself in the cloth, she wakes up and demands a fresh diaper. And I only have 5 nighttime diapers! I think she's on the road to being dry at night, because every once in a while she'll go all night w/o peeing, or she'll wake up and fuss before she pees, so I get up and take her potty. But that's not much fun right now, cause I'm getting up twice a night to pee too!!!

Edited by Lidamama84 - 5/29/11 at 7:18pm

[Lidamama84]

*Whoops!* I MEANT to soak my wool cover for 30 min while I checked MDC. I just noticed that I've been online for an hour!!!

[Mommy2Austin]

I feel like a caged animal. Can anyone relate? It's hard to describe the feeling. I feel like I need something to happen, but nothing is. I keep willing contractions to start just for SOMETHING to be going on. Its a horribly restless feeling.

My BF made me a sweet diaper cake :) It has a bunch of stuff I needed and couldn't afford to get right now, plus sposies to help me through the "I don't feel like washing diapers" early phase :)

[erigeron]

Hmm, I don't really NEED a bra. My belly will hold up my breasts! Whee.

[jshannyn519]

I can sympathize with the caged animal feeling. Add to that the watched pot feeling and I think that explains some of the caged animal feeling. I'm not really a patient person by nature, so this whole "waiting for the baby to come out" thing makes me crazy. I want to meet him right now. And since that's not happening, and I have nothing else to do to get ready for his arrival, I'm going a little nuts. I really hate the constant "When is the baby due again?" question. I've been telling everyone I know "mid-June" since I first announced my pregnancy. Is it really that hard to remember??

Sarah Lynne, yay for diaper cakes! My neighbor (the one that did the maternity pics) also made me a diaper cake. It looked like a little tree with a monkey it it. Super cute! I also bought a case of diapers from Costco or Sam's (can't remember which) since I've never used cloth before and I want to have a backup in case the cloth doesn't work out very well for us.

Lidia, we are totally freebie lovers! We've gotten all kinds of stuff for free from friends, acquaintances, and the curbside in our neighborhood. People know us well enough now that they'll ask before getting rid of something they think we may want. And my kids have turned into little freebie scouts as well. They'll point out things at the curb that look interesting, or potentially good garage sales. I love it!

[sharita]

Yep, my grandmother has already started the daily calls.  When I answer she is like "Well, I don't hear a baby crying in the background so I guess she ain't here yet"  haha.  As if I would have her without letting her know.  I swear I love my grandmother to death and if this would be anyone else I would tell them quit it already, lol.  She is all the way in southern  Mississippi and me way up here so I can understand her being concerned and anxious for me.  She is also nervous about me having another homebirth though told me she trusts whatever I decide.  I love her for that.  She readily lets me know how she feels but then makes me feel like I am also intelligent enough to make my own decisions and that she trusts me.  Not everyone has family like that.

She is the only one calling daily though thankfully but everyone else keeps reminding me how close I am.  It does make me realize everyone is "expecting" now.  I thought it was just me that was expecting, lol. 

[MaryElizabeth]

Oh my oh my... lots has been happening this weekend for everyone!

-- I seriously gave the mama cloth some thought-- but I HATE pads so much that I don't think that I can do it. Not that I will even get to wear tampons with the PP bleeding, but still. I hope it won't last as long as it did the last time. I don't think that I want to do diaper laundry AND mama cloth laundry. Plus, I'm a freak about leaking. I changed my overnight/heavy pads like every hour last time. 

Jenni- I love that dresser! Your room/nursery is really coming together so nicely! Jealous :) 

Count me in on the caged animal feelings. My Dad was here for about a day and a half and he drove me NUTS with the begging me to go into labor, telling me I won't make it, phone calls from my step-mom telling me a bunch of nonsense and trying to take pictures of my belly to send to everyone---- really? thanks, Dad. I enjoy being a spectacle. And NO, I'm not huge. I weigh 137. 9 months pregnant. I am 10 lbs less than with DD. I don't look like I'm having twins. I am NOT waddling, and I do NOT appreciate you pointing any of the above out to me at ANY time. (my Dad is super sweet, just obviously a guy and WAY too anxious to meet his new grandson) 

Anywho... my DH is still working hard to get things done. The rain this weekend really messed up a lot of our plans. I spent 2 hours cleaning out the van and washing the car seats yesterday plus did random house projects... then today I grouted the kitchen and bathroom tile plus painted- not a good idea. I am SORE. Had some serious ctx for a few hours, and now my legs are going nuts. I know that I need to sit down and rest more, but watching DH work his butt off makes me feel so bad!!! I think we are hopefully almost done with all the super labor intensive projects, bc I really don't want to go into labor before DD's bday party next week....

P.S. I think you know you're nesting when you are lanolizing wool and dyeing diapers at 1 am haha 

[wake_up]

Originally Posted by erigeron 

Hmm, I don't really NEED a bra. My belly will hold up my breasts! Whee.

At this point I'm just wearing one to soak up the sweat in between the two!

Ok, it's hot here now.  Summer in Texas.  My feet and hands are suddenly swollen, and my fingers keep going numb... I really thought I was going to escape the swelling this time!  I had to go buy some most unattractive sandals - but they're padded on the bottom and have a big adjustable top flap, so they fit over my stupid pillow feet.  Bought half a watermelon, gonna blend it up into agua fresca and drink the whole darn thing today, hope that'll help some.

Ran into my midwife yesterday and she said I am her next client in line to birth... which makes it so real now... She and her apprentice are coming for the home visit on Wednesday!  I need to get my stuff together... buy those little bottles of olive oil, hydrogen peroxide, whatever's on that list... got a bunch of homebirth supplies in the mail already, comfrey to make tea for peri bottles, mesh undies, pool liner, etc.  This morning I had two or three crampy-feeling contractions while lying in bed, and I realized I forgot to take my cal-mag the past few days. Jumped out of bed and swallowed some!  I need at least another week please, baby! 

[Smokering]

I'm happy to report that I have finally happened upon a place of calm. No idea why or how, but I feel a lot better mentally and physically than I have through this entire pregnancy. I'm not in a hurry for the baby to come; I'm not nearly as fatigued as I was (or is it just my new normal, and I'm used to it?); I'm enjoying chillin' with DD and organising things to do before the baby arrives; I still have a ton of sewing I "should" do, but I'm not letting it stress me out, and I've realised the baby won't go naked even if I don't sew him another stitch; the baby himself is still appropriately vertex, as far as I can tell; I'm mostly over this ghastly cold; I've started nesting a bit, but in a manageable and non-frantic way; and in general, life is peachy!

It's sort of odd, I'm used to being angsty. :p I wonder if it's the Vitamin D I've been taking? I'm sorry so many of you are feeling icky right now, but I've done so much whining in this DDC that I thought a happier update might be nice!

[sharita]

Originally Posted by Smokering 

I'm happy to report that I have finally happened upon a place of calm. No idea why or how, but I feel a lot better mentally and physically than I have through this entire pregnancy. I'm not in a hurry for the baby to come; I'm not nearly as fatigued as I was (or is it just my new normal, and I'm used to it?); I'm enjoying chillin' with DD and organising things to do before the baby arrives; I still have a ton of sewing I "should" do, but I'm not letting it stress me out, and I've realised the baby won't go naked even if I don't sew him another stitch; the baby himself is still appropriately vertex, as far as I can tell; I'm mostly over this ghastly cold; I've started nesting a bit, but in a manageable and non-frantic way; and in general, life is peachy!

It's sort of odd, I'm used to being angsty. :p I wonder if it's the Vitamin D I've been taking? I'm sorry so many of you are feeling icky right now, but I've done so much whining in this DDC that I thought a happier update might be nice!

Sounds like the calm before the storm so to speak, lol. and by storm I don't mean chaos for your life, I mean maybe your subconscious finally making peace and relaxing enough to send you right into labor.  Me, I have just reached a weird placed today as well.  Just when my midwife and mother come back into town, DH is off until Thurday for vacation and the timing couldn't be better to have a baby, I all of a sudden now feel like I will be pregnant at least another week and I have made my peace with that.  However, I am still crossing my fingers and in my head cheering "come on baby, lets get this show on the road", lol)  But I will be fine if I go late.  It's weird that days ago, I felt like it would be anyday now.  Today, I am thinking, at least a week if not two. 

Then again, with #4 I was so sure I would go two weeks late because the two before him did and he was born right on his due date so my feelings mean nothing, lol.

My official due date is wednesday and I imagine it will just come and go with very little excitment.  Then again, I could just as easily go into labor tonight so whatever.  Ugh, I have gone complete circle in the last week or two.  I went from being totally fine with being pregnant and not being in any hurry, to "get this baby out now!" to ok, I do but I dont wanna have it right now, and now, I just am done hoping and dont wanna think about it anymore.  I guess we all reach each of those stages before we actually have baby in arms.

On a different note, I went to DH's family's get together last night where everyone played xbox kinect dance central and I have never tried it and wanted to so bad but my huge self wasnt' about to get up and do that in front of ppl, lol.  His sister also made this dessert that was nothing more than pudding mixed with coolwhip and layers with crushed vanilla and chocolate oreos.  But OMG was it to die for!  I brought a huge plate full home since my toddler fell in love with it too and it is already gone.  I  feel like such a cow.  Oh, I look like one too so that makes sense, hahahaha.

Well, it seems I have accepted the " I am going to be pregnant forever" mentality for today.  Maybe tomorrow I will be opposite again and feel like today is the day, lol.

[Smokering]

On a different note, I went to DH's family's get together last night where everyone played xbox kinect dance central and I have never tried it and wanted to so bad but my huge self wasnt' about to get up and do that in front of ppl, lol.

Heh. Reminds me of when I was 7 months pregnant with DD, and my friend had a wedding with barn dancing afterwards. I like barn dancing, but yeah - I was too self-conscious to start galloping around all pregnant. (And anyway, her father commandeered me and made me cut up and serve the wedding cake, which took about two hours... grrr.)

I'm not due until June 9, but "Super 8" comes out that day and I'd quite like to go see it with DH. So that gives me a good reason not to go into labour before then. :p I just keep thinking "Well, I have a lunch date on Sunday I don't want to miss", or "My friend was going to come over sometime this week to watch a movie", and it really helps me feel more zen about the whole thing. I have no idea what to expect in terms of gestational length - DD was induced at 39+4, so - do I "naturally" go for 39+5, or for 42+3, or what?? Who knows! I'm actually kinda looking forward to the whole pre-labour thing, just because I never experienced it before - losing the mucus plug, maybe having my waters break, all that jazz.

Went to the library yesterday and got a ton of books, which will also help keep me occupied. I must remember to pack a few for the birthing centre when the time comes, too.

[Snowflake777]

Originally Posted by erigeron 

Hmm, I don't really NEED a bra. My belly will hold up my breasts! Whee.

So true!

Originally Posted by sharita 
 

His sister also made this dessert that was nothing more than pudding mixed with coolwhip and layers with crushed vanilla and chocolate oreos.  But OMG was it to die for!  I brought a huge plate full home since my toddler fell in love with it too and it is already gone.  I  feel like such a cow.  Oh, I look like one too so that makes sense, hahahaha.

Oooh that sounds good! Actually, I've never tried cool whip. It doesn't exist where I live. It sounds really unhealthy and yummy though.

I had banoffee pie last night. Soooo good! I could have eaten the whole thing, but made myself stop when I started feeling shaky from all the sugar.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smokering 

I'm happy to report that I have finally happened upon a place of calm. No idea why or how, but I feel a lot better mentally and physically than I have through this entire pregnancy. I'm not in a hurry for the baby to come; I'm not nearly as fatigued as I was (or is it just my new normal, and I'm used to it?); I'm enjoying chillin' with DD and organising things to do before the baby arrives; I still have a ton of sewing I "should" do, but I'm not letting it stress me out, and I've realised the baby won't go naked even if I don't sew him another stitch; the baby himself is still appropriately vertex, as far as I can tell; I'm mostly over this ghastly cold; I've started nesting a bit, but in a manageable and non-frantic way; and in general, life is peachy!

It's sort of odd, I'm used to being angsty. :p I wonder if it's the Vitamin D I've been taking? I'm sorry so many of you are feeling icky right now, but I've done so much whining in this DDC that I thought a happier update might be nice!

I'm glad you're feeling more at peace. I think we're getting to the stage now where we're coming to accept that we've done pretty much all we can to prepare, and that how & when we go into labour is out of our hands. We might as well relax and enjoy what little we have left of this pregnancy.

Speaking of vitamin D, maybe my recent moodiness is because I've been forgetting to take my pre-natals? I've been convinced that everyone has been going out of their way to get on my nerves for the last few days, which is probably a sign that it's not them, but me.

On a less rant-y note, I've nearly finished my assignment!

Oh and I'm so happy to see all the new birth announcements today!

[swimming-duck]

Originally Posted by wake_up 

At this point I'm just wearing one to soak up the sweat in between the two.

OMG - I've been having major boob sweat lately. It's so disgusting! It's also gotten a lot hotter here too. It was 90 today after being in the 60's last week. Stupid midwestern weather.

Wakeup - I hope your home visit appt. goes well. I also have mine this week and I'm a bit stressed. My house is still a mess, my basket is not completely put together. Blah - just not enough hours in the day!

Smokering - Hurray for newfound calm. If you figure out the secret formula, do share!

I can relate to everyone who feels like a caged animal. Everything my DH does or says is just pissing me off to the nth degree right now. Nothing seems to be getting done around here the way it should. I'm trying to keep up, but I'm feeling very overwhelmed. I just want things done already. I'm hoping to shop for my birth basket this weekend and get that finished up. I do get off at 4:00 instead of 5:00 a few days this week, so perhaps I can get some stuff done then. I don't know - we'll see. I'm usually so zonked by the end of the day that it's all I can do to get food on the table for dinner. I really hope we get DS's bedroom done for good by this weekend because I can't take it hanging over my head anymore. It's just a huge stress. I'm not looking forward to working tomorrow, but I have a short week this week - only 3 days. I'm off on Friday and I didn't work today. So I'm trying to tell myself that I will survive for 3 days and then I get a weekend. 

[sharita]

Originally Posted by Snowflake777 

Oooh that sounds good! Actually, I've never tried cool whip. It doesn't exist where I live. It sounds really unhealthy and yummy though.

I had banoffee pie last night. Soooo good! I could have eaten the whole thing, but made myself stop when I started feeling shaky from all the sugar

I had never heard of this and had to google it.  OMG I have a new recipe to try and bake very soon now! Sounds sooooo good (and fattening, lol)

[Snowflake777]

Originally Posted by sharita 

I had never heard of this and had to google it.  OMG I have a new recipe to try and bake very soon now! Sounds sooooo good (and fattening, lol)

I'd never had it before either. I don't dare look for recipes! That knowledge would be dangerous.

[jshannyn519]

We had a Memorial Day BBQ tonight with my sister & her fam and it was lovely. My mom seems to have gone through the stages of grief regarding my pregnancy and has finally reached the acceptance stage. It's about dang time!! lol  She was joking around with me today about what to name the baby and during grace she even asked to watch over "Baby Samuel who will be here soon". His name isn't going to be Samuel, I don't think. But it will be at least a middle name. We had brownies with ice-cream and strawberries for dessert, out on the patio, and it was sooo nice. I really love my family and I am more and more glad that I took the plunge to pack my kids up and move the 2500 miles from Oregon to Texas without a job or a home or anything here so we could be closer to sis and family. It's absolutely been worth it.

And now I am totally exhausted since I didn't get my nap today and I've basically been going all day doing laundry and tidying, and cooking, and shopping and chasing after children. But that good tired feeling, you know?

I have a MW appt tomorrow afternoon for my 38w check. I'm trying to decide if I want to have her to a cervical check or not, and if she does if I want her to do a membrane sweep as well. Typically I would completely avoid anything like that, but since I'm VBACing I'm on a deadline and I'm starting to feel a little bit of panic that I'm nearly 38w (on Wednesday) and there's really been no signs of anything happening, other than the prodromal labor that seems to have stopped for the past 2 days.

[MaryElizabeth]

Jenni- I am so happy to see that you had a great day with your family. Nothing beats the realization that you made a great life choice! Good luck with your MW appt tomorrow! We always have ours on the same day haha I can't decide if I want a check or not either..... I had my hubs check me tonight-- awkward!!! He said that his guess was a fingertip--- figures. To be honest, I really need him to stay in for this next week--- I'm just SOOO excited to meet him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lidamama84]

Originally Posted by Smokering 

 I have no idea what to expect in terms of gestational length - DD was induced at 39+4, so - do I "naturally" go for 39+5, or for 42+3, or what?? Who knows! I'm actually kinda looking forward to the whole pre-labour thing, just because I never experienced it before - losing the mucus plug, maybe having my waters break, all that jazz.

Me too! I am really excited about labour this time around! I know it will be hard, etc., but I'm just so happy to (hopefully) get a chance to experience it the way its supposed to happen for my body.

So I mentioned yesterday that DD was getting all these circular scabs on her body. Went to the doc today and its....Ringworm!!! YAY!!! Thanks, DH, for letting her pet EVERY dog in the neighbourhood!  So instead of just doing my usual housecleaning tomorrow, I get to Borax EVERYTHING, and do a ton of extra laundry   And, since we get charged for electricity by the time of day, I get to do all that laundry when it's cheapest, between 7pm and 7am :) EXACTLY how I want to spend my nights!!!  On the bright side, at least it's not bedbugs or something hellish like that!

It finally turned into summer here today :) I am soo grateful. I have just enough projects to get me through this week, then I am "officially" ready for this LO to come!!!