Bajingo Babies in Bloom - TTC #1 in our 30's Graduates - Summer 2011 - Page 11

[ValH]

I've been having DH read it to my belly... it's a fun book.

[LivingSky]

Val: Everyone in my DDC who had an external version did have it succeed! I'm hoping that spinningbabies.com stuff works for you, but if not then I have high hopes for an external version should it be necessary!

As for pictures - ask and ye shall receive

Kayden saw the doctor for the first time yesterday. He is now a whopping 13 lbs 14 ozs! He is gaining a solid 2 ozs every day (average is 1/2 oz to 1 oz per day). I hope that means he's going to have a length-wise growth spurt soon! He is 55 percentile for length and 97th percentile for weight

Anyways, some pics from Aug 25th (6 weeks old)
Chillin' on the pillow:


Gettin some love from his daddy:


And my personal favorite - I LOVE the expression on his face

[Ramzubo]

Val: I know its a little late now but have you looked into anyone doing moxa? It basically uses a little heat to try to flip the baby, acupuncturist and naturpath usually do it. Hope the spinning works!

Livingsky: The pics are super cute, he looks so alert! I love it when babies start to really get into looking around and recognizing things.

We got slammed by Hurricane Irene, we're on day four with no electricity or water. I guess if we ever wanted to experiment with off grid living we're doing it now! Several of our trees came down, taking out part of our shed and several power lines, but luckily the house is still in one piece. We're not expected to get power back for a few more days, but they opened a shelter near us so we can take a shower and the food bank is providing some meals. We can drive about 30 minutes to a nearby city so I can have internet access since I work online so thought I'd check in with you ladies. My appointment to find out the sex was Monday, but the docs office also has no power so we'll have to reschedule.

Hope everyone is well!

[birdie.lee]

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Edited by birdie.lee - 5/7/13 at 12:58pm

[ValH]

LivingSky - Thanks for sharing the new pics!  He looks so alert and bright-eyed.  And both you and DH look so in love.  

Ram - Sorry to hear y'all got slammed by the hurricane.  She was a tough old hurricane, mainly because once she got somewhere, she stuck around FOREVER!  I didn't think it would ever end.  

Birdie - Yay for good results from the GD screening!!

So, little munchkin has decided to turn, yay!  He's not all the way turned yet, he's still a little oblique, but that's better than being transverse last week.  Now the doc thinks he'll finish positioning himself on his own, so we're good to go.  He also said with me being tall, he has more room to maneuver, so that may be why he turned to start with.  Anyway, I'm happy that there's no more talk of a c-section, and now only a slight chance for the external version thing.  Sweet!  Unfortunately, I am GBS positive, so I guess that means an antibiotic during labor.  Oh, well, that's better than the c-section!  

[RosieL]

I love the happy Kayden pics!

Hurrah for Baby boy turning!

[RosieL]

Woohoo! After a little bit of a freakout yesterday, I called my midwife and told her I was afraid of a missed miscarriage for no logical reason whatsoever. This was probably brought on by the family reunion being this weekend, and impending time to tell DH's parents. 

Long story short, she offered to try to listen for the heartbeat early, not guaranteeing anything. I went today, laid on the couch, said something, and immediately was hushed because the tones were right there! It's alive! Yay! There's a living, growing baby inside me! Woohoo!

I am so relieved. Now I get to go on to a weekend of hanging out with and being surrounded by people whom I love. 

[ValH]

Yay for hearing the heartbeat Rosie!!!!  Have a great, relaxing weekend!

[birdie.lee]

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Edited by birdie.lee - 5/7/13 at 12:59pm

[Ramzubo]

Yay Val for baby flipping on his own!

and Yay Rosie for the hearing the heartbeat! I had the same kind of fear up until this week really when baby starting moving around a bunch. Even with the movement I was still glad to go to our appointment yesterday and hear the heart-beating away.

After five days we got our electricity back yesterday, woohoo! Our doc had power on Friday so we were able to get in and will have an u/s next week or the week after to find out the sex...we can't wait!

[LivingSky]

Big HOORAY! For Val's baby flipping techniques! SO glad they worked for you and you can stop worrying about all that nasty c/s talk.

And Rosie, I totally understand the needing to hear the heartbeat! Until I could feel baby move, I would get paranoid every few days that he had died, for no good reason at all. It would be particularly bad just before I had a midwife appointment. Very happy for you that your midwife was able to find the heartbeat and allay your fears

[ValH]

Thanks for all the cheers on the baby turning!  I still get paranoid sometimes that he'll turn back, but based on the pressure I've been feeling in my pelvis this weekend, I'm pretty sure he's still head down... woo-hoo!

Ram - Yay for getting power back!  Five days without power is a LONG time.  Can't wait to hear your report on the sex of the baby!  Any guesses?  When I was finding out, I thought I was having a girl, but was obviously wrong.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We finally finished up the nursery over the weekend, so I think we're officially ready for baby!  I"m 37 weeks today, so ANY DAY NOW would be good... I'm starting to get a bit impatient.  If anyone has any tips to nudge the process along, I"m open to it.  LivingSky - didn't you try some stuff to get labor jump started?  I"m hopeful that the full moon next week will help.  

[LivingSky]

ValH: I took the "labour inducing concoction" that my SIL's midwife gave to her. It is:
2 tablespoons castor oil
1 cup apricot nectar
1 cup water
2 tb almond butter
5 drops lemon verbana oil

blend together in the morning and drink it quickly (within 30 minutes) repeat in 5 hours if necessary.

Dont take before 38 weeks. I took the first dose, then DTD with DH at 5 hours and labour began immediately afterwards. I seriously doubt it will bring on labour if baby isnt ready to go, so I think its pretty safe. Kayden was head down and engaged and I was 75% effaced before I took it.

Im so excited for you! Cant wait for pictures of your baby, whenever he comes

[ValH]

LivingSky - Thanks for the concoction recipe!  Where would I get apricot nectar and lemon verbana oil?  Maybe a specialized grocery store? 

Anyone heard of/tried the red raspberry leaf tea?  A friend of mine swears that even if it didn't help start her labor, she thinks it shortened her labor.  

[RosieL]

Ina May's methods for birth induction are nipple stimulation, sex, walking, and I think she mentioned castor oil?  

[tank]

Congrats on hearing the heartbeat rosie!  When I heard the heartbeat for the first time I cried. 

I can't believe you are almost there Val! I am so happy to hear he has turned!  I have heard of castor oil for inducing labor.  That concoction livingsky posted seems interesting.

AFM... miserable.  I have poison ivy... again.  This time on my face and around both my eyes.  I went to urgent care and they couldn't do anything for me.  They said that they don't perscribe steriods to pregnant women.  When I had mentioned it to my midwife in the spring because I know I get a bad reaction to poison ivy every year she said steriods wouldn't be a problem.  I was supposed to have an appt with my midwife today but they canceled on me because someone went into labor.  I am going in tomorrow so maybe they will have some more insight for me.  The itching sucks but it is really the swelling that is bothering me.  When I first wake up I can hardly see.  It sucks.  Sorry for yet another vent... I am beyond fustrated.

[ValH]

Rosie - Thanks for posting Ina May's recommendations!  I did try nipple stimulation yesterday, and I swear I had a few BH contractions afterwards, so I may keep trying that to see if it will work.  I did do some long walks this weekend, but during the week I'm so exhausted by the end of the day, walking from the couch to the bed seems like a mile.  Hopefully I'll be less exhausted today and can talk DH into doing some walking with me.  

Tank - I'm sorry to hear about the poison ivy!  Yuck!!  I hope you can get in with your MW soon and hopefully find some relief!  

[Ramzubo]

 committing livingskys recipe to memory just in case and good luck Val!

Tank: So sorry about the poison ivy.  I can roll around in the stuff no problem, but my dh has a very bad reaction to it too. He has horrible swelling and the marks look so painful. I can't imagine having it on my face that must be so miserable for you.

[RosieL]

Val - Another thing she mentioned is try natural induction in the mornings after a good long rest. No point in trying to start labor at the end of the day when you're exhausted anyway. I'm excited that you're sooooo close. :)

tank - UGH, poison ivy is terrible, but on your FACE sounds excruciating. ARG. So sorry you have to deal with that. How do you manage to run into poison ivy every year? UGH. We have poison ivy grown right next to our carport. It's intertwined with a gorgeous azalea that I don't want to give up or move. So every few months DH dutifully pulls out the ivy vines for me, before it encroaches into the car area. He doesn't react to it. I'm jealous.

[Hykue]

Yay Val for being so close and for a well-positioned baby!  And yay Rosie for hearing the heartbeat!  That's fantastic.

I'm sorry about the poison ivy, Tank, that's sucky.  Especially if you're getting conflicting reports about steroid use during pregnancy.  I hope it clears up soon, even better if it does it on its own!

Ram - I'm glad your power is back on, that is a pretty long stint with no power.  I guess you still had water, just not hot water? 

Val - Red Raspberry Leaf tea is one of the few herbs that has any scientific basis for use during pregnancy.  It apparently helps to tone the uterine muscles.  It probably won't induce labor (most labor inducers are considered unsafe for pregnancy, whereas RRL can be taken throughout the third trimester), but it can help to make those muscles work more efficiently so labor would be shorter.  I think it's generally recommended as a longer-term use thing, though, not just before labor.  Anyway, it's one of the only ones that research says "Can't hurt, might help" as long as you're in the third trimester.  Most herbal concoctions just don't have any research done on them for pregnancy use.

AFM:  Still totally exhausted.  My husband was home for a week and brought a young guy from work with him to help get stuff done around the farm.  He was very helpful, and we didn't have to pay him too much . . . but I did have to do most of the cooking, and a 20-year-old guy sure can eat A LOT!  And the kitchen was such a mess . . . I wore myself out just cooking and cleaning.  Not that it takes much to wear me out.  Anyway, they sure did get a lot done.  Now my husband drove him back out to work, but DH will be coming back in the next week, for good.  I'm looking forward to that.  He was very supportive of me and made me feel good about how much I was getting done when I felt like I was not getting ANYTHING done, so that was nice.  He also keeps telling me I'm huge, which I think is endearing as well as accurate.  Accurate about my belly, anyway.  It's been stinking hot here (for here), up around 90 for the last bunch of days.  I am not well-equipped to deal with that.  I finished all the blankets I'm planning to make.  Fortunately, I finished them before the heat came.  Right now I'm crocheting a stuffed dragon, and I'll make a baby dragon to go with it, for my niece.  Then she won't feel left out when her baby sister gets a blanket.  And I'm learning a new knit stitch (brioche stitch) and making a baby sweater out of oh-so-incredibly-soft alpaca yarn for my baby.  Fun!  I'm finding ways to enjoy being unable to do much physically.  Also, I've been watching True Blood.  I don't watch much TV normally, so that's very different.  Good times.  It's feeling real to me now, on and off.  That wriggling and roiling in my abdomen really is a baby.  Sometimes I am sure of it, other times I just know its true but can't really feel like it is.