~*Chat Thread for June 27th to July 3rd*~

[FarmerCathy]

Wow, we are coming up on July already.  Next week will be my birthday and the dreaded advanced maternal age.

I'm having braxton-hicks contractions all.the.time.  and I'm really trying to stay positive and think of them as pre-labor warm-ups like my hypnobirthing books says, but my goodness are they annoying at times.  Especially when I'm trying to do something and it hurts or I'm taking a walk with the dogs and it tightens down on my bladder and makes me need to pee when I just did right before the walk and then I have to walk slower, now were on a shorter loop so I can make it all the way.  Really trying to stay positive.    I remember having them quite a bit last time, but sheesh. 

How is everyone else doing?

[FarmerCathy]

Wow, we are coming up on July already.  Next week will be my birthday and the dreaded advanced maternal age.   Oh, and I will get more birthday money and can get more yarn for diaper covers.  Yay!! Knitting needles here I come.

I'm having braxton-hicks contractions all.the.time.  and I'm really trying to stay positive and think of them as pre-labor warm-ups like my hypnobirthing books says, but my goodness are they annoying at times.  Especially when I'm trying to do something and it hurts or I'm taking a walk with the dogs and it tightens down on my bladder and makes me need to pee when I just did right before the walk and then I have to walk slower, now were on a shorter loop so I can make it all the way.  Really trying to stay positive.    I remember having them quite a bit last time, but sheesh. 

How is everyone else doing?

[LovingBaby]

Cathy - you explained the exact same braxton hicks that I am having :(  lol  Kind of annoying, especially when I am at work!!!

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by LovingBaby 

Cathy - you explained the exact same braxton hicks that I am having :(  lol  Kind of annoying, especially when I am at work!!!

At least I'm not alone.    I had them twice an hour for awhile and had to e-mail my midwife and make sure that was ok.  It's also annoying when they happen when I'm getting up from sitting or laying down.  It's amazing how they went from one or two a day to all day.  I guess I'm going to have to slow down a little bit. 

[FarmerCathy]

I'm a cleaning freak today.  I love the energy that nesting gives you, though I'm taking lots of breaks.  My midwife is coming over tomorrow and I'm organizing things that have been piling up needing my attention.  Feels so good, all the floors are vacuumed and I think I'm going to be able to conquer the dishes with dh's help today.  It feels so nice to have a clean house.  Tomorrow I'll probably be pooped, but we are going to the $1 movies with the local mommy group, so that will be fun and I can veg a little before my midwife comes by in the afternoon.

[LovingBaby]

Cathy I wish I had the energy to do some cleaning like that!!  LOL  I have been working soo much lately (11pm-7am shifts) and have just been forcing myself to stay on top of the laundry and sometimes the dishes.  All I want to do is nap!!!  

[Lexi_029]

I can't believe it's almost July! Where has this year gone? It seems like the entire thing has gone by so fast. I envy your nesting, Cathy! I want to do it but being on bedrest, I'm not supposed to. I still helped direct my husband to get my sewing/guest room back in order... we got rid of all of our girl clothes and are getting the boy stuff prepared for this baby. The baby gear needs to be washed from sitting under the stairs for storage so we pulled that out too. I just need to get him to repack the storage closet and then get rid of a broken end table that has been in there for years... we're never gonna fix it, it just needs to go so I can make room for my little homeschooling corner for my older two. My plans are to set up the old dining room table in the corner with a bookshelf of the homeschooling materials we have so far. I'd like to get some chalkboard paint and cover one wall with that too. We need another bookshelf though (well, two to be honest with our books overflowing in the family room!). I'd really love to have it finished and have my curriculum choices for this fall picked out so I don't have to worry about setting up homeschooling with a newborn baby. This way we can do it during nap and call it good seeing that it's pretty much preschool for my son who will be 3 and some K-level stuff because my 3.5 year old is beyond a lot of preschool stuff in certain areas.

My mom told me very adamantly to NOT buy this baby a dresser so I'm assuming her woodworking husband is planning on making one. I know, it's supposed to be a surprise but I wish we had it now so I could get the baby's clothes washed and put into a dresser in the bedroom he'll be sharing with his brother. He'll be mainly in my room at first and cosleeping but eventually, he'll move into the room with his brother so his clothes will be in there and the rest of the stuff that he needs other than a PnP that will be in our room for naps. I would prefer to have it done by now but c'est la vie. I guess I am nesting in my head... LOL!

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes last week so I'm spending a ton of time looking that up too... I have no idea what to eat as a vegetarian! We already did a lot of raw veggies, fruits, and such but now most of the grains/pasta are off limits. Good thing I'm lacto-ovo so I can at least do a lot of eggs and cheese.

[wombatclay]

I hear you on the "gotta pee" BHix contractions!  It drives me crazy and I always try to remind myself that I don't "really" need to pee.  LOL

Ouch on diet restrictions... my dd1 was diagnosed with celiac disorder a few years ago (so no gluten= no wheat, barley, rye or items made with those, like most soy sauces or modified food starch or malt extract or other random things that you totally wouldn't expect to contain grain) and then my dd2 decided to go vegetarian.  Some nights it seems like there is literally nothing to eat but brown rice and greens!  Which is a yummy meal, but gets a bit boring and can be a hard sell with the kids.  And with the loss of pasta... well... I hate those lists of "quick family favorites" because they all seem to start with pasta! 

I know it's getting pretty hot out, but maybe cold bean salads?  Frittatas/omlettes/deviled eggs?  Fruit salad that is mostly a plain yogurt with whole fruit and whole grains stirred in (so the yogurt is low sugar and the fruit is more flavoring and less the focus of the salad? and things like hemp seed or flax seed could add interest without much impact?)

I've been slowing down whether I like it or not... and when I do something it seems to take longer to recover.  I wish I had a secret energy stash or sometihng.  Or at least a stash of extra patience.  I told the kiddos the other day that growing the baby is taking up a lot of my energy and that I get cranky/yell more often because I don't have a lot of energy to spare.  And I asked them specifically for their help in keeping my energy up and my cranky level down.  Fingers crossed it works because I'm not loving the mom I am right now... I'm very short tempered and of course the heat/humidity makes the kiddos cranky too, and with it being summer we're all right in each other's faces all day. 

Can't believe I'm 30 weeks, and that July is in just a day or so.  Yoicks!

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by LovingBaby 

Cathy I wish I had the energy to do some cleaning like that!!  LOL  I have been working soo much lately (11pm-7am shifts) and have just been forcing myself to stay on top of the laundry and sometimes the dishes.  All I want to do is nap!!!  

I could not imagine working full time, go mama, I wouldn't want to do much after that either.

Originally Posted by Lexi_029 

I can't believe it's almost July! Where has this year gone? It seems like the entire thing has gone by so fast. I envy your nesting, Cathy! I want to do it but being on bedrest, I'm not supposed to. I still helped direct my husband to get my sewing/guest room back in order... we got rid of all of our girl clothes and are getting the boy stuff prepared for this baby. The baby gear needs to be washed from sitting under the stairs for storage so we pulled that out too. I just need to get him to repack the storage closet and then get rid of a broken end table that has been in there for years... we're never gonna fix it, it just needs to go so I can make room for my little homeschooling corner for my older two. My plans are to set up the old dining room table in the corner with a bookshelf of the homeschooling materials we have so far. I'd like to get some chalkboard paint and cover one wall with that too. We need another bookshelf though (well, two to be honest with our books overflowing in the family room!). I'd really love to have it finished and have my curriculum choices for this fall picked out so I don't have to worry about setting up homeschooling with a newborn baby. This way we can do it during nap and call it good seeing that it's pretty much preschool for my son who will be 3 and some K-level stuff because my 3.5 year old is beyond a lot of preschool stuff in certain areas.

My mom told me very adamantly to NOT buy this baby a dresser so I'm assuming her woodworking husband is planning on making one. I know, it's supposed to be a surprise but I wish we had it now so I could get the baby's clothes washed and put into a dresser in the bedroom he'll be sharing with his brother. He'll be mainly in my room at first and cosleeping but eventually, he'll move into the room with his brother so his clothes will be in there and the rest of the stuff that he needs other than a PnP that will be in our room for naps. I would prefer to have it done by now but c'est la vie. I guess I am nesting in my head... LOL!

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes last week so I'm spending a ton of time looking that up too... I have no idea what to eat as a vegetarian! We already did a lot of raw veggies, fruits, and such but now most of the grains/pasta are off limits. Good thing I'm lacto-ovo so I can at least do a lot of eggs and cheese.

Bed rest is a bummer.  A new dresser will be nice.  Hope they finish it and give it to you soon.  I'm thinking I need to get started on washing the stuff I need for the baby, but it might be more pertinent to get the rest of the stuff I need out of storage in case dh gets this job in MI and has to leave for that.

on your dx.  GD sucks and I remember having it with my ds, just remember to lay off the milk, seems to grow the babies big at the end.  I didn't know that and was drinking a lot of protein shakes at the end with him.

Originally Posted by wombatclay 

I hear you on the "gotta pee" BHix contractions!  It drives me crazy and I always try to remind myself that I don't "really" need to pee.  LOL

Ouch on diet restrictions... my dd1 was diagnosed with celiac disorder a few years ago (so no gluten= no wheat, barley, rye or items made with those, like most soy sauces or modified food starch or malt extract or other random things that you totally wouldn't expect to contain grain) and then my dd2 decided to go vegetarian.  Some nights it seems like there is literally nothing to eat but brown rice and greens!  Which is a yummy meal, but gets a bit boring and can be a hard sell with the kids.  And with the loss of pasta... well... I hate those lists of "quick family favorites" because they all seem to start with pasta! 

I know it's getting pretty hot out, but maybe cold bean salads?  Frittatas/omlettes/deviled eggs?  Fruit salad that is mostly a plain yogurt with whole fruit and whole grains stirred in (so the yogurt is low sugar and the fruit is more flavoring and less the focus of the salad? and things like hemp seed or flax seed could add interest without much impact?)

I've been slowing down whether I like it or not... and when I do something it seems to take longer to recover.  I wish I had a secret energy stash or sometihng.  Or at least a stash of extra patience.  I told the kiddos the other day that growing the baby is taking up a lot of my energy and that I get cranky/yell more often because I don't have a lot of energy to spare.  And I asked them specifically for their help in keeping my energy up and my cranky level down.  Fingers crossed it works because I'm not loving the mom I am right now... I'm very short tempered and of course the heat/humidity makes the kiddos cranky too, and with it being summer we're all right in each other's faces all day. 

Can't believe I'm 30 weeks, and that July is in just a day or so.  Yoicks!

Hehehe.  I totally have been that cranky hot tired mom the last couple nights.  Not fun!!  Esp. when it was like 97 last night and we only have the one window air conditioner, luckily it started raining and cooled it down pretty quick.

[FarmerCathy]

Oh, and had my midwife appt. today and baby was beating at 142bpm, my bp was good and my iron was 11.1.  Go me and cooking in cast iron.  I eat a lot of protein though too, so that helps.  I just love her.  I really hope dh gets this job so we can start paying her right away.

[Lexi_029]

Cathy, glad to hear the appointment went well. It sounds like you have a healthy baby in there! Where in MI? I live in the Kalamazoo area. :)

Wombat, I can't imagine working with that many dietary restrictions. We're vegetarians but no allergies or anything like that. The GD thing is throwing a wrench into the works but we'll figure it out. Deviled eggs sound deliiicious right now. If it wasn't almost 1am, I'd be tempted to ask my husband to make some for me. Hehe. I'm impressed that your kids understand that you need extra patience right now because energy levels are low and are willing to work with you.

[LovingBaby]

Originally Posted by wombatclay 

I've been slowing down whether I like it or not... and when I do something it seems to take longer to recover.  I wish I had a secret energy stash or sometihng.  Or at least a stash of extra patience.  I told the kiddos the other day that growing the baby is taking up a lot of my energy and that I get cranky/yell more often because I don't have a lot of energy to spare.  And I asked them specifically for their help in keeping my energy up and my cranky level down.  Fingers crossed it works because I'm not loving the mom I am right now... I'm very short tempered and of course the heat/humidity makes the kiddos cranky too, and with it being summer we're all right in each other's faces all day. 

Can't believe I'm 30 weeks, and that July is in just a day or so.  Yoicks!

I am feeling the same way, it makes me feel horrible at times that I have been so short tempered :(    Also, it is weird needing to get help from people for things that normaly I could do on my own, even in my other pregnancies.  I feel useless at times!!  lol

Originally Posted by FarmerCathy 

I could not imagine working full time, go mama, I wouldn't want to do much after that either.

Thanks Cathy, Really all I want to do is sleep.  But yet, I push myself and do too much before I go to work.  Came to work tonight totally ready for a nap!!  

Originally Posted by Lexi_029 

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes last week so I'm spending a ton of time looking that up too... I have no idea what to eat as a vegetarian! We already did a lot of raw veggies, fruits, and such but now most of the grains/pasta are off limits. Good thing I'm lacto-ovo so I can at least do a lot of eggs and cheese.

Sorry to hear you have GD, like there wasn't already enough to worry about!  Did you have any symptoms before you found out?
 

[Ms. B. Sprout]

Originally Posted by wombatclay 
. . .  I'm not loving the mom I am right now... I'm very short tempered and of course the heat/humidity makes the kiddos cranky too, and with it being summer we're all right in each other's faces all day.
 

Me too. I'm right there with you.

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by Lexi_029 

Cathy, glad to hear the appointment went well. It sounds like you have a healthy baby in there! Where in MI? I live in the Kalamazoo area. :)

Wombat, I can't imagine working with that many dietary restrictions. We're vegetarians but no allergies or anything like that. The GD thing is throwing a wrench into the works but we'll figure it out. Deviled eggs sound deliiicious right now. If it wasn't almost 1am, I'd be tempted to ask my husband to make some for me. Hehe. I'm impressed that your kids understand that you need extra patience right now because energy levels are low and are willing to work with you.

Lansing!!  That is so cool.  My dh is getting his PhD from MSU. 

I have been having such bad dreams about my ds at night.  Ugh.  I hate waking up from bad dreams, so stressful.  The night before I had some fun dreams, but I can't remember what they were about. 
 

[wombatclay]

Oh bright gods, the CRAZY dreams!  I've been lucky that none of them have been "bad bad" but they're all just whacked enough to bother me.  Last night one of them was about cookbooks fighting to the death.  I don't remember the details, but I remember waking up and then waking up dh to tell him about it because it was just sooooo odd.  And then there was another dream about how DH and I "had" to get married the next day and everyone was running around these empty/zombie apocalypse style shopping malls trying to find stuff for the wedding that DH/I kept saying wasn't going to happen!  (we've been married for years though we did elope)  At least that dream had some sort of vaguely reasonable "worried about approaching life event" relationship.  Dueling cookbooks?  Not so much.

Diet restrictions... I have a very close friends, their family is lacto-ovo with now and then fish.  Then she had two children, each with different "off to the er" level allergies.  So one child can't have peanuts, chickpeas, or wheat (gluten is ok, it's the wheat proteins) while the other can't have eggs (can't even have a vax that was cultured on egg product).  My friend and her husband both work full time and I am always in awe that they all stay alive and healthy.  I mean, it's not like they have a choice, but I think I'd just collapse in a puddle if I was trying to work around all that.  Her kitchen is all color coded so there is no cross contamination but there have been a few accidents (thermos bottles switched at the preschool the two kiddos attend) that have resulted in hospital stays.

And around here so many kiddos have allergies that birthday parties and other gathering are almost all "bring your own cupcake" or platters of cupcakes/cookies that suit different dietary or religious restrictions.  And those allergy kid temporary tattoos are BIG business (expect for the one mom I know who has a child allergic to the ink they use in the tattoos!).

Good luck staying safe and sane today all...I'm wishing us fewer aches, less cranky, nicer weather, and temporarily stepford style children.  LOL

[ValH]

Lexi - Sorry to hear about the GD!  I couldn't imagine trying to change the diet around that as a vegetarian.  I'm now craving deviled eggs from the conversation, though - too bad I ate the last of the eggs this morning.  Good luck with the GD and diet changes! 

Cathy - Yay for a good MW appointment, and the good iron levels!  I'm pretty sure mine is still pretty low... I'm having to nap about every day because my energy is just zapped. 

Wombat - I'm with you on the crazy dreams!  I can't always remember mine, but I often wake up going "what the...?"

Liz - Hope you are able to get some extra rest over the holiday weekend - you deserve it with all you have going on!

Question about BH contractions - what do they feel like?  Yesterday, I kept having some slightly painful cramping that would last a few seconds, go away for a few minutes, and then come back.  It wasn't super painful, just enough to be annoying.  It was located pretty low down, and it wasn't related to movement at all (it happened when I was laying on the couch, standing, and in bed).  It's gone today, so I'm not worried about it, just curious as to what it may be. 

[wombatclay]

For me, BH feel like pressure/tightening and if I put my hand on my belly I can feel that it is "hard".  Usually I'll be minding my own business when all of a sudden I'll feel like I'm wearing a tight belt or girdle... I'll be out of breath, I'll need to pee, my belly is hard (or at least harder than it's normal wiggle jiggle), and the sensation of being squeezed lasts about 30 seconds or so.  It's not painful or even achy, but it can be really uncomfortable and annoying.

The only real difference between a BH contraction and a "birth contraction" is that during birth the contractions get stronger/longer/more frequent.  So I try to remind myself to use BH contractions as a way to practice birth skills (like the self hypnosis finger drops, or the bradley "total relaxation", or with a cleansing breath, or wave visualization).  But I had SO MUCH prodromal labor last time round (weeks and weeks of contractions that would come for 4-5 hours then go away for 6-7 hours, then come back for 3-4 hours, etc) that my attempt at channeling pollyanna kind of flopped after a while.  LOL

[zjande]

Hi guys, I just wanted to pop in & say hi. :) The new MDC format moves extremely slowly for me so I rarely visit anymore. Plus it all seems so full of ads & commercials... But whatever, the point is that I wanted to see how you all are doing. :)

I'm having terrible trouble with spider & varicose veins this pregnancy. My legs are a disaster & man oh man do they hurt. But I expect them to leave after birth, so, it could be worse! :p

We're moving to another state when I am 2 days short 34 weeks! lol I can't believe how crazy this is all going to be. I'm 27 weeks now. We're searching for a rental on some acreage up in north Idaho. We'll rent there while we scout out a dreamy piece of raw land to purchase & build up our little homestead on. I'm totally beyond excited that it's all finally happening, but the timing is a little funky. :p As soon as I figure out what town we'll be renting in, I can search for new midwives there!

My 20 mo old is still nursing strong. I don't produce milk though. We found out the gender of this baby but only me, my husband & my 19 yr old DD know. Heehee! It's fun to keep it a secret, but difficult at the same time!!

Well, there's my update. :p

[FarmerCathy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zjande 

Hi guys, I just wanted to pop in & say hi. :) The new MDC format moves extremely slowly for me so I rarely visit anymore. Plus it all seems so full of ads & commercials... But whatever, the point is that I wanted to see how you all are doing. :)

I'm having terrible trouble with spider & varicose veins this pregnancy. My legs are a disaster & man oh man do they hurt. But I expect them to leave after birth, so, it could be worse! :p

We're moving to another state when I am 2 days short 34 weeks! lol I can't believe how crazy this is all going to be. I'm 27 weeks now. We're searching for a rental on some acreage up in north Idaho. We'll rent there while we scout out a dreamy piece of raw land to purchase & build up our little homestead on. I'm totally beyond excited that it's all finally happening, but the timing is a little funky. :p As soon as I figure out what town we'll be renting in, I can search for new midwives there!

My 20 mo old is still nursing strong. I don't produce milk though. We found out the gender of this baby but only me, my husband & my 19 yr old DD know. Heehee! It's fun to keep it a secret, but difficult at the same time!!

Well, there's my update. :p

Wow, that is exciting!!  Glad to see you pop in.  Yeah, if my dh gets this job in MI he will probably miss the birth, but he will have a job and we would be able to move in to the house we own.  He will just have to bond with his daughter mostly over the phone for the few weeks he is there and I am here.

You are such a tease, I will have to wait until you have your babe to find out.
 

[FarmerCathy]

Sleep sucks.  And my last dream I was dreaming I needed to finish an essay I forgot about to pass a class.  I blame that on dh and how he hasn't finished his PhD yet.   I woke up so many times last night and my legs were cramping most of the night and it seems I had a bellyspurt and my hips are now hurting again.  Boooo!  It was like my blood sugar dipped just enough under 70 during the night that I got leg cramps.  It was awful and then I ate a hard boiled egg at 5:30am when I still had heartburn and it was really hard to swallow, luckily drinking some water helped, but ugh, I had to wait on my left side, which hurt to burp before I could lay on my right side or my continued heartburn would kill me.  Then I still woke up with leg cramps.  It's crazy though, if I lower my insulin on my pump I wake up over 100, if I leave it or give myself more it goes just low enough to kill me being able to sleep.

Anyways, I am going to go to my first LLLI meeting this am in like forever.  My ds is so excited to see babies eating nums.  My little lactivist told a girl at the playground that when his sister comes out she is going to nurse.  I was going to make some milk making cookies to bring, but I didn't get a chance, I didn't want to heat up the house last night and I don't have enough time before I leave this am.  Oh well, maybe I can do it next time.  I'm just excited to meet my local breastfeeding support for this babe.