theboysmama - at this stage adding in some walks is probably you're best bet - is it not starting to cool down where you are? Swimming could work too. Doing some yoga or stretching would definitely help for birth but won't do a lot for your cardio.
My next midwife appointment is the home visit! This is going too, too fast!!!! 
Crappy crappy crappy ~pi. Totally something that would happen with my DH. Maybe he'll figure something out? I'm so sorry.
thanks lifeguard- it is still really too hot for walks. by the time we get the kids off to school and get going it is about 10am and already about 90 degrees. I am just so unmotivated. Maybe I will try to do it a few mornings a week and add in some stretching. I bought a mom and baby yoga dvd a few years ago and have been pg several times and haven't opened it yet (lucky I only paid $1 for it :)). Maybe I will open that and give it a try. MUST GET MOTIVATED!!!
Karli had a good idea about a post partum doula. Maybe that would work for you Pi. Sorry your DH can't be there.
We had a pretty rough nights sleep last night. DD woke up this morning all stuffed up and feeling cruddy with a cold. It's a gray rainy day around here so we're just going to tuck in for the day and take it easy. Hopefully this will be a quick one for her. She just had the flu a couple of weeks ago... poor baby!
I'm heading out this evening to join a friend to do yoga. We have been trying to get together twice a week but this will be the first time since I was out of town that we can do it. I really miss and so need it! I feel so much better when I have a regular yoga practice in. I'm wondering how to keep it up after the baby is born because it is so hard for me to leave my babies. I think knowing that it helps me live pain free should be a big motivator. The hip pain I acquired with my pregnancy last time lasted for almost 2 years. It only went away when I started doing yoga again. My pain is back now but not as bad as before.
AKislandgirl- with my first 3 kiddos I took a mom and baby yoga class and it was great. You might want to look into something like that for after the baby comes, or watch a mom and baby yoga dvd?
Good midwife 30 wk appt today!
no gd, no pre-e, took blood for iron check, only measuring a week ahead....and best of all I don't have to go back for 3 weeks :) then 3 weeks later is my home visit.
then they might make me go weekly...not if I can help it ;)
Glad your appointment went well Saoirse! I have to admit, I still giggle about the upside-down test strip...only because that is exactly the kind of thing I would do.
Pi, I'm so sorry...communication failures are stressful even in the best of times, and with pregnancy hormones added in they are even worse. I hope things work out ok...like Sue and Karli said, a PP doula would probably be wonderful if you're able to have one.
AFM: As of today, I only have 5 weeks left until I'm full-term. ACK! I have been oscillating between getting very impatient and feeling like the birth is still forever away, and being totally freaked out about how fast it is coming up. I still feel pretty unprepared...I was reading the "Hospital Bag" thread and my brain just...shut down. It feels like I still have so much to do and think about that I just get overwhelmed and then I can't get ANYTHING done. I wish I had more leave available so that I could take some time before the birth, because I'm so tired by the time I get home from work that I just can't make any progress on my To-Do list...ah well. Anyone else having mood swings again, AND getting super excited that we're getting closer to meeting our little ones???
Oh, and...someone just told me I need to get a unicycle to wheel my belly around on. Not flattering, but points for originality I guess!
Glad your appointment went well Saoirse! I have to admit, I still giggle about the upside-down test strip...only because that is exactly the kind of thing I would do.
worse....I have been reading the test strip upside down for 2 kiddos
....did the same thing for my whole pg with dd....did not matter then because with that pg it was always normal.
I can't believe that it took me this long to figure that out
Karli, this is new for you so normal to have fears. That being said I don't think there is anything wrong with preparing for the worst but I am kinda morbid like that. I am not worried about me as I have done this before and my body handles labor really well BUT I worry lots and lots about my baby and yeah I have it kind of planned out in case something goes wrong with the babe. I think I will probably wash baby clothes while I am in labor as I just don't see it happening before then... we will see if I can get the stuff out of storage or if I chicken out again.
Veronica- glad your back:)
So I thought about taking a walk today and took a nap instead. I will keep you ladies posted to be somewhat accountable but the problem is that I am so out of shape I can't get around the block without being exhausted and out of breath. I just don't know how to work up to a decent standard in 9 wks. Oh well I guess I better try.
Karli ... My seven years as a paramedic combined with a vastly overactive imagination results in many, many hours of contemplating everything that could go wrong. I'll leave it at that, so as not to turn the thread into a morbid, sobbing mess by providing any more details than that.
Karli, I totally go into that place. Telling myself things are rare doesn't help. Fortunately, it passes fairly quickly...and is a really good motivator for getting organized. Yay for positivity? In a morbid way.
LaBruija: The unicycle comment is more cleaver than most!
I am SO HUNGRY today. It is nuts. So, it is almost 9am and I may have eaten a low-carb peanut butter waffle at home with a big glass of milk, then proceed to work only to eat through my lunch of alu matar, yogurt with nuts, apple, and celrey. It is ridiculous. I still feel like I haven't eaten at all. Waiting until my lunch break is not fun!
Thanks for the commiseration, everyone. I think a pp doula is out of our budget (I am taking the coming year off, unpaid, and then we will go to single income for an undetermined period of time when I take up a new job and DH stays home.) However, my mom, with whom I occasionally have issues but who I always know will be there if I need her and will be awesome about it, is going to rearrange her work schedule a little so she can come stay with us and help out after baby arrives. Whew. Feeling much more relaxed, and had a good talk with DH about communication and things we could do to improve on that front. We just think very differently in a couple of specific domains, so we need to make sure to actually talk about them from time to time and make sure we are on the same page.
Also on the mood-improving front, I am just packing up and getting ready to leave from my LAST trip away from my family! (30 trips in 2 years, most of those a week long in another country.) My current job is coming to a close, and while I am sad (because it has been just astoundingly fun and productive) I am so, so happy to be finishing up the travel.
theboysmama, re: exercise and getting in shape now, I second the recommendations for walking and swimming. It's a little late (and could be harmful) to start a vigorous cardio plan at this point in pregnancy, but you can totally start walking (slowly or briskly) and swimming (slowly.)
Personally, I have found that exercise is the one thing that has kept me sane this pregnancy. It's the only thing that has helped me cope with the constant nausea and exhaustion. I really notice the difference on days when I don't exercise -- on those days, I have no energy, I feel blah, I want to sleep all the time, etc. On days when I exercise, I feel somewhat like myself, have energy to do things, feel way more cheerful, etc.
worse....I have been reading the test strip upside down for 2 kiddos....did the same thing for my whole pg with dd....did not matter then because with that pg it was always normal.
I can't believe that it took me this long to figure that out
I have totally done things like that and had the, "Wow, how did it take this long for me to discover that ..." feeling.
I don't dwell on it, but yes, I do think about it. I think having an older kid only makes it worse. My strategy is to just acknowledge it and do sensible things. So it's basically an attitude of yep, it's possible. Not likely at all, but possible. So let's make sure to get our wills updated this month, and I'll make sure all my paperwork is in order, and then I will take comfort in the fact that even if the worst were to happen (which, I remind myself again, is extremely unlikely) DH and DS (and perhaps the new one as well) will be as taken care of as possible.
Karli - I get the negative thought too! Our Hypnobabies instructor read something that really helped the other night. It basically started off "What if" and then had a list of all the negative things we can think, but then it suggested that when you start to have negative thoughts you turn them around and think What if (insert positive thought here). It has been helpful for me.
Re: negative thoughts.... this has been creeping up on me lately too. My plan, this whole time, has been to labor at home as long as possible and then go to the hospital for the delivery (in an ideal world, I would walk in and deliver within an hour). Lately I've been thinking more and more about the "what if's". My oldest sister had a stillbirth where she was in the hospital the whole time and they still couldn't/didn't prevent the unthinkable from happening (there was some fault on the part of the hospital, but I won't go into that here). So now my thoughts have gone to the "what if the baby's not handling labor well... I would have no way of knowing from at home" and "what if something happens that I could have prevented by being in the hospital during labor". I really don't want to labor the whole time in the hospital, even though my dr is super cool. But I'm not so sure I want to labor at home anymore either. I just don't know.
Good morning all ...
QOTD:
Steph mentioned in her freak out thread that she's getting a present for her older son from the younger son. Thanks for reminding me, Steph!
Who else is going this if you've got older kids? Have you done it before? What did you give them? Did it help at all? Do those cheesy shirts really mean something to the older siblings?
DS is a big time reader. He loooooves his books. So I think the new baby will be getting him 2 books that he's been wanting. But ds's birthday is October 3rd (this baby is due October 12th) so he'll have a birthday in that time too. So now we have to figure out what we're going to get him for his birthday too (more books, no doubt, but it'll be something else too). We love getting him books because it gives me some quite time
DS picked out a stuffed giraffe (his favorite animal) that plays music that he wants to give to the baby so we'll let him do that. We got a "little brother" outfit that we'll put on the baby after he's born and before ds sees him for the first time. DS has a lot of clothing issues (won't wear anything except very specific clothing items) so we haven't done any of the "big brother" shirts. I may take one of his shirts he wears and do an iron on "big brother" thing, not sure yet. There's about a 50/50 chance that ds would actually wear it.
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