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[blueviolet]

Hi!  This will be my second, with the first being about 15 months old right now.  We also got pregnant on our first try, which was great.  I work part-time as a burgeoning web designer and stay at home part time.  My first was delivered naturally, at a hospital with mid-wives and this time I may go home-birth or back to the hospital again.  I suppose there's time to figure that out...

How crunchy?  In real life...extremely.  On the Mothering forums...barely at all:)  We cloth diaper, extended breastfeed, no circ, selective and delay vax, we're vegetarian, etc...Not quite ready for "family cloth" yet:)  

I was nervous about another pregnancy and birth, but now I'm totally into it.  Kind of looking forward to maternity clothes and a bump.  

Congratulations to everyone!

[eleuthia]

hi, i'm sj. i'll be 35 in january, and my partner is 29. i found out on december 1st that we're expecting our first on 8/10/12. i have PCOS and had irregular/anovulatory cycles so i was referred to a reproductive specialist in june, and i started clomid in july. i had to take a break in august for vaginal surgery & was off clomid in september, so this was our 3rd "good" cycle. i was starting to lose hope, and really thought i was out this cycle, but a temp jump and weird uterus feelings prompted me to test at 13DPO. i was so pleasantly shocked to see two lines! 

because of PCOS, i have a higher risk of miscarriage; i take metformin which is supposed to reduce that risk, but i'm still feeling a bit cautious.  my first beta hcg was 300 (on thursday) and i'll have it repeated on monday to make sure it's doubling. i will see the midwife in my ob/gyn office in a couple weeks, and she's going to give me the names of some homebirth midwives, plus i'm hoping to go to an info session at a birth center nearby. 

i come from a sorta crunchy background - big family (i'm the oldest of 8), mom had natural births (last 2 with a midwife in the hospital) and exclusively breastfed, they co-slept, and we were homeschooled (though we started out in private school & the youngest ones went to public school). i'm not gonna have a big family and don't plan to homeschool, but i want the natural birth, breastfeeding (& pumping, since i work), & co-sleeping! thanks to my awesome feminist, attachment-parenting, no-circ mom friends, i've got a different take on parenting than how i was raised. my partner is less crunchy than i am, especially about food & media consumption, which should be a fun challenge. fortunately, we agree on the important things! 

[Stormimay]

Hello all! I'm actually surprised there are so many people who already know that they are due in August...it makes me feel better about "jumping the gun." LOL

I took my pregnancy test yesterday, but I knew the day before because, of all things, I couldn't stop peeing and had brown discharge. Somehow it just clicked and I knew, didn't think 'maybe', knew. I usually don't know before hand, as evidenced by the dozens of negative tests I've taken. Maybe I'm finally catching on? It would be about time, because this is baby #8!

I'm 31, married, with 5 boys and 2 girls ages from 11 on down to 2 years. This is by far the largest gap between babies for us; previous to this pregnancy our biggest gap was 21 months. This one will be 38 months. Bizarrely, I already feel like I've forgotten what a baby is like! And I just finished giving away all my baby stuff, clothes, maternity clothes, all of it. LOL

For the first 11 years of our marriage, my husband worked and I was a stay at home homeschooling mom, but we switched last year and I currently work more than full time as a sander at a custom wood cabinet maker. I actually enjoy the job and am doing well (just got my second raise in six months) but will not be able to work there the entire pregnancy. So we have to figure all that out.

I don't know exactly when we will tell everyone, but it will be after the new year. With baby #8 you know there are going to be plenty of people not happy for us, and our current economic situation doesn't make it any better. Also, my best friend just had a still born son in June after struggling with infertility, my other best friend has been trying and trying to have another baby but instead has had three miscarriages, and my sister has been trying for 3 years and can't get pregnant at all, so it is just hard for me to announce happily that we've got #8 coming. Do y'all know what I mean?

Another twist on this event is at the beginning of March of this year I was 210 lbs. Right now, after working my butt off (literally) I am 149 lbs. I was hoping to be down to 125 by my birthday, and while I am totally okay with that not happening, I will admit that I am nervous about putting it all back on. I have been doing Jillian Michaels workouts and will for a couple more months, but I do not think they will work the whole pregnancy. Pretty sure they won't, actually.

All of this may make you think I am not happy for this baby, but let me assure you I am ecstatic. Every one of my children is so wonderful and a huge blessing, and none of them have come to us in "ideal" situations, so I know this will be the same way. Things will work out and everything will be more than worth it when I hold the next beautiful perfect child in my arms. (And doubly so if it were twins. I know I'm crazy but I want twins.)

Long boring post, sorry, so I'll just mention really quickly that this will be our fourth natural childbirth with a midwife at her birthing center. My last birth was definitely the best so I look forward to improving on it with hopefully a smaller baby. We are moderately crunchy, co-sleeping, baby-wearing, rear-facing, self-weaning...and when I am the cook we largely eat natural whole foods. Less so when my hubby cooks. The least crunchy thing about us is I have been completely unable to convince hubby about cloth diapers, so we go disposable. If we had gone cloth with our first one, or second, or even fourth, you know how much money we would have saved? ug. but, of course, we were never sure about having another.

Finally signing off...sorry for dumping on y'all. Congratulations to everyone!!

Stormimay

[IntuitiveJamie]

Congratulations blueviolet,  eleuthia and Stormimay!

Stormimay-8 lovely babies, how wonderful!

[JelloPanda]

I'm tentatively joining you ladies... got a faint BFP this morning at 13DPO.  
As my signature shows, I had a little boy when I was a teenager, and he was placed for (open) adoption.  Since then, I've had two miscarriages... so I'm fairly nervous about this pregnancy.
This is my and DP's second pregnancy together, but hopefully it will be our first baby.
We had decided mid-cycle that we were going to wait a few years to try, but apparently, "fate" had other ideas!

We're young - let's just say that neither of us have clear memories of the first half of the 1990's :)

I'm currently in training to be a birth doula and breastfeeding counselor through childbirth international, and DP is a carpenter. 
We are turbo crunchy.... well, in theory.  I was the youngest midwife assisted birth at our hospital, and I fully intend to have a homebirth with this baby.  We will practice child-led weaning, child-led solids, bed-sharing, gentle discipline, cloth diapering part time (with elimination communication being the main method), and baby-wearing.  Our diets aren't clean, but we're trying our best to clean them up - it's hard, on a budget.  

We aren't doing any ultrasounds or dopplers, and I'm a little bit nervous about waiting until 18w to hear a heartbeat.  

Also, neither of our families are very supportive of extra-marital babies, so this will be an interesting ride.

[Thebyr]

Welcome and congrats blueviolet,  eleuthia and Stormimay!

Jello - we seem to be good luck for each other - we are clearly on this ride together - first TTC, now here. Praying you have a healthy and happy 9 months!!!

[ceriserenee]

My name is Cerise...This is my fourth pregnancy and I currently have one living child. My first was a chemical pregnancy and my second was my daughter who turned 4 today. My third was my son, Mateo, who died 7 hours before his birth of severe umbilical cord torsion during labor at 41 weeks. He was perfect in every way...and it has been a very hard 6 months. I am 11 dpo today and got my first BFP at 8 dpo, so I knew pretty early! This may be a bumpy ride, but I am doing my best to be on this journey. I am due August 14th, 2012. Congrats to all of you!

[JelloPanda]

I'm stepping out - apparently my BFP was a faulty test. BFN's today.

[Knitting Mama]

 I am sorry JelloPanda. Best of luck to you. 

[DoingMyBest]

Hello all, my husband and I just found out yesterday that we're expecting our second baby, due in August. Our son turned one just a week ago, and we're very excited to learn that our family is growing! (OK, I'm excited and kind of dumbstruck. We were trying, but the reality of a new baby is very different from the idea of one, yes?)

I know it's still very early, but we are planning a home birth, and I've just begun looking for a midwife in our new town of Columbia, SC. I labored with Mikey at home in the SF Bay Area until the last wee bit, when our midwife recommended heading to the local hospital for Pitocin. Luckily, that was all it took to do the trick and we were able to return home promptly. I think a water birth would be really nice, but at the moment my mind is more focused on what life will be like after this baby is born than on the birth itself. I don't want to get too hung up on that this time.

Life with our baby so far has been extraordinary and surprisingly uncomplicated, thanks in large part to my wonderful husband. I'm lucky to be able to stay at home, where I work part-time as an editor and full-time as a mom. Having just read over many of the posts above, it seems like I also fall in the "mid-crunchy" range. I bet a lot of you only realized that after the fact, like us. We have just been doing what seems to make sense, like baby wearing, sharing a family bed, breastfeeding (hopefully until he's 3 or so), cloth diapering, baby-led weaning ... I didn't know what attachment parenting was until we'd pretty much been doing it for a while!

I'm sure I have a lot to learn, especially with a new baby coming, and I look forward to hearing from those of you who are already experienced mommas and anyone else who has a different approach to mothering. More information is always better. I haven't experienced any nipple pain yet as I feed Mikey, but it sounds like I should mentally prepare.

[LittleBirdy]

Well I've posted in a few other threads but I may as well go ahead and officially introduce myself here.

My name is Bird, I've been married to DH for 5 years and we have a 16 month old DS.  We were not really trying and I'm still not exactly sure how/when I got pregnant.  Ideally we wanted our children about 3.5 years apart, but you know what they say... if you want to see God laugh, make a plan.  However now that it's happening I'm sort of glad they'll be closer in age.

I don't consider myself really that crunchy.  I had a homebirth with DS and am planning another one with this baby, but that's pretty much it.  I let DS wean at 13.5 months.  We were down to 1 nursing session a day and it was fairly obvious he could care less about it, so we just dropped it altogether.  We did cosleep, but only because I would have dropped dead of exhaustion otherwise!

My DH's whole family knows about the baby, as does our auto mechanic, insurance salesman, hubby's coworkers and pretty much anybody he's talked to in the last 3 weeks!  He likes to share happy news right away.  I'm more conservative.  I've told my sister and a good friend who would understand a m/c but I'll wait until at least Christmas to tell my family and until we hear the heartbeat before I tell everyone else.

[andaluza]

Hi ladies! I tested yesterday and got my first ever bfp on our 5th month ttc! As my signature indicates, I'm 35, dh just turned 39, and we've been married over 10 years without ttc until this year. EDD based on o day and lmp is around Aug 14. My mom is psyched because she's also a Leo. 

I saw my ob/gyn today and she sent me for a beta. I wanted to wait until I had those results to jump in here, but they use a lab and the gyn office is closed on Wed., so I think I won't know them until Thursday. Agony. She has only sent me for the one beta, though, and I kind of want to demand a second on Thurs just to compare my numbers. I wanted to introduce myself now because I think I already have questions for you ladies!

Since this is my first, I'm not sure about my birth plans, but I will stick with my gyn for now since she got my spotting sorted out and I believe that led to my bfp. I have another appt on Jan 5, when she hopes to be able to see the babe with the sonogram.

DH and I are both trying to remain calm and hope for the best. We've already told family since they knew we've been ttc and, despite our advanced ages, we are the first children on both sides to start ttc.

I am having some minor symptoms, but in general feel pretty good. So far, the symptoms kind of remind me of being hungover (sometimes slightly dizzy or off kilter feeling, slight nausea, slight headache). I also have aching in my ovaries and, it seems, more gas. I've been eating and acting in pregnancy mode since June, when I cut out alcohol, coffee, unsafe meds, and moved to other products as natural as possible, so it hasn't yet been a big adjustment. I don't eat meat or poultry, but do eat fish and seafood (keeping my eye on mercury levels), and am trying to ensure I get enough protein through a variety of sources (legumes, dairy, non-soy protein). I'm fortunate to be able to work from home a lot of the time, so I've been on the sofa doing work, trying to focus since the bfp yesterday. I have a lot to accomplish before mid-August! 

I just ordered a pregnancy yoga dvd, since I think I am a little too paranoid to do too much physical activity, but I want to do something both calming and good for my body. I love running, but have been limiting it to before o and hesitate to start again now (especially because it to so cold).

I hope that everyone is doing well! Please, send me sticky vibes!!

[Thebyr]

Welcome ladies!!!

Special HEY to Andaluza - my TTC buddy!

[major_mama11]

Hello all! I haven't been around Mothering much for the past year or so, but just found out last week that we're expecting out third, due around 8/5. My other two are 6 years old and almost 3.

I'm a lot more nervous this time than I was with our first two- I think because everything went so smoothly with my first two, I don't want to assume that everything will be just fine with this one too. I had a 25-pack of cheapie tests, and I think I've used 8 or 9 of them since the first BFP, just to reassure myself that the line is getting darker! I called my OB last week and had labs drawn, and the second lab showed an appropriate HCG rise, so I'm a little less nervous now.

My first 'real' appointment is in about 4 weeks. I work with my OB/GYN (I'm an RN), and love her to death (she pretty much lets the mom call the shots during labor, barring complications), so I switched to her earlier this year, from the CNM birth center practice that I used for my first two. It will be different delivering in a hospital this time, but I'm okay with that, since I know and trust the people that will be there.

So far, I've told a few coworkers, but haven't told any family other than DH and my SIL. I'll probably wait and tell the rest after I hear/see the heartbeat for the first time.

[IntuitiveJamie]

Hello everyone! Welcome! Welcome! 

[FeralFox]

Hi all, I'm cautiously here too.  I'll probably be straddling the fence for a couple of weeks, hanging out here and over on the One Thread at the same time.

Anyway, I'm Tris and I'm due with my second on 8/20.  My son, Badger (not his real name, btw), will be 4 in March.  He's super excited about the new baby already.  Husband is even more excited - this is my second, but his first.  He adores Badger, and can't wait to raise another child from the very start.  With Badger, I had a "failed" home birth.  I had a super long labor, got tired and ended up in the hospital with an epidural so I could sleep.  This time, due to insurance, I'll be birthing in a small community hospital with a large midwifery service and a great reputation for natural birth.  Then immediately after having the baby, we'll be moving to a little homestead in NY where we'll be living in a cabin with no electricity or running water.  So next year is going to be an awesome adventure.

We're middlin crunchy here.  I breastfed badger until he weaned himself at 2, did baby led weaning, bed shared until he was 3, still babywear, no vax (yet), no circ, eat local and organic whenever possible, and generally try to live a natural, green life.  However, I love the internet, can't get enough of "Hoarders", sometimes let Nemo or Wall-E babysit Badger for a couple of hours, and totally dig oreos, rice crispy treats, and cheap Chinese takeout.  I cloth diapered badger until I got sick of it when he was 2 and switched to sposies, and will probably put the new baby in a crib next to our bed rather than right in it.  I judge not - unless you circ, I'm rabidly intactivist.

I'm surprised and pleased that there are so many of us!  I can't wait to see lots of belly shots over the next 9 months, and lots of baby pics after that.

Edited by FeralFox - 12/6/11 at 11:52pm

[Justmee]

I'm dipping my toe in. Due Aug. 1 with #5 all being well. My youngest is almost 4, and I have had 2 misses in the last year so until I see that heartbeat and hold that babe in my arms, I don't think I'll feel very secure, but  happy to introduce myself and hoping to stay :)

[Thebyr]

Welcome Ladies!!!

Yay another TTC-friend - good to see you Feral.

As you can see - we had a pretty lucky month over in TTC.

[DandelionWine]

Justmee, that's how I want to describe this: I have one toe in here! This is super early for me, and I've had two losses in the past at 7 weeks or so. So, I'm thinking happy thoughts, taking good care of my body, and trying to be open to what the Universe has in store for me.

I'm 34. I have two kids, 6 and 3. We moved 900 miles from home at the beginning of August for my husband to take a new job. I homeschool and write. My older sister is also pregnant, due in February, so I've been knitting baby things and making baby toys and such for months now. This feels like a natural extension of where I've had my focus! 

Looking forward to getting to know you all some more!

[monkeyscience]

Okay, I was going to hold off for awhile till I was a little further along, but I've decided that nothing's ever certain, so I might as well enjoy this pregnancy while it exists!

Around here, I'm known as Monkey. I'm 27, almost 28, and married to Pirate, who's 25. We first met about 2 years ago, and got married 7 months later. After 1.5 years of TTC with PCOS (the first year of which I was anovulatory), we finally got our BFP December 3rd! I still have basically zero symptoms, other than occasional cramping, and some nausea and mood swings that may or may not be pregnancy related. We're mildly crunch at best, though I am hoping to be somewhat more crunchy in our childrearing. We still have a lot of things to discuss! But dh is on board for a birth center birth, which I'm excited about. For a lot of reasons, home birth is most likely not in the cards at this point, though it may be in the future. Oh, and EDD is August 14th!