Hello! Come introduce yourself! - Page 4 « Back to Group Discussions

[FeralFox]

Monkey - 1.5 years!  I'm so happy to see you here, after all that time!

[Mama Chickadee]

Hi everyone! Congrats on all your pregnancies! I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you :)

I'm 30, and DH is 37, and we have 2 little ones - DD who is 4, and DS who is 16 months. I'm shocked about being pregnant right now, not because we weren't trying, but because it took 6ish months to get pregnant with our first two, and we got pregnant on our first try this time. I am really not feeling ready to be pregnant, but I guess I have no choice now! I am very excited though, and amused that my EDD of August 14th is almost identical to DS's. I gave birth at 38 weeks to both my kids, so its quite possible I'll have this one in July. 

So a little about us - I am a stay at home mom, and DH works at a corporation very close to home, except when he is traveling internationally, which is about 1/4 of the time. Fortunately, he doesn't travel much in the summer, so I won't have to worry about him being gone in the 3rd trimester. DD is a fiercely independent little artist who desperately wants a little sister, and DS is a tornado who loves music and boobie. I hope to keep nursing him through this pregnancy, tho have lately started to feel a little peace around the idea of him weaning, if that is what he chooses to do. I don't feel like I have much of a supply anymore, but he still adores nursing. He's currently sleeping in his own crib (sleeps horribly in bed with us now) and sleeps 10 hrs at night. 

We're moderately crunchy, though I often laugh because my husband doesn't realize it (overheard him saying to another parent "yeah, I mean, its JUST chicken pox, even doctors don't think you should vaccinate for it, its best to let your kids just get it naturally" I had to correct him, but it warmed my heart to hear :) We eat almost exclusively food made from scratch at home as my daughter has numerous food allergies (milk, soy, pork, bananas, strawberries, oats, potatos, corn) I just got kefir grains from a friend, and am having fun learning how to make it. DD had 2 vaccinations before we stopped, DS has had one tetanus shot since he comes to the horse barn with me a lot, and invariably finds rusty dirty things to play with that I have never seen before. We partially cloth diaper - I do more cloth, DH does more disposable (and I LOVE my Potty Pail!!!) Since we have basically everything for a baby this time around, I'm looking forward to buying more cloth stuff, as we borrowed from another friend for the first 6 months or so. 

The last two pregnancies we were moving each time (my labor with DS started while we signed the P&S on our house) and I have made my husband promise that no matter what, we are NOT moving during the pregnancy!!! I had my DD at a local hospital with midwives, labored mostly at home, transitioned in the car, birthed, and went home that night. DS I had with an amazing sole practicing OB, birthed him into my hands at sunrise, and left the hospital after lunch. I'd really like to have this babe at home, but DH is pretty much not on board with that, and I am happy enough with going back to the same OB. I need to call her in the morning, as she will be completely booked for August in the next week or so.  

I loved my last DDC, and am happy to be here with all of you :) Here's to a healthy 9-10 months for us all!

[monkeyscience]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FeralFox 

Monkey - 1.5 years!  I'm so happy to see you here, after all that time!

I'm happy to be here, after all that time! I am hoping I get to stay!

[Georgetown HB Mom]

Hi!!

My name is Lisa and I am pregnant with baby #4!! I have three girls who are 15, 6 and 19 months. I got my BFP on November 30. This baby will be born at home. We live in Texas. My husband is a computer programmer and I am a placenta encapsulation specialist.

[marinak1977]

Hi All, I'm joining cautiously I'm about 14 DPO and got a BFP which seems to be getting stronger. We've TTC'd our # 2 for about 8 months, and we have an almost 2 year old who still nurses up a storm, so this will be interesting.
I'm Marina and I'm 34.

[Lizbiz]

Hi Everyone!  

I'm really excited to be here... and very happy for everyone.  I'm prego with babe #3, just got a positive test this morning - I'm due August 17th.  My last two came at 37 1/2 weeks though, so it's actually possible I'll give birth in late July.  

My last two were born at home - one with a midwife and one assisted by my husband.  I'm not sure what we'll do this time around... I imagine if we're in the US we'll hire a midwife and if we're in China we'll likely go unassisted again.  

My kiddos are 4 and almost 2, and we were hoping that #3 would come a bit sooner, but I'm just thrilled she's here now!  We have one boy and one girl so far... 

A short intro: I am 34 and will be just 35 when this babe comes.  We live in China, and I work full-time in a graduate school here as an administrator.  I love working in a foreign language every day with my Chinese colleagues, and I love supporting our students (half Chinese and half International students) while they learn so much from each other and from their professors.  It's challenging, but rewarding.  I'm not sure how long we'll stay, as we're longing for home and our families, but we've been here 4 years so far.  Our kids think it's normal to live here, and that is great as they have a great comfort level in what to us is most certainly a foreign culture, no matter how interesting it is and no matter how long we stay!

My husband is 32 and is a violinist.  He plays whenever/wherever he can and also tutors Chinese students in a variety of subjects like American History and Western Culture.  

So... that's us!  Congrats again everyone!  And looking forward to journeying together.  

[IntuitiveJamie]

Hello everyone. So excited the group is growing. Here's to a great nine months for all of us!

[Thebyr]

Wow.. we're such a cool group. Welcome everyone!

Ni Hao Ma LizBiz!

[iixivboots]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a graduate of the awesome Bajingo Juice club: #1 in our 30s over on TTC, This is my first pregnancy, first baby, and first cycle of Clomid. :) I am soooo nervous but SOOOO happy.

I'm a middle school reading teacher which I love so much. It took 17 months for us to conceive.

I would place us only just slightly on the crunchy spectrum. I intend to breastfeed but a lot of ideas I had have been supplanted with the desire to have a carefully medically monitored pregnancy. I'm still with my fertility clinic right now and have had two betas done, another on Monday, and I'm on supplemental progesterone.

I am also a huge supporter of neighborhood and public schools. I teach in a very low income, mostly Hispanic school in Phoenix, AZ.

So those are my "non crunchy" creds, hopefully I still fit in, I have never had a problem on the ttc boards.

My EDD is August 12.

[Ninetales]

There's no rule about how crunchy you have to be.  ;)  We all have our own opinions and beliefs and wants, and as long as we respect each others' differences I think we'll all get along fine here.

I think that MDC just tends to attract more "crunchy" minded women. 

[DandelionWine]

Boots, I was a middle school teacher, too. My degree is in middle and secondary English ed. My first job was at an intensive ESL school in Atlanta. :)  Also, I was conceived with the help of Clomid back in the '70s!

[Knitting Mama]

I was a teacher myself (elementary), but I got very jaded by the public schools here, enough so that there's about a snowball's chance in hell that my kids will ever attend one. Currently going back and forth between homeschooling and a really academically excelling Montessori charter school that my niece and nephew attend.

[Thebyr]

Boots! Another one of my TTC friends... lol

I'd like to think the hubs and I are pretty crunchy - although hubby was TOTALLY against us trying to have a home birth - I think he'll be down for baby #2 though. He's just nervous something will go wrong and thinks we need a hospital. I'm ok with that - for now. lol. We have lots of un-crunchy friends - they just think we're flower children and we don't judge.

[marinak1977]

It's so awesome to see the Bajingo juice ladies here. I was a graduate in 2010 with DS - it too me 2.5 years to conceive (we finally conceived when I was 32) , so I can totally relate to the joy!

[Knitting Mama]

Heh, I guess I was in that club too-- I was 31 when I had Cece, 33 now. 

[andaluza]

There are certain parts of the crunchy identity that I identify with, and others not so much or not at all. I think that respect is the key. I will b/f and although my dh was born at home, I don't think that's in the cards for us now. The closest midwife through my health insurance, I found, is about 4 hours away, so it really doesn't seem like a possibility, although there are midwives and doulas in the area. I could investigate how much they charge. I think a doula might be more of a possibility, at least from what I've found so far.

I felt more comfortable on Mothering's boards when I joined when ttc because of the respect and mostly non-snarkiness. I was just browsing other sites the other day because they do pregnancy trackers and didn't feel a comfortable vibe on them.

ETA: Yay bajingo juice ladies!!!

[Knitting Mama]

I will admit-- I stopped posting in LWAB last year because it felt like "one-up crunch central" to me-- like people really couldn't respect each other's parenting choices. It went too far for me (it could be different now, I don't know). But I was amazingly, amazingly lucky to have the most wonderful DDC for Cecilia that I could have ever imagined, and these ladies, who I still talk to multiple times a day, are who I use as my generalization on MDC members. There is a spectrum of beliefs, e.g. from no vax to selective and delayed vax to full vax, from home birth to birth center to hospital birth, and yet everyone is still loving and respectful. In the end, that's all that matters!

[iixivboots]

I've never really been confronted on how non-crunchy we are on MDC, really, just wanted to cover my bases. I had a bunch of expectations about birth before it took so long to conceive and now I just see things differently. I think the main thing that I am conscious about is being a passionate public school teacher. I of course respect everyone's rights to school their children as they want, but realize that many parents don't have the choice or (we hope) are proud to send their kids to public schools. I have an ex-friend who was an unschooler and she would kind of piss me off with her evils of public school crap. Also another woman in my knitting group said right in front of me that there is "no progressive education" in this state, and I wanted to punch her in the face. :) I wanted to, but I was polite because I am an upstanding educator.

[intime0]

Stormmay, I know exactly what you mean!  This will be number 7 for us and I know the reactions will be mixed.

Cerise, I'm sorry for your loss. This pregnancy will probably bring about a lot of emotions!

I'm Michelle, mom to 6 and due Aug 10.

I think we fall in the medium to upper level of crunchy.  Less so since we've moved to Singapore. 

We UP/UC.  Breastfeed till whenever they stop.  I LOVE cloth diapers and mama pads, but it's super hard to get them clean in these washers, so I've pretty much given up.  (And it's awkward with the mama pads and our maid.)  We use natural and organic products, wooden toys, etc.  The kids sleep where they want to. Currently we have one in our bed and two others sharing a bed in their room.  So sweet.  I try to buy organic foods and use natural ingredients when at all possible.  Raw milk is illegal here and milk is uber expensive. We have McDonalds delivered on Saturdays though. LOL. 

We don't vax. 

We homeschool.

Hmmm...think that's about it. I'm sure I missed something.

My birth here is up in the air.  We have to get the birth registered so we can get a passport within the first week.  We leave for america  a few months after the birth. Can't take any chances there.

[chicajones]

Hello! I'm taking the plunge and joining this group, even through I haven't quite had a BFP yet...it's been more like multiple PBFPs (Possible But Faint Positives). :) I definitely feel pregnant, and haven't had a LF this long before (14 days). I've gone through about six tests in the past three days, and the only two that haven't had a faint line have been FRERs (which, for some reason, freaks me out because by gosh, they're FRERs!). I still haven't told DH yet, because I'm scared I'll tell him, and we'll celebrate, only to be let down by zero lines and AF a few days later. 

So, since I can't tell anyone else yet, I'm at least going to cast in with this group and hope that it's stepping out in the right direction. :)

I'm 27, DH is 30, and we've been TTC our first for about a year and a half. I've always had somewhat irregular periods, which I was always told was because I'm so lean (runs in the family), so when I only had 3 periods in the first year of TTC (after going off of BCP), I thought it was just results of BCP messing with my cycle, and that I'd get back to being somewhat regular soon. I finally went to an OB/GYN who specializes in fertility in October, and she immediately diagnosed me with PCOS. Just so she could cross it off the list of potential problems, she had me get a glucose test, but lo and behold I've got Insulin Resistance as well. I started taking Metformin in October, and thankfully haven't had any side effects. I was really only hoping I'd get a period in the next two months, but had a huge temp leap after we got back from Thanksgiving travels, and it hasn't gone down yet. I'm pretty sure I must have conceived either November 25th or 26th (first day was EWCM and second was watery), which would put my EDD at around August 18th.

I'd consider us semi-crunchy--we're big on eating whole, natural foods as much as possible (although we try not to turn down any food that's offered to us by others), love making things by hand and doing lots of our own research (partially because we both hate hospitals). I plan to do a home waterbirth with one of my close friends, who is a midwife. I've long planned on cloth diapering, except that in our current apartment, we don't have a washer or dryer...so I'm not quite sure how that's going to turn out. Very much looking forward to breastfeeding as long as possible, as well as co-sleeping. We'll also probably selectively vax (if at all). We're a bit of a weird mix, because while we love doing things naturally/"the old fashioned way" when possible, we're also both total geeks and love technology. I also definitely understand that people live very different lives--the only time I start nerding out on natural stuff is when I talk to people who really just don't know (and are interested).

I've really enjoyed reading through everyone's introductions, and am hoping and praying that I'll enjoy spending the next nine months with all of you!