Dec March 2012 chat - Page 2

[cameragirl]

We scaled back on decorations and presents this year out of necessity. Dh was laid off and the budget was tight, so we had to with the presents. Honestly, that's okay with me. It isn't all about gifts. We found a great deal on Melissa & Doug toys, and got DD a wooden workshop bench as her big gift. She also getting some BOB books, a "grow a seedling in a test tube kit", and a "paint your own wooden bead kit". So, so got enough. I just had to be creative and really watch for sales and coupons. I got DH a new memory foam pillow (his is GROSS), some new shaving soap, and a new boar bristle shaving brush. I made my mom cases for the Kindle my sister is giving her, and a matching purse. Some people are getting little terrariums that we made. My dad is getting some yummy jellies, truffles, and baked goods since he likes that stuff, and my FIL is getting a big 16x20 print of a photo I entered into the fair this year. DH wants to make a purse for his mom out of different fabric than I used for my mom, and we need to stuff some little dinos we made for my nephew. Whew! Aside from that, we just need to wrap the gifts as they come from UPS and go get stocking stuffers. We ended up not spending that much because I have a nice craft stash. (See honey, it IS good for something!)

We didn't put out that many decorations, either. The tree is up and decorated, the mantel is decorated, and DH put lights out front. Mom put a ridiculous Santa toilet seat cover and and rug down, though. Last year I decorated the whole front of the house, but I couldn't do that this year because of my pelvis being a pain. Fine by me.

As far as baby, he seems to be staying in place now. I whacked into a wall a few weeks ago and really got myself out of alignment. He went into a transverse lie when that happened. After going to the chiropractor, he went back into a vertex position.

[3timesamom]

Well it sounds like we are all in the christmas swing.

As scaling back goes yes. And no. We scaled back but we used some santa money to buy a swingset for our children. More than what we could have bought if we did it seperately in the spring. So in the end it was more now but not because of Christmas.

I don't know what direction baby is! LOL I just can't tell. Baby is kicking down low and in the middle. So who knows. For now absent of hiccups I can't be certain. When baby gets those I will be sure to note!

Now as FB goes I am not on there at all. How do I get on there? When I first got pregnant we were keeping it secret and I didn't want to go adding myself to some group that "told" on me! LOL

Well got to go. I want to check in on BBC before the "big girls" get home;)

[cameragirl]

Originally Posted by 3timesamom 

Well it sounds like we are all in the christmas swing.

As scaling back goes yes. And no. We scaled back but we used some santa money to buy a swingset for our children. More than what we could have bought if we did it seperately in the spring. So in the end it was more now but not because of Christmas.

I don't know what direction baby is! LOL I just can't tell. Baby is kicking down low and in the middle. So who knows. For now absent of hiccups I can't be certain. When baby gets those I will be sure to note!

Now as FB goes I am not on there at all. How do I get on there? When I first got pregnant we were keeping it secret and I didn't want to go adding myself to some group that "told" on me! LOL

Well got to go. I want to check in on BBC before the "big girls" get home;)

You should be able to request to join by following this link. https://www.facebook.com/groups/124441584312990/

[happyblessedmama]

I also just sent a request to join the fb group....

[bcblondie]

I just send a request. Sorry I haven't been too active in the chat thread though. For some reason I'm not geting the email notications of replies, even though I have it set to do so.

[cameragirl]

It'll be nice to have you over there. There is a lot more activity over there now.

[3timesamom]

Just sent a request.

 In other news baby is head down:) HR 140 and I did pass the GD test. Moving on to every two week apmnts! Now off to bed!

[Brisen]

The baby was head down at my appointment a few days ago, but this morning it felt like he had moved around a bit and there was lots of little pokey punchy kicky feelings all along my bikini line.  I'm 29 weeks now, so there is still time for him to adjust, and he's not a huge baby (I'm only measuring 27 cms).

[3timesamom]

Well I don't know who anyone is on the facebook. So while I was stoked to be added it felt like strangers. So I am checking in.

Brisen I am not sure where baby lies here either. I do think head down I just also think baby isn't very far down today. Though that keeps pelvic pressure away. I am choosing not to worry about this right now. I am 31 w 4 d so not much more time for moving but some. I hope and am sure you are the same way;)

Well I hope everyone is good! My bp was great, no more weight gain. I am making a cake right now though! Its also Seth's bday on Thursday.

Bad news for us is that BOTH our vehicles are dead. BOTH. WHY? So we are having them towed in the morning and hopefully we get one of them back atleast soon! Hopefully its not obnoxious either! Anyone know anything about renting a car for DH to get to work??

[JMJ]

Thanks for checking in, 3timesamom.  I'm not on the facebook group, and it's kinda lonely here.  My baby is head down but posterior.  I'm 31 weeks.  I had a bit of a scare a couple weeks ago when I had BH's every 2.5 minutes for a while.  I called my midwife, and she had me lay with my hips in the air to get the baby out of my pelvis, and they stopped.  Everything else seems pretty good as long as I eat and drink enough.

[lizsky]

3timesamom & JMJ, I was feeling lonely too and wasn't so sure about the facebook thing b/c of privacy, but it is a closed private group.  There seem to be at least 20 new posts a day on it, so definitely much more active.  You'd be very welcome to come join, and eventually it starts to be clear who everyone is. 

[madeitX2]

Hi Brisen and JMJ are you both on the FB chat? It was so quiet over here that I finally joined.

Brisen we are due at the sametime. Cool. I am going to be 30wks this Friday. Measuring 3 cm either big or smaller is great.

My baby keeps going side to side or breech with it's feet to my left hip. But I never feel the head hitting my ribs.

I love how active it is at night. So fun!

[3timesamom]

Yeah I don't know for sure where baby is. I guess we will figure it out soon enough. I have decided not to worry about it right now. There is after all nothing that can be done right now. Just the things I already do. (spinning babies)

Well today is Seth's birthday:) Hes THREE:) We are pretty excited.

We also have our nephew for the week. My sister sadly is unable to mother him for a while and we aren't sure if he will be with my parents or us. Time will tell. He will be one on March 17th and we are due March 14th:)

Well I am off. I can't believe all the computer time Seth has allowed me this morning! HOLY crap!

[JMJ]

I'm not on the facebook chat.  I'd just really rather chat here.  I guess I just like the slightly more anonymity provided by the forums and not sure I want to post my name (even just first name) to a public forum to get in on a chat using my real name.  I also have a sentimental attachment to MDC since these forums were a door to many of the ideas that have shaped my parenting since I was a first time mom, and I'd like to see more traffic here rather than someplace else.  It's kinda sad to me to see so little traffic on these forums in general, and having our DDC pretty much move to Facebook is part of that, so I'll be here if anyone wants to chat.

I'm finding that this time around, I'm much less obsessed with all the little details of this pregnancy.  I already have baby clothes and diapers and pretty much everything else I need, decided on my health care choices, etc.  The baby is head down but still posterior.  DD was posterior, and I have no desire to go through a posterior labor again, so I'm trying to figure out if, when, and how to address that.  The kicks that show up on the outside are really cute, though.  Nesting has hit quite intensely in the past couple weeks.  I'm e-mailing back and forth with somebody who is helping me out with a swimsuit/swim skirt for my home water birth since I really like to keep myself covered, even when giving birth.  (Yes, I know everybody told me the first time around that I wouldn't care, and I believed them, but I cared, and I felt helpless in my immodesty because I was so exhausted from a 21.5 hour labor.)  I'm also planning on getting a partially floating chair recliner to sit in and be partially under water but allow for laid-back introduction of breastfeeding immediately after birth while waiting on the placenta.  I'm getting a water sling this time around (I've decided I'm just never going to get to shower alone again.), and I'm getting a few EC pants for ease in outings, a few more nursing pads, and a car seat, and I think I'm pretty much set on stuff.

Space is another matter.  We need to figure out a shelf we can clean off for the baby and get the other baby stuff out of storage and washed.  I'm still having difficulties fitting all the new stuff from Christmas into our tiny condo.  There seems like so much to be done.  My mother and mother-in-law are making travel plans, and I'm trying to figure out what to ask them to do.  I'm in intense birth planning.  I think I've got most of it figured out as far as the new baby is concerned, but I need to write it down and make plans for coordinating who will do what and when and how to handle things for my daughter who is still nursing and has never been away from me for much more than a couple hours at a time.  There's just a lot of contingencies to plan for as far as she is concerned.  I'm glad that she'll have 2 grandmas in town (quite quickly if not already there) to help out if things don't go according to plan.  I have a lot to plan for what they can do while in town and what the plan(s) A is (are) and how to keep communication open and positive.

[8inTulgeyWood]

JMJ, glad you are here too! and anyone else still checking in with the DDC.  I am 33 weeks today!

The nesting instinct has been fierce for me.  I have had major organizing and home improvement projects on my list.  I completely redid my office/craft/sewing room.  It went from plain white with stuff stacked everywhere on folded tables and boxes and bins.  Now it is painted a bright, happy green with a counter installed along two walls, and two big hot pink pegboards to keep my stuff organized and within reach.  It is so fun.

Even things like organizing my bathroom drawers have been up there and just making me feel more ready.  We just had our carpet cleaned and totally gutted the master bedroom.  It felt good to get the obscene amount of lint and dust out from under the bed and all the nooks.

This is my sixth baby, so I feel the need to step up the organization a little more each time in order to keep the family life flowing relatively smooth.  In the past months we also redid the mudroom, several closets, built an indoor playhouse (as a christmas present), but it helped open up space in my girls' bedroom and keep it free of all the doll clutter.

We also just traded in our 7 passenger mini van for a 9 passenger full size van.  (It would be a 12 passenger if it had the regular bench seats. but we decided to go with custom captains chairs for all seats, which reduced it to 9.)  But it will be so comfortable for road trips or anytime.  and I feel they are safer too cause the bucket seats give so much more support than the low benches.

I still want to sew a new cover for my glider/rocker.  I bought the fabric, just haven't got to it.  The original fabric finally just disintegrated.  I also want to get the nursery painted and I need to get a bed for my son, so he can get out of the toddler bed and my daughter can get out of the crib, to free it up for the baby.  Even though she will be in my room for months, I really like to have the crib ready as a safe place to lay the baby in the day to protect her from curious toddlers when I am busy.

I sorted through all my baby clothes last week and have it organized by age/season all the way through winter 2013.  It feels really good to see we are set for clothes.

Biggest things on my list that I don't have is a carseat and a baby monitor.  I would love to get input from y'all on these!  I have been looking at several but can't make up my mind.  

[JMJ]

We're going with a Radian car seat (still making the final decision on which one), but I think most of the advantages for us wouldn't be as much of a factor if you've got captain's chairs.  We have a Radian for DD, and we could fit a third in our back seat before having to size up.  I can put the 2 kids next to each other and still be able to sit back by the baby for now.  Regardless of car, though, they have an excellent safety record and can rear face for an amazing length of time.  They're heavy, but they fold up for if you ever have to carry them, they last a lot longer than other car seats, and as car seats go, they're low on toxins.

I know Britax has a similar safety record.  The seats are wider but not as tall.  I don't know anything about infant seats because we don't use them.

[sh118]

JMJ - I too have a sentimental attachment to the mothering boards=)  I learned so much here during my first pregnancy, and have been on ever since. 

At my 30 week appt., Dr. said babe was head down but at my last appt. they didn't tell me and I swear this baby is transverse most of the time.  I'm going to have to do some research and see if I can figure out the position.  I rarely feel any movement down low. 

After checking my blood sugars for a week, I redid the 1 hr GTT and passed, so thankful for that (especially because I crave carbs and sugar constantly).

I am starting to make project lists, but not feeling super motivated.  Most of it is for DH and he has been busy hanging drywall in the basement, so that we can rearrange rooms and make the nursery!  I also need to get a car seat and monitor, but those are the only definite things.  I looked at the Sony baby call, I don't need anything fancy.  I still have one that I use for my daughter in the morning, so two to keep track of soon!  For a car seat, I think we are borrowing a Chicco keyfit, my daughter has a true fit, but I am not a huge fan of it, especially when rear facing.

[sh118]

8inTulgeyWood - your office/craft room sounds cute.  Mine will be moving to the basement to make way for baby, and prolly won't be finished or see much use for several months =(.

[MommyBecky]

I have such a list of things to do!

We just moved into this house in July, so there are a lot of projects on the "to do" list and in my heart of hearts, I would LOVE to have them all done... but that is completely unrealistic. That would involve finishing the basement, building massive amounts of shelves and organizing the schoolroom (we homeschool). This is especially unrealistic since we also need to buy a van, a circular saw and a drill/driver within the next month or so.

We haven't used the closets in the kid's rooms, they've been sharing my closet... so we really need to get them in shape to use. Their paint looks super old and someone painted the hanging bar. Since it's an old house and we're concerned about lead paint, my DH has decided to cover the walls with paneling, and we're going to replace and lower the hanging bar to kid level and put shelves above. We figure if we make the bar just high enough, we won't have to move it for years. That's probably one of the biggest things I want to get done before baby... That and get a bed frame for our bed so the cosleeper can fit snug against the mattress. With our current youngest, I discovered that I have become a deeper sleeper in the past few years and DH kind of "saved" her from suffocation a few times (one time he said I was actually sort of on her and she was struggling trying to get me off), so I'll just have to get used to the idea of not bringing baby into the actual bed. I'm starting to get really excited, it feels like the first 30 wks went rather quickly, so I'm hoping that means time won't slow too much now, just "enough." 

I also really want a glider rocker before baby comes, but I'm not willing/able to buy new and haven't seen any at goodwill recently (when I do see them they're usually only $20, hence my reluctance to spend $130-200!)

I guess my biggest thing for the past several months has been trying to become more organized/streamlined. It kind of hit me that the more kids we have, the more beneficial it will be to be organized/efficient and I better start now or it won't happen. It's actually been quite a joyful and freeing process.

[madeitX2]

Ladies I am so happy you are here and chatting! I love these boards too. I still have my three yrs of magazines before it stopped printing.

Oh love all these updates. My baby is hip to hip a lot. And when it does go head down or breech since I can't tell I leak! Fluid! Th either night I filled three pads. I am a pro now as I have already been checked out twice and no answers.

I have been crocheting wool soakers well with help of my mom and mother-n-law.

JMJ I am with you the small details are an old topic as this is baby number 4 and we co-sleep, cloth diaper, extended bf lalala so not much is needed.

I am planning my second UC and would love to connect with more moms. The FB chat is mostly about hospital control some hb'ers and what newborn screening to avoid.

There are many moms talking about babies position too. it will be amazing when all of us start to post our births.

So glad to read about all of your projects.


We are new to Colorado in the last two yrs and our renting situations have been crazy so we just moved for the third time this October and finally feel settled. And it was a neat journey finding the house that felt right while being pregnant. Being at a place you enjoy totally helps the birthing experience. And I love it all and this is our last one.;0)