Queer, Pregnant and Parenting January, February and March 2012 - Page 3

[indigoscot]

had another nst today as baby wasn't moving much this morning and she's usually a tazmanian devil.  passed the nst after dp drank some juice and ate crackers.  midwife checked her - still 60% effaced but now 2cm.  while she was hooked up she had one big ctx and a bunch of little bitty ones.

induction is now set for monday morning if she doesn't come beforehand.  after the nst dp had another round of acupuncture and now she has seeds in her ears on the uterus pressure points. 

i also called my manager and said i was too on edge and stressed to really focus on work so i started my time off today!!  i won't be back at work until jan 23rd.  yay!

g

[gumshoegirl007]

Indigo - Whoo hoo!  The baby went "dark" for a bit, huh?  That's a pre-labour sign.  That happened to me.  She went really quiet on a Monday, saw my MW for a regular appointment on a Tuesday where I was scheduled for a u/s to check the amniotic fluid, and the baby arrived on Thursday morning on all her own.  Here's to hoping that labour kicks in on its own in the next 24-48h!

Wehrli - Yay for 9 months and our growing (seemingly similar) babes. I hope that we can get a good solid stretch of sleep like you at some point.  Today I'm just grateful that the hourly waking for the first part of the evening seems to have subsided.  We're also getting into some of the 12-18 month clothes.

Isa - I have nothing helpful on the room front.  On names, I liked Aurelia and Aria and Severine/Severina (Sevy for short).  We went through so many girl names and well it surely wasn't easy.  I would have named our baby Lux if we had of had a different donor as it's an abbreviation of his name.  Harper, Ellery and Priya also made our shortlist.  You must all be laughing that we named our baby Addison which is so popular on your side of the border, and our options I think were generally unique.

Southernfriedkarma - Gosh do I think you have a great handle!  Welcome back and good luck with your name hunt!

Seraf - Shay looks like such a little dude and not a newborn in that photo.  He's getting so big so fast!

KSDoula - Second trimester already?  I feel like you just got here in QPP ;)

[DesertSunsets]

Hey guys!  We're still here, hanging around.  

Isa, just wanted to throw out there that I personally LOVE 'A' names, but we've disqualified any 'A' name for our baby because my name starts with A and we have a TON of A names in the family - so I get to share them with you guys!  Avaline, Aerona, Awel (which is Welsh, for 'gentle breeze' - my family is Welsh and I love Welsh names!), Adien (Welsh - beautiful), Ainslee (Scottish - my own meadow), Amalia (German - hard-working), Ariadne (Greek - holy), Astrid (Scandinavian - divine strength), Athena (Greek - wise), Aurora (Latin - dawn).  Whew.  

indigo, I'm wishing a quick and easy labor for DP!  We all want to see the birth announcement.  :)  

gumshoe, I love the photos you posted of Addi!  She's a beauty.  Glad all you ladies with babes and kids have stuck around!  

Hey to everybody else, I'm sorry that I'm not very good with personals over here yet.  I'll get better.  I don't even have the excuse of first trimester nausea and exhaustion, lol!  We are doing well, first midwife visit is next Thursday.  DW is still working hard at getting her eating habits figured out - she's gluten-free and has a history of blood sugar issues anyway, which has kind of prepared her for the kind of eating she needs to do now.  Everyone's advice of crackers and ginger ale has so far just disgusted her, since she can't eat regular crackers and the GF ones aren't something she really cares to choke down, and she despises ginger with a fiery passion.  Yeah, it can get really fun here sometimes!  She's struggling to find enough variety in food, since she has to eat so much.  And she never knows what she's going to want to eat, either, so it's really hard to be prepared.  

Starling, do you have any gluten-free miracle items that you couldn't live without while pregnant?  Any help is appreciated.  

DW also is hitting the fatigued part of the first tri, but it doesn't seem debilitating... yet.  Maybe it will be kind to her, we don't know.  She says her breasts are tender and her nipples are super sore and always hard, which she finds irritating and I find hilarious.  She had a little bit of spotting a couple days ago, but it's stopped and no cramps so we're hoping our Cupcake is still safely tucked in there.  

That's it from our front... hope everyone has a lovely Friday!

[LibraryLady]

Good Friday morning!  I'm so sleepy today that I've already spilled coffee all over the circ desk. Gonna be a good day!!!

Indigo~ WOOHOOO!!  Your biggo baby will be here soon!  I'll bet she shows up over the weekend, eh?  ELV to your sweetie~ can't wait for the announcement and the pix!

Seraf~ I love the pix of your li'l bit sitting up in that chair!  And your other li'l bit being a bundly lump~ so cute!  When Alice got big enough for her high chair it was a revolution, because she was finally able to just chill for a frickin moment and let me get something done. Pretty soon you'll have a housefull, eh?  I can't imagine. THAT will be the riot, eh?

Isa~ NAMES! What a chore, eh? It's a wonderful one, but it can be so tricky and so  hard to find the right one. I personally don't think your rules are stupid. We liked the name Sophie, but it's so popular we ruled it out at once.   Everyone has made good suggestions so far, for sure. I like but did not use Eleanor, Josephine, Saskia, Lydia, Evangeline, Betsy and Bernadette.  There were more, too, I'm sure I'll think of them later....

Gumshoe~ Ellery is another of the names we liked, but we liked it for a boy.  I also love the name Martin for  boy, but DP said no (and then it was a moot point)

Wehrli~ I can't believe your kiddo's nine months!! But then I guess, so is mine (or just about!)  She's got two teeth on bottom and one about to bust through on the top.  He'll be walking any minute now, I'm sure.

Desert~ Nice to hear from you again!  Maybe your DP will be lucky with her first tri. I never had any sickness, and only a 'normal' amount of fatigue.  I don't know anything about gluten free food, though. Sorry!

I'm forgetting people, I'm sure... Sorry!!

AFM~ Alice is still a treat every day!  We're finally imposing more rigid bedtimes on her, with mixed results. Previously I've just held her in my lap to sleep and then taken her to bed when we go, but I've gotten tired of being trapped in my chair, and DP got cranky about me never sitting by her any more, so now I take Alice in and lie down with her until she sleeps, then sneak out of the room. Then she sleeps for about 45 minutes and wakes up and I go back in to her, repeat repeat.  It's a bit aggravating for me, truthfully, but I don't know what else to do.  We went to our friends' house for New Years and I spent almost the entire evening in their son's room trying to get Alice back to sleep. Finally I just gave up and went to sleep myself and DP came and got me for a midnight smooch. So that's the low, the highs are getting higher all the time. She's started to babble 'mama mama' a lot, and often looks for me while she does it, though I wouldn't say she calls me that just yet. Still, I doubt it will be much longer. She's also pulling up and dancing a lot. Quite a sense of rhythm, that gal! I'm a good dancer too, so we'll boogie together.

Ok, much love to the people I've forgotten. Thinking of you all!

Go Indigo's baby! Go!!!

[justrose13]

library, just popping in to offer encouragement. what you are doing with A is exactly how we (or, really, I) started with with S. it got better and better as time went on! last night he slept from 6:30-10:30, no wake ups! you'll get there! just keep at it! something that helped me get through it was to just come to terms with the fact that this is the way it was going to be. it took a while but I just allowed myself to come to love those snippets of time, even if hey were sometimes only a half hour at a time (with up to a half hour back to sleep time with the wakings). now he'll sleep anywhere from an hour to 4(!) at a time and when I go into nurse him back down, it only takes ~10min! keep at it, you'll get there! I'm happy to go into more detail, let me know... we can PM here or FB, or I can put it all out there right here on the board. so happy you are on your way to getting evening time with your sweetie!

[LibraryLady]

Wehrli~ Thanks for that. I do try and just think of it as enjoying what we can get (Hey, enough time to watch EastEnders!!) And also to enjoy the time with Alice, too. She won't be my snuggle baby forever, so this time is precious. I try and remember that when she starts up again and I have to go lie down again. It's also true that an extra half hour of sleep is always welcome.  But thanks for the encouragement~ we'll get there eventually x

[carmen358]

Big hugs to both Library & Wehrli. DD was a deep sleeper at night from about 3 weeks to 7 months and then woke hourly for the next 10 months (seriously). It's so hard but it does change and improve. My DD just turned 2 on Dec. 30 and has been sleeping through the night (most of the time) for about 6 months. And we still nurse and co-sleep. Though I think we are both nearing the end of our nursing relationship (whole other post). It has gone by SO quickly and even though I researched and read books and asked a million people on MDC and irl for tips on how to change it....time was the only thing that changed it. (Actually, we did have some success with diet changes.) I wished I hadn't spent so much time fretting over it and just accepted it for what it was. I did get there eventually and like you, Wehrli, it got easier to deal with. I sometimes was 'jealous' of other people who were just able to lay down their baby and go about their evenings. But then when I heard their 'success' stories of sleep training I was so glad that wasn't my family. Before long you will honestly be laughing about and sometimes even missing the crazy sleep deprived times. Kudos to both of you for 'surviving' it and giving your babies the very best you have :)

[justrose13]

thanks for the kind words, carmen, it means a lot. ......... now what is this you say about diet changes??

[carmen358]

Originally Posted by wehrli 

now what is this you say about diet changes??

lol DD and I did a rather extreme elimination diet for a couple of months (maybe longer?) - no soy, dairy or gluten (oh, and DD is a vegetarian). It was brutal but seemed to make a difference at least for awhile....we went from every 1/2 hour to 2 hour stretches...sometimes lol I have a gluten intolerance so it made sense to try. She seems to be ok with soy and dairy now but we still watch her gluten intake when we can. We usually cook GF for me anyway so we all eat that way for the most part. Also, and this might sound crazy but I decided to give up caffeine again when we were starting to think about ttc again...within 2 days DD started sleeping 4 hour stretches and within a week or two was sleeping through the night. Could have been a coincidence though.....not sure...! After that I cut out the one nighttime nursing she was doing with no fuss at all (she was just about 18 months old).

[indigoscot]

still pregnant.  tried starling&diesel's labour induction cocktail and all that happened is that dp barfed it all up again after about an hour or so of taking it.  we are out of ideas and starting to get resigned that she will have to be induced on monday.  ds2 did not tolerate pitocin AT ALL.  dp was on it for 5 mins after labour stalled when she got the epidural and he had decels all over the place. :(

g

[KSDoulaMama]

Indigo- Have you tried some nipple stimulation? You probably thought of that already, but thought I'd put it out there!

[gumshoegirl007]

Indigo - No baby yet!  I'm so sorry to hear this.  The wee one will come, eventually, and I hope it's sooner than later so that you can skip the induction that you and DP are so not wanting.

Carmen - You give me hope as well. Only I'm hoping that I had a glorious sleeper from 0-4 months, followed by the hell of 4-9-ish months, and the glory is to return any day now.

Library - We have the same sleep frequency as you, only we get 1 hour intervals, and changing up the sleep associations has really seemed to help.  Other than last night, we're generally getting a 2-3 hour window now.

Desert - Glad that things are progressing well!  Avoiding the fatigue for as long as possible is a really good thing.

AFU - We had a wee bit of a scare last night.  Turns out the baby is allergic to eggplant!  How random? 

She tried eggplant for the first time last week when DW made Moroccan chicken for dinner.  There was no reaction at the time, other than she had a really large and funky smelling poop.  Last night we had eggplant again and after she finished her meal and was still hungry, I gave her a slice of my eggplant.  She picked it up, put it in her mouth, and started screaming bloody murder, and rubbing her eyes.  She spit out the eggplant and the dog made off with it.  I thought she got some of the tomato sauce in her eyes, so I got a cloth and some blueberries for her to eat.  She ate the blueberries and DW gave her another piece of eggplant.  She put it in her mouth again, chewed a bit, spit it out, and the dog made off with it again..  At which time I wiped her down and noticed she was red.  And by the time I got her out of her high chair to look at her in a better light, hives were coming up on her face.  We called DW's sister who is a Dr to check out protocols for anaplyaxis in babies.  DW ran to the store to get some Benedryl, we gave it to the baby, and all the itchiness went away.  Thankfully there was no swelling of the lips or tongue to necessitate a hospital visit or worse.  All in all this took less than 10 minutes from beginning to end.  And then she had another one of those funky smelling poops.

We were shockingly calm throughout the whole incident (I guess all those years working in camping payed off) and I guiltily hoped that the Benedryl would result in the BEST night of sleep ever, only it didn't.  The baby was up all night long and constantly wanted to nurse.  So I let her, and in the process I hope I didn't just undo all of those positive sleep associations we had been working on.  Sigh.  Kids are so exhausting.  Cute.  Joy bringing.  But bloody exhausting!

[indigoscot]

ks - yup, we've tried that too.  babe continues to be crazy active so we're not sure why labour hasn't started?  a mystery to be sure.  there are no signs and no ctx.  none.  i mean isn't that crazy?  not even bh.  and this is a second baby!!!  wtf universe???!?!??!?

dp's sister arrives tomorrow to help with the boys. 

g

[mami2mami]

indigo- Sorry your not in labor yet...hope you do go into labor before Monday

[mami2mami]

gumshoe- the eggplant omg i would have freak out!!!...and than called 911 lol. So glad it all turn out ok and yes kid are exhausting!! We have 3 kids dd 11 ds 3 dd 6 weeks and our lil boy has special needs.Not alot of sleep going on in our house But we enjoy it!

[indigoscot]

update...well, a mini-update.  babe hasn't moved around much at all since the wife ate lunch.  if she doesn't perk up soon, we'll call the on-call doc and see what they want us to do.  she was CRAZY bopping around earlier...all kinds of alien movement (which is her norm!!  not a quiet one this baby girl!).

g

[starling&diesel]

1st Baby Watch 2012!  Wishing your dp many easy labour vibes!  Let's hope baby is getting ready for the great descent!  I'm so sorry that the cocktail was barfy and ineffective ...

[mami2mami]

I am with starling on baby watch cant put down my laptop!!!!!..pass the popcorn?

[seraf]

Maybe she's packing her bags to move out!  It's about time. 

[mami2mami]

Seraf- hahah to funny..we should all help her pack those bags.So how are the kids doing with you back at work? Shay doing ok with he's bottle?

Sara- How's the belly going? You are moving along FAST! 23 weeks right?