Weekly Rambling Chat: Jan 15--Jan 21 « Back to Group Discussions

[forestmushroom]

Name:

Weeks/Days along:

Appointments:

Symptoms:

Food:

Exercise:

Body changes and other milestones:

Thoughts:

Is January flying by, or what?!

[forestmushroom]

Name: Forest Mushroom!

Weeks/Days along: 22 weeks, 3 days

Appointments: I think I have one this week... I need to find my calendar... yeah, not the most organized these days.... I have the pregnancy brain!

Symptoms: Feeling pretty good, sometimes short tempered... but pretty mellow...

Food: CHOCOLATE! And greens; I am loving the chard/kale/winter greens in season right now! And lots of potatoes.... and spicy foods. Yummy.

Exercise: I need to do yoga, today. After I get off the computer.... !  And walk....

Body changes and other milestones: I am getting really excited and can see May!  I know it is still a few months, but I am feeling productive and good about what we are getting done.  I still need to redo 2 rooms.... and have a few more trips to Ikea in my future, but otherwise good.

Thoughts: Oh, sometimes I feel like a dragon woman!  I am so short and yelled at my DD and made her cry :(  I feel like the worse mommy ever....

I am liking getting the house organized, and interviewing postpartum dolas next week!   Which will be such a nice treat for my whole family. 

[casmer]

Name: "casmer"

Weeks/Days along: 21w3d

Appointments: in the next couple of weeks

Symptoms: constipation, extreme hunger and thirst, general tiredness.  Sometimes I'm embarrassingly emotional - and I'm not usually like that at all.  I'm pretty sure I'm feeling Little Girl move quite a bit these days.

Food: Nothing particular this week.

Exercise: Gym and walking.  My dog and I hiked almost four miles yesterday!  I'm going to start the Maternal Fitness routine tomorrow. I really want to try and doing prenatal yoga 2 or 3 times a week.  Stretching feels sooo good right now.

Body changes and other milestones: My boobs are getting huge.  My husband is in awe...LOL.  I must be showing quite a bit because people are actually confident enough to ask.   Sleeping is getting difficult because I'm a stomach sleeper.  I'm learning to sleep on my side, but I've been pretty tired this past week from waking so often.

Thoughts: Will the house be ready when the baby is here?  Stupid Ikea doesn't have our bookcase until the end of the month, so everything that should be in the office is in the "nursery"  I'm confident we'll get it done, but I do have my panic days. 

We went to our first Bradley Class tonight.  I'm glad we chose this route and DH even seems interested!

[ozzy]

Name:      Ozzy

Weeks/Days along:       21w  2d

Appointments:      U/S on Friday said I had a short cervix, so I am calling my dr. tomorrow to try to figure out what to do. 

Symptoms:     I HATE sleeping on my side - I wake up several times a night and my hips are so sore. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I usually have to lay on my back a little bit just to ease the pain. 

Food:      Stuffing my face lately with whatever is around, though I had a salad for dinner last night.

Exercise:      No thanks.

Body changes and other milestones:      Happy to be over 1/2 way!

Thoughts:      The ultrasound has really shaken me, even though I know things will probably be okay. 

[maryamrose]

Name: maryam

Weeks/Days along: 24w 3d

Appointments: midwives next week, OB sometime early next month

Symptoms: stomach problems, a bit more tired than usual. kind of spacey.

Food: less than before. maybe not enough? definitely less enthusiastic about it in general.

Exercise: this week wasn't great, but it was also the first week of the term, so I'm not making a big deal about it. I walked at least a couple miles a day, I think? might have taken a day or two off. can't remember.

Body changes and other milestones: belly is getting really awkward! it's kind of hard to move around, almost impossible to tie shoelaces. I've definitely gotten bigger all around though my husband thinks I'm exaggerating. 

Thoughts: something weird happened today. I was online and my vision started to feel kind of funny, so thinking it was eye strain, I stepped away from the screen. it kept getting worse - and weird. it was like a shimmery blurry curved line in the corner of my vision. I tried googling it but I had a really hard time reading, so after 10 minutes of this I called my midwife. eventually (after I started getting a pounding, light-sensitive headache) we figured out that I was having a migraine. so, that's a new experience! I hope it never happens again. I honestly thought I was having a stroke or something.

Edited by maryamrose - 1/15/12 at 11:06pm

[KM84]

That's scary marayam! I'm glad it was "just" a migraine, not that those are much fun either. 

I'm at 23 weeks and change, and finally feeling mostly normal again in terms of eating/energy. My belly still isn't so big that people who don't know me can tell I'm pregnant (though they might be suspicious). My brother in law got me a nice warm maternity coat, just in time for it to really kick into winter here.

Work has started on our new place, and it's been nuts. There's a crew of people working on the floors, and hopefully the electrician will start soon. My husband and I have been scouting furniture and paint colors. Unfortunately all the furniture we want seems to be "special order" meaning it will take 10-12 weeks. So if we're lucky we'll have a couch by the time the baby shows up. 

I'm pretty handy with 3D rendering (learned it in college) so I mocked up our TV room / den with various color schemes. This is what I think we're going with, though of course now I'm having second thoughts.

[casmer]

Maryam - what you are describing sounds exactly like what I used to experience.  My last migraine was over 4 years ago (thank God!).  Mine always started with the aura (visual disturbance) and then progressed into the full-fledged pain storm.  I would sometimes vomit from the pain.  When I was younger, I think they were triggered by hormone changes and/or poor diet and/or smells.  I would get really sick anytime I had something super sweet or was around certain people (perfumes).  At 12, I quit eating frozen waffles, syrup, juice boxes, any cereal, basically anything considered a concentrated sweet.  Into adulthood, they were usually triggered by stress and not enough sleep.   Sometimes excedrin migraine would help, but I don't know if this is safe for pregnancy.  You could try having something caffeinated to see if that will shorten the migraine, if it happens again.  Definitely stay on top of rest and eating balanced meals and snacks.  Keep that blood sugar stable!  wow, I hope that wasn't all overwhelming

KM84 - I love the rendering of your TV room!  It looks very cozy.

[janellody]

Name: Janelle

Weeks/Days along: 23w 4d

Appointments: sometime in February

Symptoms: Same ol stuff

Food: same aversions to most things.

Exercise: Nothing set in stone, but moving around a lot

Body changes and other milestones: Belly continues to grow and now my knees are hurting a lot.  =/

Thoughts: Ok so I just got back from my last FLYING trip during this pregnancy and omg I am so happy to be done with that.  My ankles swelled up to be HUGE throughout the weekend and it really worried me.  I know that is a symptom of pregnancy but it hasn't happen yet and I felt it may be a bit early.  I was spending a lot of time sitting in an uncomfortable chair and not able to move around much and also flying, so I figured that helped with it happening.  Now they are still swollen, a little less after sleeping but still bigger.  And when I walk, it's a little sore ont he back of the right ankle, is that normal?

I felt like complete crap after the trip and am glad I don't have to do that again.  I didn't get enough sleep and just the whole thing wore me out.  I am feeling like my body is getting huge, with the swollen ankles and sore knees, is this the beginning of the awful third trimester symptoms?  I am hoping the swelling goes down.. my ankles are ugly!

[MeredithA]

I think swelling is common when flying a lot and even more common when pregnancy is added to it. I'm guessing the swelling will go down shortly. It is an excellent excuse for you to lay on the couch with your feet up and have hubby bring you stuff :-) 

Originally Posted by janellody 

Thoughts: Ok so I just got back from my last FLYING trip during this pregnancy and omg I am so happy to be done with that.  My ankles swelled up to be HUGE throughout the weekend and it really worried me.  I know that is a symptom of pregnancy but it hasn't happen yet and I felt it may be a bit early.  I was spending a lot of time sitting in an uncomfortable chair and not able to move around much and also flying, so I figured that helped with it happening.  Now they are still swollen, a little less after sleeping but still bigger.  And when I walk, it's a little sore ont he back of the right ankle, is that normal?

I felt like complete crap after the trip and am glad I don't have to do that again.  I didn't get enough sleep and just the whole thing wore me out.  I am feeling like my body is getting huge, with the swollen ankles and sore knees, is this the beginning of the awful third trimester symptoms?  I am hoping the swelling goes down.. my ankles are ugly!

KM - neat rendering! Very sleek and modern! 

maryam - I had an "ocular migrane" when I was pregnant with DS2. I got the weird vision...it looked kind of like i was looking through a kaleidoscope or something, but no head pain. It lasted a while and started making me feel dizzy. I ended up taking a tylenol and having a long nap and it went away, but it was scary there for a little bit. I was like what is going on?! Sorry you had to experience that! Glad you have recovered now...lets hope it doesn't happen again.  

ozzy - ((HUGS))

casmer - I am waking a lot in the night too because I am uncomfortable and need to shift positions. I guess I didn't realize how often I shift to my belly in my sleep until now, when I can't do it anymore!

forest - mmmm I'm loving CHOCOLATE right now too!!! I made those slutty brownies (thank you Janelle for posting the recipe!) and O-M-G they were amazing. I am going to bring the leftovers to work tomorrow because I simply can't be trusted with a giant pan of brownies in the house. 

[JynxGirl]

Name: Jen

Weeks/Days along 21 weeks and 4 days right now

Appointments:None at all this week... Next week, however is insane...

Symptoms: I'm currently having trouble with my teeth and my neck. We're trying to figure out how to help my teeth and get me in to the dentist. As for my neck, I have torticollis, so it just has to wait.

Food: I am all about blueberries and peanut butter still... it's weird because normally I am not a huge fan of either.

Exercise: About the same as ever for me, but especially today and yesterday, next to none due to my neck.

Body changes and other milestones:  If one more person asks if I'm having twins, I may honestly snap. I don't think I'm that huge... then again, at least people don't still think I'm just fat...

Thoughts: We ran into some money trouble earlier in December, and are finally almost dug out of it all. I can not wait to buy my hypnobabies program and get started on it. My husband is trying to be as supportive and helpful as he can, but more often than not, he's just under-foot. We're both hitting a place of burnout with regards to my daughter and not being able to find respite for her. It's making my pregnancy less enjoyable, because her own father won't keep her more than 24 hours ever two to three weeks, so we literally have no downtime. I'm writing this while she plays on my husband's computer so I can keep an eye on here.Sorry, different kind of rant... :P 

I really can not wait to meet this little guy and get my immune system and energy back. :) 

[BubbleMa]

Name: Sarah

Weeks/Days along: 24 weeks

Appointments: Feb. 6th

Symptoms: Not many, still have major heartburn and this stupid varicose vein. And a major lack of energy.

Food:  Everything, in small portions. 

Exercise: None lately. :(

Body changes and other milestones:  My leg and arm hair seem to be growing very slowly...while my underarm hair and facial hair seem to growing at warp speed.  What's up with that!?  The leg hair thing will be a blessing when I can no longer reach my legs (I typically have to shave every day or I'm very stubbly, now I can go several days and still be somewhat smooth.)  I could do without having to pluck my chin hair 2x a day though!  wth.

Thoughts:  I need energy!!  And I need to beef up my immune system asap!  I got over that uti/flu thing, but now I have this stupid head/chest congestion thing that I seem to get every month.  It lingers, finally goes away, and the BAM!  I have it again.  Grrr.  I'm so sick of coughing and being snotty.  :(   I'm also having a lot of trouble sleeping.  I'm a stomach sleeper, and sleeping on my side or back causes me back pain (even when I'm not pg).  And I have to pee at least 2x a night.  Ugh.  I'm hoping we can get a nice soft mattress topper soon, and that will at least help with the back pain.

[Just1More]

Name: Just1More

Weeks/Days along: 21? 22?

Appointments: whenever I email my midwife.  I should do that soon. 

Symptoms: None really.  Baby moves quite a bit.  Noticing that there is definitely more belly these days.  Everything is as usual...cured by vitamins, chiropractor, and sleep.  And all that stuff is common with me pg or not. 

Food: No, too tired.  Eating whatever is there.  Still don't want much sensory input in my mouth...plain and room temp, please.

Exercise: Not really.  Nothing formal anyway.  Painting, packing, kid and dog wrangling.

Body changes and other milestones: More belly, loving to feel baby parts!

Thoughts: So much to do, so little time...

[forestmushroom]

Sleeping with a pillow between the knees helps with back pain... 

[Plain Mama]

Name: PlainMama

Weeks/Days along: 21wks 1 day

Appointments: Level II u/s Wed 18th, am getting a bit nervous.  I have been very good though and not looked up Down Syndrome or "soft markers" very often.  Just very anxious to get some answers.

Symptoms: HEARTBURN!!!  I am going through a bottle of TUMS a week it seems, yuck!  Hip pain at night too. I fell down the stairs last night,( just call me Grace), smashed onto the wood floor, my knee may never recover!  I need to stop putting off a Chiropractor app and get it done!

Food: Chocolate!!!!!!!  I could eat it all day long!  And oddly enough lemon water, my daughter makes lovely lemon water with stevia yum.....it really helps me perk up!

Exercise: Just farm chores and chasing littles!

Body changes and other milestones: Finally I am getting a belly, I sew my own dresses and thus far have been able to squeeze into my bigger ones, but this week I had to sew some new ones, I love sewing, it's just finding the time to get it done.  It is nice to have some new dresses though.

Thoughts: Trying to take each day as it comes, trying to be patient with my children and trying to go to bed earlier and get up earlier.  I am amazed that I hit the halfway mark, if I can just get through winter I think I can see May just around the corner!  Have a great week, I will try and check back in after Wednesdays u/s.

[MLog]

Name: Megan

Weeks/Days along: 21 weeks / 3 days

Appointments: Dentist this morning (regular cleaning), chiropractor Wed, MW next Friday.  I have never had so many appoinments in my life.  It's kind of making me crazy and I'm having trouble keeping track of everything even with writing things down on two different calendars!

Symptoms: Still pretty tired.

Food: Anything and everything seems delicious.

Exercise: This is a yoga week.

Body changes and other milestones: Little by little I'm feeling more movement from the LO.

Thoughts: None at all really. :)

Originally Posted by BubbleMa 

Thoughts:  I need energy!!  And I need to beef up my immune system asap! 

I'm putting alfalfa in with my RRL tea.  It's supposed to be good for immunity.  Just a thought.

[cookie_]

Name: Marina

Weeks/Days along: Hmm, about 21 weeks now, I guess

Appointments: Nothing for another few weeks

Symptoms: Lots of movement from the little guy these days! Some days are good, some days not so much w/r/t hip pain and feeling like my lady parts are harboring a bowling ball.

Food: I ate fried chicken, mac n'cheese with hot sauce and banana cream pie from my favorite restaurant the other night, and boy, the little dude sent me a super angry memo via heartburn about my eating habits. Non, je ne regrette rien!

Exercise: The weather finally turned wintry cold this week, so we've been inside a lot more than usual. Trying to motivate myself to do yoga and some floor exercises during my son's nap time, but, you know, always so much easier to sit on the couch and read MDC and Tumblr and eat cake.

Body changes and other milestones: No mistaking it now, I am a big solid pregnant lady, hear me roar. I got offered a seat on the subway the other day, which I feel definitely makes it official.

Thoughts: My common sense and maternal warmth have returned this week, so I'm feeling much better, excited even, about having another boy. A friend of mine taught me to knit last month, and I finished knitting my first scarf-by-pattern for my husband tonight. I got some more yarn and circular needles, so I'm going to try to learn how to knit some baby hats for the new guy. I don't need to buy anything for this baby or set up a room for him since that's already set up, but I think making some special just-for-him items will help me to feel like I'm nesting and preparing for him.

KM- love that wall color! Sometimes I think about painting our walls (they're only done in flat paint so they're hopelessly dirty and scuffed), but then I remind myself that it's a rental and we'd just have to pay someone to paint over it or do it ourselves when/if we move someday. Someday I'll have pretty walls and more than 1 square foot of kitchen counter space.

[persephassa]

Name: roxi

Weeks/Days along: 24 weeks, 5 days

Appointments: meeting cnm for prenatal appointment tomorrow... i had an ob but just switched from her. yesterday we went to the city and met with a couple doulas--i like both of them but i need to decide soon which one! my husband isn't helpful, he won't tell me which one he liked better. they're both not fully certified yet; they attended DONA training and have been to about 5 births each--it seemed like some of the more experienced ones are already booked or don't answer their emails or are super xian (went to bible college, pastor's wives), which i don't think i would mesh with well. i don't know! one was younger, and also does things like write plays for local productions and teach yoga, and the other was a bit older and had worked for years as a hospice nurse and also does massage therapy... oh dear.

plus, i made an appointment to tour the birthing center in dayton on feb. 19. it is about an hour's drive for us (vs local hospital, 1 mile away) but it seems attractive, so we'll go see about that.

Symptoms: lots of movement! my nose has been bloody, but maybe that's cause of the heat being on--we need a humidifier

Food: cooking new recipes from a book husband got me for xmas, super natural everyday. i made oatcakes (oats, flax seed, walnuts, whole wheat flour, maple syrup, etc), stuffed mushrooms (couscous, harissa, shallots), and lentil soup (lentils, coconut milk, cumin, butter). next: baked oatmeal & wild rice casserole

Exercise: some wii fit but got derailed this weekend

Body changes and other milestones: eh, i feel like things are about the same, my belly is small

Thoughts: we finally went to ikea! now i think we need to go back because i thought of more things, but i already put together the crib and the expedit shelving thing. i don't know how much use the crib will get, but it's nice to have the room start to look like not-my-office and to have a place to organize things and make it look neat. i've been doing lots of laundry and working on a quilt! and looking for a rocker. i finally realized i ought to try searching the antique section of craigslist instead of the general furniture category, and i found two i like for less than $100! if i could drive i would go get one! husband is teaching the next two days and then goes to duke for a conference... i need to go get my licence! aarghg.

so just thinking of ways to make the nursery cuter, it feels bland/bare now. we rent and want to move soon so i don't feel like doing much with the room. a bright rug would help, and i'm going to hang my mom's baby quilt from her childhood on the wall, and maybe a yoyo quilt i made in high school. wondering if i ought to put legs on the expedit shelf to raise the height to make it better to use as a changing table--where do you plan on/have you changed your baby? it seems nice to have all the diapers and stuff in one place, so maybe i will get a changing pad and whatever. i'm not going to buy a "changing table" tho. i have about everything i need for cloth diapering except i want an air pot to put warm water in for cloth washcloths...

[Kamiro]

Name: Kamiro

Weeks/Days along: 24?

Appointments: Next month sometime...think the 8th

Symptoms: Feel pretty normal, to be honest.

Food: The food love is dying down, but thats only cause I am busy and no time to make too many fun meals. I think I may have scarfed 6 donuts throughout the day last week on the first day of school. Discovered an awesome postpartum freezer meal - calzones. Fun to make, also. I stuffed mine with broccoli, onions, mushrooms and cheese. Pretty good.

Exercise: Yeah, no. I really do have good intentions, just every day is dissolved with laundry, keeping the fire going, cooking, cleaning, teaching the kids, now my schoolwork and...ugh. I'm lazy.

Body changes and other milestones: Can squeeze the teeniest bit of colostrum.

Thoughts:

I have so much to do, but strangely I feel calm. Right now, anyways. LOL Real estate agent is coming tomorrow to photograph the house!

[Kamiro]

Roxi, Seriously..I hope you don't think this intrusive but I would rather take a ______ as a midwife who has experience over someone who believes the same way I do and only has 5 births. I've attended more than 5 births and I know I am no where near qualified.

Chances are every thing will go great for your birth (just like mine and just like every one elses) but if the birth does not, you want someone who is competent in an emergency - that is when the experience counts. I would not hire someone who has had 5 births to be my doula, let alone a sole midwife to be honest.

My midwife I hired now only has 100 births +/- under her belt (with a midwife who has over 30 years as the assistant) and at first the number of births truly made me pause.

I'm sorry, I hope you don't think I am being intrusive!

This is my humble opinion. I really hope all goes wonderfully with your meetings.
 

Originally Posted by persephassa 

Name: roxi

Weeks/Days along: 24 weeks, 5 days

Appointments: meeting cnm for prenatal appointment tomorrow... i had an ob but just switched from her. yesterday we went to the city and met with a couple doulas--i like both of them but i need to decide soon which one! my husband isn't helpful, he won't tell me which one he liked better. they're both not fully certified yet; they attended DONA training and have been to about 5 births each--it seemed like some of the more experienced ones are already booked or don't answer their emails or are super xian (went to bible college, pastor's wives), which i don't think i would mesh with well. i don't know! one was younger, and also does things like write plays for local productions and teach yoga, and the other was a bit older and had worked for years as a hospice nurse and also does massage therapy... oh dear.

plus, i made an appointment to tour the birthing center in dayton on feb. 19. it is about an hour's drive for us (vs local hospital, 1 mile away) but it seems attractive, so we'll go see about that.

Symptoms: lots of movement! my nose has been bloody, but maybe that's cause of the heat being on--we need a humidifier

Food: cooking new recipes from a book husband got me for xmas, super natural everyday. i made oatcakes (oats, flax seed, walnuts, whole wheat flour, maple syrup, etc), stuffed mushrooms (couscous, harissa, shallots), and lentil soup (lentils, coconut milk, cumin, butter). next: baked oatmeal & wild rice casserole

Exercise: some wii fit but got derailed this weekend

Body changes and other milestones: eh, i feel like things are about the same, my belly is small

Thoughts: we finally went to ikea! now i think we need to go back because i thought of more things, but i already put together the crib and the expedit shelving thing. i don't know how much use the crib will get, but it's nice to have the room start to look like not-my-office and to have a place to organize things and make it look neat. i've been doing lots of laundry and working on a quilt! and looking for a rocker. i finally realized i ought to try searching the antique section of craigslist instead of the general furniture category, and i found two i like for less than $100! if i could drive i would go get one! husband is teaching the next two days and then goes to duke for a conference... i need to go get my licence! aarghg.

so just thinking of ways to make the nursery cuter, it feels bland/bare now. we rent and want to move soon so i don't feel like doing much with the room. a bright rug would help, and i'm going to hang my mom's baby quilt from her childhood on the wall, and maybe a yoyo quilt i made in high school. wondering if i ought to put legs on the expedit shelf to raise the height to make it better to use as a changing table--where do you plan on/have you changed your baby? it seems nice to have all the diapers and stuff in one place, so maybe i will get a changing pad and whatever. i'm not going to buy a "changing table" tho. i have about everything i need for cloth diapering except i want an air pot to put warm water in for cloth washcloths...

[forestmushroom]

Roxi,

I change baby on the bed, or a pad on the floor, or where ever.  It is nice to have everything in one place, but I don't think I would raise the shelf unless it was super stable... when baby is learning to pull up baby will pull up on everything and might pull the thing over on her/himself... but if raising it doesn't make it less stable then go for it. 

I used a dresser and then just put a changing pad of the top, and now my LO still uses the dresser... because after they start squiring I don't feel comfortable with them being up there... but my LOs tend to get mobile really quick--my 2 year-old was crawling at 4 months and walking at 9 months, which might totally distort my perception.

I know what you mean about going to ikea and then wanting to go back.... I have like 2 more trips there since we went this weekend....

Cookie, I know what you mean by having free time and... not doing anything with it!