Queer & Pregnant & Parenting - April, May, June! - Page 6

[carmen358]

What about a ponytail? Or hat?

[mami2mami]

Seraf - Braids seem to work in our home.
Edited by mami2mami - 4/13/12 at 6:28pm

[smilingsara]

Here's me at 35w4d. Holy cow, I'm nearly term!

There's no more room!

And the picture of shay that got lost in cyber space.

[LibraryLady]

Yeah, so, tornado! Very sudden and I ended up with the dog on a leash and Alice in a shirt and diaper running across the street to the neighbor's basement.  Much too close for comfort as it passed about a block from here. Terror. And tomorrow's supposed to be the BAD day for weather. NOT HAPPY! But ok for now.  

Love the pix and the giant bump!

[seraf]

Library, glad you're ok!

Last summer we kept him in a ponytail or braids most of the time. Then this winter he started hating having his hair pulled back. It looks necessary. Thanks.

[prettyisa]

Hi, library! Glad you're back, sorry to hear about the tornado (aren't you glad to be getting out of the t-belt? I would be!). Also sorry about the Mean Girl and her anti-library crusade. Does she honestly think that the teachers are the only ones using any books? What about the kids themselves? I could understand asking about which ones circulate (even though that's obviously shortsighted, too) but just the ones that get used in curricula? How are the kids supposed to learn anything that isn't part of their test regimen? Ugh.

Sara--Shay is going to be so surprised to not have that bump to sit on when you have his brother!

Seraf--yeah, braids. Also, detangler or lots of conditioner. I went through a rough patch of keeping my hair un-knotted when I was about his age, too. It's so fine and brushing it always seemed like a hassle. Hopefully he'll get into a good groove with it, though, and can keep it long.

AFM--woke up this morning with the weird feeling that it's someone's birthday, but I don't know who. I know who I'm hoping for, though! Too bad there's no indication of that one happening...

[smilingsara]

Isa, its not Soren's birthday! Tomorrow is my dad's 55th (and my mom says he is freaking out about it). I'm thinking your feeling is for you! How are you feeling now?!

[AmandaHope]

(Skip this one if you are queasy and preggo)...

Had a total vomitpoopocalypse this afternoon.  Poor L has been a bit constipated since starting to eat more solids and hadn't gone in three days...she nursed for a long time trying to get to sleep and then clearly had to go, so I got her to the potty, but she started straining so hard that she vomited repeatedly ALL OVER the bathroom...while still continuing to empty her bowels.  And I was alone in the house.  Good times.  The problem is during the week, when she doesn't take milk very well.  She rejects bottles entirely and will drink some milk from a sippy cup and open cup, but not a lot.  So she is hungry and eats lots of food and gets stopped up.  We don't give her bananas or much wheat.  She eats mostly avocado, fruit, yogurt, puffs, olives, carrots, and mashed beans.  I guess we should push more water with meals, but I'm nervous about her getting too many fluids other than b-milk, since she is in a very distracted phase of nursing and I REALLY don't want her to self-wean.  The only time she nurses well is in bed when she is sleepy...and overnight, of course ;-).  Thoughts, wise mamas of older babes?

Isa: Thinking of you, DP, and your very last days as a childless couple...and your little one, of course! I'm feeling like the baby is a boy all of a sudden.  Do you have any newer thoughts about that?

Sara: Love those pics!  Awesome bump...even better with a baby on it. S is getting more hair.

Library: Stay safe!  UGH. 

Update on my friend with the crazy fertility problems:  drugs and tons of acupuncture have thickened up her lining, and they got 23 (!!) eggs and 21 healthy day 2 embryos from their egg donor (and my friend's husband).  Tomorrow is transfer day!  I'm so incredibly hopeful for her.  Please please please stick little one...

AND I know how ridiculous this is, but I feel like I won the lottery, because I managed to beat out over 100 other people (by virtue of incredibly quick clicking skills and a fast internet connection) to buy an Obimama feather-weight mei tai that is going to rock my world.  I borrowed a much older version of one, and it is the most comfortable thing I've ever felt for carrying a baby (apart from the comfy part of pregnancy, perhaps).  It is a mei tai with a semi-structured waist and gauzy wrap-style straps.  It is made of part linen so that it is very cool in summer.  And I love the pattern, which is called Turquoise Panther.  It is one of a kind.  Here is the link.  Make sure to see both sides (since it is reversible--so cool).  I'm hoping to pass it on to my soon-to-be-preggo friend once Lilah outgrows it.  The babywearing obsession continues...

[seraf]

Isa, baby yet?

AmandaHope, is she eating that much? We have been giving S water. He doesn't drink a lot but he loves to eat so we serve him something at every meal. We give him water whenever. Something to pay attention to, make sure her belly is soft. If she gets impacted it can back up enough to make her throw up. I'm guessing it's just regular baby barf but I am clearly paranoid enough to say something. About babies self weaning, I have never tried to prevent it but it crossed my mind recently. None of my kids has done that, tho.

[gumshoegirl007]

Since I'm trapped in the nursery with the baby, I'll take a moment to respond AmandaHope.

We always gave A. the option of water with solid food. At first she'd drink an ounce or two of water and now she drinks very little water with her meals. I am actually more concerned on the dehydration front now. But, I read with baby-led weaning that water was recommended to help with constipation. I don't think I'd worry about her milk consumption. In our case water didn't seem to impact mlk consumption in the least bit. You could opt to give some water and then see how it goes on the milk front. I think constipation would be much worse over the long term, especially if she poop/vomits like that on a regular basis. It becomes moot if you're wearing the milk that is supposed to be in her tummy!

[LibraryLady]

AHope~ Yikes! What a nightmare. Poor both of you!!!  Alice pooped in the tub the other day and when I snatched her out of the tub, she peed and pooped on the rug. And then tried to eat it. Horror.  We give her water, but I've also found that if she's getting constipated, I feed her extra clementines. She LOVES them and will eat a lot, and they really loosen her up. Just a thought.

I've been watching the weather ALL DAY~ yawn!  It's still way west of us and now our own personal forecast is more for a big storm very very late tonight rather than the tornadic ignunce (though I know better than to ever say never).  Not my favorite way to spend a day. Looking forward to a calmer Sunday. 

[nosreves]

om² -- i never did congratulate you on the arrival of little Sage.  welcome to the world, little one!  she's absolutely adorable, and she doesn't look like like a newborn at all.  how's your older daughter doing with all the changes?  your sniper boobs sound pretty frakking amazing, btw....  

junebug -- thanks for the congrats and congrats yourself!  as for twins...you might actually make some money off that bet....

isa -- welll????  is there a new gaybay in Chi-town yet?

library -- glad you survived that scary-sounding twister.   the hpt in the picture i put up was *very* french.  in addition to telling me that i was "enceinte", it sighed deeply, rolled it's eyes and lit up a tiny little cigarette after i peed on it.  did you find a place to live in SC yet?  how do you look in orange and purple?

i still feel weird posting in here (hence the lack of extensive personals), but i wanted to share the results of my second beta.... 1753 at 16dpo.   my doubling time was 33.5 hours. DP keeps going on about twins with this huge grin on her face.  i'll have another beta done next week before my first gyn appointment.  what's the earliest that i could have an u/s that would give us a better idea of what's going on? 

happy sunday to everyone 

[mami2mami]

Isa- any news? How are you feeling?

[DesertSunsets]

nosreves - that is quite the beta!  Wowzers.  Will you be getting your prenatal care through a French doc?  I assume you aren't driving to Belgium for your prenatal appointments...  So so so so you should post your EDD already so I can add you to the main roster!  I'm pretty sure (don't hold me to it...) that even the really early ultrasounds can tell if you've got multiples in there.  Five or six weeks?  Can't wait for you to find out!  Thinking of you and DP.  

AHope - congrats on your new mei tai!  Way to be, clicky finger!  I'm so sorry about Lilah's constipation/vomiting poopapalooza.  Poor girl!  And her poor mom... 

Sara - your belly is looking awesome!  Especially with Shay standing on it.  (And don't worry, DW has obsession issues all her own!  LOL.  We are really looking forward to using the fetoscope.)  

Isa - hoping you guys are all doing well, hanging in there and waiting for Prosper to show up. 

Library - crazy tornadoes!  I'm glad you are all safe.  

As for us, DW is 20 weeks as of yesterday!  Halfway is a crazy place to be, it feels.  We are just so happy and excited about this babe every day, I already am really looking forward to getting to meet her in only five more months!  I get to feel her kicking and shifting around all the time.  DW reports that the baby just loves when she eats cheese; goes crazy with swimming around and kicking up a storm.  Her belly is getting more and more beautiful with each passing day.  Hopefully we'll get some photos done today.  

In other news, we decided to sell my giant gas-guzzling truck and replace it with something more economical.  I put it up for sale late Thursday night and I had it sold by Saturday morning.  That was quite unexpected, so now we've only got one vehicle and I'm borrowing a vehicle from my in-laws but it's one of their two as well.  So I'm feeling stressed about buying something soon, but I don't even know what to get.  I was planning on a Honda CR-V, or a Subaru Forester, but then I've been reading things about Hondas and their AC compressors going out and Subarus blowing head gaskets and it's just making me insane.  I don't want to get something I'm going to spend even MORE money on repairing!  Sigh.  Everyone wish me luck in trying to find something decent to buy.  

[AmandaHope]

Desert: Yay for 20 weeks!  I enjoyed the first part of pregnancy well enough but LOVED IT from about 20-35 weeks.  Amazing that you both are feeling so much movement already.  That should only get to be more fun from here on out. Thrilled that all is going so well for you both.  As for the car, we've had two Subarus in a row and have just adored them.  Driving in rain, snow, blizzards (not that you have those...), they are solid.  In fact, our legacy wagon is now getting pretty darn old (12 years) but I don't want to replace it (and can't afford to anyway).  Good luck with the decision making.

Isa: Thinking of you, whether today is a boring day or an exciting day.

Nosreves: WOW on the second beta!  You're body is not kidding around.  None of that "sorta pregnant" stuff for you.  I think I had my first u/s at just barely 7 weeks.

Gumshoe, Seraf, Library: thanks for thoughts and advice on the tummy thing.  It isn't that we've been avoiding giving her water--she has a sippy with water at meals--it is just that she doesn't drink much of it...so I think we'll try putting it in an open cup and more actively encouraging her to drink it.  We may do more purees for a little while, too, until her stomach adjusts a bit better to solids.  And I'm trying to offer her the boob more often in the evenings/weekends when I'm with her so that she gets at least some b-milk every few hours. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend...

[gumshoegirl007]

Desert - Congrats on 20 weeks!!! On the car front, we almost went with the CRV but then went with the Toyota RAV4. We needed more space than a car but weren't quite ready to go to a minivan yet. The RAV4 is the best in its class in terms of safety, fuel efficiency etc. You may want to consider it if you haven't already. Also, if that issue with the CRV concerns you, double check which years it is specific to. Stuff like that generally is not across a whole vehicle series. I found consumer reports which I got from the library to be helpful.

[starling&diesel]

AmandaH ... H is getting harder poops now that he's eating solids. I was just thinking that I should maybe offer some water too. He often wants what E has, so he'll drink from her water any time. E often vomited when she pooped, up until about 18 months. Not constipated, just the way she pooped.

Library ... Good to see you, woman! Stay safe!

Desert ... If you are thinking of having more kids go for the mini van! I sure wish that we had. We have a Nissan xtrail, which was fine with one kid, but I'm sure jonesing for a mini van now. Sigh. If only ...

Nos ... Welcome and congrats! With both my pregnancies I had explosively enormous beta numbers, with singletons each time.

Isa ... Sending easy labour vibes your way, should you need them. Just sayin'. Hope you're hunkering down and having that baby!

Junebug ... Welcome and congrats to you too!

AFM: Dp asked me what I think about adopting a third child! Our hearts are open to it. We'll see what the universe has in mind for us. The last time we opened our hearts to the idea of kids, we were given six embryos! Two kids later, and I'm confident that if we're meant to have a third child, it will happen.

[carmen358]

Desert: I inherited my DP's mom's CR-V and it's awesome. She bought it new and it is in great shape....it's a 1998 but only has 117,000 KM (~72,700 miles) on it and runs great. It fairly roomy too and unless we end up with 3 kids I think we'd stick with a similar sized vehicle for now. My DP is afraid of mini vans haha Although she has a VW Westfalia van....apparently it isn't the same ;)

Eta: starling, Exciting that you are thinking about adopting to add to your family. We were really close to filling out the application forms for a ministry adoption but at the last minute it turns out my DP isn't quite there.

Edited by carmen358 - 4/15/12 at 8:26pm

[darthtunaqueen]

Threadcrashing to ask Carmen and Starling how much adoption costs in BC... Friends of ours looked into it and we're told $35K... Which seems a little ridiculous... Especially since there are SO many kids in the foster system.... Another friend also does the safe babies fostering, which is interesting!!!

[DesertSunsets]

DW and I went to her theatre today to take belly pictures!  Here are a couple. 

Lightsource behind the screen

Box she stood on for the photos

This one is out of focus, but one of my favorites from the bunch.  She isn't as fond of it as I am, so this may be the only place I get to put it up!

Yikes, that was a lot.  Sorry for the picture overload!