Weekly Chat Thread July 8th - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[NewMumJoy]

LizBiz -   !!!

LeAnn - Thinking of you this week!!  You'll get there (you've already got the sucky packing/moving-out part behind you, woohoo!)... just keep up that awesome attitude of yours and try not to stress!!  I've always loved the house hunting part of relocating - despite the difficult timing/urgency of it - hopefully you find that "perfect" home.  Everything will fall into place!!  

Tizzy - Yes, work that belly bump excuse in the kitchen!  I burnt my belly in the oven yesterday as I was reaching into it, hitting the rack or something (hard not for it to get in the way!)  Just a little blister, but my DH was horrified when I told him.  We're going out to dinner tonight  :)

[LilyTiger]

Hey ladies, I have a first time mom question.

I've been crampy all week, with LOTS of fetal movement.  Nothing I would call a contraction exactly, but I actually woke up in the middle of the night the other night with what felt like menstrual cramps and then today I had bad cramping for a half hour or so and then diarrhea.  All this is pretty normal for 36 weeks, no?  My main question is that I was hoping to get a workout in tonight, but I don't want to do anything that will induce or speed up labor if I'm already starting to have some symptoms.  I read that real contractions tend to start in the back, so the cramps I'm having are just B-H getting more intense, I suspect.  But I'm just a little worried that there's so much going on and changing at 36 weeks.  Anyone else have this kind of crampiness and digestive issues and go full term?  Should I avoid stuff like working out and sex until I'm full term?  I feel so much better after workouts, but I don't want to have this kid before 38 weeks.

(For what it's worth, I hate this in between phase.  It's like my body is just pulling random stunts to confuse and irritate.  Guess that's life for the next two to six weeks though.)

[ithappened]

lily usually on those days where I have cramping or feel a bit off in one way or another I skip my workout.. but thats just me.  I find when I workout those days I tend to get more contractions and usually feel worse not better.. at least, thats been true this week for me
 

[LilyTiger]

Thanks, ithappened.  DH told me to skip it today too.  It's just so hard to know what your body is actually doing.  You hear about walking, sex, and so on bringing on labor (but only if your body is ready) but then you don't really know when your body is actually ready.  And we're certainly not ready at 36 weeks.  I'll use your rule of thumb, since I think you're probably right that working out once you're already cramping isn't going to feel that great anyway.

My new plan is to drive up and grab some ice cream!  DH is out of town, so I will just sit around and eat ice cream and watch old episodes of the X-files.  Not a bad compromise all around, I think.

[ithappened]

yeah I found lily that pregnancy is one of the few times (also being sick) when pushing myself to workout instead of rest can sometimes make things a lot worse- esp. later in pregnancy I start to ease up a bit on pushing myself as I usually end up feeling worse or more exhausted then I did when I started..  my lap swim sessions are down to 20-30mins now and I'm so slow that the old men are lapping me
 

[Ninetales]

I know it's mean and petty but I can't help but be angry and jealous about J's cousin and his wife.  They just had their baby a few days ago.  Very mainstream, good little do-what-the-doctor-says kind of people.  Induced at a week "over" (even though they actually pushed her due date back a week early on), on her back, all the drugs, and pushes for 45 minutes to get a perfect 6.5 lb baby.  Whereas I feel like I do everything I can to encourage and support a natural or at least vaginal birth, but I have to be a freak.

If I have another section for a supersize baby I can just see all future babies' chances of VBAC going right out the window.  One time can be a fluke but if it happens over and over it's clearly just how I am - not capable of birthing a baby.  If it's huge and I manage a VBAC I'll probably be ok, but if it's another section I just don't know where I'm going to be mentally.  I can't stand the idea that I may never know what it's like to have a vaginal birth.  I know a lot of people don't care, and that's fine, but I do care.

And that's on top of the huge baby part.  A section would be bad enough but I just dread the guilty feelings and having to listen to people's jokes and comments.  I just can't handle it again.  I say it all the time but I just want to be normal.

[LeAnn A Doula]

Originally Posted by Lizbiz 

LeAnn - When we had our first, we had just moved and were in boxes... and had just gotten back from a big trip to Georgia.  I worked all week, really hard - to get ready for maternity leave.  I had just passed off my work duties to my colleagues at a staff retreat and then that night, I picked up our birth kit (which took it's grand ol' time arriving) from our old place, drove home to our new place - and went into labor at 4am :).  We had no food in the fridge, boxes all over the place, and 6 loads of laundry piled up from our trip/move/general busy-ness.  

And you know what?  We did it.  I went grocery shopping in labor and stocked up, my husband took our mountain of laundry to the laundromat and got it done very quickly, and by the time my labor got serious, we were all set - we even managed to eat takeout and watch a movie that night.  Boxes were still all around, but I even managed to unpack our baby clothes into the wardrobe and set up the crib (which we didn't use for ages anyway, but.... whatever!).  

It sounds a little crazy, and I guess it was.  But it was also awesome and unforgettable.  Our son's birth was peaceful and awe-inspiring - we even made room for a birthing pool in our (tiny) kitchen.  

I remember you saying that once you're in labor, everything just kind of stops... and revolves around the coming baby.  And it's true.  Everything must bow to the baby, and it will.  

That said, I hope you find the perfect home and soon... and that you are peaceful and have the time and space you need to be settled.  

Thank you for this! It does sound crazy but it also sounds wonderful! And that is really all I want, for this birth to be a wonderful start for our family in whatever shape it takes. I guess all the uncertainty is affecting me more than I realized. Perspective makes all the difference and I have to remember that. It will all come together!!

Newmum - Ouch! Your poor belly! I Hope you had a great dinner out. :) I keep bumping my belly into things...walls, doors, people. Must have had a growth spurt recently! We're looking at a condo that looks promising tonight. I like the househunting part too. I'm just hoping for that 'this is the place' feeling, so we can get down to nesting and allow the reality of this LO to sink in for a minute. Fingers crossed!

Lily - I hope your feeling better today. Sounds like you made a good choice, ice cream definitely has theraputic properties!

[justchanti]

LeaAnn-  I hope you are able to find a home soon.  You are in the same boat my DH and I were in two weeks ago ( I was 34 weeks along then too!).  I am happy to say that everything sort of worked out for us and now we are comfortably moved into a little 2 bedroom townhouse.  I absolutely understand that it is super stressful not knowing how things will turn out, I just hope that you know they will.  And no matter what, your baby is going to come into this world being incredibly loved, which is the most important thing!  Hang in there.  I'll be sending you some good house finding vibes

Just wanted to check in to say that we had our ultrasound on Monday and the perinatal cardiologist said everything looks great.  Apparently some babies just have slight arrhythmias that go away at birth.  I feel so relieved that this little baby is okay and, to a lesser, more selfish degree, that we can continue with a home birth as planned.  On a side note, our midwife came with us to our ultrasound appointment, sat around for 2 hours, and talked with the doctor on our behalf to make sure everything looked good.  I can hardly believe the care and time she is willing to put into her clients (especially ones that are brand new like me!). This whole experience, though nerve racking and stressful has really made me feel confident about having this baby at home!  

[LilyTiger]

Quick update on the breast pump insurance saga.  I went to go put in a claim (as my insurance company instructed me) for a breast pump at a medical supply place here and was told that most insurance no longer covers pumps at all, though some cover rentals.  I told them I had spoken with my insurance company, and they said that the insurance people usually only look up the basics, but not what is required for coverage.  In this case, you need a medical condition that makes breastfeeding impossible.  So, I'm back to square one.  Just wanted to let people know in case I accidentally got people's hopes up.  I spoke with a different insurance benefits person today who confirmed what the guy had said and she apologized that the previous person gave me woefully incomplete information.  Ugh.  I'm now looking at buying a Medela off Craigslist or something.  There are a ton on craigslist in our area, but I'm not sure I want to take the gamble of it breaking or something.  I don't know what I'll end up doing.  :(

In other news, I'm feeling less crampy today, but it's almost 90 degrees so I'm still going back and forth on working out.  This weather has killed all our grass and made my ankles completely disappear.  I wish we had normal summer weather instead.  Upstate NY is usually so awesome in the summer.  Ugh.   Ok, I'm done complaining.  Must go get some work done and clean up a bit.  I hope everyone else is having a great week!

[Tizzy]

LilyTiger - for what it's worth, I bought a 2nd hand Ameda Purely Yours (double electric) for $50 off craigslist, the lady hadn't even used all of the parts, and it has been excellent for me.

AFM - I'm so happy, I had my first appointment with my backup midwife and she seems MUCH more compatible. I ended up expressing my concerns about my primary midwife (which is awkward because they're colleagues) and she seemed to totally "get it". It's like she read my mind (or my posts online LOL)

She offered to transfer my care to her and I think I'm going to do that because I just couldn't seem to mesh with my primary midwife. She's pretty conservative and cautious.

[iixivboots]

Lily, I was going to suggest the Ameda Purely Yours, it has a closed system unlike the Medela, and even new on Amazon it's like $140 (without carrier bag). Good luck. I've also had some cramping in the past few days, ugh. Also, SOMEONE is pushing, hitting, clawing or something on my cervix. Ugh.

[LilyTiger]

Boots and Tizzy, the Ameda was actually the one I originally registered for, but a lot of people I talked to are like cultishly obsessed with the Medela.  Maybe I'll got back to plan A and just get the Ameda.  The reviews are good, so I'm not sure what I'm so worried about.  I totally flop back and forth based on where popular opinion is.  I just need to make a decision and go with it.

[rebecca10]

I loved my Ameda Purely Yours pump. I pumped every day at work for a year and it worked great, and I really appreciated that you never had to wash the tubing unlike the Medela.  As a bonus it's cheaper than the Medela (or at least it was, it's been 2+ years now since I've looked at buying a pump), but it would be my first choice regardless.

I guess it is getting time to break it out again . . . .  

[iixivboots]

Rebecca, that is a great recommendation, thanks.

Lily, I honestly do not get why people are so in love with their (expensive-azz) Medelas. What sealed the deal for me was when the LC who was running the class said (although she made it clear she could not recommend one type of pump and all the ones she had out were good (Medela, Ameda, and Hygea) ...that's she'd seen mold in the Medelas but not in the others. Ugh.

General question: how likely do you think it is that I'd need another flange size? Do lots of people need a different flange or is that the exception? I have fairly large breasts but small/medium nipples, I think.

[andaluza]

JustChianti, so great to hear that your little one did well at the cardiologist and you can go ahead with your homebirth. What a great midwife!

Rebecca, thanks for weighing in on the cosleeper. I hope the week is going well for your daughter at school.

Boots, thank you too. We nabbed ours at our neighbors’ yard sale for 25 and it is complete, so I think we lucked out. We am going to buy a new mattress for it though, because it was stained.

NewMum, happy anniversary! You are so amazingly close to meeting your little one! I can’t believe that oven story. So far dh has bumped my bump on accident and was mortified.

LeAnn, I hope that the housing choice and move in go well!

Lily, sounds like your body is gearing up for something. I had some menstrual-like aches last week, but they seem to be gone.That sucks about the breast pump and insurance. I actually called back and insisted with my insurance, but mine was adamant that pumps are not insured. Those are the shades I was looking at, but it is going to be super expensive to replace the entire house that way.  

Ninetales, I am so sorry you are dealing with the worries about your baby’s size. I have a feeling my boy may be a little big, but this is just based on my higher-range weight gain so far and dh’s family history, but I’ve had no scan since 19w so no real way to tell, in truth.

To those who have commented: the Ameda purely yours is the pump that I'm considering, too, so it's great to hear that several of you are considering it and/or had a good experience with it.

AFM, no more insomnia yet. Baby care classes went well and today we got to meet the new ob who will be seeing me though the rest of my pregnancy. It was a good experience, thank goodness! The ob met with me and dh throughout the visit instead of having the nurse do the routine questions and such.

My bp was higher than normal (because of nerves and stress with the situation/visit?), but still in an ok range. I had the gbs swab and she did not bring up the NST that my other ob had wanted me to do now for the rest of my pregnancy (for my AMA), which I am totally fine with.

The funniest thing: Dh asked her about the baby’s position and she palpated me (head down! as I thought), but he was horrified watching it. That makes me wonder how he’s going to be on the big day...

[Honey693]

Originally Posted by andaluza 

The funniest thing: Dh asked her about the baby’s position and she palpated me (head down! as I thought), but he was horrified watching it. That makes me wonder how he’s going to be on the big day...

I bet he'll be fine.  Mine is horrified by seeing my stomach move.  Like so creeped out he has to look away.  Yet he was great with my last two labors and actually caught DD2 b/c the midwives hadn't shown up yet.

[iixivboots]

Just here to whine, I had to do my 12 hour fast for that genetic thing my mom has, and it sucked. It's monsoon season here and our power went out for about 2 hours in the middle of the night, during that time without AC my hands started swelling. Now it's humid here today still with a high of 109. I'm not going anywhere, but still. Ugh. In a few weeks I will have to go out to work in this crap ad I don't know how I"ll manage. :( It wasn't even that hot in our house when my hands started swelling, could it have just been the fasting?. Then I woke up with intense intestinal burning (???) I made it to the lab, but just barely, now I am seriously dreading labor even more for the simple fact that this is apparently what my body does without food. I don't even think they'll let you have clear liquids other than water/ice at my hospital. And I should be so lucky to have only a 12 hour labor.

Okay, my pity party is over now, DH is at Wendy's getting me breakfast.

[sarahdb]

I've been quiet here lately--sorry for the lack of personals. I feel so exhausted lately. I think it's mostly from not sleeping well, and also from feeling overwhelmed. We've been making very slow progress at tackling our to-do lists, and then at our 34-week appointment this week, our midwife said she wants us to get "all our ducks in a row" for our 36-week appointment. I forgot that meant gathering a whole bunch of supplies for the homebirth. So that's another big item to add to the to-do list. I find myself awake at 3 a.m. many mornings mentally going through the list and checking off items, or planning how to check off items. It feels like I just can't relax lately. Our ducks are definitely all over the barnyard.

But the good news is that I had my blood checked again this week, and my iron went up to 10.8! (from 9.6 about 6 weeks ago) That's still borderline anemic, but it's high enough that I can go ahead and keep planning for a homebirth. I'm so relieved. I credit it entirely to all the Floradix I've been taking. Also, the midwife is almost positive the baby is head-down, so that's another thing to stop worrying about.

I'm thinking a lot about those whose due dates are swiftly approaching! Much strength and courage to you--and to everyone else too!

[rebecca10]

General question: how likely do you think it is that I'd need another flange size? Do lots of people need a different flange or is that the exception? I have fairly large breasts but small/medium nipples, I think.

Boots: My understanding is that it is the nipple size not breast size that matters, and I think most people do fit into the regular size. Ameda says the bigger size is only if you have nipples that are themselves bigger than about the size of a nickel, which if you describe your nipples as small/medium, seems unlikely.  I came to this realization a bit late, and actually purchased a set of the bigger Ameda flanges, which I ended up using all of one or two times before realizing they were way too big.   If you or anyone else do decide you need them, I'd be more than happy to send them out to whoever wants.   

[sallyrae17]

Originally Posted by bootsvalentine 

Just here to whine, I had to do my 12 hour fast for that genetic thing my mom has, and it sucked. It's monsoon season here and our power went out for about 2 hours in the middle of the night, during that time without AC my hands started swelling. Now it's humid here today still with a high of 109. I'm not going anywhere, but still. Ugh. In a few weeks I will have to go out to work in this crap ad I don't know how I"ll manage. :( It wasn't even that hot in our house when my hands started swelling, could it have just been the fasting?. Then I woke up with intense intestinal burning (???) I made it to the lab, but just barely, now I am seriously dreading labor even more for the simple fact that this is apparently what my body does without food. I don't even think they'll let you have clear liquids other than water/ice at my hospital. And I should be so lucky to have only a 12 hour labor.

Okay, my pity party is over now, DH is at Wendy's getting me breakfast.

Try to stay at home as long as you can before transferring to the hospital if they won't allow food. But, depending on your labor, you might not want it. So don't worry about it just yet! My labor was so intense that I couldn't eat anything. Liquids were my friends. ;)