back labor, but if it was gonna hurt anyways...GBS--My swab is Tuesday. I just talked to my doula about what she recommends: 3 nights of a gauze wrapped clove of garlic inserted and then a betadine wash the night before the swab. Also probiotics orally. And vitamin C . Bonus of the vitamin C is that it is supposed to strengthen your amniotic sac and help prevent PROM.
judy--LOVED the picture of your family! What a blessed day!! and yay for some alone time with DH. We could use some of that around here.
WCM--I so have been where you are, and I SO know how it sucks. I'm sorry. Hopefully you can get this one turned around before she wedges herself in.
AFM--Not a lot to report. Had a sick toddler yesterday, so all of my plans were foiled. I did get a chance to schedule my first labor prep acupuncture appointment for next week! I'm super excited about it since it worked so well to regulate my contractions in early labor with DS. My goal is to get things nice and open and flowing so hopefully this little one makes a bit of an earlier appearance than its brother. I'm mildly worried this morning that this kid has turned breech/transverse again as I feel a hard lump under my right ribs and no feet up top. But I swear I'm not stressing about it because there's lots of turning going on still. And that's all! Off to get the kiddos ready for the day!!
I am 38 weeks today! Much to my osteopath's suprise I made it to my appointment today and have no signs of labor...silly osteopath, hope she learned her lesson on trying to make predictions on when a pregnant woman will go into labor!
We just had our house cleaned 2 weeks ago and it is already trashed (I have no idea how all you ladies with more than one child manage!!). I am actually feeling a little panicky about the mess. Maybe I can clean tomorrow. DH is paranoid of my doing anything physical because we have so much work stuff to get wrapped up before baby arrives. He won't even have sex with me. I keep reminding him how long it took me to want to have sex after DD and it still doesn't convince him!
We have a quiet weekend ahead after two weekends of having visitors. We are going to do my belly cast tonight as a family. We are going to try to mold DD's hand print on the cast as well, we will see how it goes!
WCM, you deserve some quiet time! Sending no more baby drama vibes your way.
I'm in a bad mood today. My girls woke up and decided they hated each other and WW3 was necessary. So I was woken up with my #1 pet peeve - fighting/screaming over NONSENSE. Ugh.
Ava, I hear you on the cleaning. I am finding it incredibly difficult to keep up. My house was spotless but we have two large stupid dogs and two kids and a husband who apparently is incapable of lifting a finger without being asked. The house needs daily pick up and I can't do it everyday without suffering at night with pubic pain.
And if my mom calls me one more time asking "sooo? anything happening", I will go homicidal. She's called every day for the past two weeks. I'm not even due yet!!
Wow. I really am crabby. 
MamanF - I remember with DD my mother in law and sister in law always hassling me about "is baby hear yet?". I finally had to gently, but directly say that I was content and trust that the baby will come when she is ready and that we will contact THEM when the time arrives! That shut them up!My grandmother does a weekly call, which I think it sweet and my parents have been very quiet which is nice :) Hope your day turns around! That is my pet peeve too...DH has a way of teasing DD in the AM that really gets her going and whiny, it is a good way to get me out of bed in a hurry so I don't have to hear it anymore!
Maman, my kids were like that yesterday. And I kept separating them and it would work for a while and then they would insist on the fact that they would play nicely together, and then it would just go back to fighting. I hope they chill for you sooner than later!
AFM, I am also very crabby today. I am feeling super crampy - like exactly how I feel the day of or the day before I start my period. I'm going to take an epsom salt bath and see if it helps. And I'll take some calcium/magnesium as well.
Maman--You are NOT alone. My oldest 2 have been like oil and water lately. And yes, it usually starts before I'm even out of bed :( There's lots of separating going on in our house too.
House cleaning--I am really in *nesting* mode, so I"m getting lots of cleaning done. But it was preempted two days ago by massive dog vomit which required an entire room to be sanitized and then yesterday by a sick, demanding toddler. So my house is again messy even though I am doing laundry and loading and unloading the dishwasher multiple times a day and just vacuumed on Wednesday. I really want to clean the bathrooms thoroughly, but I can't seem to get to that yet.
Is the baby here yet? If it gives you any clue of how vague I've been about my EDD, my DH had to ask me what the actual date was last night! I just keep telling everyone 'end of September' which buys me a week anyway. (I'm due 9/19) No one is bugging me at. all. yet because they think I'm not due for another month, and I usually go late :) Wish I had thought of this before...
WCM - oh no! The end of this pregnancy is sure throwing you all sorts of curve balls! Sending turn, baby, turn vibes your way!
Judy - you have a beautiful family! That's such a great picture!
Ascher - GBS sucks. :( Here's what I did last time, for what it's worth.
I took probiotics, vit C, goldenseal (only after 37 weeks) bee propolis, zinc and echinacea and garlic for a week, then retested, and was still positive, however, I do feel that gut health was better after all of that so it wasn't a total waste. We decided to go with a protocol that apparently is commonly used in Europe involving a hibiclens rinse every couple hours during labour, unless any of the risk factors for increasing the likelyhood of transmitting GBS were present. (These include preterm labour, PROM, signs of maternal infection like increased temperature, and I believe signs of fetal stress, but I'm not sure which ones.) As it turns out, I had my water break 48hours + prior to labour so we went with antibiotics anyways.
So, on to the antibiotics: it really wasn't that bad. Yes, it's an IV every 4 hours, but your midwife should just put in a saline lock, so you aren't hooked up to an IV for the whole time. It only takes, oh 15 minutes or so for a bag of penicilin, then you're free to go about your business until the next time.
Penecillin is apparenty the best choice for treating GBS, so if you have, or may be allergic, talk to your midwife about having your strain of GBS positive tested to find out what alternative antibiotic it is most vulnerable too, so you can go with that instead.
The main concern about the antibiotics, is that of course it kills all your nice, friendly bacteria too, so baby doesn't get colonated with good bacteria. This increases the likelyhood of yeast infections and thrush which can interfere with breastfeeding, and may be a factor in colic and other digestive issues. To combat that, I made sure I had a really good probiotic on hand for both myself and the baby and we began to take it . There are a few out there that are supposed to be good for newborns. If your midwife can't recommend one, get in touch with a good naturopath who should have some suggestions. The one we used was called HMF Natogen, but that was in 2009 and there might be better options out there now. It seems to have worked, or at least not hurt, as we had no thrush or digestive issues. If I'm GBS + this time, I think I'll do the same thing.
Sorry for the novel! I hope that helps a little. I'm far from an expert, but if you have any questions, I'm happy to point you to where my research lead me.
AFM, other than not sleeping well, and being tired all the time, I'm still feeling good. I'm getting a little frustrated with everyone asking me if I'm so ready to be done - I'm only 36 weeks, so there's not much point being fed up with pregnancy at this point when I probably have another 4 to 6 weeks to go! I totally understand if someone has had a more complicated pregnancy how they could be feeling totally finished but I've had a reasonably standard 3rd trimester so far, and I'm not totally fed up with pregnancy yet.
I have my SILs 1 year old here this morning, and he and my 3 year old are entertaining each other nicely, giving me a chance to sit at the computer for a few minutes here. I think it might be coming to an end though, so I better sign off before they trash the place. lol
Carlin--Thank You!!!!! That was just what I wanted to hear (because it's also what we've decided to do). My midwives are not that concerned, because it is not an infection and it is not in my urine. I had a UTI and regular urine tests and they never showed anything. At this point, they have me on Vitamin C, those garlic inserts (not sure if I'm gung ho about that), and teatree oil in water squirted onto the area until my next appt on Thursday when we will test again. I'm also adding a probiotic (someone recommended Udo's Adult Probiotic). I've also heard that a hibiclens wash can be a great way to get rid of it topically, at least. So I will probably use that during labor anyways, and the midwives will watch me for risk signs (they said they do that anyways, when they are looking for signs of other infection). If I show those, I will do the antibiotics. Thank you for the advice on the probiotics following the abx. I was most concerned about those complications that might arise and create a barrier for breastfeeding! Now let's just hope the low pressure of this coming storm Isaac doesn't mess things up...
WCM--Woohoo!!! Glad you flipped the baby! My baby is head down and I get bum-rib all the time!
GBS- I've been + with all of mine and have received abx. I've successfully nursed with no yeast issues every time (and I didn't do a lot of prep work with probiotics then). I have it again and will get abx again (hospital birth). So annoying and let me apologize now world for contributing to antibiotic resistance. Just doing my part!
MamanF- My mom is the only one who's started with the "so, any action yet" type questions. I'm 38w1d. She's only asked once so far, probably b/c I told her that if I have news, I'll report it. But if she asks again, I won't call her until the baby's born. Sorry, but I've gone a week over before and am not interested in talking every day about the state of my uterus/cervix (well, I am interested, but not just to sate someone's nosiness). Plus I suspect she shares my info with others- people that care about me, but still. I don't want information shared about the current width of my cervix' opening with virtual strangers in another state!
WCM--Um, not sure. I've only had baby head down. I do know that I get a lot of pressure on the bladder, which means head is down. Like I'll be walking and suddenly it will stop me in my tracks. I get kicks (definitely feet) on my right or left side above the belly button, so that is how I know that rolling ball that sorta moves from side to side below my ribs is a butt. I imagine if you pushed down on it it would probably feel softer, too. But my midwife was the one who confirmed my baby's head was down for sure. Now a days I don't get the bum-rib all the time, but i think that is because he's settled his head down lower. I was also told that the hands feel less intense than the feet.
Maman--oh, man. I haven't gotten that yet, but that's because I'm only 36 weeks.My mother did mention to me today, even though we've already told her we'll call her after the labor for her to fly down, that if her mom had been closer when she was in labor, she would have wanted her there during labor, so she "just wanted to make sure you're doing what you really want". So passive aggressive. We told her what we wanted! Now she's telling me what she wants in a silly, indirect way. She does that a lot--plants these ideas in hopes that someone will be manipulated into doing it. Not gonna change my plan. I'm doing what I want like she said!
Wow you ladies have been BUSY writing today.
I went to get my ultrasound and baby is about 6lbs in weight (36+2). I guess she'll be 8lbs once she's born, considering I usually go full term. We'll see. My GBS came back negative (yay to that) so I don't have to worry about antibiotics during labor. Baby was head down but still floating high up. All of my kids do that, with DD she had a lot of water under her head and once they broke the sac it just went wild from there. I hope to go into labor myself so she'll come down by herself. OB said I was effaced, didn't say how much but I'll take it LOL. There's still four weeks to go. My mom will be here in 11 days, oh my.
I had a tough day yesterday. Went to meet DS Kindergarten teacher and I just don't feel comfortable putting him into public school. I don't know why, maybe because it's all new. Our elementry school is good, people move into the district like crazy because of it, so I don't think there's anything to worry about. DH is all cool about it and I was laying there in bed last night, snuggled up as close as possible to my babyboy and just crying. I can't believe it's that time for him to go to K...
MMC, that's definitely how I understand it too. The big difference is that hibiclens just works locally, where as antibiotics work systemically. If we were to use the hibiclens protocol I'd still plan on using probiotics afterwards. The one I wonder about is garlic. As far as I understand, the reason it's effective is that it has antibiotic properties, and therefore probably is hard on good bacteria as well as bad.
Had my home visit today, babe still head down, had my GBS swab (which I got to do myself - love homebirth!) and everything on track. Homevisit was a bit early, so I don't have an appt for another 2 weeks, and I fully at thsi point expect to go close to due date.
WCM -I have the baby/belly mapping book. I should pull it out for you!
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