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[cagnew]

A friend of mine is doing a kind of belly binding called Bengkung and says it's awesome. Here is a youtube link to the method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxOP0Fy5MEw&feature=related It looks interesting so I might try it this time. I have a few belly bandits, but I don't consider those binders. They are more compressors than binders since they just hold stuff in as opposed to actually holding things together. I have a diastasis so a binder is better for me.

[Greenlea]

Originally Posted by IronMam 

Don't quote me on this, since I haven't lived in the States for a while and I'm not 100% sure, but I think that part of Obamacare is making it so insurance companies can no longer refuse to cover someone because of a pre-existing condition (nor can they charge women more for coverage, just because they're women). But I'm not sure when each of the changes goes into effect. Some started right away, and some will be implemented over the next few years.

Its true, Obamacare does get rid of the pre-existing condition BUT that doesn't go into effect until 2014.  Currently private insurance can deny you coverage due to a pre-existing condition, but group coverage cannot.  However, when I got pregnant wtihout insurance with my 2nd, I could get on my DP's work group coverage, but they wouldn't cover a pregnancy until I had been on the insurance for one year.  So we just paid out of pocket for a homebirth.

Originally Posted by camprunner 

This isn't exactly true (at least in my state). There are income restrictions but they are much higher than for applying for medicaid as a nonpregnant woman. Either way, it is definately worth looking into.

 This is true. Again, when I had no insurance with my 2nd pregnancy, I got denied state health care due to our income, even though I was pregnant.

[alaskanmomma]

I just realized I'm going to definitely show with this baby! I literally could hide my pregnancy from people with the other 2 kiddos, but there's no denying I'll "pop". I laid down this morning and my stomach is becoming round and hard... oye! Anyone else showing yet?!

[alaskanmomma]

Originally Posted by Virginia884 

Had an early ultrasound yesterday. My symptoms basically stopped a week ago, so we had been questioning viability, but we saw our little gummy bear looking baby and its heart beating away (167) yesterday. DH was so relieved! He almost passed out.
They said May 2, but I still think April 25. What is the margin of 'error'? The ultrasound was abdominal, not vaginal
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's still within the "2 week" frame of error an ultrasound can have.. however an early u/s is usually more accurate than not. 

[IronMam]

Well, the occasional nausea has officially moved into morning sickness territory. Just threw up for the first time. Never did with DD. Just another reason I'm thinking this is a boy.

Ugh.

How do you ladies deal with this daily and not go completely off the deep end? Throwing up is seriously one of the worst feelings ever.

[TIFF4NY]

I have had my episodes of throwing up pick up all of a sudden recently and I throw up nearly every night. I am pretty sure it's related to the progesterone pills I'm still taking and I can't wait until the day I get the ok to stop those. It makes everything a million times worse.

As far as not going off the deep end, I keep reminding myself that it will pass and these symptoms are generally a positive sign of what's happening inside. I am also extremely grateful that my 2 year old seems to be very understanding that I don't feel well and she is an angel most of the time. It has made a huge difference. 

[IronMam]

Holy plabeo effect Batman! DH went to the store and got me some of those preggo pop hard candies and I immediately feel a bit better, still queasy but not feeling on the verge of vomiting again. When these run out I'll probably opt for some regular sour candies, since that's all thes are...only more expensive.

I think I'm going to be really careful about not getting too hungry either, because I think that may have triggered this episode. I was feeling gross and wanted a shower before breakfast. I should have eaten first.

[camprunner]

IronMam,

 I think that the hunger might be the key. I've been both hungry and had a ton of nausea. Every time food is not readily available I'm sick for the next 24 hours. Its nice that dh wants to cook but he makes it take so much longer to cook it than necessary. 

Today he said to me as I was nursing ds.: "You can't keep this up."

                                                      Me: What do you mean?

                                                      DH: It's not so much the cost of feeding you but we just can't make that many trips to the store. Every time we bring home food, you have it eaten within 24 hours"

       So yeah. I'm hungry all the time. If I don't eat. I get sick.  Having a nursling and being pregnant makes me HUNGRY and tired.
 

[cyclamen]

Cagnew, that bengkung looks super cool, and like it would be easy to make too.  I am totally going to do that post-partum!

I have been feeling better lately.... what feels like "regular" ms (low blood sugar queasiness) rather than what it was before.  Hugs to all you ladies dealing with the really bad nausea. I hope you find something that helps soon.

I had my first midwife appointment today.  They are the university hospital midwives, and I can't say enough good things about them.  They are super hands off - the midwife told me that I didn't have to have a pelvic exam if I didn't want to, and that many of her patients have no pelvics til they are in labor and some even then have none unless there is some specific indication they should have one. She told me that they are all about supporting patient autonomy, giving us information and then letting us make the decisions.  And at one point, I hadn't even asked and she told me that they have the lowest c-section rate in the city (11% - not as low as hb midwives, but they also work with nutritionally/economically at risk populations, so their pool is not as low risk as a hb mw's would be). 

I left with a really positive impression of the practice.   I was nervous about going because I've had some bad experiences in the past (not with them) and they totally exceeded my expectations as far as making me feel like they respected me and my ability to make informed choices.  Best part?  Totally covered by medicaid.  I think I might have liked a homebirth, but the only homebirth midwife around here who takes medicaid gives me kind of an "off" vibe, so unless something comes up, I think I am going to plan to labor at home for as long as possible and then head to the hospital at the last minute.  I've been reading lots of positive hospital birth stories lately and I'm actually getting a little excited.  Crazy!  I did have a really positive experience at the hospy with DD, so I have good feelings about this. 

[bmcneal]

I tried to call the midwives again. They are *still* not calling me back. I'm starting to get frustrated, and a little annoyed. I really want to either see the baby, or hear the heartbeat, anything to reassure me that everything is okay, but they just won't call. I'm about to switch my doctor with Medicaid so I can try and get in somewhere else faster. I hate this feeling. :(

[BeanBean06]

So we had our appt this morning. I'm 12wks2days today. So they decided to do another ultrasound since I was in there last week cuz of some bleeding, and I had some more on Saturday. But now it has stopped completely. So the ultrasound showed the baby looked great! Much bigger than last week, strong heart beat of 158, and just wiggling and moving all over the place! We saw the little hands and feet. It was very cool! But they also saw that there is "fluid" (presumably blood) in the cervical canal... It was there last week and they were hoping it would be gone by this week either absorbed or drained... But it's still there so I have to go on friday morning to see a MFM specialist, to get checked and get another more advanced ultrasound. I'm so freaking scared! Bby is so prefect, I'm so afraid my body will just fail us... I am glad tho, to be seeing a specialist so quickly... I'm hoping if there's an issue they can fix it... I'm on modified bed rest til then... *sigh* has anyone else had this?

[bmcneal]

I called the midwives, and apparently, they can't see me because I'm a VBAC. She said that I could do my initial visit with them, but that they would have to transfer me to the care of the OB after that, so I just said I would go with the OB. I'm not real thrilled, but she said that the OB is pretty willing to work with my wishes for the pregnancy, and not forceful about interventions, so I feel a little better. I'm going to go eat and call the OB to set up an appointment. She's calling my prenatal prescription in, so I'll be able to start those soon. Just having contacted someone and know where I'm going makes me feel a lot better, I just still really want to see or hear the baby. I'm such a worrier, especially when it comes to pregnancy, and extra especially because I work manual labor and I'm worried something bad will happen.

Edited by bmcneal - 9/19/12 at 9:08am

[bambihelton]

Originally Posted by bmcneal 

I feel so behind everyone else! I just tested last night and got a positive. I'm going tomorrow for confirmation from the doctor, and then I have to figure out what we're going to do about insurance. We are going to try and get me on His insurance, but it seems like someone told me pregnancy is sometimes considered a pre-existing condition, so I might not be able to? I don't know. But I would really like to have a midwife with this baby, and maybe even a home-birth (if He is okay with it, we haven't talked about it since DS was born 3.5 years ago), but I don't know how many there are here in Central Indiana. If anyone is familiar, I wouldn't mind help. DS and DD were born in Tennessee, so things are a lot different here.

I haven't gotten sick at all this pregnancy, just constant nausea. It's not terrible, but sometimes I wish I would just get sick and be done, you know? I keep reading about y'all having ultrasounds, and hearing the heartbeat, and I'm excited to get to that. I wish it was yesterday! This is the latest I've been and just found out.

My insurance policy was a premium private policy that I have had for years. My rates went up so high that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to afford it, so I sent in paperwork to have that insurance policy cancelled, not knowing I would get pregnant so soon. When I found that I was pregnant (my policy expires Oct.1) I tried to set up a different policy so that it would be cheaper, but they told me that it would not cover my pregnancy because that is a pre-existing condition and that pregnancy is only covered if conception takes place six months after the policy has went into effect. I thought I would have been safe from that pre-existing condition crap because there would have been no lapse in time between the time the old policy expired and the new one went into effect... I was wrong. :/ Now I'm stuck ATTEMPTING to get approved for pregnant medicaid, and hoping that they will cover me. 

[Greenlea]

Why is it so hard for women to have the birth that they want in this stupid country??  I'm so mad right now.  My current insurance doesn't cover any in-network midwives and won't cover a homebirth at all.  I refuse to go with an OB and have to fight my way to a natural birth.  Sure, I can still go with a midwife, but I'll pay up the wazoo in out-of-network costs.  I'm thinking I may have to go with an underground midwife again.  I had to with my last birth due to having no insurance. It just sucks that now that I have the insurance, I still have to pay out of pocket!  This is the worst kind of stress for a pregnant lady!

[Ethelpea]

I know.  Insurance is worthless.  ABsolutely worthless, unless you need it for catastrophic reasons.

You know another thing.  I can't use my medical savings account to buy anything worthwhile for my health...like, I don't know, supplements. 

[1babysmom]

It is crazy to me that PREGNANCY & BIRTH, a naturally occurring even, costs so much in the first place.  One benefit we've enjoyed with being unassisted...no paying someone for their unnecessary interventions where we don't need them in the first place.  Ugh.  When we DO need them, I will gladly pay (and have...and am).  But seriously...OB's are making so much money off of women who've been taught they can't do anything on their own and can't trust their own instincts and don't know anything about their own bodies. :(

Thankfully where I live DEM's are easy to find, and they only charge $1500-2000 total.  That's less than I'd be paying for a hospital birth AFTER insurance. 

[love bug]

So very glad to be in Canada as I read all your medical obstacles! 

Still waiting for my u/s on Friday and getting more and more worried and still trying to breathe :)

Although I don't usually find that I have an issue with morning sickness I do find that if I don't keep myself fed I feel yucky. 

and I am so into the idea of belly binding - I just hope its not to late to work for me since I didn't with any of my last pregnancies and I have a lot to show for them :)

[1babysmom]

Originally Posted by love bug 

So very glad to be in Canada as I read all your medical obstacles! 

Still waiting for my u/s on Friday and getting more and more worried and still trying to breathe :)

Although I don't usually find that I have an issue with morning sickness I do find that if I don't keep myself fed I feel yucky. 

and I am so into the idea of belly binding - I just hope its not to late to work for me since I didn't with any of my last pregnancies and I have a lot to show for them :)

I didn't do it with my first, and with  my 2nd, I waited until 13 months PP to start and it STILL helped a ton! 

[brooklyn_warbler]

I was JUST having this conversation with my midwife and friend/mentor (I had my first prenatal visit) and, ladies, I feel you.  I do NOT understand how we can have such worthless insurance in this country.  Our system just sucks and I hate that we're all supposed to just suck it up when we have the resources for everyone to have access to health care!  Ugh.

I am lucky to have insurance that covers homebirth in a state that is very midwife-friendly (comparatively) but hearing about everyone else's struggles make me raging mad.

In other news, we heard the heartbeat today!!  I am 11w5d and have never had an easier heartbeat-finding session.  My mw just put the doppler was and thar she blew!  That lovely little chugga chugga right square in the center of my pelvis.  I got super excited.  I've been so sick and I know my uterus is growing and I even feel some movement, but I was still holding my breath a little to hear that heartbeat!  Such a relief.
 

[IronMam]

I don't blame the OBs themselves. 90% of them are not trying to just make money off their patients. Most people, by the time they start applying to medical school, know that it's not a career you should choose because you want to be rich (and the application process will filter out most of the people dumb enough to think otherwise). Most doctors actually care very much for their patients. However, they've been trained to specialize in pregnancy and birth problems, and they've got so much weight on their shoulders regarding the possibility of malpractice suits, that they tend to be very careful about taking the "better safe than sorry" route. What I think the US needs is more family docs and midwives treating low-risk pregnancies, and save the OBs for high risk cases.

Actually, around here (Alberta) family docs do most of the prenatal and delivery care. Now that Alberta Health covers midwives, a lot more mums are going to them as well. There's not enough of them, and there's no midwifery school in the province yet, but it will get better in time. An OB only gets called in when a specialist is actually needed.