Weekly Chat - September 10-16 - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[ascher21]

Wow, I am seriously in awe of mamanf for birthing an 11 lb. baby with a 15" head!!

Alli--hope all is well and you're getting through!

Just got another call from my mother telling me not to have the baby this week because dad is away and she has no one to watch the farm. I hope I do just because. As it has been said before, "Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part". Now let's hope I'm not sending "baby don't come yet" vibes because of that silly remark. I've got a FIL on the other side who is leaving on vacation on the 23rd, so he wants me to have this baby now. This is all so aggravating.  Wish they would just stop saying this stupid stuff. Hence the desire to leave my phone "off" lately.

[nukuspot]

WCM, I love all your names but especially Scarlet Sky...

[Faliciagayle]

Alli -     sending labor vibes your way!

Yay for MamanF and her amazing birthing abilities!

I had kind of a bummer of a MW apt yesterday.  I'm 39 weeks and I met with her backing MW and I just don't have the mental space or emotional energy to meet a new person right now.  Babe floated back into an oblique position (head down but head near my left hip - not in my pelvis).  I felt like my body is defective due to these "stretched out abdominal muscles" because now they want me to wear a binder and a support belt to keep baby in position.  Seriously?  Everything I've read says subsequent babies don't engage early - sometimes not till labor.  Sigh.  

Ascher, sorry you're dealing with grumpy family!

WCM - I like Josephine.  We still have no idea what this baby will be regardless of sex, so I feel your pain :)

ETA:  Judy I think it's AWESOME that you're running!!!  So inspiring!

MissE - here's a labor fairy for you, too!  

[nukuspot]

Wow, I just saw MamanF's birth announcement. I'm in awe, 11lbs! I still have no contractions, no new signs of labor even after the acupuncture yesterday. I can't sleep this morning, a mix of uncomfortableness, bad dreams, pelvic/leg pain, and yes, stress. I will be 41 weeks in 2 days and I never thought I'd go this far. I'm concerned what the plan is as I reach close to 42 weeks as my MW will be leaving town. I have an appt with her on Friday and we need to discuss it in detail then. And I need to request another sweep. The only real contraction pattern I've had came after my last sweep....And after sex but that was so uncomfortable I don't know if I can bring myself to try again soon.

[Ava's Mama]

Congrats for Maman and all of you in early labor!

Still nothing here.  I am 40 + 4.  I just left a voice message for my homeopath to see if she has any rememdies to get things moving.  When she calls back I am going to ask if she thinks I should make an acupuncture appointment as well.  I have a MW appointment tomorrow.  I am not uncomfortable, but now I just feel like I am open and ready to birth AND DD was born at 40 + 4, so I guess I always thought my second baby would come earlier than my first!  Although with DD, I had my membranes swept at this point and acupuncture, and I was having sex, so those are three things that I haven't been doing!

[MissE]

@Mole: Hope things start moving for you soon. You sound pretty relaxed still for being so far along. Good luck.

@Faliciagayle: Thank you for the fairy :). Reading here I keep forgetting, that I still have one week to my due date and my OB said she would let me go over. Now I don't know how far over but I'm hoping five days...so that gives me almost two more weeks of pregnancy. Even though I can't imagine being pregnant that much longer (with so much pain in my butt from baby's head I guess) it's good to know that I have time left.

@Ava's Mama: Good luck to you too. I might be getting my membranes swept tomorrow if there's any dilation. I wish our insurance would pay or accupuncture or chiros etc...wha whaaaa.

Got DH to DTD last night. I told him it's either him or EPO LOL and he didn't wanna miss out on some action that I actually initiated. As long as it's quick and doesn't involve change of position for me it's all good...I'm actually enjoying it but I don't wanna contort myself and I'm being lazy ha.

[Ava's Mama]

Evi - My insurance covers (or helps cover) my homeopath because she is also a PA.  But no coverage of acupuncture, so that would be out of pocket.  It seems like with all my appointments etc I would finally have met my deductible!  I had to pay my midwife by my 36 week appointment, but I can not submit to insurance until baby is born...grr!  That bill should finally get me to reach my deductible!  We are self employed and currently on my DH's COBRA insurance (he was laid off last August), so it is is still very expensive, but better coverage than we will get when we have to get catastrphic insurance in February when COBRA runs out.  OK, sorry, enough about insurance crap!

[MissE]

LOL...insurance crap. I cannot complain too much about our insurance. We have TRICARE, my DH is medically retired from the military and we have insurance for life, it's very affordable, even for a family (460/YEAR for all of us) and they paid 100% of my prenatal visits so far and will be covering birth, except a 24 Dollar copay. They paid for the ambulance transfer when I all of a sudden had contractions in June and I never even saw a bill. So I really have no reason to complain. Now they don't cover dental or midwifes or any alternative doctors that I would use but still...it's insurance, that gives us peace of mind, big time.

[mole]

MissE- I am relaxed! I'm just so confident that the fetus is still inside because that's what's best for it right now :). My mom said it's a testament to how healthy I am which makes me kind of happy it's still choosing to be inside. She thinks I was born so early because of her problems with her uterus. I am not suggesting that it is less healthy to have a baby earlier! So many healthy, perfect babies and mamas have their births earlier! I just mean that this is normal for me and my fetus right now. I'm healthy and it's moving around so much, so I think it's healthy too. Waiting longer isn't anything for me to stress about- I would strongly prefer it to be born by Saturday so that I can birth at the birthing center. If I have to birth at the hospital, I'm fine with that, because I know I will still have a healthy birth there, but I would prefer the comfort/peace of the birthing center. Yesterday I switched from telling the fetus that it's welcome to join us on the outside to asking it if it would please join us on the outside. I was thinking that I need to physically/emotionally ready, and the fetus needs to be ready, too, and probably being born can be really scary for some fetii, so maybe it is scared. I'm absolutely being ridiculous about this, but like we all have to sometimes do things that are scary or hard for our family or the people we love, so maybe the fetus could come out because I would like it to, even if it would like to stay inside a little longer, as long as it is healthy for it to do so. I'm totally being ridiculous ;).  

MamanF is seriously such a hero. I can't imagine my baby being that big! Actually- all of us are heroes :). We've done a lot of work to bring more love into the world.  

[ascher21]

Mole--I've been telling my LO the same thing. Mostly words of encouragement, like "we can do this together!" and other things. It sounds like you have a healthy perspective on things and are prepared for whatever comes your way.

I'm wondering how activealli is doing...

[Ava's Mama]

Mole - What a beautiful take on the waiting game! 

I talked to my homeopath and she suggested taking a couple doses of Pulsatilla 200C every 2-3 hours to see if that gets anything moving.  I asked my midwife if I should make acupuncture appointment or do anything else to move things along and she suggested waiting.  This is just so different than DD's birth when they were so worried that she was "too small" and I was having NST every other day blah blah blah and threats of induction.  I guess I just don't know what to do with myself!

[PrettyHippie]

Originally Posted by nukuspot 

Wow, I just saw MamanF's birth announcement. I'm in awe, 11lbs! I still have no contractions, no new signs of labor even after the acupuncture yesterday. I can't sleep this morning, a mix of uncomfortableness, bad dreams, pelvic/leg pain, and yes, stress. I will be 41 weeks in 2 days and I never thought I'd go this far. I'm concerned what the plan is as I reach close to 42 weeks as my MW will be leaving town. I have an appt with her on Friday and we need to discuss it in detail then. And I need to request another sweep. The only real contraction pattern I've had came after my last sweep....And after sex but that was so uncomfortable I don't know if I can bring myself to try again soon.

Yeah, we tried this too and I was joking with my girlfriend that it was probably the most uncomfortable akward sex we'd ever had!  Obviously it didn't help either.  Boo.  I feel for all of us who are just so.gosh.darn.uncomfortable!  

MamaF is my hero.  I mean wow!  So glad he's finally here!

Okay....time to hobble out to the barn and get the chores done....I'm so ready for DH's paternity leave so I don't have to do them anymore for awhile!!!

[WindyCityMom]

Had my membranes stripped this morning!

When the midwife checked me I was 1cm dilated.  Once she began the sweep (ouch!) she paused and told me that as soon as she started she felt my cervix pop open to a 3 (I felt it happen- it wasn't her stretching it!) and asked if I wanted to stop and I let her continue.  I'm totally okay with my cervix deciding to open up for her, lol.  Anyways she had some deal of blood and mucous on her glove, which I've read is a good sign.

I'm still having some blood and mucous but I'm not sure it constitutes "bloody show"... or does it?  I've been having fairly mild contractions but they aren't strong at all and not enough of a nuisance for me to want to stop what I'm doing to time them.  I got home around 11:30am, took 2oz of castor oil at 12:00pm.  Then took a hot shower & expressed milk from one of my breasts (it's way ahead of itself and if I don't I get plugged ducts.. ow!).

Trying to rest a little between loads of laundry.. but I feel like I should probably be walking around or bouncing on my birth ball or something.  I'm in nesting mode right now but I'm still so full from brunch.  Bleck.

Oh, and I think I'm also going to do the castor oil the "right" way this time- 2oz 2 hours after the first 2oz.  Ugh. Yuck.  

[Ava's Mama]

Fingers crossed WCM!!!  Did you midwife say how far past your EDD she will let you go for VBAC?

[hyde]

Drive-by posting.. joining others in thinking of activealli, sending labor vibes to WCM, and admiring the heck out of MamanF and judybean! :)

(And, I'll be honest, in having the most awkward sex ever.. it's like a comedy of errors. My husband is a trooper, because whatever we're doing is officially not sexy AT ALL. Hehehe.) 

[WindyCityMom]

She seems to be doing all *she* can to let me go as far as she can.  Their official cutoff is 41 weeks.  She fudged my cervical progress in her paperwork *I think* because it'll make it harder on them to label me as "failure to progress" during labor, should things go slowly in the hospital.  She told me that at 40 weeks she'll strip my membranes again, and that she'll have me come in every other day after that for repeat sweeps.  On her calendar I'm 41 weeks on the 22nd.  On mine I'm 40+5 today.  I still have time left.  I'm going on "in the moment" intuition.  Right now I want to stay home and UBAC.  We'll see how I feel when I go into labor... I'm still packing a hospital bag though, in case of emergency transfer and in case I change my mind.

Oh, also, baby is *really* low.  Like between my knees.  I was measuring 39 weeks last week, I think, and this week I measured 36 weeks.  Same midwife doing all of the measuring.  Strangers comment that the baby looks like it's going to fall out.. lol.

[WindyCityMom]

Originally Posted by hyde 

(And, I'll be honest, in having the most awkward sex ever.. it's like a comedy of errors. My husband is a trooper, because whatever we're doing is officially not sexy AT ALL. Hehehe.) 

Glad it's not just me!!  And thank you for the labor vibes! 

[teegan db]

Oh, mamas! Seems like things are definitely starting to happen for everyone this week. 

My little wiggle worm has been dropping these past few days and my back is not happy if I'm standing around on my feet for too long - thank goodness I only have two days of work left, and I'm going in late for both shifts. Fortunately, DH gives a lovely massage ('good practice for labor,' I tell him, as he digs his knuckles into my pelvis and back) and a lot of yoga poses are helping work out the kinks. 

As far as sex, we've actually DTD TWICE in the past week after a long time not doing it. Sorry if this is tmi, but I'm not usually "successful" on top, so we avoided that earlier in the pregnancy. Now that we're so far along and there are no other options, though, we're giving it another try, and as long as we're patient, it seems to be going well!

38w2d today. I'm working at checking things off the to-do list - sending out thank-you cards for baby gifts, stocking up on some groceries, grabbing the last few things off of my midwives' list of homebirth necessities. The baby and I are having conversations about how it's welcome to come any time, though things might work better for both grandmothers if it waits until Sunday at least. DH and I are having more conversations about parenting in general, and I cannot express how excited I am to raise a baby with that man. 

I go back and forth between feeling totally empowered and prepared for this labor, and wondering if I'm delusional and it's going to knock the wind out of me completely. Mostly, I'm staying on the very very positive side. My body has been phenomenal during this whole pregnancy, and I don't believe it'll let me down now.

Sending good vibes to all of you - those with babes, those in labor, and those patiently (or not so patiently!) waiting. 

[goin' green]

Yay for more babies!  11 pounds - wow!!!  

I posted about my ctx yesterday and last night I had a bunch more. Started after 11pm, I finally fell asleep around 12:30, then woke up again at 3:40.  Still having ctx, but further apart.  Last night they were much more uncomfortable than the night before.  I took a bath, and went back to bed around 4:40.  Stayed in bed til about 7, woke up. Was having more braxton hicks (which is what I call them when I get tightness only, but not uncomfortable).  Then as the morning progressed, more uncomfortable ones.  That continued all morning, about 8-10 mins apart, and then all of a sudden stopped.  

I went to the chiro this afternoon and he felt baby's position.  He told me last week he thought I'd go early and today after feeling babe said he doesn't think I have long at all, but we'll see.  It's so hard to not get my hopes up when they start, only to have them stop again.   When I went into labor with DD, it started very much this way, but was only abuot a day and a half of ctx and then 4 hours of active labor.  STarted Monday night and she was born on a Wednesday morning.  So, we're already past that with this one.  Other difference - I was having mucous by now with DD and nothing since Saturday morning here.  

The waiting game part sucks!  I also feel way more "over" this one than I did with her, which doesn't help!

[judybean]

So happy for more babies and hoping that by not hearing from other mamas, maybe there are more on the way we don't know about yet!

I have a midwife appointment in a bit.  She'll come to our house again because her office days are days dh works and since her office is three hours away, I'm just not willing to drive four kids three hours up and three hours back at 40w3d pregnant. 

While yesterday I felt like a rock star (ran a mile! and walked a super fast mile in addition to running!), today I feel like a slug and so mentally... ugh... unstable or something.  Just. done.  Grumpy and grouchy and just not too find of dealing with people.  I think the waiting is messing with dh as well.  He would never admit it or anything, but he's been kind of on edge as well.. I'm not exactly sure why (could be simply a culmination of a ton of major life events all crammed into the space of a month: birthday, anniversary, ordination as a deacon, and a fifth child!), but he's just been a bit more tense it seems.  But it really does seem to affect everybody!  Even the girls seem just a bit more anxious in dealings with each other and others!  So... for the mental stability of all our family, I'm really, really hoping this baby will be born by or on Saturday the 15th (41 weeks for me).  DD4 was born at 41 weeks all on her own, so it can (and hopefully will) happen.