11/11 Weekly Chat Thread - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[stegenrae]

jakesmama, YES on the random weepiness/losing of sh!t, too. all the time. I have zero control over my emotions lately. :/ 

kel, someone way back in the day posted a pattern for an upcycled sweater made into a snow suit that was adorable. Of course, I didn't bookmark it or anything, so now I can't find it...

christy, good luck with the room changing! take it easy, though, huh?? yay for talking to that woman in the restroom...I am constantly amazed at how so many around me seem to take absolutely no responsibility for their own health situations and don't even bother to look anything up, taking everything their doc says as gospel. (What do you call the med student who finishes last in his class? Doctor.) Hopefully you started her on a path that leads to a better outcome. 

annaka, I tend to be an all-at-once kind of person, whether it be nesting or any project I do. So for better or worse, the braxton hicks and other discomforts have kept me from going all out. I hope your family feels better soon!

sego, I would LOVE for my bathroom to be appropriately scrubbed like that. (but I'm not willing to do it...yet?) Kind of scary about the contractions--glad they died out, though. 

Chica, we had most of my birth supply list stuff on hand anyway, but I'm getting some disposable toiletries-type things at Walgreens. How exciting to be getting close to moving and doing all the nesting all at once. Is your DP off work/have the ability to do all the heavy lifting? AWESOME about the 4Runner from the guy at your church! (and I love black bean/sweet potato burritos--YUM)

AFM...OH, FFS! Dh didn't think we needed to bring the bucket along with us Saturday when we looked at the newer Prius, so we just tested with the base. I was feeling a little uncomfortable with having to drive that all the time, thinking that DS1 wouldn't be able to buckle/unbuckle easily enough. So we went to the dealership down the street to re-test them *with* the bucket. *They.don't.fit!*  But because of a quirk of compounding interest and engineer-DH's math sk1llz, he's going to get the newer car anyway (it will actually save us money), and we'll just switch up who drives what, and I'll drive the damn van ('04 Sienna with door issues). I'm actually relieved. (But he still has a coworker who is coming over tomorrow after work to try a different configuration we hadn't attempted yet.) I, on the other hand, give up; I concede that we will not be able to get our 3 across the back of ANY Prius (except the '12 V, which we can't afford) safely, and I will have to just drive the vehicle that gets 1/3 of that awesome gas mileage and cut back on trips more. I QUIT!

...and I'm pretty certain that in the next two weeks, he'll detail the hell out of the car to sell it instead of scrubbing/detailing the hell out of the inside of the house like I'd prefer. 

OH! and while we were at the dealership, my 7yo decided to run around and around one of the cars with his hands in his coat pockets. That meant that when he inevitably tripped over the parking barrier, his head broke his fall instead of his hands. So he has yet another concussion--some sensory processing things and inheriting my general propensity for accidents mean he's had at least 5 "respectable" mild concussions, and maybe more small ones that we just don't recall or know about. DH is dead freaking serious when he says he wants to get him a special helmet to wear anytime he's not sleeping or bathing. I'm just glad it started swelling outward--I was scared I was going to spend all night at the children's hospital with him. But he claims he doesn't even have a headache, though the bump hurts a lot. (In case it helps anyone else, this is the assessment I use...if it's moderate-severe, we'd go to the hospital.)

And I broke 2 nails fighting with the damned carseats. 

[travelmumma]

Ahhh no I got in too late! Now it's hard to do personals lol! Ok will try!

Chica- I'm so glad you got your Medicaid card! You lucky duck that it covers your Homebirth. Nothing covers Homebirth here for us! As far as getting things together, I've been amazed by how much we already have. Like old towels and sheets etc. then it's just a case of cheap stores and finsind the other bits

Rae- are you serious? Is your son ok? Big hugs! And seconding the wearing of a special helmet! Cute and functional lol!

Sego- wanna come do my tub??? I have been wanting to do it for a while but can't find anything to get the yellow (dunno what it's really called lol) off. What did you use?? I don't really wanna be fooling around with bleach right now ya know? How are you feeling health wise??

Jakesmama- urgh YES YES YES YES YES to being allllllllllll over the place emotionally!!! I think I have cried 3 separate times in the last 24 hours, and I don't know why!! It's driving me up the wall and I don't know how to deal with it!!!

AFM- it was my goal to have Uni finished by tomorrow (wed) but its changed to thurs now cos I gave up on Saturday, took my pants off and laid on the grass crying til the midwife came. LOL sounds frickin odd when I say it like that, but it was sunny and the bump and legs wanted sun. Plus I wanted a cry!
Midwife felt babes position and said bub is so low that that's normally where she expects to find babies mid labour... God knows what that means now.
Last night I came home and realized I'd been having contractions for half hour ish. Had some cramp bark, warm bath and a mouthful of wine and they calmed down, but it's evening again now and they seem to be coming back......
Things playing on my mind? "When the hell am I gonna pop?!?!" With all these "early" signs it's doing my head in. Babe sooo freakishly low and engaged to the point that shoulders are on my cervix, emotionally fizzled, nesting like a freak of nature, and soooo much pressure down low that I am pooping about 3 times a day, contractions coming every evening.... Did not expect to feel this way until I was about to pop! I mean that's a lot of signs am I right?!?!???????????

Oh! My American friend has invited me to Thanksgiving! I'm so excited! It's my first thanksgiving ever! I feel really part of the crew now lol

[segolilymama]

stegan - so sorry about the car frustration. If we all drove electric cars powered by solar, the gas mileage wouldn't even matter. And so sorry your DS hurt his head - ouch. My 2nd is the head injury champ around here - 3 concussions, 3 sets of stitches (6 separate incidents), so I can relate. I wish I was one of those mamas who could super-glue wounds, but I get SO paranoid about dirt/infections.

TM, if I lived nearby, I would happily clean your tub ;) Sorry to hear about your crying bout, although those can be very helpful releases! And yay for a Thanksgiving dinner :) They really are my favorite meal of the year.

So my MW was here yesterday - I now have a pool & birth kit in my bedroom, yay! We went over my log of blood sugar levels, and I filled her in on everything that had happened. I almost cried while talking to her about it - her back-up was wonderful, but I missed Cathy! Anyway, she says my levels put me pretty borderline for Gestational diabetes, and isn't worried, BUT wants me on a pretty strict diet, religiously, for the next few weeks. I have been doing most of what she was asking, anyway, so it's really not that big of a shift. And, we are just a healthy family food wise anyway, that it's not like I'm saying "But what about my McDonalds?" The biggest challenge, already, seems to be how to eat every 2 hours, and get both enough good carbs & protein into each of those 'meals.' Already last night I was hating eating - I don't like to eat if I don't feel hungry, but I don't really feel like I have much of a choice at this point. I only have 2 'cheats' that I am unwilling to give up - I WILL have a glass of wine & piece of cake at my blessingway (if I'm still pregnant, lol, well either way actually!), and I WILL have a glass of wine and slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. Otherwise, I am officially a food saint and will be following a strict diet for the next few weeks.

Oh! And I almost forgot - we had our maternity photos done last night. My friend who is a birth photographer had us come to her house (our idea of doing them in my yurt got scratched because it was about 30 degrees here yesterday, and the stove isn't set up in there yet). DP had been pretty resistant - he doesn't like to have his picture taken - but he was wonderful. As this pregnancy has progressed, he has started to see why certain things are important to me, and was willing to do whatever to make me happy with regard to the pics. Anyway, I am SO excited to see some of them! Plus it got one more thing crossed off my to-do list :)

[annaka]

Stegan: Have you thought about buying different carseats? I know a family with three in carseats that fit them in the backseat of a VW Jetta. (A very small backseat, as well.) Just a thought. :)

[purposefuldoula]

Ladies!!!  SO much is going on, isn't it!? !? I love hearing about everyones nesting that is going on right now. I wish you all to get healthy and kick all of those colds. I've had allergy symptoms pretty much from April on that are just annoying. I can't wait until those go away!  

Mamabeakley, I'm so happy for you and your shower gift! That's so great!! 

Rae- we've been playing the car seat shuffle all week. It's such a pain in the ass! But, I think we have it figured out! We have an (gas hog) acura mdx, that we got when we found out about this baby. I got it for the three rows of seats, thinking that dd1 could ride in the back and dd2 and this babe can ride in the middle but that's a no go. Both  girls said they missed eachother when I moved them apart a few days ago. So yesterday we re did them again! Now it's dd1 in the middle, and dd2 and babe on the outsides since they are both rear facing and dd1 can buckle herself in. I washed the bucket seat cover yesterday and debating on when to put it back in because the cat thinks that any new space is for him. Seriously- yesterday I put our cosleeper together and an hour later I went into our room to find him sleeping in it! He's such an asshole!

Sandi- it sure does sound like you aren't going to make it to your dd :) You have so many birthy symptoms that I don't see a whole lot of first timers get! Let's just make it to December!!

Jen- my homebirth meet up will be this Saturday! Which is so crazy! I'll have a pool ready to go at that time, too! In the mean time, I still need to get an adapter for the hose. It's so exciting! 

I've been nesting like crazy, too. Last week, I ended up just blowing through my homebirth/everything else list. Kmart had a sale on towels, so I got some new ones for us to use now, and we'll use our old, (dark) ones for the birth. I got a ton of stuff at the Dollar Tree. They have mattress pads and shower curtains so I picked up a few of those for water proofing. After I got home I finally went and ordered everything that I didn't get while out and about through amazon. Today I had chux pads come in the mail :)   Yesterday, a big box came in with a few Christmas presents and a new "diaper" bag for me. I haven't bought myself anything that nice in a long time, so that was exciting. It's really a giant purse that has three big compartments so I can put baby stuff in one, diabetes stuff in another, and me stuff in the last one.  Today, I'm going to be nesting around upstairs, as my mom has been gone visiting my brother in AK so we got her a bed and some furniture while she was gone.  Things are going much better in that area, which she's been gone for almost a week so I guess that's helping, too :)  Oh and Thanksgiving-  I think we are doing just a low key one with just us! We invited DH's dad, but I'm pretty sure that he's not going to make it.  My mom is going back to IL to be with my sister and my dad just isn't going anywhere, so yeah, it looks like it's just us. I think it will be the calm before the storm though, since everyone is planning on coming sometime in December to meet Judah and possible spend Christmas here.  I should be preparing a list of things for everyone to do for me, since I plan on hibernating in my room that entire time! 

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!! I just adore this group and think of you all often when I'm having a rough time. I just remember that we are all going through so many of the same things, then I stop feeling so down and remember why we are! Our babies will be here before we know it! 

[kel]

A link to an article on baby spinal and hip growth, and why babies should be carried as much as possible...

http://www.bobafamily.com/research/strollers-baby-carriers-and-infant-stress/

[mamaharrison]

stegan--have you contacted my cousin for help? I think she could really give you some good advice ; ) She has 3 across the back of an older prius and her hubs is 6'2'' and has seat all the way back and a BIG 7 year old in a booster, a 5 year old in a car seat, and a 2 year old in a convertable--and they did this when the 2 year old was an infant, too....AND she is a safety seat installer, so she knows her shit!

[e-mail]--really--ask her what she has going on back there and what she has used.

[lulubikes]

Hi Everyone!

I started reading to catch up and was determined to do personals, but now feel overwhelmed! So much going on!

First - I hope that everyone who is sick gets better! (Tropicana, esp, smerkin, jakesmama, annaka... did I miss anyone?) I highly recommend elderberry syrup/tincture and echinacea tincture to boost your immune system. I also up my vitamin C with Emergen-C. Both those herbs are safe in pregnancy.

Lots of you are nesting and checking off those lists - me too! feels so great doesn't it! I just wish I had the nesting energy. I just am dragging myself to do the things I want/need to be done. I wish I had the energy to scrub the floors and bathroom. I just look at them and think, maybe DH will do it...

To all the weepy mamas - I think it is super healthy!

Rae - I hope your son is doing better. How scary! That concussion link you sent - it doesn't have a total score to determine the overal ranking - I'd be interested in that too.

AFM - I have to say I just figured out what AFM means. I feel very dumb. The past few weeks, I keep thinking who is this mama AFM? I don't see her listed anywhere! LOL "as for me"!!!

So AFM - 2 more working days! Woo-hoo. But I have a lot of work at home to do for getting my at home business (Radiant Belly) ready for me to step back a bit when the baby is born. I've been focusing on getting the baby/birth tub room ready, which it pretty much is now. So now I get to focus on the business. I figure worst case scenario my employees and DC can talk to me and I can talk them through what needs to be done while I'm nursing the baby!

The last big thing we need to do is get the car seat installed. There is a clinic where they check it out for you this saturday sponsored by one of the hospitals. I think we'll go. DH was like do we really need to do that, can't we just install it ourselves! I told him 80% of people have their car seats installed incorrectly - I want to make sure it is correct :)

I think the baby really dropped in the past few days. I feel way more pressure on my bladder and am peeing significantly less volume even though I'm drinking tons - just more often!

[stegenrae]

Dana, we have emailed. She has 2 in Radians plus an infant seat. My problem is that DS1 is in a high back booster--or any booster, as opposed to a narrow 5-pt harness for big kiddos, like the Radian80 he grew out of about a year ago. If he weren't in a HBB, things would be infinitely easier with a small car...but he'd grow out of it sometime, yk? So, annaka, that's why new seats still wouldn't work for us--we can technically get the seats in, but he can't really buckle/unbuckle by himself in those configurations...and I know I could leave it buckled and have him shimmy in/out (PITA), but only if the bucket is in the middle, and that just makes my back hurt thinking of it, anyway. I mean, even if I'd leave the seat in all the time (my plan, actually), stooping over and getting close enough to xfer a sleeping babe to/from a carrier is going to be painful at best, yk? 

Natalie--my cat is the SAME WAY!. She particularly loves carseats and luggage, for some reason. 

[mamaharrison]

Originally Posted by stegenrae 

Dana, we have emailed. She has 2 in Radians plus an infant seat. My problem is that DS1 is in a high back booster--or any booster, as opposed to a narrow 5-pt harness for big kiddos, like the Radian80 he grew out of about a year ago. If he weren't in a HBB, things would be infinitely easier with a small car...but he'd grow out of it sometime, yk? So, annaka, that's why new seats still wouldn't work for us--we can technically get the seats in, but he can't really buckle/unbuckle by himself in those configurations...and I know I could leave it buckled and have him shimmy in/out (PITA), but only if the bucket is in the middle, and that just makes my back hurt thinking of it, anyway. I mean, even if I'd leave the seat in all the time (my plan, actually), stooping over and getting close enough to xfer a sleeping babe to/from a carrier is going to be painful at best, yk? 

Natalie--my cat is the SAME WAY!. She particularly loves carseats and luggage, for some reason. 

that is odd--I KNOW she doesn't have any kiddo in an infant seat since her youngest is 2 now--maybe that is the configuration she had when DD was born though? But now I feel like she has 1 in a HBB, and 2 radians--at least that was last I saw and 1 radian is RF.Yes, I totally get the infant seat in the middle issue--that is where our infant seats have to go and I don't take the seats out ever {babywearer} and so bending in and out does suck and I wouldn't want to do it over another car seat! Frustrating! 

[smerkin]

smerking, welcome! I'll be honest, every time I see your screen name I giggle a little. :) How exciting that you're filling your extra fridge/freezer with meals! I've definitely got the freezer meal itch, but I need to wait until we move (same thing with gathering birth supplies). Just a few more weeks until December 1st and then I can tackle all of those things. What's your favorite freezer meal to make? I've been pinning away on Pinterest but love to hear suggestions!

Hahah, thanks, yeah its a mash-up of my first and last names. :)

Should we start a feeding the freezer thread? I've been just doing a few things here and there whenever I have a chance but there's still a lot more that I'd like to do. Today I made a double batch of this: http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/03/lasagna-casserole-recipe.html and DH was super excited and wanted to eat it right away. I was planning on having some for dinner but I didn't get it done in time so we just had egg tacos for dinner.

I also want to have some easy 'kid food' ready so we don't have leftovers or sandwiches every day. So I made a batch of these: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/homemade-corn-dogs-and-corn-dog-muffins my girls loved them and called them cupcakes so that was a big hit. I'm going to make a few more batches of those.
We do not have any food allergies or vegetarian preferences so I am not limited in what I make. When life is "normal" I try to go with a more paleo food plan but for right now my theory is that anything homemade will be better than take-out or frozen pizza. I also have some various soups and some chili as well. I've been making double or triple batches of those and then freezing what we don't eat after a meal or two. I love soups because they freeze so easily and don't take up a lot of space. I freeze them flat in ziplock bags and then stack them up and you can fit a ton in a small space.

I'm also going to cook up a ton of bacon to have on hand for egg dishes. And I want to throw together all the ingredients for some favorite crock-pot meals so I can just toss them in the crock-pot in the morning for an easy dinner.

Anyone else got some more ideas or suggestions to make life easier?

Had my 36 week check-up today and met the new midwife that my midwife just hired to help her out. Loved her and she was very nice and funny. Did the Strep B test and I'm really hoping that is negative (I deliver in a hospital w/a midwife so abx are mandatory if you are +). We also toured the hospital that I'm delivering at this time and it was nice and they are very pro-natural, pro-breastfeeding, etc... I've been thinking this whole time that I would go early but now I've got more of a December vibe going. Since my first was late and my second labor started with my water breaking I'm just thinking I'll go at least to my due date now. Which is fine, I don't really care although it would be nice not being too close to Christmas since my first is 12/30 but he'll come when he's ready. She also guessed him at about 6 lbs. now and thinks he'll be about 8 at my due date. Which is what I've guessed since my girls were 7#7oz and 7#5oz.

Love hearing everyone's Thanksgiving plans! I'm going to make a ton of cinnamon rolls tomorrow for when my family comes. Here's the recipe: http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/01/bread-machine-cinnamon-roll.html they are very delicious and super easy.

[stegenrae]

Originally Posted by mamaharrison 

that is odd--I KNOW she doesn't have any kiddo in an infant seat since her youngest is 2 now--maybe that is the configuration she had when DD was born though? But now I feel like she has 1 in a HBB, and 2 radians--at least that was last I saw and 1 radian is RF.Yes, I totally get the infant seat in the middle issue--that is where our infant seats have to go and I don't take the seats out ever {babywearer} and so bending in and out does suck and I wouldn't want to do it over another car seat! Frustrating! 

Hm, maybe I'm thinking of the RF Radian...but I know she has a wedge that makes it a bit more upright for kiddos who can sit up on their own. 

Honestly, though I will hate actually driving the big thing at first (nevermind fitting it into our 1-car garage, lol), I'm looking forward to having the van instead. And I have a glimmer of hope that we can get the automatic doors fixed. (because lemme tell ya, doors that are not *made* to be manual sliding doors are waaaay harder to slide than you'd think!)

[Harmony96]

Okay, I'm about ready for these crazy intense dreams to lay off for a little bit. The past three nights, MULTIPLE times a night, I've had highly vivid dreams. I haven't posted much about them because they fade pretty much as soon as I'm vertical, but I had one last night that I can remember some of.

I was at home, and I was due (but not in labor yet) and getting ready for birth by trying to declutter. There was a room that had a HUGE HUGE pile of random Bible class stuff from DD (some of it posterboard-sized) that needed to be sorted and organized. I also found a random cassette player that had ONE tape with it - part of a Dr. Who show (now, this was audio only). I set it aside to donate to Goodwill, lol. Then, I found a hair clip (the "claw" style variety that has a spring in the middle) except the thing was so skinny and scrawny that it might only hold up about two strands of hair. DH wanted to KEEP that, and he ended up being able to attach it to the handle of a hand mirror and tried to say that that's where it goes. We had some friends over (a current friend we know IRL, and some random guy that I went to high school with and haven't seen since then, lol) and both of them said that the clip doesn't go there and DH finally gave it back to me so I could put it in the "donate" pile. THEN, I suddenly realized that my birth pool wasn't blown up yet, lol. So I grabbed it and took it to our friends and asked them to blow it up for me, lol. Then I woke up.

In another one earlier in the week, I was either visiting or living with Mom still, and there was some issue that I needed to resolve with her, but instead of talking to her, all I could do was start crying every time I saw her. I was glad to wake up and have that be just a dream.

[Harmony96]

Originally Posted by smerkin 

Should we start a feeding the freezer thread?

Yes, because for the first time since DH and I have been, I actually CAN make some freezer meals (we even have a separate freezer and everything), but my mind is a total blank, lol.

[lulubikes]

Hey mamas -

I thought I was in labor last night! The first time since it's been "ok" to go into labor. I'm 38 weeks now, so it could be anytime, but I really thought I'd go past my due date (could still!).

Anyway, I woke up to pee and couldn't get back to sleep. Was having contractions that were painful, just annoying so I couldn't sleep, but not really bad. They were frequent, but I didn't time them. Prob every 10 mins or so. I also felt nauseous, but that might have been due to needing to eat. I did get up and drink some kefir (my nighttime go-to for protein and sugar). Eventually, I took some valarian tincture because I couldn't get to sleep... and was thinking I need to sleep if I'm going to be going into labor. Eventually, I fell asleep - interestingly when my alarm went off this morning while I was snoozing the slightly painful contractions continued. I decided to get up and get ready for work because I only have today and tomorrow and don't want to use any sick leave unless it is the real thing! So far, things have died down. Baby is super active though. More than he/she has been in a while.

I think I wrote how we were basically ready yesterday - but when I couldn't sleep due to these contractions, all I could think about was the things I wanted to get done before the baby came!

We'll see!

[tropicana74]

lulubikes, if I remember correctly you have the earliest due date of anyone here? How fun if you had the first baby huh? 

Hope you get in your last 2 days of work...

[lulubikes]

tropicana - I just checked and I am one of the first. There are two other mamas listed 11/29 and 12/1 - not sure if they're around much anymore. I didn't recognize the screen names.

I never thought I'd be first, I've been mentally preparing to go late! Of course this doesn't necessarily mean anything. I might still go late! LOL

Going to make it through today's work - nothing else has been happening. We'll see if anything happens tonight. I know all to well that this could go on for many nights! But, I hope I either go on to be in labor or just go back to being uncomfortable sleeping

[segolilymama]

lulu - how exciting! I LOVE that we have at least one mama who is 'full term' and starting to feel labor pangs. VERY exciting. Keep us all posted, please! I tend to have 3 day prodromal period before full-blown labor, so yeah, it could go on for awhile. I try to not pay too much attention. Glad you got at least one of those last 2 days of work in ;)

Today was my last 'work' day at the school. I had hoped to stick around a little longer, but between the exhaustion & the blood sugar issues, it just seemed best to cut my year short. It was weird, because I hadn't really planned or announced it - I had just said I would work for as long as I could. So there was no 'good-bye' or anything. of course, I will see the staff at my Blessingway, and plan to attend our annual chili supper & holiday party, if I can (most likely the party will be with baby in tow :)). The saddest thing for me is not working with our Odyssey of the Mind team - we meet twice a week and have SO much fun together. They have been turned over to another staff member until I return. Then she & I may have to fight over them ;)

[tropicana74]

Originally Posted by segolilymama 

Today was my last 'work' day at the school. 

Congrats on being done. I am sure this was a really good decision based on everything else you have going on health wise. Mixed emotions I'm sure. 

I just made the mistake of popping on Pinterest. A recipe popped up for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt. I quickly clicked off the page and am trying to clear my mind of them but O.M.G. those are like all my favorite flavors wrapped up into one cookie....do I dare?  Sooooo tempting! DH is at work and the LO's are all in bed.....that's dangerous. 

I noticed the scale hit 25 pounds yesterday BUT if you can't splurge at 8 months pregnant than when can you splurge....um, right?!

[purposefuldoula]

Amy- do it!