Weekly Chat ~ Nov 26 - December 4 « Back to Group Discussions

[nstewart]

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd start a new chat thread.  Last week's was pretty quiet.  I imagine a lot of you mamas we busy with preparing for Thanksgiving, travelling, and spending time with family.  Can't wait to hear how it all went!

I thought I'd paste in the last few posts from the last thread:

Originally Posted by BaileyB 

Thanks for the love ladies. I am feeling better about it today. I have a shirt from my first pregnancy that says, "Look, I am pregnant and I really don't need your bullcrap right now, okay?" I am tempted to wear it tomorrow but then I would feel petty. Why not just dress up nice to feel better, right?

This morning I was visited by the morning sickness fairy (that bitch!) The rest of the day was great though. DD is really into her nail polish so we painted her fingers and toes to match her dress for tomorrow and the weather was amazing! 70* and sunny, I even had the windows open! DH is out of state for work and will be home in a few hours so I am trying to quick vacuum and clean up so it doesn't look like I slacked off while he was gone, lol.

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Originally Posted by BaileyB 

Oh and yea, I think pregnancy was a lot different back then. My MIL's mom was of the generation that breastfeeding was yucky and bad for you and the baby. No baby could possibly thrive on breast milk only! You better start that 6 week old baby on some cereal right away! I know a lot of women smoked to try to keep weight off while pregnant, too. Although, a relative of mine smoked when she was pregnant with her first and still gained 65 lbs. When she delivered over due and the doctor said the baby weighed 4.5 lbs she told him he better check for another baby in there because she counting on at least a 20 lb baby, haha . Served her right.

Originally Posted by nstewart 

Yes, I was reading in one of Ina May's books that you weren't to gain more than 15lbs during a pregnancy when she had her first (late 60s early 70s) and that doctors would really give you crap if you did and even prescribe hard core diuretics, which was actually dangerous for mom and babe.

We have our own set of challenges these days, but at least unrealistic expectation (well, except from annoying strangers and family members!) isn't one of them.  My MW doesn't even require you to keep track of weight gain.  I am, just for myself, but she doesn't seem to be too concerned about that type of thing.

And, can I just say that I actually felt so womanly and beautiful when I was pregnant with DS? (at least until the real swelling kicked in).  I loved having that "fertility godess" look with full breasts and a belly and hips and felt more like a woman than any other time in my life.  Anyone who wants to interfere with that feeling with comments about weight can go jump off a bridge!

Originally Posted by TwilightJoy 

Hi ladies!
Hope you all had great thanksgivings! We are back home from Thanksgiving #1 and all of our guests have left from Thanksgiving #2. Both were great with our lovely families, but it is also nice to have the house to ourselves and return to normalcy.
In baby news, I've started contacting doulas!!! I am so excited!!! I emailed about 10 of them and 5 emailed me back. Going to set up interviews for DH and I over the next few weeks so we can find the one that fits best with us. Yay!

Well, we didn't have Thanksgiving to occupy us this weekend.  But we did take a trip to meet up with my BIL/SIL and their two little ones.  We met them in a city 3 hours north of us, which is about 2.5 hours south of them, so met up in the middle.  They live in a super small town, so had to go to "the city" for Christmas shopping.  And for us it was just a chance to visit with family. 

TJ, I've started the "doula hunt" too.  We had a doula when DS was born, but she lives an hour away from our house (at least!) and DS was born rather quickly so I don't want to chance her making it to us this time!  I have an interview set up with one doula (who I'm really enthusiastic about based on our telephone conversation) tomorrow night, and have been corresponding with 2 others.  I ruled out two others based on our initial phone conversation (just didn't get a good vibe).  I will say that I am having a MUCH easier time finding douals this time than last.  DS was born in July and a lot of people go on vacation then.  Feeling like I have more of a choice is great.

[CoBabyMaker]

Bailey, I am always irritated by people commenting on my size too! A friend of mine who is 28 weeks called me last week because her aunt had made comments about her size and she was hurt. I spent all of my last pregnancy with my MIL saying things like, "How are you measuring? Are you measuring big?" or "Wow, that Cora sure is big." I agree, I think it's in part because they were expected to gain so little. MIL said she felt like she had to diet when she was pregnant or she would get in trouble from the doctor. I think that's so sad. I've seen your belly pics and they are adorable!

N and Twilight, It sounds like you both had a great weekend!

Thanksgiving was pretty good, just evening with family that was fun. I got my mashed potatoes and gravy which is the whole reason for Thanksgiving dinner in my opinion. DH's grandfather came which is always interesting because he can't see or hear very well-makes for funny, redundant, discussions. It was a nice time though. Then on Saturday we got together again for my BILs bday. So a fun family weekend! It was a bit overshadowed for DH and I by a friend of ours passing away in a dune buggy accident Thanksgiving morning. He was just 19 and such a great guy. He was always helping others and working with the youth group. He will be missed greatly and I feel for the kids especially because they loved him so.

I got my Christmas decorations up which I am excited about that. We still need to get a tree. The girls are so excited about their nativity set and little tree they get to decorate (and redecorate, and redecorate...) Has anyone else put up their decorations? Are you real tree households or fake tree? I am a real tree fan but DH is trying to convince me to get a fake one.

[Lynann]

I was pretty quiet last week as DH was home, and I limit online time when he is home.

We had a really quiet Thanksgiving, just the four of us. We had deep fried turkey. We just finished most of our leftovers yesterday and today the rest of the turkey is being made into soup in the crockpot.

Our new stove arrived on Saturday. I'm so excited to have a working oven again. The very first thing I did was bake some bread. I really missed our home made bread for the 2 weeks we had no oven.

We're not having much by way of decorations this year. We don't do a tree, but I do usually have a lot of other stuff around. This year however DS1 is into everything, so while I was napping yesterday DH got fed up dealing with it and put most of it away. I guess he isn't as used to dealing with toddlers as I thought. He's a great dad, but he couldn't cope with the non-stop curiosity over the decorations (we had put them up during the boys nap time) and felt it was easier to remove them than keep redirecting our 2 year old. Maybe next year we'll have a bit more back out on display.

[adventuregirl]

Hi Mamas! SUPER busy at work today, but I wanted to drop in quickly. Thanksgiving was really nice, had a really nice day with friends. Took DD to the movies on Friday before she was off for the weekend with her dad. So DH and I then had a nice couple days together, doing lots around the house, and finished off with a dinner date last night and putting up Christmas lights (I love, love lights!). I am super excited for DD to see the lights when she comes home tonight.

We do a real tree, DH is a Forester, so he is all about the real tree and can get them for free. He's getting the tree tomorrow at work and we'll put it up this coming weekend.

CBM - so sorry about your friend, that is awful!

Hope everyone enjoys their week!

[Ghislaine]

We're actually going to my in-laws house tonight for a Thanksgiving leftovers meal!  LOL  We had our Thanksgiving Day meal at my sister-in-laws house.  Since she'd asked if I could bring green bean casserole I got to eat one that I wasn't allergic too!  The MSG in most cream of whatever soups have always given me headaches!  I've already put in a request to my MIL for cranberry sauce at tonight's dinner.  Somehow that was missing on Thanksgiving Day but I don't know if that was on purpose or just forgotten since there was some trouble fully cooking the turkey!

I've only just thought about putting up the Advent calendar.  My husband's birthday is the 17th so we usually wait to put up the tree.  We live in Vermont so it'd be pretty silly for us to do a fake tree it seems to me!  We go cut our own at the in-laws' neighbors' tree farm.

I've already figured out who we'll go with for a doula, she was my post partum doula last time.  However, I'm already going to have two midwives and a midwife student at my birth so I'm thinking I may not need a doula.  I'll save her for post partum again.

[AmandaLynnH]

Hi everyone!  Sounds like everyone had a nice thanksgiving!  Ours was...interesting.  My brother and SIL cut my mother off last Sunday which made thing interesting.  Everyone thought we shouldn't go because that would make things even more stressful and I did email my mother telling here there was no way we'd be discussing the situation and if it was brought up we'd leave.  I was kinda hoping she'd throw a fit and we'd have an excuse not to go.  Wednesday we took off and were supposed to leave early but spent a few (somewhat cry-y) hours debating if we should go or  not.  Ended up going.  It wasn't as trainwrecky as I was expecting but that's only because I think my mother rightly sensed that she was on thin ice with us too and was on her best behavior.  I did get a plethora of martyr comments and one about my supposed belly (there's nothing there yet unless I'm bloated).  Thursday night I forgot to take my unisom and b6 combo and learned that yes, I do still need them.  Felt crappy Friday but it got us out of there a few hours early.  Wish I would have thought of that excuse without the nausea.

My back has been killing me.  I have this knot in my right butt cheek that won't go away and then my lower back kicks in with pain too.  The 5 hour car rides did not help.  Worked from home today because this morning I could hardly move. It's gotten better throughout the day but it still bugs me.  Must try to walk through it.  Gotta get my 3 30 min sessions in each week if I want that $50 reward from work and I really, really do (I have a baby to pay for!).  

Almost done with holiday shopping save for a gift for my brother (which we know what it is we just have to go get it) and two ornaments for my godsons and some stocking stuffers for DH.

Put our decorations up last night and I'm loving Christmas in the new house.  Actually looking forward to it this year, but, then again, we're spending it here instead of with my momster.  

Hope everyone has a good week!

[jacquelinej]

Well, amazingly enough Thanksgiving at the brother's house was completely drama free and mostly relaxed.  I made sure I brought sides and dessert DD and I could eat (gluten free) a reasonable meal.  DD was able to announce to everyone (she was so excited) that she was going to be a big sister in May.  There was a moment of silence, and then clapping and cheering from some.  Then I got the grilling from my brother about how I was able to get pregnant now and not before.  Ummm...well celiacs is not conducive to reproduction.  But it went right over his head.  I don't know why I try to explain this stuff to him when he really doesn't care.

The drama came on Sunday when I was asked over for dinner along with the rest of the close family to celebrate a family b-day.  I asked and asked what I could bring and was told nothing.  I knew it was going to be bad.  When I asked SIL if the creamed spinach dish had flour in it, she got a little snippy, but nothing compared to dessert.  The rest of dinner was baked potatoes, snap peas and steak.  Perfect!  But I forgot my dessert at home.  Dessert made me want to crawl in a hole.  They made red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, my absolute favorite cake and they know it is my favorite.  But I had to refuse it because it was made with wheat.  And I was polite "no thank you, I can't eat that" smile on my face, I'm just gonna grin and bare this torture.  And then SIL loudly said "Well, What CAN you eat??" and there was utter silence in the room with 16 people and 2 young kids.  And I politely said, "I'm sorry, nothing with wheat or gluten.  I'm really sorry, if I had remembered, I would have brought something..."  Smile.  OMG can I go home now?  PLEASE?  I never want to go there again.  I told my mother that I was really done explaining to them over and over for the past 7 years that gluten in BAD for us.  Really BAD.  And I was not completely gluten free until last year, but DD has been for several years but they don't take it seriously, more like it is a suggestive diet, not a mandatory one.  They just don't get it.  And I just keep trying to make them understand...  DH was really pissed, he's in Japan and he was upset that SIL said that.  I don't think she would have said that if he had been there.  Grin.  Really, SIL, I LOVE to torture myself.  REALLY.  My favorite cake in the world, and I get to sit peacefully by while you remind me yet again that I can't have it.  I should have just gone outside or anywhere else while dessert was being served.  If I didn't need to take my father home, I would have walked out.

I don't think I have to have dinner or any other events with them again while I am here other then DD's bday party which I am hosting at an inflatable jump place and I have complete control over the food.  GRIN.  I hope anyway...  GRIN.  My smile is still plastered on my face.  

I'm only here 1 more day then I am off to Boston for a true stay-cation with my closest friends.  I'm staying at their house and they have already asked me what gluten free groceries they can get for me before I get there.  WOW.  So different, and they actually care!  I am going to be seeing 2 midwives/OB groups and hospitals so I can pick which I am going to go to.  I am also going to be driving around to look for places to live because....

We move in 2 months!  YAYAY!  It's early, but I am so excited.  It means I get to go back to Boston just 6 weeks after I get back to Japan instead of the original 4-5 months.  Things have happened that were unexpected (being called back from sabbatical?? <--weird)  but I am quite fine with it.  Take me home!!  Back to where I can find GF food and not get mysteriously sick!  Back to friends and, well, not family.  Thankfully they live 1800 miles away!  :D

29 days to Christmas!  

[BaileyB]

That's exciting Jacqueline, about the moving, anyway. I would be annoyed at the other stuff. I am soooo over family drama. My dad butt dialed me a couple months ago and then texted me to remind me that he "had no intentions of contacting me" all I said was, "then why don't you delete my number and it won't happen again?" I wasn't even hurt, it was like how old are you again?!

Our Thanksgiving was good except for the comments. Although I think I left out that DH really stood up for me to his mom when she had made some other comments, so that made me happy. She made some twins comment and I said no they already checked for that when I had an u/s at 7 weeks, since my hormone level was high. Then she insisted that sometimes twins could lay the wrong way so you couldn't see the second one, blah blah blah, and I said something about how accurate checking for twins are when you are so early on. That kind of shut her down for a minute. Then she piped up with, "Well, maybe just one BIG boy." DH could see I was done with this conversation and said, "Actually no, we all think it's another girl." She finally was out of things to say then. I think she got the point. I am just trying to tell myself it is because she is excited for another baby.

In other news we had quite the exciting weekend, in kind of a bad way. Our neighbor across the street died! He was 67 I think, and had COPD. He was having some new insulation being put in and was in the basement cleaning (it's more like a cellar type basement). He had a massive asthma attack and died.  :-(  Not the way I would've wanted to go. We were hanging out in our kitchen on Saturday and all of a sudden saw a squad car go screaming into his driveway, then an ambulance, then another one. Then nothing really happened for a while until we heard a HELICOPTER! It landed right between his house and ours! But we knew he hadn't made it when the helicopter turned it's blades off and everything kinda stopped for a while. Poor guy. Now we have his funeral tomorrow.

[CoBabyMaker]

Lyn, Hooray for a new stove! I bet you were SO excited! All of our decor that the kids can't touch is up high (so I don't have to tell them no since they can't reach) and then they have a Little People nativity set and little tree with cheap plastic and homemade salt dough ornaments they can play with to their hearts content. Last year we didn't do a big tree because DD2 was 18 months though. it just wasn't worth it to me to try to get her to leave it alone for a month. I was strangely paranoid that it would get pulled over so we skipped it.

Ghislaine, What did you have the post-partum doula do? I've heard of it but I guess i need to go look it up to refresh my memory. (and Mmmmm, cranberry sauce! I hope they made it for you!)

Amanda, I'm glad your mom was on her best behavior and things went better than you expected! Now if I could just be as motivated with my Christmas shopping as you! I have had shopping tabs open on my computer for 3 days with gifts for my nieces but I just can't seem to commit.

Jacqueline, That's so great that things went pretty well with your family. I'm sorry that they weren't very understanding of your food needs. That's frustrating! I think a lot of people still view it as a trendy food "preference". They don't seem to understand that it's not something you chose! We actually left a restaurant (with me in tears) because a waitress was rude about me asking questions one time. I hope you have a great time in Boston!

Bailey, I'm so sorry about your neighbor. Did he live alone? I hope his service is good tomorrow. We have the service for our friend this afternoon and I plan to carry a pack of tissue in each pocket.

DH got a job offer from our church yesterday and they want him to start in two weeks. They had originally been talking about possibly February so it sort of made our head spin. It's exciting and a bit overwhelming all at once. I need to figure out insurance stuff since we will get insurance through the church now but we are half way to meeting our deductible with our current provider so I may continue billing that one since it's not employer based. I have some research to do!

[adventuregirl]

jac - so sorry about your insensitive SIL, that sucks! What a rude thing to say!

Bailey - so sorry about your neighbor.

Amanda - awesome job on the shopping and glad your holiday went better than expected.

CBM - congrats to DH on the new job!

I'm finally telling everyone at work this week about my pregnancy, I can't believe I made it to 15 wks! I'm sure the more observant people have been curious... I'm happy it will finally all be out and I won't have to worry about covering my belly all the time. Speaking of, I totally need new clothes! I have only a few things that fit anymore. Not what I want to pile on top of xmas prep, oh well!

[Quinalla]

Sorry for the family drama some had at Thanksgiving, we did well until Saturday when DH started getting bored and was mad at me for wanting to sit around and relax (I'm pregnant and was tired as DD was not sleeping her best) and visit with my siblings instead of going to a super crowded store to buy a mouse and whatever else. I told him if he needed me to come so we could talk away from everyone, I would, but if it was just to buy stuff that he could go on his own. He ended up going to his parent's house for awhile (they are ~45 minutes away from mine) and then came back in the evening and that was fine with me, but he made it out to be this huge deal. I think it is great for him to get out and away if he needs to instead of being bored and miserable, but he doesn't always agree. It's like he wants me to be bored too, I dunno, oh well it went fine otherwise though.

Sydney has peed on the floor three times since we got back, so I went to buy smarties & jelly beans today to use as use-the-potty bribes. I don't mind true accidents, those happen, but she is not using the potty at home even when I sit her on it for awhile, she pees on the floor 30 seconds later. Not cool!

DH wants to get a bunch of house stuff done before the twins, some we had planned to do, but he's making the list longer now. Carpet everything upstairs and the stairs leading up except our room and the baby room (do those too before the twins if possible) and recarpet the basement an basement steps (our cats who now live with SIL because of DD allergies ruined most of our carpet, especially in the basement). Get the basement set up as a playroom & exercise area again (it's full of junk from various rooms right now). He wants to run some new cables for various things, get the guest room cleared out of stuff, paint some areas that we haven't painted since we moved in 9 years ago, etc. He is anticipating doing the bulk of the work himself, though I am definitely going to help with the organizing. It's goo,d, but it's going to be a bit overwhelming!

[BaileyB]

Originally Posted by CoBabyMaker 

Bailey, I'm so sorry about your neighbor. Did he live alone? I hope his service is good tomorrow. We have the service for our friend this afternoon and I plan to carry a pack of tissue in each pocket.

DH got a job offer from our church yesterday and they want him to start in two weeks. They had originally been talking about possibly February so it sort of made our head spin. It's exciting and a bit overwhelming all at once. I need to figure out insurance stuff since we will get insurance through the church now but we are half way to meeting our deductible with our current provider so I may continue billing that one since it's not employer based. I have some research to do!

He lived with his wife but she still works part time. It was actually the insulation guy that was with him and called 911. I told DH 'worst. sales call. ever.' Although it looks like the insulation was still installed yesterday...

That's exciting about the job offer, even if it is way earlier than you thought. Bahh, insurance. We buy our own and it is kind of a headache to have to figure out how we are going to renew every year.

Originally Posted by Quinalla 

Sydney has peed on the floor three times since we got back, so I went to buy smarties & jelly beans today to use as use-the-potty bribes. I don't mind true accidents, those happen, but she is not using the potty at home even when I sit her on it for awhile, she pees on the floor 30 seconds later. Not cool!

DH wants to get a bunch of house stuff done before the twins, some we had planned to do, but he's making the list longer now. Carpet everything upstairs and the stairs leading up except our room and the baby room (do those too before the twins if possible) and recarpet the basement an basement steps (our cats who now live with SIL because of DD allergies ruined most of our carpet, especially in the basement). Get the basement set up as a playroom & exercise area again (it's full of junk from various rooms right now). He wants to run some new cables for various things, get the guest room cleared out of stuff, paint some areas that we haven't painted since we moved in 9 years ago, etc. He is anticipating doing the bulk of the work himself, though I am definitely going to help with the organizing. It's goo,d, but it's going to be a bit overwhelming!

DD went through a similar thing with more accidents that really weren't accidents right before the Thanksgiving. It is kind of annoying. She's back to her one accident a week now. Sounds like you DH is nesting, haha.

[Kate&Joey]

WOW!  Lots of Thanksgiving nonsense.  Hopefully, the families will be better behaved over the December holidays. 

Originally Posted by adventuregirl 

I'm finally telling everyone at work this week about my pregnancy, I can't believe I made it to 15 wks! I'm sure the more observant people have been curious... I'm happy it will finally all be out and I won't have to worry about covering my belly all the time. Speaking of, I totally need new clothes! I have only a few things that fit anymore. Not what I want to pile on top of xmas prep, oh well!

I still haven't told anyone at work...and I'm sure they are noticing!  I feel quite *thick* these days.  And speaking of clothes, I have a dilemma....

I loaned a dear friend all of my maternity clothes (plus quite a few baby items), years ago when she was PG.  Well, now they've been trying again (without success...IVF, miscarriage, etc.).  She's trying to be happy for me, but told me that it's been hard for her.

So I feel like an insensitive witch to ask for my stuff back.  Ugh.  I just wish she would offer to bring it over without me having to ask!

What would you guys do?

[AmandaLynnH]

Originally Posted by Kate&Joey 

WOW!  Lots of Thanksgiving nonsense.  Hopefully, the families will be better behaved over the December holidays. 

I still haven't told anyone at work...and I'm sure they are noticing!  I feel quite *thick* these days.  And speaking of clothes, I have a dilemma....

I loaned a dear friend all of my maternity clothes (plus quite a few baby items), years ago when she was PG.  Well, now they've been trying again (without success...IVF, miscarriage, etc.).  She's trying to be happy for me, but told me that it's been hard for her.

So I feel like an insensitive witch to ask for my stuff back.  Ugh.  I just wish she would offer to bring it over without me having to ask!

What would you guys do?

I don't care how mine is behaved since I'll be 4+ hours away :)

No suggestions on that one.  Maybe she still will offer to bring it back?

You're not an insensitive witch asking for it back.  Even if she got knocked up right this second you'd still be a few months ahead so it's totally reasonable to ask for it and say you'll pass it back to her when you're done.  

[MarieWalter]

Originally Posted by AmandaLynnH 

You're not an insensitive witch asking for it back.  Even if she got knocked up right this second you'd still be a few months ahead so it's totally reasonable to ask for it and say you'll pass it back to her when you're done.  

I agree, and I think you can phrase it that way - "let's keep swapping it back and forth!" It's great that she has already been able to be frank with you that it's a little hard for her. You could acknowledge when you ask for the stuff that it must sting a little and ask if there's anything you can do or say or not do or not say to help, etc. Awkward at best, though :-/

[timesway]

So mum are officially amazing arent they :S my mum has just totally broken my brain.. she said she darent get excited, that she could get excited when i actually managed to have my baby.. insinuating that i'm not going to manage and basically that my chances of miscarriage are higher then non miscarriage.. so even tho she is just being the wonderful mum that she is and puttingme down shes got an idea into my head.. on top of that, i found out my cervix is short (25mm) and im having lots of checkups and i wasnt worried about it.. but trying to reassure my mum (so as she could stop worrying me) i found this out.. and found out it wasnt as good as i thought it was (infact quite bad really for 15 1/2 weeks when the scan was done) i know there keeping a close eye on me, but i now cant get the thought out of my head about miscarrying.. i've never had a late miscarriage before, just ones up to 12 weeks and they were horrible enough.. and i felt so lucky to be pregnant past that point.. and thought.. yay past 12 weeks im safe and everything.. and now the doubt my mum put in my head (she didnt even know about the cervix issues.. i thought the cervix result was good tryed to tell her my cervix was good then read my notes and realised it was bad eek) has just sent my head off in a spiral.. i just dont understand why as my mum .. she cant for once in her life just be supportive.. and not have to put a downer on everything for me.. like shes setting me up to fail :S

[timesway]

Originally Posted by MarieWalter 

I agree, and I think you can phrase it that way - "let's keep swapping it back and forth!" It's great that she has already been able to be frank with you that it's a little hard for her. You could acknowledge when you ask for the stuff that it must sting a little and ask if there's anything you can do or say or not do or not say to help, etc. Awkward at best, though :-/

this sounds like a good way to do it :)

[Ghislaine]

Originally Posted by CoBabyMaker 

Ghislaine, What did you have the post-partum doula do? I've heard of it but I guess i need to go look it up to refresh my memory. (and Mmmmm, cranberry sauce! I hope they made it for you!)

DH got a job offer from our church yesterday and they want him to start in two weeks. They had originally been talking about possibly February so it sort of made our head spin. It's exciting and a bit overwhelming all at once. I need to figure out insurance stuff since we will get insurance through the church now but we are half way to meeting our deductible with our current provider so I may continue billing that one since it's not employer based. I have some research to do!

The post-partum doula showed me how to use the sling I have, some baby calming techniques, laundry, and even a bit of cooking.  I forget if she did any dishes.  As a first time mom it was so nice having someone there who was experienced with newborns.  She even folded the prefold diapers in a way that made them easier to use.  Our insurance at the time covered it so it was an easy decision to have one!  I'm not so sure we'll be so lucky this time!

Congrats to your DH for the job offer!  Good luck figuring out the insurance!

[timesway]

ooo and im also thinking of getting a dhoula.. think i can get funding.. what do they do specifically?

[Quinalla]

I'm considering a birth doula or postpartum doula, haven't decided yet. I really need to talk to DH on how we want to handle DD's care while I am in the hospital because I assume he'll have to be caring for her quite a bit leaving me alone at the hospital a lot. Also, we need to round up a few people to be on call for DD's care for when I go into labor. It's so much easier when you don't already have a kid to worry about