12/9 weekly thread « Back to Group Discussions

[segolilymama]

We must be churning out babies, no one had time to start the weekly thread ;)

It's my week this week (technical EDD is Tuesday). I have been having contractions all day, but of course that is nothing new over here. These, however, are really hurting in my tailbone. I'm going to have DP do some hip squeezes for a couple contractions, see if maybe baby will drop even lower. I have a feeling that nothing 'big' is going to happen until the kids are all in bed. Luckily it's Sunday, so that means another 2.5 hours or so. I'm thinking about alerting the MW & photographer, but I also feel like this baby is never going to come, lol... So maybe if things are still going by 10pm I will let them both know. the world is covered in beautiful snow, it would be a lovely night to have a baby....

In other news, I did more baking today, we got the Winter decorations up (Christmas, Solstice, etc), and some of the stockings are missing. Grrr... I was going to have to go get one for the baby anyway (was waiting to see if it's a she or a he), and now need to buy 3 others. But the house looks festive, and smells like pine needles, which has put me in a good mood. Again, it would be a nice night for a baby to be born!

How are the rest of you doing? Pregnant mamas, how's everyone holding up? Those with new babies, more pictures please! The oxytocin release is good for the rest of us ;)

[themothership]

We are almost all ready for birth here, not due until the 24th, but I'm open to birth anytime between now and new years eve ;) of course I already bought the baby a stocking, so that guarantees that he won't come until after christmas. 
 

I'm a little jealous of all the mamas who will be having babies before I do, but that's what happens when you are do at the end of the month instead of the beginning. 

[chicajones]

I hear you, themothership! I'm not due till the 25th but I'm pretty much ready. There are still some things I'd like to do this week, so I'm really hoping he comes next week (Tuesday, maybe?). I'm also trying to prepare myself for the fact that he might not come till early January. BUT my Braxton Hicks have been getting stronger and I've even felt a bit crampy at points, so I'm hoping that's a good sign. I know he'll come when he's ready, but I'm definitely getting to the "man am I ready" phase.

sego, let's do this! It's definitely time for you, and I can't imagine how beautiful it must be with all of the fresh snow!

[Lilac11]

Sego, super exciting! Thinking of you!

Mothership & chica : hang in there mamas!

41 weeks over here today and no labor signs...

[segolilymama]

Still pregnant. Considering some cohosh or castor oil today if these don't pick up more by themselves...

Mothership - I feel the same way re: jealous over all these babies! It wouldn't bother me as much if I hadn't been having off & on prodromal for FOUR WEEKS, but at this point I am impatient!

In other news, DP was coming to pick me up at the park after my beautiful walk, and the van slid & hit the curb. Now the power steering is out, and the van is undriveable...AND my rental tenants called to say that neither of the furnaces is working, so he needs to go fix those today (I think it's user error, they were working fine last Saturday, but he still has to go across the valley and deal with it).  just what I need to deal with, insurance companies, tenants, etc... Ah well. Maybe the time alone in the quiet house will pick things up for me!

[purposefuldoula]

Hey mamas!! 

I feel like I lost the last week with being in labor for so long then ending up back in the hospital. I don't know who all isn't on the fb group where I posted already about this, but around 12:30 am yesterday, I landed in the ER with a pretty serious infection in my uterus. So, I've been here for the last two days on IV antibiotics. Judah hasn't left yet, (minus the walk he took with DH in the moby,) and I feel pretty great. I'm praying that he doesn't get thrush, which he hasn't shown any symptoms yet, but still. It's a worry of mine right now. I just have a few more rounds of antibiotics and hopefully get to go home in the morning.  Tonight, I plan on knitting and watching cheesy netflix :) 

So much has been happening with our group!!  Babies are coming just about everyday now, and it seems like for the most part, (not mine, obviously!) everyone else is pretty healthy! 

Jen- hang in there mama!! I was just at that point that you are, so sending tons of hugs and birthy vibes. It sucks being so close, yet you really don't "know" when it's all going to happen. You will, I garuantee, not be pregnant in January. Okay?! Also, I've been having tenant issues as well over the last week. So not what I needed going through all of this. Our tenants are plain avoiding us, saying their phone doesn't work, even though they can post pictures on facebook :/ The guy also works for my family's company, so I can totally stalk them if I need to. They were 10 days late with rent this month and have only paid us half. We are letting them move out this month, breaking their contract, since they can never pay us on time or in full. We've decided to put that house up on the market, since it's back in IL and has been really hard to manage 8 hours away! I was not looking forward to two mortgages over the next however many months it takes to sell it, but am hopeful that it will just sell and we can be done with it. So, yeah, I don't want to deal with that crap either, but have been all week! 

Mothership & Chica- You will meet those babies so soon!! hang in there, ladies! And Mothership, I can totally relate to you. With my last pregnancy, I was due on the 16th of the month and didn't have her until the 28th! Everyone had their babies before me, so it was driving me nuts! It helped to look at the ddc ahead a month, and remember that I didn't have as long as they do to meet their babies.  It's still so bazaar to me that I even have a baby right now. Both of my girls were 2 weeks "late," so having him come the day after I was due is still really weird for me. I feel like I should still be pregnant. 

Lilac- I wonder if you will just go into labor instead of having a whole lot of signs. That's what I did with my first, about 24 hours before she was born. The first twelve of it were more giddy labor vibes, then it got real and she came out. You'll go soon! 

[Mamabeakley]

I am having some quality alone time with my little girl this morning :-)  We are 3 days pp and DH took the 'big' kids to a homeschool co-op holiday get-together.  I have been physically resting but it's been rainy and cold here and everybody's been ON TOP of everybody else pretty much 24/7 so it's feeling really nice to have a little quiet for a couple of hours.  And I definitely feel physically up to taking care of myself and baby today - was still pretty sore and tired yesterday.

Well, okay, I'm definitely still tired today.  Baby is not having long periods of deep sleep at night.  She isn't waking all the way up, mostly, but she's waking *me* up to nurse, and I haven't gotten more than 1 hour of sleep at a time yet.  I definitely should be sleeping right now, in fact, since she is, but I wanted to work on my birth story in the quiet, and I was hungry and thirsty and . . . If I need to, I plan to ask DH to take over for a couple of hours this afternoon or evening or even in the night so I can sleep for a consecutive 2 - 3 hours sometime in the next 24 because I think I will retain sanity much better if that happens.  But I don't want to . . . I want him to focus on the big kids . . . whah.

However, all this seems so much more manageable now that I am NOT PREGNANT anymore.  My pelvis works!  My digestion works!  I don't feel horrible!  And, I feel really lucky to be healthy and at home - Travelmumma hasn't posted here yet but I see on FB that she is having gall bladder issues and is in hospital and of course, Purposeful I'm hoping maybe you're home by now.

Thinking of you all!

[kel]

So nice to hear from you mamas - I'm not on the facebook group, so I hope everyone will keep posting on here, too.  Can we keep the group going, even once everyone has had their babies, by just turning the due date group into a parenting group?

So sorry for all the mamas having to deal with hospitals and infections. 

No big news here, just getting stronger, more frequent bh contrax - although not painful at all; tender boobs again; and am seriously thinking no more sex (or possibly much less frequent/gentler sex) - each time! - as I feel so crampy and ache-y afterward.  After staying completely LOA for months now, babe has been shifting around more the past week or two -  probably just trying to get comfortable!  She's still head down, but where her feet and knees used to be, now her butt is right in front - OA.  So surreal this morning - because before I could feel her practice breathing, but now, with her back and butt right there, I can actually see it! 

[kaliki_kila]

I want to keep this group going as a parenting group as well. I feel like I know everyone here and it's like we have our own forum. Mothering is so big that everyone is like a stranger.

[Lilac11]

I would love to stay with you all as a parenting group too, and I'm not on FB either!

All the mamas with babies on the outside, I'm thinking of you, esp purposeful and others facing medical issues 

sego I am sending you active labor vibes after all these ctx all this time! 

mamabeakly so nice you are having a wonderful babymooning moment with your little girl! 

kel I hope your BH stay mellow and you aren't getting crampy too often.  During the last 6 weeks mine seemed to get stronger and stronger as my uterus grew too.

AFM  41+1 and not one single symptom, not even any nesting!  purposeful I hope you're right and things will just come on suddenly with no warning!  Tomorrow 41+2 I have an appt with monitoring.  Baby's been wiggling as usual so I'm not worried about him but it will be nice to see what the midwife says about it all.... keep you posted.....

[esp831]

Hi Mamas-

I am definitely hoping we can keep this group going as a parenting group.  I've been thinking about that a lot over the past few days and how I would be very sad to lose touch with you all. 

I'm also sending the healing vibes to Natalie and Sandy, and thinking of you and your sweet babes.

For all the mamas getting anxious and having prodromal/never ending prelabor--I feel your pain and frustration!  I guess mine lasted for about 3 weeks or so before True was born and it was very emotional and actually a bit confusing, kwim?  Wanting to hold the baby vs wanting to enjoy the end of pregnancy is difficult to navigate.  Especially since every time something new would pop up (contrax, plug, etc) DH would say, "what does this mean?"  and I didn't really have an answer besides "I guess we're getting closer."  But how close??  Anyhoo, just wanted you all to know that I relate, and that I can promise that you will soon make it to the other side :)

We're doing well here, I am in a similar sleep situation as Mamabeakley...this baby is a very noisy sleeper!  So even when he is sleeping, it's hard for me to relax.  In general though, he is an angel.  Only fusses for obvious reasons and that is rare, sleeping a LOT more than either of the girls did, and giving us wonderful periods of alertness that are just heart melting.  Three seems to be the magic number.  I had heard from other mamas that it was a bit of a tipping point, from 2 to 3 kids, and it certainly holds true for me.  My identity as a mother is stronger than ever and I'm feeling very fulfilled.  I'm certain this number is different for every woman, but it seems that 3 is right for me.  I'm still a little weepy, and having periods of sadness when I miss being pregnant, probably since this most likely is our last baby (but never say never, right?).  The hormonal shift is such a huge transition in a bitter sweet way.  Although my mom was getting on my last nerve, she is also very helpful at dealing with my weepiness and has somewhat guided DH along as well. 

How are everyone else's older kids dealing with the addition?  My girls are ok.  DD1 is just smitten with the baby, I have a feeling they are going to be very close.  DD2 is actually doing fine with him too.  She's 20 months, so I was expecting meltdown city, but we've been giving her lots of snuggles and special mommy/daddy time.  She was in childcare about 6 hours/week for the past few months, so it seems she understands that sometimes one has to share their favorite grown ups with a baby.  Hope this lasts!

Sorry for the ramble, it's rare to have both hands free to type, so I thought I'd better take advantage of it.  I look forward to continuing this group long after everyone's babes have arrived.  What's the line at the end of Casablanca?  ..."I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship..."

[Jackies]

I'm not on FB and would love to stay in touch after all the babies arrive. I hit 37 weeks Monday, so now I can ask the baby to come. It could be another month though...

I hope everyone stays on the healing path if needed.

[chicajones]

I'm on the Facebook group, but I like this better -- the instant feedback of Facebook is nice, but a little overwhelming. Plus I'm still not totally sure who matches up with what screen name, etc. 

I put an update on the "Feeling birth" thread, but woke up this morning with contractions about 7 min apart. They've stayed pretty consistent all day, and I timed them again after taking a nap this afternoon and they were 6 min apart, about 50 seconds long. Not super painful but definitely uncomfortable, and more recently I'm needing to breathe through them. No water leaking or bloody show, but I know that doesn't always happen until things really get going. Midwife and doula are on alert, but I know they could totally either taper off or it could be another few days of this. It would be kind of fun to have a 12-12-12 baby! Plus then we would actually be able to celebrate Christmas with everyone, which would be so nice! 38 weeks exactly today, so we'll see what happens. My mom said it sounds exactly like how her labors started (both of which were 10 days early). It's hard not to get excited but I'm trying to conserve energy. Today went by really quickly, and now I'm going to watch some TV until I feel like it's time to go to bed. 

Send some happy birthy thoughts my way! :)

[jakesmama]

Oh my goodness, I feel like I've missed so much! So many babies arriving! Since last Thursday my computer crashed, 75% of the household (meaning everyone but me) came down with influenza AND I'm working like crazy so I can go on maternity leave. Glad to be back in the land of working computers!

I haven't been extremely active on the board but trust that I read almost everything. By the time I read through I usually have to get up because I'm uncomfortable or because the kids need me!

Natalie - so glad to hear you are on the mend - how scary! A dear friend of mine recently had her first babe and almost immediately following the birth she came down with appendicitis. Being away from baby was probably the hardest thing for her as she was in the hospital for a long time (weeks?) dealing with infections. My heart really goes out to you all who need to be hospitalized just after welcoming a new baby.

Chica - we have the same due date and I am not feeling like birth is anywhere close! Watching everyone else go does remind me that eventually we will ALL have newbies - lol. I'm soaking up the last few weeks of what is my last pregnancy. I'm going to miss this!

Kel - my little has been LOA also for the duration of the pregnancy (since we could palpate anyway) and now she kind of swings OA every now and then. It's not the most comfortable thing for me! I am glad that she's shifting around and not trying any funny business like OP or transverse though!

So I'm wrapping up at work ( I work part time as an educational consultant for infants and toddlers - mostly teaching RIE methods) but continuing to build my parent coaching business. I'm probably crazy but I'm planning to teach a 4-week e-course on conscious parenting in January and February and I'm gearing up to offer a free workshop next Monday via teleconference. I feel like I should probably be resting and nesting but the message is so near and dear to me that I just have to keep going, you know? I AM wrapping up my private coaching clients and will not take new clients until February/March.

I got some fun mail today. Things for birth and baby - motherlove sitz spray, a wool/silk shirt for baby (so tiny!), preemie prefolds (also - so tiny!) and, ahem, Tucks. Stil waiting on peppermint eo and some st. john's wort oil for breastfeeding. I suppose, at some point, I should pack a bag for the bc...or even register at the bc! Gah! I keep forgetting and then the kids got the flu.

[Mamabeakley]

Yay, breastmilk!  My milk is in and DD2 - and therefore I - slept for 2, then 3, then 2 hours last night.  Whoo Hoo!

[segolilymama]

mamaB - YAY for milk & SLEEP!!!!

Chica - I will be so jealous if you baby cmes before mine ;) And I will be super happy for you!

esp - I can say never just fine ;) This is definitely the last one for me! I love hearing how fulfilled you are feeling.

Natalie - UGH. I hope you are back home now, and that everything/everyone is OK!

I too would love to continue this group. I like the FB group too, but like others I am not sure of who is who over there... and I like the format of more conversation than quickie updates.

Still pregnant. Redy to kill the next person who calls to see if I've had a baby yet...

[purposefuldoula]

I'm home!! We got back yesterday and it feels like we are doing this, (the coming home/adjusting) again for the first time... it's all a little strange. I still can't believe and am processing the last week. In all honesty, I'm a little pissed off about everything that has happened, (minus the actual having Judah part.)  

This morning I started on my oral antibiotics and one of them made me so sick! I had my mom look at them, (she's an RN,) and she said they put me on the highest dose possible. Tomorrow we are going to try a smaller dose and see if it sits well with me. That was not fun. 

Last night we started cloth diapering, since the disposables gave Judah a terrible rash already. I feel so so bad for him. It's really painful for him and it kills me. What is everyone's go to diaper cream?  Today we bought more "medical" stuff since my homemade stuff wasn't cutting it. I'm not sure if it's helping either. It's a & d ointment. 

Also, what, if anything, do you all do for a stinky cord? Judah's belly button got really stinky last night, since I had him in a cloth and it soaked into his cord. It's SO smelly, more so than I remember with the girls. Any tips?? 

[mamaharrison]

natalie--a salt water solution held in a small cup over his bellybutton should take care of any infection or oozyness quickly and without side effects.alcohol is too drying, IMO, and can hurt and cause a rash, but salt and warm water feel nice and don't over do it. 1x a day or at most 2x daily should do it. As for rash cream--how about naked time and lots of coconut oil--coconut oil has always worked for us every time, but it needs to stay wet {google wet heal method of wound care} so lots of reapplying and it is best to just keep the bottom unclothed during that time, IME. I would say both of those things should clear him up within 2-3 days.

I was VERY angry after my experience of birthing DD--I had PTSD for sure --instead of uterine infection I had double mastitis on day 5 and was on oral abx that weren't working and made me ill and had serious breastfeeding issues.....It was traumatic. It took a lot to recover from physically, emotionally, spiritually--it broke me wide open. If you want/need to talk or have someone listen--I am 100% open anytime ;)

I would love to continue with you, mamas. However, I am a FBer and I find it difficult to do both--also, I am not really into the fact the MDC posts are not private and I think I will likely be deleting most of mine at this point because it is just too much info out there for my comfort--I didn't realize that it wasn't private until I googled something and was linked to my MDC post on the topic :/ I was kinda upset about that and felt like it shouldn't be that way. That being said, I hope to continue to see most of you on FB~~~~~I will check in here though to meet all the babies as they come, but can't imagine being able to keep up with it long term.
 

[kel]

Natalie, I agree with lots of bare bottom time!  That has definitely worked for my babies in the past.  If the warm salt water doesn't work on the cord or it's still smelling, I would use a bit of hydrogen peroxide.  It doesn't sting - it's actually soothing on small infections or cuts - and it works quickly.  Also, you could always try a different disposable for nighttime use to keep him dryer than a cloth diaper would - some disposables give babies rashes, while others don't...  xoxoxox 

Mamah, I see what you're saying about the mothering boards being less private, and I can understand that, but they work better for me and I don't feel uncomfortable using them.  I'm hoping that both the facebook and mothering boards that we've all been using will continue on - since preference varies.  I'm with sego - I like the conversational feel of these boards and here I know who everyone is!  But it's mostly that I like the format - it does seem more like conversations and less like updates. 

[darkblue0729]

Natalie, I am so sorry that how you planned to spend your first week ended up being so very different from reality. I think that it is super important to process that and honor your feelings-when I ended up with an emergency c/s with DD2 after planning a homebirth, I was sad in so many unexpected ways, and unfortunately I didn't think that how I was feeling was 'right' and so it ended up taking a whole lot longer to come through the other side than it would have had I just embraced how I felt. I am sending lots of love and light and healing your way, and I got your sweet letter yesterday and my girls LOVE the magnets lol, they said you made them fridge jewels <3 All in all you are amazing and I hope that you are able to spend some much needed down time in your nest with your sweet brood.

Dana, I can't figure out how to friend request you (or Natalie) I know it must be something about the privacy settings

Hope all is well mamas!!