Weekly Chat Thread - March 17th through March 23rd - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[sunshinelove]

Storygirl--i hope i didnt sound too intense in my response. I'm a bit of a germaphobe so hearing about how sick you could end up if you catch his cold sent me into a tizzy lol. Getting the antibiotics immediately after birth is a great idea and washing everything in super hot water once he's doing better should help too . I hope he feels better soon, i always feel really bad for my guy, too, when he's sick. I have this instinctual desire to baby him when he's sick, like he's a little boy lol. I'm probably not the only wife who does that.

[storygirlcindy]

Chocolatechip - I've been noticing that baby's movements are a lot more uncomfortable lately too. For me, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that up until the last two weeks or so I had polyhydramnios (super high amniotic fluid) and now I'm down in the normal range, so there is less cushion between me and her. And she's a big baby in a small mama... and active... and BOY she can get those limbs and joints into some seriously uncomfortable places!!! As for the contractions with movement, everyone's different, but they wont' necessarily put you into labor. I started having braxton hicks contractions with movement VERY early in my pregnancy - like 15 weeks, maybe even earlier (it took me awhile to be able to recognize them because my uterus was so little at that point!) - and then a little before my 3rd tri started, I began having contractions every few minutes 24/7. They've always been much more aggravated by movement - pretty much if I'm upright, I'm contracting double time - but here I am, 2 days past my (extremely accurate) EDD and no baby yet! So, you never know. Your LO could be in there til the beginning of April after all. ;)

Sunshine - oh, no problem! I honestly was wishing Sunday that we could make something like that work. My hope right now is that he wakes up completely cured tomorrow and we can wash everything down and I can miraculously escape it, LOL. Based on how bad he's sniffling/sneezing tonight... that's probably not gonna happen. But I can hope, right? I'm definitely feeling a little better knowing that I can probably pull off antibiotics right after delivery and still EBF. Because of various health issues, we're going to start supplementing with a few bottles of formula here and there within the first few weeks, but I really want to avoid that for at least the first week until my milk comes in - so the idea of having to add an immediate antibiotic into that plan was stressing me out! But hopefully it will all work out OK. I still just think the timing is so horribly ironic, though. DH hasn't been sick since at least this time last year, and I've made it through the whole pregnancy in better health than I've been in for YEARS, so it's kind of one of those strange/annoying twists of fate that right in the very last days, he's sick!

[cabbitdancer]

Thank you all for the love. I'm in a much better place, emotionally, today, though I can't let go of the hope that baby might still turn and I may yet get my VBAC.

That sounds like a really sweet party, Chapsie, and I'm so glad you have such loving friends and family to support you and share this time with you.

Oh, storygirl, I'm definitely sending some get well/don't get sick vibes your way.

On the topic of who to have at the birth... way back when I envisioned giving birth to my second (before getting pregnant) I always imagined that my daughter would be there. I've been feeling her out through the pregnancy, though, and she wavers as to what, exactly, she'd like to do--as have I, to be honest. I'm back to really, really wanting her there. She is such a sweet and loving child, I feel like there will come a point when I will need/want her hugs. I'm concerned that she may find the whole thing incredibly overwhelming, though... and I'm not sure how badly I want my mom there. ;)

[scruffy too]

DP and I did a belly cast last night.  It was fun.  I now have a *concrete* answer to the question in a few years: what happened to my boobs?!?  I debated wearing a bra / swimsuit of some sort, but didn't.  L cups should probably be supported before being cast forever...  Oh well.  I think it looks very "ripe".

[chocolatechip]

storygirl, it will certainly be interesting to see how long baby decides to stay in. Nothing feels like it's going to happen soon at this point, but then I think about how I felt that way Wednesday morning, and all sorts of things were happening Wednesday afternoon! I actually thought about you that day though, remembering how you'd had regular contractions for so long. I think it helped keep me calmer than I might otherwise have been.  I hope your husband gets well soon! And maybe, if you've been so healthy this pregnancy, you won't get his sickness anyway! I was surprised during this pregnancy at the colds my husband got that I never did...

cabbit, I'm glad you're feeling better, and I'll keep hoping the baby turns for you too. 

scruffy, no no no, you absolutely made the right the decision with that cast! It's gorgeous and looks so naturally beautiful!!! I love it! 

I had a very mellow day yesterday. I read a novel (spughy, have you read Seraphina?), poked around here and on Facebook, watched a show on Hulu, took a three hour nap, ate some food... I really needed that kind of day. And then my husband walked in the door from work and I started crying! I don't have any idea why. Maybe I was just still tired, and I had spent the whole day by myself, but I was caught totally off guard. So was my husband, especially when I couldn't tell him if anything was wrong.  Today feels better, and I am going to go get a massage, and I am SO looking forward to it! 

[sunshinelove]

Enjoy your massage, chocolatechip!

I love your belly cast, scruffy! It is really beautiful. I'm sure you will treasure it for many years to come.

AFM, i'm feeling a bit frustrated at this stop-and-go party my uterus is having. It cant make up its mind, it seems. I know that all the work its done means less work later, but i'm sick of getting my hopes up.

Does anyone trip out over the thought of going from being pregnant to having a baby in your arms? I dont know, it just boggles my mind, feels a bit surreal (i felt the same way when pregnant with DD lol). Its like, one minute you're pregnant, which is what you've been for months and months and then, BAM, you've got a baby in your arms! Maybe its because i keep feeling like "the other side" is super far away, like its a long, arduous journey. Seeing so many women here go from pregnant to having their baby makes my mind boggle, like so much happened for them to get to the other side, but in reality it usually doesnt take very long at all. The whole process is so amazing to me, i cant intellectualize it even though my mind loves to try.

[spughy]

Scruffy that's a fantastic belly cast. 

Chocolatechip - argh waiting is hard.  I haven't read Seraphina - unfortunately it's a little pricey for the Kindle so I might see if the library has it when they finally have my 2 holds ready (which are non-fiction, so it'll be nice to have a contrast. Of course those holds are going to be ready for pickup exactly 1/2 hour AFTER I go into labour, whenever that is. )

Sunshinelove - I am SO ready for a baby in my arms instead of my tummy.  Yesterday I visited my friend who had her baby last week and I got to hold and cuddle him - he's very sweet, but not MINE.  I want MY baby that I can hold and cuddle and nurse and love. 

AFM - I am a bit bummed because my midwife tried to do a sweep but didn't get very far.  My cervix is still only 1 cm dilated and about 1 cm long, she couldn't get her fingers far enough in to do much and I didn't even bleed a tiny bit, so it looks like despite the baby feeling like it's bouncing up and down on my cervix all the time, not much is happening.  To make things worse I had steady contractions, about 8-10 min apart, ALL FRICKIN NIGHT last night.  They just weren't very strong (the gravol I took before bed let me sleep through most of them) but I feel tired today.  I don't think I'm going to get my due-date baby.   But at least it spurred me to do all the laundry this morning.  And I had promised DD a fancy-pizza lunch so we went and did that today at the good pizza place with the big wood-fired oven and the spectator seats.  It's nice seeing a kid get really excited about *good* food - she likes that pizza much better than the regular old junky take-out stuff.  Then we had ice cream after.  Now, I want a nap - but napping makes it harder to sleep at night.  Blergh.  I just want to be DONE with pregnancy.  People are still surprised when I tell them when I'm due (tomorrow) but I *feel* huge and walrus-like and I would really just like to be able to put on my socks and underwear without having it be a major ordeal.  I have another NST/US later this week sometime - I don't mind them (free cheese and apple juice, whee!) but it's spring break and I feel like I've just been shunting DD around here and there while I go to appointments, and we should be enjoying our last bits of mother-daughter time together.  I'm actually going to not bother with the acupuncture I could have had tomorrow because as much as I was finding the appointments kind of "pampering" the logistics of managing where to put DD during them (and figuring out which ones it's okay to bring her along), I would just like a day of NOT having to go anywhere or do anything. 

So tomorrow we will sit on the couch and watch Downton Abbey or something.  And celebrate my "due date", ha ha.

[scruffy too]

Originally Posted by sunshinelove 

Does anyone trip out over the thought of going from being pregnant to having a baby in your arms? I dont know, it just boggles my mind, feels a bit surreal (i felt the same way when pregnant with DD lol). Its like, one minute you're pregnant, which is what you've been for months and months and then, BAM, you've got a baby in your arms! Maybe its because i keep feeling like "the other side" is super far away, like its a long, arduous journey. Seeing so many women here go from pregnant to having their baby makes my mind boggle, like so much happened for them to get to the other side, but in reality it usually doesnt take very long at all. The whole process is so amazing to me, i cant intellectualize it even though my mind loves to try.

YES. Yes, yes and yes.  I catch myself enjoying LO's movements in my tummy while watching TV and then have an instant flash forward to anytime (could be <24 hours!) to that same baby being in my arms.  Completely surreal to me.  It hurts my head if I think about it too long.

Thanks everyone for the lovely feedback on my belly cast - nice to hear since I was feeling slightly blah about it. 

[cabbitdancer]

It's a beautiful belly cast, scruffy. It's one idea that I've never really considered, since it's such a big *something* that I'd have to find a home for, but I've seen some painted really prettily and I think that I could totally get into that. :)

[scruffy too]

Thanks Cabbit - DP suggested we hang it on the wall going up the stairs to our master bedroom - I really like that idea and it won't be displayed so publicly in the house, as our bedroom is the only thing upstairs.

[sunshinelove]

If anyone is a birth story junkie like myself, you will probably really enjoy this one:
http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1368646/adelaide-skye-is-here#post_17204854

I sometimes check out other DDCs for fun and i stumbled across this amazing story! I have read a ton of birth stories and this is one of my favorites. I love it because its VERY detailed (i'm a glutton for details), its emotional, its told from a very down-to-earth perspective which makes it easy to read, and it felt like i was in her body while reading it, thats how well she described what happened

[scruffy too]

That was a good birth story - got me all teary eyed. 

[sunshinelove]

I'm glad you liked it, scruffy . It made me cry a bit, too.

[chocolatechip]

Thanks for the birth story link, sunshinelove. I particularly loved the last sentence: "She's here because bodies are freaking amazing and MY body is amazing and I did it." That's some good perspective to keep in mind! 

spughy, yes, I'm sure all your books will be ready as soon as you go into labor! But Seraphina will be a good post-birth book, I imagine. YA, easy to read. :) Hope you enjoy it! And happy(ish) due date! I hope you are enjoying your day of doing nothing. Days like that are VERY good to have I think. And I'm sure labor will start soon!

So my massage yesterday was AWESOME. Really really awesome. I had all sorts of weird twinges and aches while I was walking up to the place (it's nice to have things in walking distance), and wasn't really enjoying the walk. On the way back, no twinges and aches at all, and still haven't had any. She has had three kids of her own, and knows how to take care of a pregnant lady. It was all side-laying, so basically I got to lie on the table with a body pillow, angled slightly farther over, and she massaged one side at a time. So it was comfortable! And she found all sorts of spots I didn't even *know* were tight, and got them all loosened up. If I'm still pregnant in a couple of weeks, I'm going again. 

Of course, then yesterday I ended up having contractions again! Again really mild, and this time not quite as regular in time, but still 7-10 minutes apart. After calling my midwives, I eventually took a warm epsom salt bath and went to bed, and while it was hard to go to sleep at first, I did eventually. And today I've had a couple, but only a couple. I feel a little silly giving them a heads up each night this happens, but it's so hard to tell if it's going to turn into something more exciting!

And I too can't hardly imagine what it will be like to suddenly be not pregnant and to have a baby instead. It's definitely made harder to imagine by having been in a state of pregnancy for so many months! On the other hand, reading you ladies talking about having a baby in your arms, I suddenly caught myself giving a kiss to the spoon in my hand (mmm, cookie dough). So maybe I'm ready to have something tangible to snuggle with. 

[storygirlcindy]

Chocolatechip, pregnancy massages are THE BEST!!! Oh, and I LOVED Seraphina. One of my favorite reads of 2012. Spughy, I definitely second the recommendation!

A little update on me since I last added to the chat thread: As of this evening, looks like I am definitely coming down with hubby's cold. :( I had thought I'd escaped it since it's been 5 days since he got sick, but it seems to just have a long incubation period. (Apparently at least 3 other people have been staying home from his work this week too so I guess this plague is really making the rounds!) I was really ticked about it at first, wondering why after 9+ months of not being exposed to anything respiratory I had to catch this in the LAST WEEK of my pregnancy, and then I realized that in all honesty the timing could be a blessing in disguise. The antibiotics that work best for me aren't pregnancy-safe so I haven't been able to take them, which means that if I'd gotten this weeks or months ago it probably would have dragged on until it was really serious and had worn me down for a long time. This way, we know that I'll be delivering in the next week sometime, and so I'll be able to go on oral antibiotics hopefully before it gets too serious and I end up in the hospital. So, it's inconvenient and uncomfortable... but really actually probably something to be grateful for.

Now I'm trying to convince baby girl that she should make her appearance TONIGHT. ;) This cold seems to be a "starts off okay and then gets worse" thing, so I keep telling her if she comes NOW, then Mommy will be able to make it through labor & delivery without feeling quite as miserable as if she holds off another few days! LOL...

[sunshinelove]

Oh no storygirl!! I'm sorry you're getting sick . At least there is a silver lining, like you said--you'll be able to get the antibiotics you need very soon. Get lots of rest and drink lots of liquids! (I'm sure you know that, i'm just feeling really motherly lol).

LOL chocolatechip!! I'd say kissing your spoon is definitely a sign you're ready to snuggle with your baby . Thats both funny and really cute, it warms my heart.

[scruffy too]

StoryGirl - oh no!!  I hope your pregnancy infused immune system fights this cold with all its strength!!  Take care of yourself!

C.Chip - I was getting weekly massages the last 6 weeks (not this week, kinda figured I might have a baby and didn't want to have to remember to cancel the appointment.)  They're great!!  I had mine just like yours - one side at a time.  I thought it was neat that she hit the sames spots that my chiropractor hit back in Nov/Dec - assured me that she must have known what she was doing .

I had a nice nap this afternoon.  In the sunshine.  With cat cuddles.  Woke up and my mom and DSS had made supper.

[sunshinelove]

This cracked me up! . I hope it makes you guys laugh too:

http://imageshack.us/photo/photo/4/imageyjc.jpg/

[storygirlcindy]

Thanks guys! It's definitely not what I was hoping for, but oh well. I'll just be taking it veeeeeeeery easy!

Sunshine, that graphic is AWESOME. I laughed out loud at the ice cream part since I literally said to teh baby the other day, "Listen, you need to come soon before Mom and Dad blow your whole college fun on consolation ice cream!" ;)

I also liked this cartoon someone sent me a few weeks ago:

http://kindredspiritmommy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/cartoon36.png

[babytoes]

Haha Sunshine and Story!!! That is so true, thanks for the laugh!